DEMONS
Spawned in the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, demons
are the embodiment of chaos and evil- engines of
destruction barely contained in monstrous form.
Possessing no compassion, empathy, or mercy, they
exist only to destroy.
The Abyss creates demons as
extensions of itself, spontaneously forming fiends out of
filth and carnage. Some are unique monstrosities, while
others represent uniform strains virtually identical to
each other. Other demons (such as manes) are created
from mortal souls shunned or cursed by the gods, or
which are otherwise trapped in the Abyss.
Demons respect power and
power alone. A greater demon commands shrieking
mobs of lesser demons because it can destroy any lesser
demon that dares to refuse its commands. A demon's
status grows with the blood it spills; the more enemies
that fall before it, the greater it becomes.
A demon might spawn as a manes, then become
a dretch, and eventually transform to a vrock after
untold time spent fighting and surviving in the Abyss.
Such elevations are rare, however, for most demons
are destroyed before they attain significant power. The
greatest of those that do survive, make up the ranks of
the demon lords that threaten to tear the Abyss apart
with their endless warring.
By expending considerable magical power, demon
lords can raise lesser demons into greater forms, though
such promotions never stem from a demon's deeds or
accomplishments. Rather, a demon lord might warp a manes into a quasit when it needs an invisible spy, or
turn an army of dretches into hezrous when marching
against a rival lord. Demon lords only rarely elevate
demons to the highest ranks, fearful of inadvertently
creating rivals to their own power.
Wherever they wander across the
Abyss, demons search for portals to the other planes.
They crave the chance to slip free of their native realm
and spread their dark influence across the world,
undoing the works of the gods, tearing down civilizations,
and reducing the cosmos to despair and ruin.
. Some of the darkest legends of the mortal realm are
built around the destruction wrought by demons set
loose in the world. As such, even nations embroiled
in bitter conflict will set their differences aside to help
contain an outbreak of demons or to seal off abyssal
breaches before these fiends can break free.
Demons carry the stain of
abyssal corruption with them, and their mere presence
changes the world for the worse. Plants wither and die
in areas where abyssal breaches and demons appear.
Animals shun the sites where a demon has made a
kill. The site of a demonic infestation might be fouled
by a stench that never abates, by areas of bitter cold or
burning heat, or by permanent shadows that mark the
places where these fiends lingered.
Outside the Abyss, death is a minor
nuisance that no demon fears. Mundane weapons can't
stop these fiends, and many demons are resistant to
the energy of the most potent spells. When a lucky hero manages to drop a demon in combat, the fiend dissolves
into foul ichor. It then instantly reforms in the Abyss, its
mind and essence intact even as its hatred is inflamed.
The only way to truly destroy a demon is to seek it in the
Abyss and kill it there.
A powerful demon can take steps
to safeguard its life essence, using secret methods and
abyssal metals to create an amulet into which part of
that essence is ceded. If the demon's abyssal form is
ever destroyed, the amulet allows the fiend to reform at a time and place of its choosing.
Obtaining a demonic amulet is a dangerous
enterprise, and simply seeking such a device risks
drawing the attention of the demon that created it. A
creature possessing a demonic amulet can exact favours
from the demon whose life essence the amulet holds or inflict great pain if the fiend resists. If an amulet is
destroyed, the demon that created it is trapped in the
Abyss for a year and a day.
Despite the dark risks involved in
dealing with fiends, the mortal realm is filled with
creatures that covet demonic power. Demon lords
manipulate these mortal servants into performing ever
greater acts of depravity, furthering the demon lord's
ambitions in exchange for magic and other boons.
However, a demon r~gards any mortals in its service as
tools to use and then discard at its whim, consigning
their mortal souls to the Abyss.
Few acts are as dangerous as
summoning a demon, and even mages who bargain
freely with devils fear the fiends of the Abyss. Though
demons, yearn to sow chaos on the Material Plane, they
show no gratitude when brought there, raging against
their prisons and demanding release.
Those who would risk summoning a demon might
do so to wrest information from it, press it into service,
or send it on a mission that only a creature of absolute
evil can complete. Preparation is key, and experienced
summoners know the specific spells and magic items
that can force a demon to bend to another's will. If a
single mistake is made, a demon that breaks free shows
no mercy as it makes its summoner the first victim
of its wrath.
The Book of Vile Darkness, the
Black Scrolls of Ahm, and the Demonomicon of Jggwilv
are the foremost authorities on demonic matters. These
ancient tomes describe techniques that can trap the
essence of a demon on the Material Plane, placing it
within a weapon, idol, or piece of jewellery and preventing
the fiend's return to the Abyss.
An object that binds a demon must be specially
prepared with unholy incantations and innocent blood.
It radiates a palpable evil, chilling and fouling the
air around it. A creature that handles such an object
experiences unsettling dreams and wicked impulses,
but is able to control the demon whose essence is
trapped within the object. Destroying the object
frees the demon, which immediately seeks revenge
against its binder.
No matter how secure its
bindings, a powerful demon often finds a way to escape
an object that holds it. When a demonic essence
emerges from its container, it can possess a mortal host.
Sometimes a fiend employs stealth to hide a successful '.
possession. Other times, it unleashes the full brunt of its
fiendish drives through its new form.
As long as the demon remains in possession of its
host, the soul of that host is in danger of being dragged
to the Abyss with the demon if it is exorcised from the
flesh, or if the host dies. If a demon possesses a creature.
and the object binding the demon is destroyed, the possession lasts until powerful magic is used to drive
the demonic spirit out of its host.
DEMON LORDS
The chaotic power of the Abyss rewards demons of
particular ruthlessness and ingenuity with a dark blessing, transforming them into unique fiends whose
power can rival the gods. These demon lords rule
through cunning or brute force, hoping to one day claim
the prize of absolute control over all the Abyss.
Although most demon
lords rise up from the vast and uncountable mobs of
demons rampaging across the Abyss, the plane also
rewards outsiders that conquer any of its infinite layers.
The elven goddess Lolth became a demon lord after
Corellon Larethian cast her into the Abyss for betraying
elvenkind. Sages claim that the Dark Prince Graz'zt
originated on some other plane before stealing his
abyssal title from another long-forgotten demon lord.
The greatest sign of a demon
lord's power is its ability to reshape an abyssal realm. A
layer of the Abyss controlled by a demon lord becomes
a twisted reflection of that fiend's vile personality,
and demon lords seldom leave their realms for fear of
allowing another creature to reshape and seize it.
As with other demons, a demon lord that dies on
another plane has its essence return to the Abyss, where
it reforms into a new body. Likewise, a demon lord that
dies in the Abyss is permanently destroyed. Most demon
lords keep a portion of their essence safely stored away
to prevent such a fate.
Baphomet
The demon lord Baphomet, also known as the Horned
King and the Prince of Beasts, rules over minotaurs and
other savage creatures. If he had his way, civilization
would crumble and all races would embrace their base
animal savagery.
The Prince of Beasts appears as a huge, black-furred
minotaur with iron horns, red eyes, and a blood-soaked
mouth. His iron crown is topped with the rotting heads
of his enemies, while his dark armour is set with spikes
and skull-like serrations. He carries a huge glaive
named Heartcleaver but often hurls it into the fray so as
to face his enemies with horns and hooves.
Demogorgon
The Sibilant Beast and the self-styled Prince of
Demons, Demogorgon yearns for nothing less than
undoing the order of the multiverse. An insane
assemblage of features and drives, the Prince of Demons inspires fear and hatred among other demons
and demon lords.
Demogorgon towers three times the height of
a human, his body as sinuous as a snake's and as
powerful as a great ape's. Suckered tentacles take
the place of his arms. His saurian lower torso ends
in webbed and clawed feet and a forked tail whose whip-like tips are armed with cruel blades. The Prince
of Demons has two baleful baboon heads, both of
them mad. It is only the conflict between the two
halves of his dual nature that keeps the demon lord's
ambitions in check.
Graz'zt
The demon lord Graz'zt appears as a darkly handsome
figure nearly nine feet tall. Those who refer to the
Dark Prince as the most humanoid of the demon lords vastly underestimate the capacity for evil in his
scheming heart.
Graz'zt is a striking physical specimen, whose
demonic nature shows in his ebon skin, pointed ears,
yellow fangs, the crown of horns, and six-fingered hands.
He delights in finery, pageantry, and sating his decadent
desires with subjects and consorts alike, among whom
incubi and succubi are often his favourites.
Jubilex
The demon lord of slimes and oozes, Juiblex is a stew
of noxious fluids that lurks in the abyssal depths. The
wretched Faceless Lord cares nothing for cultists
or mortal servants and its sole desire is to turn all
creatures into formless copies of its horrid self.
In·its resting state, Juiblex spreads out in a noxious
mass, bubbling and filling the air with a profound
stench. On the rare occasions when creatures confront
the demon lord, Juiblex draws itself up into a shuddering
cone of slime striated with veins of black and green.
Baleful red eyes swim within its gelatinous body while
dripping pseudopods of ooze lash out hungrily at any
creature they can reach.
Lolth
The Demon Queen of Spiders is the evil matron of the
drow. Her every thought is touched by malice, and the
faithful priestesses. She directs her faithful while she
weaves plots across the worlds of the Material Plane,
looking forward to the time when her drow followers
bring those worlds under her control.
Lolth appears as a lithe, imperious drow matriarch
when she manifests to her followers in the mortal
realm, which she does with unusual frequency. When
a battle breaks out- or if she has a reason to remind her
followers to fear her- Lolth's lower body transforms into
that of a huge demonic spider, whose spike-tipped legs
and mandibles tear foes apart.
Orcus
Known as the Demon Prince of Undeath and the Blood
Lord, the demon lord Orcus is worshipped by the undead
and by living creatures that channel the power of
undeath. A brooding and nihilistic entity, Orcus yearns
to make the world a place of death and darkness,
forever unchanging except by his will.
The Demon Prince of Undeath ls a foul and corpulent
creature, with a humanoid torso, powerful goat·legs,
and the desiccated head of a ram. His sore-ridden body
stinks of disease, but his decaying head and glowing
red eyes are as a creature already dead. Great black
bat wings sprout from his back, stirring reeking air
as he moves.
Orcus wields a malevolent artefact known as the
Wand of Orcus, a mace-like rod of obsidian topped
by a humanoid skull. He surrounds himself with
undead and living creatures not under his control are
anathema to him.
Degermu
Known as the Gnoll Lord and the Beast of Butchery,
the demon lord Degermu hungers for slaughter
and senseless destruction. Gnolls are his mortal
instruments and he drives them to ever-greater
atrocities in his name. Delighting in sorrow and
hopelessness, the Gnoll Lord yearns to turn the world
into a wasteland in which the last surviving gnolls tear
each other apart for the right to feast upon the dead.
Degermu appears as a huge, scarred gnoll with a
spiky crest of black spines, and eyes that burn with
an emerald flame. His armour is a patchwork of shields and
breastplates claimed from fallen foes and decorated by
those foes' flayed skins. Degermu can summon a triple
flail he calls the Butcher, which he wields to deadly
effect or wills to fly independently into battle as he tears
foes apart with teeth and claws.
Other Demon Lords
No one knows the full number of demon lords that
rage in the Abyss. Given the infinite depths of that
plane, powerful demons constantly rise to become
demon lords, then fall almost as quickly. Among the
demon lords whose power has endured long enough
for demonologists to name them are Fraz-Urb'luu, the
Prince of Deception; Kostchtchie, the Prince of Wrath;
Pazuzu, Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms; and
Zuggtmoy, Lady of Fungi.
Demon Types
Demonologists organize the chaotic distribution of
demons into broad categories of power known as
types. Most demons fit into one of six major types, with
the weakest categorized as Type 1 and the strongest
as Type 6. Demons outside the six main types are
categorized as minor demons.
Demons by Type
Type Examples
- barlgura, shadow demon, vrock
- chasme, hezrou
- glabrezu, yochlol
- nalfeshnee
- marilith
- balor, goristro
Balor
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Figures of ancient and terrible evil, balors rule as
generals over demonic armies, yearning to seize power
while destroying any creatures that oppose them.
Wielding a flaming whip and a longsword that
channels the power of the storm, a balor's battle
prowess is fueled by hatred and rage. It channels this
demonic fury in its death throes, falling within a blast of
fire that can destroy even the hardiest foes.
Barlgura
https://www.aidedd.org/dnd/images/barlgura.jpg
The barlgura represents the savagery and brutality
of the Abyss. Barlguras gather in packs to take down
tougher foes, keep gruesome trophies from their
victories, and decorate their territory with such objects.
A barlgura looks like a hulking orangutan with a
gruesome, drooping visage and tusks jutting from
its jaw. Standing just under 8 feet tall, it has broad
shoulders and weighs 650 pounds. It moves apishly
along the ground, but it climbs with great speed
and agility.
Chasme
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/1/1d/Chasme-5e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160924023403
This loathsome demon resembles an unspeakable
crossing of humanoid and fly. A chasme shuffles about
on four spindly legs that can find purchase on walls
and ceilings. A droning sound precedes the approach
of a chasme, inflicting foes with a terrible lethargy that
leaves them open to attack.
The lowly chasmes serve more powerful masters as
interrogators or taskmasters. A chasme lives to dole
out torture as punishment and has a knack for spotting
demons that have deserted their lords. Capturing and
returning such traitors allows a chasme to torment the
victim without fear of reprisal.
Dretch
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Dretches are among the weakest of demons- repulsive,
self-loathing creatures doomed to spend eternity in a
state of perpetual discontent. Their low intelligence
makes dretches unsuitable for anything but the simplest
tasks. However, what they lack in potential, they make
up for in sheer malice. Dretches mill about in mobs,
voicing their displeasure as an unsettling din of hoots,
snarls, and grunts.
Glabrezu
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/5/5d/Glabrezu-5e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161120142628
A glabrezu takes great pleasure in destroying mortals
through temptation, and these creatures are among the
few demons to offer their service to creatures foolish
enough to summon them.
Although glabrezus are devastating in combat, they
prefer to tempt victims into ruin, using power or wealth
as a lure. Engaging in guile, trickery, and evil bargains,
a glabrezu hoards riches that it uses to fulfil promises
to shortsighted summoners and weak-willed mortals.
However, if its attempts to entice or deceive fail, a
glabrezu has the strength to fight and win.
Goristro
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/b/bd/Goristro-5e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161020182739
The goristro resembles a fiendish minotaur t0wering1
more than twenty feet tall. When controlled by a demon
lord, goristros make formidable living siege engines and
prized pets. Goristros possess preternatural cunning
when navigating labyrinthine passages and shifting
corridors, pursuing foes in a terrifying hunt.
A hulking goristro sometimes bears a palanquin,
carrying smaller demons on its broad shoulders, m~ch
like an elephant carries riders on its back:
Hezrou
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Hezrous serve as foot soldiers in the demonic hordes of
the Abyss. Although physically powerful, they are weakminded and hezrous can easily be duped into sacrificing
themselves by more powerful demons. As they press
their attacks into the heart of an enemy's forces, their foul stench can sicken even the toughest foes.
Manes
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/b/b1/Manes-5e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161120181844
Souls of evil creatures that descend to the Lower
Planes are transformed into manes- the lowest form
of demonkind. These wretched fiends attack any non-demon they see, and they are called to the Material
Plane by those seeking to sow death and chaos.
Orcus, the Prince of Undeath, has the power to
transform manes into undead monsters, most often
ghouls and shadows. Other demon lords feed on manes,
destroying them utterly. Otherwise, killing a manes
causes it to dissipate into a cloud of reeking vapour that
reforms into another manes after one day.
Marilith
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Terrible to behold, a marilith has the lower body of a
great serpent and the upper torso of a humanoid female
with six arms.
Wielding a wicked blade in each of its six hands, a
marilith is a devastating foe that few can match in battle.
These demons possess keen minds and a finely honed
sense of tactics, and they are able to lead and unite
other demons in common cause. Mariliths are often
encountered as captains at the head of a demonic horde,
where they embrace any opportunity to rush headlong
into battle.
Nalfeshnee
https://media-waterdeep.cursecdn.com/avatars/thumbnails/0/261/1000/1000/636252768396688147.jpeg
The nalfeshnee is one of the most grotesque demons- a
corpulent mockery of ape and boar standing twice the
height of a human, with feathered wings that seem too small for its bloated body. These brutish features
conceal a remarkable intelligence and cunning.
Nalfeshnees are devastating in combat, using
their wings to soar above the front ranks and reach
vulnerable adversaries that can be dispatched with little
effort From the thick of battle, they telepathically bellow
commands to lesser demons, even as they inspire a
sense of dread that forces their foes to scatter and run.
Nalfeshnees feed on hatred and despair, but they
crave humanoid flesh above all else. They keep their
larders filled with humanoids abducted from the Material Plane, then eat those creatures alive during
elaborate feasts. Thinking of themselves as refined and
cultured, nalfeshnees employ stained and rusted cutlery
when they dine.
Quasit
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Quasits infest the Lower Planes. Physically weak, they
keep to the shadows to plot mischief and wickedness.
More powerful demons use quasits as spies and
messengers when they aren't devouring them or pulling
them apart to pass the time.
A quasit can assume animal forms, but in its true form
ft looks like a 2-foot-tall green humanoid with a barbed
tail and horns. The quasit has clawed fingers and toes,
and 'these claws can deliver an irritating poison. It
prefers to be invisible when it attacks.
Shadow Demon
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/4/4f/Monster_Manual_5e_-_Demon%2C_Shadow_-_Conceptopolis_-_p64.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160618230737
When a demon's body is destroyed but the fiend is
prevented from reforming in the Abyss, its essence
sometimes takes on a vague physical form. These
shadow demons exist outside the normal abyssal
hierarchy since their creation results most often from
mortal magic, not from transformation or promotion.
Shadow demons all but disappear in the darkness,
and they can creep about without making a sound. A
shadow demon uses its insubstantial claws to feast on
its victim's fears, to taste its memories, and drink in
its doubts. Bright light harries this fiend and shows its
distinct shape, resolving it from a blur of darkness to a winged humanoid creature whose lower body trails off
into nothing, and whose claws rend a victim's mind.
Vrock
https://media-waterdeep.cursecdn.com/avatars/thumbnails/0/87/1000/1000/636252737538172594.jpeg
Vrocks are dull-witted, capricious fiends that live only
to create pain and carnage. A vrock resembles a giant
hybrid of humanoid and vulture, its gnarled, bestial body
and broad wings stinking of offal.
Vrocks gobble humanoid flesh whenever they can,
stunning potential prey with an ear-splitting shriek, then
swooping down to attack with beak and claw. Vrocks
can shake their wings, releasing clouds of toxic spores.
Coveting pretty things, vrocks turn against each
other for the chance to lay claim to cheap jewellery or
ornamental stones. Despite their love of treasure, vrocks
are difficult to bribe, seeing no reason to bargain when
they can simply take what they want from a would-be
bargainer's corpse.
Yochlol
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/a/a6/Yochlol-5e.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161120185841
The yochlols are the Handmaidens of Lolth-extensions
of the Spider Queen's will dedicated to acting as
her spies, taskmasters, and agents of villainy. They
attend their goddess in the Demonweb Pits, but Lolth
sometimes dispatches yochlols to the Material Plane
to guard her temples and to aid her most devout
priestesses. Yochlols don't form outside Lolth's realm of
the Demonweb and they serve no demon lords except
their queen.
Outside the Abyss, a yochlol can assume the guise
of a female drow or monstrous spider to conceal its
demonic form. In its true form, the fiend appears as a
pillar of yellow slime with a single malevolent eye. In its
drow and true form, a yochlol's touch carries the same
venomous touch as its spider form's bite.
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