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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Vermlek (Worm Demon)

Vermleks, also called worm demons, manifest from the souls of mortals who desecrated the dead, such as grave robbers or necromancers. These fiends take their violations to a new extreme, using their demonic powers to horrifically core their living victims and don the flesh-husk that remains.

In its natural form, a vermlek resembles an oversized pinkish worm with four long tails that end in writhing fibrils. Its mouth splits into four segments like a profane tulip lined with rows of dozens of pointed teeth. More often than not, however, these fiends are encountered only after they have crawled into the body of a dead humanoid and made the hollowed-out flesh their temporary host. Vermleks use their powers of deception and disguise to infiltrate mortal settlements and influence unwitting acquaintances of the bodies they wear. Particularly intelligent or conniving vermleks might even reach stations of real power within the ranks of an army or government, at which point exposure of their true form can wreak havoc among the populace they have so thoroughly duped.

Recall Knowledge - Fiend (Religion): DC 18
Unspecific Lore: DC 16
Specific Lore: DC 13

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

VermlekCreature 3

Legacy Content

CE Medium Demon Fiend 
Source Pathfinder #151: The Show Must Go On pg. 82
Perception +5; darkvision
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic; telepathy 100 feet
Skills Acrobatics +5, Athletics +7, Deception +4 (+7 to Impersonate while Inhabiting a Body), Stealth +5
Str +3, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +2
AC 13 (13 while Inhabiting a Body); Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +3
HP 55; Weaknesses cold iron 5, good 5, sonic 5
Recoil from Wasted Opportunities Worm demons can’t stand the sight of a good meal presented and then swiftly taken away. Whenever a dying creature within sight of the worm demon has its dying condition removed, the worm demon takes 1d6 mental damage.
Speed 25 feet, burrow 15 feet
Melee [one-action] bite +9 [+4/-1], Damage 2d8+3 piercingMelee [one-action] fist +9 [+5/+1] (agile), Damage 2d6+3 bludgeoningMelee [one-action] longsword +9 [+4/-1] (versatile P), Damage 1d8+4 slashingDivine Innate Spells DC 16, attack +8; 3rd fear, harm
Abandon Body [two-actions] (manipulate) Requirement The worm demon is Inhabiting a Body; Effect The worm demon crawls out of the body it is inhabiting, devouring much of the body’s remaining flesh and regaining 10 Hit Points in the process. The corpse it leaves behind is little more than a husk.Inhabit Body [three-actions] (manipulate) The worm demon crawls into the body of an adjacent dead Medium humanoid, consuming the bulk of the victim’s skeleton and internal organs as it does so and cramming itself into the cavity. As long as it Inhabits a Body, the worm demon loses its bite attack, can wield weapons like a humanoid, gains a +3 circumstance bonus to AC, and gains a +3 circumstance bonus to Deception checks to Impersonate the creature it is inhabiting. It cannot use this ability if it is already Inhabiting a Body.Unsettling Movement (emotion, fear, mental, visual) Whenever the vermlek Abandons a Body or Inhabits a Body, all creatures within 30 feet who can see the vermlek must succeed at a DC 16 Will save or become frightened 1. On a critical failure, the creature is frightened 1 and sickened 1. Regardless of the result, creatures are immune to the same vermlek’s unsettling movement for 24 hours.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Telltale Desecration

Coroners and priests in demon-infested lands know immediately that they’re dealing with a vermlek when they’re brought a corpse that is little more than a sack of skin.

All Monsters in "Demon"

NameLevel
Abrikandilu (Wrecker Demon)4
Babau (Blood Demon)6
Balor (Fire Demon)20
Brimorak (Arson Demon)5
Dretch (Sloth Demon)2
Ghalzarokh (Tyranny Demon)15
Glabrezu (Treachery Demon)13
Hezrou (Toad Demon)11
Invidiak (Shadow Demon)7
Kalavakus (Slaver Demon)10
Katpaskir (Nihilism Demon)18
Kithangian (Beast Demon)9
Marilith (Pride Demon)17
Nabasu (Gluttony Demon)8
Nalfeshnee (Boar Demon)14
Omox (Slime Demon)12
Quasit1
Demon, Roru7
Seraptis (Suicide Demon)15
Shemhazian (Mutilation Demon)16
Succubus (Lust Demon)7
Demon, Urglid13
Vavakia18
Vermlek (Worm Demon)3
Vloriak (Despoiler Demon)5
Vrock (Wrath Demon)9
Vrolikai (Death Demon)19

Demon

Source Bestiary pg. 76
When a sinful mortal soul is judged and sent on to the Abyss, it can become a deadly fiend—a demon. Demons are living incarnations of sin—be they classic sins like wrath or gluttony, or more “specialized” depravities like an obsession with torture or the act of treason or treachery. Once formed, a demon’s driving goals are twofold—the amassing of personal power, and the corruption of mortal souls to cause them to become tainted by sin. In this way demons ensure a never-ending supply of new demons to bolster their ever-growing ranks in the Abyss.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Abyssal Newcomers

Though now the most plentiful fiends of the Abyss, demons are relative newcomers, spawning only as mortal influence—and mortal sin, in particular—began to shape the plane. For eons, demons fought with other longstanding residents of the Abyss for dominance, but eventually their sheer numbers allowed them to become the predominant chaotic fiends.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Conjuring Demons

Conjuring demons is ill-advised, yet the desperate or wicked still do. Rituals like planar ally or planar binding are typical for long-term ends, and summon fiend for combat applications. For planar ally, demons sometimes accept offerings that aren't valuable if gifting them to a demon pushes the ritualist further into sin.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Demonic Deities

The most powerful demons are known as demon lords (the term is gender neutral in this case). Of these divinities, Lamashtu is the most powerful. Countless other demon lords exist, including Abraxas, Cyth-V’sug, Kabriri, and Zura.

Sidebar - Locations Demonic Locations

The sprawling, heaving, changing realm of the Abyss is the planar home of demonic life, but demons can be found anywhere the capacity to sin exists. Evil or foolish conjurers are fond of calling upon demons for advice or darker needs. When the Abyss wears through the boundaries of reality to create wound-like portals into other worlds, demons can spill over to wreak incredible havoc.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Demonic Possession

Some demons specialize in the art of possessing creatures or objects to spread fear and chaos. In such cases a demon gains a powerful disguise with which to work its evils upon the world, a subterfuge that delights the demon.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Demonic Sources

When a sinful mortal soul is consigned to the Abyss, it spends time wallowing in the mire and feeding on filth. If it survives and is not itself eaten, the soul eventually ascends into a demon, as influenced by the nature of its sin, yet most demons are themselves capable of reproduction as well. The fecundity of demonic life is perhaps the greatest—and most threatening—aspect of these dangerous fiends.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Demons and Souls

Demons, like many other fiends, hunger for souls. In their eyes, the primary use for these souls is to spawn new demons, who can serve as soldiers, slaves, pawns, or even currency for their more powerful masters.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Half-Demons

The Abyss can corrupt living creatures through direct congress or supernatural infusion of Abyssal energies, resulting in monstrous hybrids. A half-demon should be a custom creature, but you can quickly generate one by giving an existing creature a few of a demon's abilities along with the demon's sin-related vulnerability. For example, a half-hezrou hill giant would gain purity vulnerability, but perhaps also a bite, swim Speed, and poisonous pustules. When swapping over abilities between creatures of different levels, be sure to adjust the numbers for the new level.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Demons

The Abyss may be the largest of the Outer Planes, and mortals have an equally large capacity to betray themselves, society, and the natural order of reality. With this limitless source for increasingly specialized sins, the Abyss is constantly generating new types of demons to plague reality. While the vast majority of these are swiftly destroyed and never rise again, enough survive that dozens, if not hundreds, of types of demons are known to exist beyond those listed here. The shadowy invidiak is a demon without a body, born of envious souls. The goat-faced, flame-hooved brimorak rises from the souls of arsonists. Slimy, horned blood demons spawn from assassins, boar demons from the greedy... the list goes on and on.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Sinful Destruction

While they enjoy causing destruction themselves, most demons prefer to trick and tempt mortals into falling to sin of their own volition.

Sidebar - Additional Lore The Nature of Chaos

Some say that the nature of chaos inherently precludes cooperation and subtlety, but demons are proof of the fallacy of this claim.

Sidebar - Additional Lore What Makes a Sin?

Some classify sin into seven categories—envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath. While these sins embody some of the most powerful and numerous demons, far more than seven demons exist. Any act of cruelty or destruction a mortal takes to gratify the self at others’ expense is, in effect, a sin, and any such act can spawn a demon from a soul in the afterlife.