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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardBalor (Fire Demon)

When folk whisper frightened tales of the demonic, what most envision is the balor—a towering figure of fire and flesh, a horned nightmare armed with a flaming whip and a sword flying through the night in search of its latest victim. On the Abyss, balors serve demon lords as generals or captains, and they typically command vast legions of demons. Standing at 14 feet in height, only the cruelest mortal souls—those who devoted entire lives to sins too numerous to count—can fuel the formation of a balor. More often, a balor forms from a mass of dozens of mortal souls who shared debased ideologies in life.

Balor Lords

Those rare few balors who form from single souls are the ones most likely to eventually transcend the notable power they already wield, becoming a nascent demon lord. These balor lords are each unique creatures of 21st to 25th level in power who rule their own realm in the Abyss. In time, a balor lord can further develop into a unique creature with wildly different powers, even ascending to the role of a true demon lord.

Recall Knowledge - Fiend (Religion): DC 40
Unspecific Lore: DC 38
Specific Lore: DC 35

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Changes from being Elite are marked in red below.
NOTE: The +2 damage bonus to non-strike offensive abilities (+4 if the ability is limited, such as spells) is NOT factored in.

Elite BalorCreature 21

Legacy Content

CE Large Demon Fiend 
Source Bestiary pg. 83
Perception +38; darkvision, true seeing
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic; telepathy 100 feet
Skills Acrobatics +37, Athletics +39, Deception +38, Diplomacy +34, Intimidation +40, Religion +34, Society +34, Stealth +35
Str +9, Dex +7, Con +9, Int +6, Wis +6, Cha +8
Items longsword
AC 47; Fort +41, Ref +37, Will +36; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 510; Immunities fire; Weaknesses cold 20, cold iron 20, good 20
Aura of Flame (aura, divine, evocation, fire) 20 feet. A foe that starts its turn in the aura takes 3d6+10 fire damage, or 6d6+20 fire damage if the balor has grabbed or restrained it. A creature that hits a balor with an unarmed Strike takes 3d6+10 fire damage, and weapons that hit a balor take 3d6+10 fire damage. Attack of Opportunity [reaction] The balor can use Attack of Opportunity when a creature within their reach uses a concentrate action, in addition to its normal trigger. They can disrupt triggering concentrate actions, and they disrupt actions on any hit, not just a critical hit. Death Throes (death, divine, evocation, fire) When a balor dies, their body explodes in a 100-foot aura of intense demonic flame. All creatures and objects in range take 16d10 fire damage (DC 47 basic Reflex save). Because the flame is infused with Abyssal energy, creatures in the area apply only half their usual fire resistance. Creatures with immunity to fire use an outcome one degree of success better than what they rolled, instead of gaining the usual benefit of immunity. The bodies of creatures reduced to 0 Hit Points by a balor’s death throes are completely incinerated into fine ash.
Speed 35 feet, fly 70 feet
Melee [one-action] vorpal cold iron silver longsword +42 [+37/+32] (evil, magical, reach 10 feet, versatile P), Damage 4d8+2+17 slashing plus 1d6 evilMelee [one-action] cold iron silver flame whip +42 [+37/+32] (disarm, evil, fire, magical, reach 20 feet, trip), Damage 4d6+2+17 fire plus 1d6 evil, Improved Grab, and whip repositionDivine Innate Spells DC 46 (+4 dmg); 10th dimension door, divine decree (x2); 8th dispel magic (at will); 6th dominate (at will); 5th dimension door (at will); Cantrips (10th) telekinetic projectile; Constant (6th) true seeing
Divine Rituals DC 46 (+4 dmg); 1st abyssal pact
Dimensional Dervish A balor can cast their 5th-level innate dimension door with only a single action.Dispelling Strike [free-action] Frequency once per round. Trigger The balor hits a creature, object, or spell effect with a weapon Strike. Effect The balor casts an innate dispel magic on the target of the triggering Strike.Infuse Weapons (divine, evocation) Any weapon a balor wields becomes a +3 major striking vorpal weapon made of cold iron and silver while the demon holds it. A weapon that isn’t eligible for the vorpal rune doesn’t gain its effects. The balor can change its evil damage to chaotic whenever it attacks. The demon can conjure a whip made of flames with an Interact action. This whip gains the same benefits as other weapons the balor wields.Lifedrinker [free-action] (divine, healing, necromancy) Trigger The balor kills a living creature that is at least 15th level. Effect The balor drinks the triggering creature’s life force and regains 10d8+80 Hit Points.Whip Reposition When a balor grabs a creature with a whip Strike, they can move the creature to any space in the whip’s reach. The balor can move without ending the grab as long as the creature remains within the whip’s reach, and the balor can move the creature to any other space in the whip’s reach with an Interact action.

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.