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Phasmadaemon (Terror Daemon)
The horrifying phasmadaemons make use of illusions and their own frightening appearances (that of serpents with bony tails, horned crocodilian skulls for heads, and several insectile pincers) to strike fear into the hearts of others. They represent deaths brought about by fright. Ultimately, any kind of fear can lead to the creation of a phasmadaemon, but a soul who transforms into such a fiend must quickly find other fears to feed on to build up their own strength. Without the nourishment of human fear, the newborn phasmadaemon begins to waste away, eventually “dying” and becoming planar quintessence. Only the most clever and capable phasmadaemons survive their initial hunger, learning how to prey on even the bravest souls as a result.Recall Knowledge - Fiend (Religion): DC 36
Unspecific Lore: DC 34
Specific Lore: DC 31
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 PhasmadaemonCreature 18
Large Daemon Fiend Unholy Source Monster Core 2 pg. 81
Perception +31; darkvision, truesight
Languages Common, Daemonic; telepathy 100 feet
Skills Acrobatics +33, Athletics +32, Deception +33, Intimidation +35, Religion +31
Str +8, Dex +8, Con +6, Int +3, Wis +4, Cha +6
AC 41; Fort +33, Ref +28, Will +33; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 360; Immunities death effects, fear; Weaknesses holy 15
Frightful Presence (aura, emotion, fear, mental) 60 feet, DC 37Unending Terror Escaping fear near a phasmadaemon is no simple task. Creatures in the phasmadaemon's frightful presence aura don't reduce the value of their frightened condition automatically at the end of their turns. Instead, they must attempt a Will save at the end of their turn against the DC of the effect that caused the condition. On a success, the creature's frightened condition is reduced by 1.
Speed 25 feet, fly 35 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +35 [+30/+25] (magical, reach 10 feet, unholy), Damage 3d10+2+19 piercing plus GrabMelee [one-action] claw +35 [+31/+27] (agile, magical, reach 10 feet, unholy), Damage 3d8+2+19 slashingDivine Innate Spells DC 40, attack +32 (+4 dmg); 9th duplicate foe, phantasmagoria; 8th mask of terror; 7th shadow blast, vision of death; 6th shadow blast (×2); 5th shadow blast (×2), translocate; 4th nightmare (at will), translocate (at will); Constant (9th) truesight
Constrict [one-action] 3d10+9 bludgeoning, DC 37Consume Fear [one-action] (emotion, fear, mental) Requirements The phasmadaemon has a creature grabbed or restrained; Effect The phasmadaemon feeds on the creature's mortality and innate terror, dealing 6d8 mental damage. The creature must attempt a DC 40 Will save.
Critical Success The creature takes no damage and manages to break free from the phasmadaemon's Grab.
Success The creature takes half damage.
Failure The creature takes full damage and increases their frightened conditioned by 1, to a maximum of frightened 4.
Critical Failure The creature takes double damage and increases their frightened condition by 2, to a maximum of frightened 4. If the creature is already frightened 4, it must attempt a DC 40 Fortitude saving throw. If it fails, it's reduced to 0 Hit Points and dies. This effect has the death and incapacitation traits.Inescapable Form The phasmadaemon can Squeeze through tight spaces as if it were a Small creature. While Squeezing, it can move at its full Speed. The phasmadaemon can even Squeeze through spaces that typically fit only a Tiny creature but does so at the standard speed for Squeezing.Rend [one-action] claw
Fearful Machinations
While daemons don't typically require food, phasmadaemons seem intent on feeding on the emotions, and especially the fears, of mortals. Some believe that the life force and emotions of creatures serves as the fuel for a phasmadaemon's magic, while others suspect that phasmadaemons simply enjoy facing mortals eye-to-eye while feeding, delighting in the fear of their prey's final moments.All Monsters in "Daemon"
Daemon
Source Monster Core pg. 72 1.1Denizens of the bleak and terrible plane of Abaddon, daemons are shaped by and devoted to the destruction of life in all its forms. They seek the death of every mortal being by the most painful and horrible means possible, in service to the Apocalypse Riders. Each kind of daemon represents a different way to die, and their powers are nearly always aimed at spreading that particular form of death. Through the use of these powers, they seek to drag all existence down into a pit of hopelessness and despair, and to commit all souls to oblivion.
While mortals who summon daemons usually seek to use the creatures' destructive and corrupting powers for their own ends, daemons always look for ways to spread fear, doubt, and despair wherever they go. Often, daemons disguise their plots as the workings of other fiends, knowing that such confusion compounds mortals' fear and keeps those mortals from bringing the most effective weapons. As a result, learned mortals sometimes refer to daemons as “riders” after their leaders or “soul mongers” after their largest industry.
While many fiends seek to tempt mortals into lives of nihilistic evil to increase their own numbers and power on their native planes, daemons are further driven by a supernatural hunger for mortal souls and use a variety of methods—not least of which is the cacodaemons' soul gems—to entrap them. On Abaddon and in other forbidding places across the multiverse, souls are simultaneously a delicacy, a trade good, and a source of magical power, and the daemons are among the greatest gluttons, merchants, and abusers of this spiritual “resource.”
Daemonic Divinities
Numerous powerful and unique daemon demigods, known collectively as harbingers, rule over swaths of Abaddon. Above these demigods, though, are entities of even greater power—the four Apocalypse Riders. As the eons go on, the names and identities of specific Riders change. Currently, they consist of Apollyon (Rider of Pestilence), Charon (Rider of Death), Szuriel (Rider of War), and Trelmarixian (Rider of Famine). Of these, only Charon has never fallen to an upstart. Some hold that a “Fifth Rider” once ruled over the other four, while others maintain that the eternally eclipsed sun in the skies above Abaddon is all that remains of this long-dead god.
Other Daemons
As many daemons exist as there are awful ways to die. The bloody sangudaemon personifies death by blood loss, while the skeletal thanadaemon represents death from old age. The most powerful daemons are the olethrodaemons, who represent the massive deaths caused by apocalypses and the end of entire worlds.
Soul Gems as Treasure
Soul gems are traded in illicit markets, a tradition celestials and psychopomps alike find vile. Soul gems' value varies, but they're generally worth an amount relative to the level of a gem's captive soul. The Daemonic Paradox
Daemons embody a fundamental paradox—while they are incarnations of death and seek to devour all that lives, they are themselves living creatures. Some speak of a glorious end time after which reality will finally be free of the contagion that is life itself. Most daemons give no thought to this paradox.
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