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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 their natural form, a vermlek resembles an oversized pinkish worm with four long tails that end in writhing fibrils. Their mouth splits into four segments like a profane tulip lined with rows of dozens of pointed teeth. However, these fiends are often 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
Medium Demon Fiend Unholy Source Monster Core 2 pg. 90
Perception +8; darkvision
Languages Chthonian, Draconic, Empyrean; telepathy 100 feet
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +10, Deception +7 (+10 to Impersonate while Inhabiting a Body), Stealth +8
Str +3, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +2
Items longsword
AC 16 (19 while Inhabiting a Body); Fort +11, Ref +8, Will +6
HP 55; Weaknesses cold iron 5, holy 5, sonic 5
Recoil from Wasted Opportunities Vermleks can't stand the sight of a good meal presented and then swiftly taken away. Whenever a dying creature within sight of the vermlek has its dying condition removed, the vermlek takes 1d6 mental damage.
Speed 25 feet, burrow 15 feet
Melee [one-action] bite +12 [+7/+2] (unholy), Damage 2d8+3 piercingMelee [one-action] fist +12 [+8/+4] (agile, unholy), Damage 2d6+3 bludgeoningMelee [one-action] longsword +12 [+7/+2] (unholy, versatile P), Damage 1d8+4 slashingDivine Innate Spells DC 19; 3rd fear, harm
Abandon Body [two-actions] (manipulate) Requirements The vermlek is Inhabiting a Body; Effect The vermlek crawls out of the body they are inhabiting, devouring much of the body's remaining flesh and regaining 10 Hit Points in the process. The corpse they leave behind is little more than a husk.Inhabit Body [three-actions] (manipulate) Requirements The vermlek isn't already Inhabiting a Body; Effect The vermlek crawls into the body of an adjacent Medium humanoid that has been dead for no more than 1 week, consuming the bulk of the victim's skeleton and internal organs as they do so and cramming themself into the cavity. As long as they Inhabit a Body, the vermlek loses their 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 they are inhabiting.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 19 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.
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"
Demon
Source Monster Core pg. 76 1.1When a sinful mortal soul is judged and sent on to the Outer Rifts, 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 Outer Rifts.
Demons are selfish and self-absorbed creatures, and most firmly believe that mortals only play at being more virtuous than fiends. They enjoy tempting mortals into damnation to both indulge their egos and swell their armies. Like many other fiends, one of the great rewards of this manipulation is fulfilling their 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.
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. Demonic Sources
When a sinful mortal soul is consigned to the Outer Rifts, 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. 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, pawns, or even currency for their more powerful masters.
History of Evil
Before mortals flooded the Universe with their sins, qlippoths (page 280) ruled the depths of the Outer Rifts. It has been ages since a qlippoth has risen high enough to directly challenge the demons' hold, but the ancient fiends still work to weaken their enemies by attacking the mortals that spawn them. Newcomers to the Rifts
Though now the most plentiful fiends of the Outer Rifts, 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 Rifts for dominance, but eventually their sheer numbers allowed them to become the predominant fiends of the plane.
Out of the Rifts
The winding, ever-changing realm of the Outer Rifts 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 Outer Rifts wear through the boundaries of reality to create wound-like portals into other worlds, demons can spill over to wreak incredible havoc. Sinful Destruction
While they enjoy causing destruction themselves, most demons prefer to trick and tempt mortals into falling to sin of their own volition. Unlike devils, who seek control, demons have a taste for ruin. Uncountable Demons
The Outer Rifts 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 Outer Rifts 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. 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 types of 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.
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