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Vrolikai (Death Demon)
Unlike other demons, the dread vrolikai doesn't form from a sinful soul—they instead manifest from a
nabasu
once the nabasu finally satisfies their hunger and returns to the
Abyss
, and as such vrolikais suffer from no vulnerability associated with a specific sin. A vrolikai who survives this process and the period of vulnerability that follows gains great power and in time can claim large regions of the Abyss as their own domain. Also known as death demons, these murderous monsters often serve demon lords as executioners or assassins.
Recall Knowledge - Fiend
(
Religion
)
: DC 41
Vrolikai
Creature 19
Uncommon
CE
Large
Demon
Fiend
Source
Bestiary 2 pg. 68
2.0
Perception
+33;
darkvision
,
true seeing
Languages
Abyssal
,
Celestial
,
Draconic
,
Necril
;
telepathy 100 feet
Skills
Acrobatics
+37,
Arcana
+33,
Deception
+35,
Intimidation
+37,
Religion
+33,
Stealth
+33,
Survival
+33
Str
+8,
Dex
+6,
Con
+9,
Int
+6,
Wis
+6,
Cha
+8
AC
44;
Fort
+34,
Ref
+31,
Will
+31; +1 to all saves vs. magic
HP
375;
Immunities
death
effects;
Weaknesses
cold iron
15, good 15
Death-Stealing Gaze
(
aura
,
divine
,
necromancy
,
visual
) 30 feet. When a non-demon ends its turn in the aura, it must attempt a DC 38 Fortitude save. If it fails, it becomes
drained 1
.
Speed
35 feet, fly 50 feet
Melee
jaws +38 [
+33/+28
] (
evil
,
magical
,
reach 10 feet
),
Damage
4d12+16 piercing plus 1d6 evil
Melee
black flame knife +38 [
+34/+30
] (
agile
,
chaotic
,
evil
,
magical
),
Damage
3d4+16 piercing plus 2d6 negative plus 1d6 evil
Melee
stinger +38 [
+33/+28
] (
evil
,
magical
,
reach 15 feet
),
Damage
4d8+16 piercing plus 1d6 evil plus mindwarping
Divine Innate Spells
DC 43;
9th
massacre
,
power word kill
,
vampiric exsanguination
;
7th
paralyze
,
regenerate
;
5th
dimension door
(at will);
Constant
(6th)
true seeing
Rituals
DC 43;
1st
abyssal pact
Black Flame Knives
A vrolikai can manifest a dagger-shaped blade of what looks like crystallized black flame in each of their four hands. These weapons function as
+2
greater striking
daggers
, although they fade away into nothingness 1 minute after a vrolikai no longer carries them.
Consume Death
(
concentrate
,
divine
,
necromancy
,
visual
) The vrolikai focuses their death-stealing gaze upon a single target they can see within 30 feet. The target must immediately attempt a Fortitude save against death-stealing gaze.
Success
The creature is unaffected.
Failure
The creature is affected by death-stealing gaze and becomes
drained 1
. If the creature was already drained 1 by the death-stealing gaze before attempting the save, a failed save increases the value of the drained condition by 1, to a maximum of drained 4. The vrolikai gains 10 temporary Hit Points, and the drained creature is temporarily immune until the start of the vrolikai's next turn.
Critical Failure
As failure, but the creature increases the amount of drain by 2.
Focused Flames
The vrolikai attacks a single target with all of its black flame knives. The demon makes a black flame knife Strike. On a successful attack, the vrolikai deals the damage from a black flame knife Strike to the target, plus an additional 2d6 negative damage for every black flame knife they wield beyond the first (typically 6d6 extra damage). Even on a failed attack, the vrolikai deals the damage from one black flame knife to the target, though they still miss completely on a critical failure. On a critical hit, the victim becomes
drained 2
as the focused attack drains pure life essence as well as damage. This counts toward the vrolikai's multiple attack penalty as a number of attacks equal to the number of black flame knives the demon wields.
Mindwarping
(
emotion
,
enchantment
,
mental
) The sting of a vrolikai is mind-warping. A creature struck must attempt a DC 44 Will save.
Critical Success
The creature is unaffected.
Success
The creature becomes
stupefied 1
for 1 minute.
Failure
The creature becomes stupefied 1. Further failed saves against mindwarping increase the condition value by 1, to a maximum of stupefied 4.
Critical Failure
As failure, but the creature also becomes confused for 1 minute.
Stolen Death
A creature that dies while suffering drain from a vrolikai's death-stealing gaze rises as a
ghoul
the next midnight.
Vrolikai Newcomers
When vrolikais first manifest on the
Abyss
, they have no base of power and are, despite their abilities, relatively defenseless from denizens even more powerful than themselves. As a result, most rely upon stealth and patience for their first few centuries while they build up a network of minions and establish their own Abyssal fortifications before they turn their attentions back to the
Material Plane
.
All Monsters in "
Demon
"
Name
Level
Abrikandilu (Wrecker Demon)
4
Babau (Blood Demon)
6
Balor (Fire Demon)
20
Brimorak (Arson Demon)
5
Dretch (Sloth Demon)
2
Glabrezu (Treachery Demon)
13
Hezrou (Toad Demon)
11
Invidiak (Shadow Demon)
7
Kalavakus (Slaver Demon)
10
Marilith (Pride Demon)
17
Nabasu (Gluttony Demon)
8
Nalfeshnee (Boar Demon)
14
Omox (Slime Demon)
12
Quasit
1
Shemhazian (Mutilation Demon)
16
Succubus (Lust Demon)
7
Vavakia
18
Vermlek (Worm Demon)
3
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sinful Destruction
While they enjoy causing destruction themselves, most demons prefer to trick and tempt mortals into falling to sin of their own volition.
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.
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.