In short time we'll be launching the first volume of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path—Pathfinder Adventure Path #73 The Worldwound Incursion. Since the campaign deals with the denizens of the Abyss, we included stats for a demon lord in each volume. In the course of the Adventure Path you'll see stats and art for Xoveron, Shax, Sifkesh, Nocticula, Baphomet, and Deskari. Three other demon lords get stats in the fall when we release Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4. In there you'll see Dagon, Kostchtchie, and Pazuzu. To give you a taste of a demon lord's power I've gleaned the following list of demon lord traits from a trusted demonologist.
Demon Lord Traits
Demon Lord Traits (Ex, Sp, or Su): A demon lord is a powerful, unique demon that rules a layer of the Abyss. All demon lords are chaotic evil outsiders that are, at a minimum, CR 26. Demon lords have a particular suite of traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry) as summarized here.
- A demon lord can grant spells to its worshipers as if it were a deity. A demon lord's domains are Chaos, Evil, and two other domains relevant to its theme and interests. Like a deity, a demon lord has a favored weapon.
- A demon lord's natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as chaotic, epic, and evil for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
- Abyssal Resurrection (Ex) A demon lord rules an Abyssal realm, a vast world that not only serves as its home but provides it with power. If a demon lord is slain, its body rapidly melts into corruption (leaving behind any gear it held or carried), its soul returns to a hidden location within its realm, and it is immediately restored to life (as true resurrection) at that location. Once this occurs, a demon lord can't use this ability again until a full year has passed. A demon lord realizes it is vulnerable during this time and usually doesn't risk further battles for the remainder of that year, relying on the defenses of its realm and its legions of minions to protect it. A demon lord that is slain again during this year or is killed by unusual methods (such as by a true deity or an artifact created for this purpose) is slain forever—its remains appearing somewhere deep in the Abyss among other dead demon lords from the ages. A demon lord who does not control a domain does not gain this ability.
- Frightful Presence (Su) A demon lord can activate its frightful presence as a free action as part of any attack, spell-like ability, special attack, or by speaking aloud.
- Immunity to ability damage, ability drain, charm effects, compulsion effects, death effects, energy drain, and petrification.
- Regeneration (Ex) Only epic and good damage, or damage from a creature of equal or greater power (such as an archdevil, deity, demon lord, or protean lord) interrupts a demon lord's regeneration.
- Resistance to acid 30, cold 30, and fire 30.
- Summon Demons (Sp) Three times per day as a swift action, a demon lord can summon any demon or combination of demons whose total combined CR is 20 or lower. This otherwise works like the summon universal monster rule with a 100% chance of success, and counts as a 9th-level spell effect.
- Telepathy 300 feet.
Abyssal Realms
Demon lords' realms range in size, but even the smallest are as large as a continent, and the greatest are larger than some planets. The realms' environments, themes, and traits are as unique as the demon lords themselves, presenting unusual challenges and dangers to creatures trying to explore them. Yet despite the close connection a demon lord has to its realm, it does not exert total control over the realm, and powerful adventurers can infiltrate such realms and accomplish goals without arousing the lord's anger—if they're careful.
A demon lord gains the following additional powers while in its realm (the statistics presented on the following pages do not include these abilities):
- Mythic: A demon lord functions as a 10th mythic rank creature, including the mythic power ability (10/day, surge +1d12). It may expend uses of mythic power to use the mythic versions of any spell-like ability denoted with an asterisk (*) just as if the ability were a mythic spell.
- Use of the following spell-like abilities at will—demand, discern location, fabricate, major creation, and polymorph any object (when used on objects or creatures that are native to the realm, the polymorph duration factor increases by 6).
- Use of the following spell-like abilities once per day—binding, miracle (limited to physical effects that manipulate the realm or to effects that are relevant to the demon lord's areas of concern)
- Heightened Awareness (Ex): A demon lord gains a +10 insight bonus on Perception checks and Initiative checks.
Adam Daigle
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