Hello,
I am reading the Great Beyond. Thought the Book there are references to Daemons and Demons.
Since I am not a native speaker I consulted dict.leo.org for the two words, although I knew before what a demon is.
The page tells me, that demon is american english and daemon is british english and are of identical meaning.
Knowing that DnD and therefor Pathfinder has a such a vast variety of monsters, that a shortage of meaningful names seems nearly inevitable, I get the distinct feeling, that there must be other differences between these two kinds of monsters.
Greetz
Ganzir
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Demons are the Chaotic Evil outsiders. They live in the Abyss, they want to capture you alive, make you watch your friends and loved ones die in a gruesome manner and then kill you. Slowly. Painfully.
Examples include Succubi, Glabrezu, Babau etc - the classic D&D demons.
Daemons are the Neutral Evil outisders. They dwell in the Abbadon and they don't really care for your suffering or the amount of pain they inflict, they would rather spend the time killing more people. For them it's all about efficiency with no philosophy attached. Just the body count counts.
Examples include: Astradaemon, Leukadaemon, Hydrodaemon. In Wotc universe, the NE outsiders are called yugoloths.
I kind of agree that demon and daemon are too similiar, but then again the name "Yugoloth" makes me think about Yugoslavia first and evil monsters second, so I'm kind of on the fence here.
Creative Director
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When you're looking at the words themselves, yeah, there's not much difference. In 1st edition D&D, the word "daemon" was used simply as a name for neutral evil fiends. Lawful evil fiends were devils, while chaotic evil fiends were demons.
These is the same definitions we use in pathfinder, but there's a deeper layer as well:
Devil: Lawful evil, these are fiends who seek to corrupt the mind and pervert mortal loyalty. They are manifestations of treachery and betrayal.
Demon: Chaotic evil, these are fiends who seek to destroy the body and pervert the flesh. They are manifestations of sin and destruction.
Daemon: Neutral evil, these are fiends who seek to destroy the soul and consume raw life. They are manifestations of death and ways to die.
EDIT: Semi-ninjaed. But there ya go.
Indeed.
Although the Golarion cosmology and organization of such fiends might differ from the traditional D&D setting here is how it goes :
- Demons (or Tanar'ri) are CE and from the Abyss. They main goal is to corrupt and destroy.
- Daemons (or Yugoloths in D&D) are NE and from lower planes, like Abaddon (Hades in D&D). They often have their own personal plans rather than following a hierarchy.
- Devils (or Baatezus) are of course LE and from Hell. They like to seduce and corrupt, especially the pure souls.
Edit : Damn, ninjaed twice.
Dictionaries often don't help.
What's the difference between a wizard, a sorcerer, a warlock, an enchanter, a conjurer...?
Ask a Pathfinder/D&D/4e player, and you're bombarded with lots of differences between these concepts.
Ask a dictionary, and you'll find them all in the same list of synonyms.
If you dig around a little, you'll find lots of similar cases.