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OK, So I know this is just Lore fluff, but I am a lil OCD about it.
So all the demons and all Fiends have the Proper name and then a common name.
Succubus - Lust Demon
But I noticed that the Vavakia does not have a common name.
Was this an over sight?
Does anyone have any ideas what they could be called?
Their sin seems to be destroying souls, so Soul Destroyer?
Noticed this as well - hoping to use one next week if all goes according to plan.
I believe they lack the associated sin in this particular case because they launched in an adventure path toolbox and did not have the as noticeable comparison point. That or perhaps "soul destruction" is tough to summarize in one word.
I've consider calling them Soulfire/Saurian/Juggernaut/Destroyer Demons,simply based on some of the descriptions. I'm most partial to Soulfire Demons.
Soul Demon? Destroyer Demon? Destruction Demon? Oblivion Demon?
It is an odd omission. But there are quite a few Immortals lacking common names, like the Quasit. As the lowliest of Demons, I can understand why they have no other name. That said, I like to refer to them as Sycophant Demons.
Soul-eater Demons?
Soulivore Demons?
Devourer Demon? Consumer Demon?
They are technically known by those names as well. Maybe the former two are simply more common perhaps?
Why would chaotic creatures follow standardized naming conversations, an inherently lawful concept?
If anything I imagine they'd defy any such nonsense by breaking any easily recognizable patterns, much as they have already done.
Creative Director
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The vavakia demon is something I invented for my homebrew back in the mid-80s, so it didn't start with that legacy in the first place. It's also one that is a complex stat block with art that tends to be bulky and take up a lot of space on the page, so often when we try to publish it as a one-page entry, there's not a lot of words on the page so things like it's alternate name are among the first to get cut. And because it's a thing I invented and sold to Paizo, not something like a vrock or a nalfeshnee that's a word that's owned by WotC and that we can only use with the OGL, we've never HAD to have an alternate name for it. And I'm not sure where its most recent incarnation showed up in 2nd edition is (has it? Hard to keep track when I'm only just now starting to clamber out of the Kingmaker zone...), but my guess is that not every writer/developer has the same mental checklist of things to do when it comes to designing demons that I do these days.
All of that combines for why the vavakia doesn't have a secondary name yet.
When we DO give demons secondary names, we/I try to be flavorful about it, and that means not every demon is named after their sin. Particularly in cases where a demon's sin is a word that is a mouthful to say or takes up several words, but also when an alternate, like "boar demon," just sounds so much more immersive and fun. And sometimes those alternate names were decided even earlier when we were coming up with names for them for miniatures or novels and the folks deciding the names there worked with a different set of criteria and conventions.
The resulting lack of a "standard" when naming creatures of chaotic evil is, I think, a feature, not a bug, though.
If I were the one developing the vavakia demon today, on one hand I'd be tempted to call it a "dinosaur demon" because that's what it is, and what it was originally designed for, but that name feels a bit silly to me today AND unfairly stigmatizes dinosaurs as demonic, which I don't think is cool. So instead, if I were to develop it for publication today, I'd probably call it a soulglutton demon, since "glutton" brings with it "sin" implications (we can't just use "gluttony demon" becasue we already used that for nabasu demons).
We didn't name the abrikandilu an envy demon because that's the invidiak, and "wrecker demon" sounds really good.
We didn't name the nalfeshnee a greed demon for reasons I can't remember, but this MIGHT have been a case where the precedent got set by the miniatures or novels.
Why would chaotic creatures follow standardized naming conventions, an inherently lawful concept?
If anything I imagine they'd defy any such nonsense by breaking any easily recognizable patterns, much as they have already done.
Stupid autocorrect. Fixed a typo.
Why this is simply untrue Mr. Jacobs. I know a particularly devilish dinosaur who can be as sweet a button. A enormous, red button with razor sharp teeth...
Avarice Demon? Atrocity Demon? Souleater Demon? Savage Demon? Brutality Demon? Extinction Demon? Saurian Demon?
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Soul Demon? Destroyer Demon? Destruction Demon? Oblivion Demon?
It is an odd omission. But there are quite a few Immortals lacking common names, like the Quasit. As the lowliest of Demons, I can understand why they have no other name. That said, I like to refer to them as Sycophant Demons.
I call them Familiar Demons.
I just want a miniature of a Vavakia Demon.
Thanks James Jacobs for creating a truly horrifying monster.