ORC-ing the Demons

[Moth Mariner]

So there's been a fair few de-OGL-ified demons now, and I thought I'd try track them all down/see which ones are missing. Feel free to offer corrections! Some of these are more tenuous than others.

Vrolikai
This replaces the Balor as top demon, representing all sins. Already existed in 1e and 2e, but has been bumped up to CL 20. Same size, no fire whip but it has multiple arms with black flame daggers. Also no need to worry about obscenely broken amounts of object damage to weapons! I like these changes, even if fire whips look cool.

Vansidieth
This replaces the Marilith as the pride demon. Massive change here. This is now a medium, horned, hooved, bestial creature, wielding a flaming sword. Isn't that a Brimorak? No, because this one has wings and a dog face instead of a goat face! Not my favourite visual change, you can probably tell. Too similar to an unrelated demon. It mostly does a lot of debuffing, and is one level higher. It does have a cool ability to increase action economy for its allies. Probably shines in a team rather than solo.

Degholau
This one I'm not as sure of. PathfinderWiki has put it as the replacement for the Glabrezu. In 1e the Glabrezu was listed as the demon of "betrayal, treachery, and treason". In 2e it was tagged as the treachery demon, and the Degholau is the treason demon. They are the same level, but otherwise fairly different. The Degholau is two sizes smaller, and looks like a star-nosed mole from your nightmares. Five morning-star-like tails with an eye on each one. I kinda love it. However it doesn't have Illusory Disguise, which means it can't mechanically replace the Glabrezu in a lot of previous adventures. However that might be fixed by our next new demon...

Miastrilek (and Omox)
This one is I think two demons replacing one. Omox already existed, a medium humanoid-ish ooze that hates cleanliness. More importantly we now have the Miastrilek. It looks like an enormous bloodseeker (it's large), and hates creatures recovering from poison or disease. That's both sides of the sins of the Hezrou! Pollution of body, pollution of the world. The Miastrilek also comes in handy as it can Change Shape, disguising itself as any small or medium humanoid. Hey, that's what we were missing from the Degholau!

Eshmok
The sin of wrath. This is the Vrock replacement. A large flier that's hurt by the Calm spell. It's also a fungally-infested wasp-person. I think the visual design could do with a little more time in the oven, make it more weird/demonic, but overall nice change! And Calistrians hate it. There's no Vrock dance party though, for folks who ever used that.

Kalakaigh
Here's our blood/murder demon. The new Babau! Looks like a horned monkey with a bat face. One of its arms appears to be just bones? The art is in a rougher/more painterly style than the other demons, hard to tell. It can change shape, but in a restricted way that means it always looks like a murderer lurking in an alley XD (black clothes, black gloves, black mask/headcovering). No acid slime reaction, but a bunch more useful/flavourful spells (paralyse/fear/dream message).

Pusk
This is basically just a name change. Sloth demon, used to be Dretch.

Imp
Imps are now the universal fiendish little guy of the Outer Planes, though their appearance will adapt to the plane they spend most time on. So you can keep using that Quasit art for any chthonian imps :)

That means we're only short on replacements for Nalfeshnee (greed) and Nabasu (gluttony) demons, I believe. Potentially also Lilitu, though I'd leave that to lawyers to figure out.

Anyway, opinions? Have I missed the return of greed and gluttony? Do we think they'll pop up in Revenge of the Runelords? Fingers crossed...

[Perses13]

While Vrolikai definitely seems to be the replacement level 20 demon for the Balor, I was under the impression that Imvath was their replacement in terms of theme.

[Kelseus]

The following demons are pre-remaster Paizo creations and therefore stick around in Remaster:
Abrikandilu (Creature 4),
Brimorak (Creature 5),
Coloxus (Creature 12),
Ghalzorokh (Creature 15),
Invidiak (Creature 7),
Kalavakus (Creature 10),
Kithangian (Creature 9),
Omox (Creature 12),
Roru (Creature 7),
Seraptis (Creature 15),
Shemhazian (Creature 16),
Urglid (Creature 13),
Vavakia (Creature 18),
Vermlek (Creature 3),
Vloriak (Creature 5),
Vrolikai (Creature 20)

That gives us a 3, 4, 5, 7(x2), 9, 10, 12 (x2), 13, 15 (x2), 16, 18 and 20* creature levels (as OP stated Vrolikai used to be 20).

Since remaster they added:
Degholau (Creature 13)
Eshmok (Creature 9)
Imvath (Creature 19)
Katpaskir (Creature 18)
Miastrilek (Creature 11)
Pusk (Creature 2)
Vansidieth (Creature 18)

This puts us with only gaps at levels 1, 6, 8, 14, 17.

Some of these seem to be 1 for 1. Pusk is literally a Dretch. But since Paizo's dretch was so different from D&D's they just had to drop the name. Eshmok is a large level 9 flying demon with infestation abilities. Not a Vrok with the serial numbers filed off, but not that far off either. Miastrilek is a large level 11 demon with pollution abilities. Not a Hezrou, but also not-not a Hezrou.

Others are clearly more replacing the niche with something more interesting than the D&D creature. The Merilith was the "pride demon" but really she was the "I have a bunch of arms" demon. Vansidieth on the other hand leans much more into the "I'm a leader because I'm the best" aspect of pridefulness.

I think the Seraptis and Ghalzarokh will replace the Nalfeshnee niche. Although I would like to see a new demon that really leans into the "I am the Abyss incarnate" idea.

[Perpdepog]

I was real chuffed when it turned out we got the invidiak back, mostly 'cause I like saying its name.

It does need an errata to swap out its reduced resistance to Vitality for Spirit, though. Hopefully it shows up in Monster Core 2.

[Moth Mariner]

Kelseus wrote:

The Merilith was the "pride demon" but really she was the "I have a bunch of arms" demon. Vansidieth on the other hand leans much more into the "I'm a leader because I'm the best" aspect of pridefulness.

Yeah i do think things are shuffled around. Like the shapeshifting moving from lies demon to corruption demon, the Vrolikai has a multi-weapon attack like the Marilith did, despite being the not-Balor.

[Moth Mariner]

Perses13 wrote:

While Vrolikai definitely seems to be the replacement level 20 demon for the Balor, I was under the impression that Imvath was their replacement in terms of theme.

I'll also add that James Jacobs did say that Vrolikai was the Balor replacement, at least back in May 2024.

But Imvath seem very cool and evil. And level-wise, they slot in where the Vrolikai left (19) when they upgraded to replace the Balor.

[Moth Mariner]

Also Paizo did say they were adding demons to replace the mechanical and narrative niches of the OGL demons, so that's part of the reason for this list.

[Ravingdork]

How can it be a replacement when we've had it all along?

[Moth Mariner]

Its level and lore changed.

A vrolikai is no longer a level 19 evolved Nabasu that serves as an assassin or executioner, but instead a level 20 commander of the armies of demonkind.