#sordesdaemon

[thecreaturecodex]

Daemon, Vepar

"Chained" © deviantArt user ArtNamia, accessed at her gallery here

[Vepar was actually the first Goetic demon I figured out how I wanted to cover after Dantalion, but I was delayed in writing her because I couldn't find art I actually liked. I knew I wanted her to be a sordesdaemon, and I wanted her to still look like a sordesdaemon, and finding a fat mermaid with horns and a rotting aspect turned out to be very difficult. Even now, this art might not actually represent a mermaid; I'm going to assume that lower body ends in a tail fin for my purposes.

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Daemon, Vepar CR 20 NE Outsider (extraplanar) This mermaid-like creature is pallid and swollen, like a corpse just before active decay sets in. She has a pair of curving horns growing from her head, and a pair of jointed legs ending in a sharp claw where the pelvic fins might be on her fishy lower body.

Vepar is the greatest of the sordesdaemons, and perhaps the most successful at their goal of spreading death through pollution. Vepar is an arms merchant of the highest caliber, selling poisons, biological and chemical weapons, along with the services of her Black Fleet to disperse them. Vepar’s Black Fleet is composed of a dozen sailing ships and two bone ships, the mundane ships crewed by ceustodaemon sailors with a piscodaemon captain and leukodaemon gunners. Not only do these vessels lay out targeted death with diseased ballista bolts and monstrous marines, but their bilge water carries with it the taint of the River Styx, polluting the seas wherever they sail and leading to outbreaks of fiendish and mutated ocean life.

Like other sordesdaemons, Vepar possesses a keen and cruel intellect, the ability to spread multiple horrific afflictions, and powerful natural weapons. Her fists, horns and talons all deal damage as unholy weapons, and those struck with her gore suffer from hideous rotting wounds, the nerves and tendons transmuting into half-living worms. She is remarkably agile despite her bulk, and her arms can stretch to unnerving proportions to strike an enemy with a fist or a touch spell. Vepar has mastery over water, and forces foes that battle her in her element to deal with choppy seas and storms as well as her direct attacks.

Vepar has gotten as far as she has by her ability to mollify the Horsemen and their Harbingers. Although she directly serves Hexxus, she has good relations with both Szuriel and Apollyon, and has been the commander of joint ventures sponsored by those horrors. She is willing to deal with mortals, sometimes through proxies and sometimes directly. On the Pandaemonic Parliament, she is often consulted on matters of logistics and military strategy. Her passion for diseases and poisons of all kinds has her following the trail of a strange rumor; green worms that devour the brains of a host and transform them into a free-willed undead. If she manages to find the truth to these legends, Vepar may be responsible for spreading the spawn of Kyuss to new worlds, and possibly even accelerate Kyuss’ rebirth and a new Age of Worms.

Vepar CR 20 XP 307,200 Variant advanced sordesdaemon NE Large outsider (aquatic, daemon, evil, extraplanar) Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect good, detect magic, Perception +27 Aura miasma (30 ft., Fort DC 32) Defense AC 36, touch 14, flat-footed 31 (-1 size, +5 Dex, +22 natural) hp 363 (22d10+242) Fort +18, Ref +20, Will +20 DR 15/good; Immune acid, death effects, disease, poison, sickened and nausea effects; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 31Defensive Abilities fortification (50%) Offense Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 60 ft. Melee 2 slams +31 (2d6+10 plus 2d6 unholy), 2 talons +31 (1d8+10 plus 2d6 unholy), gore +31 (2d8+10 plus 2d6 unholy plus pollution infusion) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft with slams) Special Attacks breath weapon (50 ft. cone, 12d6 acid and 12d6 poison, Ref DC 32 half, 1d4 rounds), unholy strike Spell-Like Abilities CL 20th, concentration +27 Constant—detect good, detect magic, detect poison At will—cloudkill (DC 22), control water, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. only), pernicious poison, poison (DC 21) 3/day—dispel good (DC 22), quickened eruptive pustules(DC 20), greater dispel magic, mass fester (DC 23), plague storm (DC 24), withdraw affliction 1/day—control weather (as druid), gate (planar travel only), empowered horrid wilting (DC 25), summon (4 piscodaemons, 50%, 8th level), transmute blood to acid (DC 26) Statistics Str 31, Dex 21, Con 33, Int 26, Wis 24, Cha 24 Base Atk +22; CMB +33 (+37 disarm); CMD 48 (50 vs. disarm) Feats Blind-fight, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Empowered SLA (horrid wilting), Greater Disarm, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (eruptive pustules), Toxicological TimingSkills Bluff +27, Climb +32, Craft (alchemy) +33, Diplomacy +25, Heal +27, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, engineering, nature) +25, Knowledge (planes, religion) +28, Perception +27, Sense Motive +30, Spellcraft +25, Stealth +21, Survival +24, Swim +32 Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Common, Daemonic, Infernal, Necril, telepathy 100 ft. SQ amphibious, improved swift alchemy Ecology Environment any land or aquatic (Abaddon) Organization unique Treasure double standard Special Abilities Improved Swift Alchemy (Ex) Vepar can craft alchemical items in half the time, and apply poison to a weapon as a swift action. She never runs the risk of wasting a dose of poison. Miasma (Su) Vepar emits a supernatural stench in a 30 foot radius. All creatures in the aura must succeed a DC 32 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1 day. A creature that succeeds this save is still sickened for 1d4 rounds, but is then immune to Vepar’s miasma for the next 24 hours. All unattended food, water, potions or other edibles become contaminated and useless automatically—such items that are held are unspoiled if the creature carrying them succeeds a DC 32 Fortitude save. A creature with the plant type or water subtype can still be affected by this ability even though it is a poison effect, and any such creature that fails this save is staggered as long as they remain sickened. The save DC is Constitution based. Vepar can turn off or activate this aura as an immediate action. This is a poison effect. Pollution Infusion (Su) Curse, disease; gore—injury; save Fort DC 32; onset immediate; frequency 1/day; damage 1d6 Con drain and stench; cure magic only. A creature that has taken Con drain from pollution infusion emits a 10 foot radius of stench, as per the universal monster rule, using the disease’s DC. A creature suffering from pollution infusion cannot heal any ability damage while the curse is in effect, and a successful remove curse or similar magic must be used before the disease can be cured. A creature reduced to 0 Con dissolves into a puddle of writhing but otherwise immobile worms—these worms can transmit the pollution infusion if ingested or exposed to an open wound. The save DC is Charisma based. Unholy Strikes (Su) Vepar’s slam attacks deal +2d6 damage to non-evil opponents, as if they were unholy weapons.

[thecreaturecodex]

Daemon, Sordesdaemon

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[Commissioned by @justicegundam82, converted from Pathfinder 2nd Edition. This commission hews pretty close to the 2e version, although I opened its SLAs up a bit and reconfigured things so the mechanics work in 1e. I also gave it a swim speed--it seems weird for a monster that hangs out in sewers and pollutes water to be able to climb but not swim. It was the commissioner’s request that I tie it to Hexxus, the Daemonic Harbinger I have already statted up based on Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. I’m always down for some synergy.

In case you were wondering, “sordes” is Latin for filth or scum. It is used as the generic name for Sordes pilosus, the first pterosaur described with a fuzzy coat. In medicine, sordes refers to a black crust that forms on the gums, lips and teeth of people suffering from chronic fevers. Fun!]

Daemon, Sordesdaemon CR 15 NE Outsider (extraplanar) This humanoid creature stands half again as tall as a man, and is nearly as large around. Its body appears swollen with strange fluids that roil beneath the surface, and its broken horns ooze a green slime.

Sordesdaemons are sometimes called “filth demons” by laypersons; they represent death by pollution. A sordesdaemon is more patient than the typical daemon, as pollution requires time to kill. They sometimes allow themselves to be summoned to the Material Plane to act as tutors for alchemical secrets. They know many ways to despoil an environment, and happily pass on new ideas or inventions into the mortal world to accelerate this process. When on the Material Plane, they prefer to spend time in toxic environments, such as sewers, garbage dumps, manure lagoons or mine tailings.

Although sordesdaemons are willing to postpone violence in pursuit of a goal, they nevertheless love it. They typically open combat with their breath weapon, spewing acidic filth on enemies before wading in with their fists and horns. The very presence of a sordesdaemon spoils mundane food and magical potions alike, and they enjoy fighting alchemists, investigators or others that rely on extracts for their martial prowess. The ooze from their horns spreads a creeping corruption, causing its victims to melt into infectious sludge. Sordesdaemons rarely fight to the death, preferring to escape and spread their contamination elsewhere.

Sordesdaemons are young in the eyes of Abaddon, and they cooperate well with all of the Horsemen and their goals. After all, a mortal weakened by pollution can die more easily from a thousand other deaths. Their true goal, however, is to elevate their creator, the daemonic harbinger Hexxus, to the rank of full Horseman. Some plan to do this through the assassination of another Horseman, whereas others hope to corrupt the remains of the Oinodaemon in hopes of getting it to seep more power, or even to pollute another plane to merge with Abaddon.

Sordesdaemon        CR 15 XP 51,200 NE Large outsider (daemon, evil, extraplanar) Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect good, detect magic, Perception +23 Aura miasma (30 ft., Fort DC 26) Defense AC 30, touch 12, flat-footed 27 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +18 natural) hp 217 (15d10+135) Fort +14, Ref +14, Will +14 DR 15/good; Immune acid, death effects, disease, poison, sickened and nausea effects; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 26 Defensive Abilities fortification (50%) Offense Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft. Melee 2 slams +22 (2d6+8 plus 2d6 evil), gore +22 (2d8+9 plus pollution infusion) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with slam) Special Attacks breath weapon (30 ft. cone, 8d6 acid and 8d6 typeless, Reflex DC 26, 1d4 rounds), unholy strikes Spell-like Abilities CL 15th, concentration +20 Constant—detect good, detect magic At will—cloudkill (DC 20), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. goods only) 3/day—dispel good (DC 20), quickened eruptive pustules (DC 18), greater dispel magic, mass fester (DC 21) 1/day—horrid wilting (DC 23), summon (2 piscodaemons, 50%, level 6th), transmute blood to acid (DC 24) Statistics Str 27, Dex 17, Con 29, Int 22, Wis 20, Cha 20 Base Atk +15; CMB +24 (+28 disarm); CMD 37 (39 vs. disarm) Feats Blind-fight, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Greater Disarm, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Quicken SLA (eruptive pustules) Skills Climb +16, Craft (alchemy) +24, Heal +23, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, engineering) +21, Knowledge (planes, religion) +24, Perception +23, Spellcraft +21, Stealth +17, Survival +23, Swim +16 Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Common, Draconic, Infernal, telepathy 100 ft. SQ improved swift alchemy Ecology Environment any land or underground (Abaddon) Organization solitary, pair or workshop (3-6) Treasure standard Special Abilities Improved Swift Alchemy (Ex) A sordesdaemon can craft alchemical items in half the time, and apply poison to a weapon as a swift action. It never runs the risk of wasting a dose of poison. Miasma (Su) A sordesdaemon emits a supernatural stench in a 30 foot radius. All creatures in the aura must succeed a DC 26 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1 day. A creature that succeeds this save is still sickened for 1d4 rounds, but is then immune to the miasma of that sordesdaemon for the next 24 hours. All unattended food, water, potions or other edibles become contaminated and useless automatically—such items that are held are unspoiled if the creature carrying them succeeds a DC 26 Fortitude save. A creature with the plant type or water subtype can still be affected by this ability even though it is a poison effect, and any such creature that fails this save is staggered as long as they remain sickened. The save DC is Constitution based. A sordesdaemon can turn off or activate this aura as an immediate action. This is a poison effect. Pollution Infusion (Su) Curse, disease; gore—injury; save Fort DC 23; onset immediate; frequency 1/day; damage 1d6 Con drain and stench; cure magic only. A creature that has taken Con drain from pollution infusion emits a 10 foot radius of stench, as per the universal monster rule, using the disease’s DC. A creature suffering from pollution infusion cannot heal any ability damage while the curse is in effect, and a successful remove curse or similar magic must be used before the disease can be cured. A creature reduced to 0 Con dissolves into a puddle of stinking sludge—this sludge can transmit the pollution infusion if ingested or exposed to an open wound. The save DC is Charisma based. Unholy Strikes (Su) A sordesdaemon’s slam attacks deal +2d6 damage to non-evil opponents, as if they were unholy weapons.