Daemon, AstradaemonVaguely humanoid in shape, this gaunt fiend has the face of a hideous fish and a body of lanky limbs and writhing tendrils.
Astradaemon CR 16Source Bestiary 2 pg. 63, The Great Beyond - A Guide to the Multiverse pg. 54
XP 76,800
NE Large outsider (daemon, evil, extraplanar)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., deathwatch, true seeing; Perception +22
Aura soul siphon (10 ft.)
DefenseAC 29, touch 17, flat-footed 21 (+7 Dex, +1 dodge, +12 natural, –1 size)
hp 212 (17d10+119)
Fort +12, Ref +17, Will +14
Defensive Abilities displacement; DR 10/good and silver; Immune acid, death effects, disease, poison; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 27
OffenseSpeed 90 ft., fly 90 ft. (good)
Melee bite +23 (2d6+5 plus energy drain and grab), 2 claws +23 (1d8+5 plus energy drain), tail slap +18 (1d12+2 plus energy drain)
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tail)
Special Attacks devour soul, energy drain (1 level, DC 25)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 17th; concentration +24)
Constant—deathwatch, displacement, true seeing
At will—enervation, fear (DC21), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), vampiric touch
3/day—locate creature, plane shift (DC 24)
1/day—energy drain (DC 24), finger of death (DC 24), summon (level 6, 1d3 derghodaemons 50%)
StatisticsStr 21, Dex 25, Con 24, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 24
Base Atk +17; CMB +23; CMD 41
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Iron Will, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Power Attack, Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +24 (+48 jump), Escape Artist +27, Fly +9, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (planes) +22, Perception +22, Sense Motive +22, Stealth +23, Survival +22
Languages Abyssal, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
EcologyEnvironment any (Abaddon or Astral Plane)
Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3–6)
Treasure standard
Special AbilitiesDevour Soul (Su) As a standard action, an astradaemon that begins its turn with a grappled opponent can attempt to draw out and consume the soul of its victim, killing it instantly. This ability only works on living creatures, which may resist with a DC 25 Fortitude saving throw. The save is Constitution-based. For every 5 HD of the slain creature, the daemon gains a +1 profane bonus on attacks, saving throws, and checks for 24 hours. This ability does not consume all of the soul, and pieces of it still exist after the daemon completes its feast (enough to be able to resurrect the slain victim normally).
Soul Siphon (Su) If a Small or larger living creature dies within 10 feet of an astradaemon, the daemon gains 1d8 temporary hit points and a +2 bonus to Strength for 10 minutes. These bonuses stack with themselves. Incorporeal undead and living spirits traveling outside the body (such as a person using astral projection or magic jar) take 1d8 points of damage each round within the daemon’s aura.
DescriptionBelieved to be creations of the Four Horsemen, astradaemons live out their existence in search of souls to harvest. These deadly creatures are ravening planar predators, openly hunting throughout the void for souls on which to feed. These voracious creatures are the personifications of death resulting from negative energy or level drain. Their vile touch drains life force from their enemies, and even perishing near them sates their thirst for life and souls.Creatures in "Daemon" CategorySource Bestiary 2 pg. 62
Harbingers of ruin and embodiments of the worst ways to die, daemons epitomize painful death, the all-consuming hunger of evil, and the utter annihilation of life. While demons seek to pervert and destroy in endless unholy rampages, and devils vex and enslave in hopes of corrupting mortals, daemons seek only to consume mortal life itself. While some use brute force to despoil life or prey upon vulnerable souls, others wage campaigns of deceit to draw whole realms into ruin. With each life claimed and each atrocity meted out, daemons spread fear, mistrust, and despair, tarnishing the luster of existence and drawing the planes ever closer to their final, ultimate ruin.
Notorious for their hatred of the living, daemons are the things of dark dreams and fearful tales, as their ultimate ambitions include extinguishing every individual mortal life—and the more violent or terrible the end, the better. Their methods vary wildly, typically differentiated by daemonic breed. Many seek to infiltrate the mortal plane and sow death by their own taloned hands, while others manipulate agents (both mortal and immortal) as malevolent puppet masters, instigating calamities on massive scales from their grim realms. Such diversity of methods causes many planar scholars to misattribute the machinations of daemons to other types of fiends. These often deadly mistakes are further propagated by daemons' frequent dealings with and manipulation of other outsiders. Yet in all cases, despair, ruin, and death, spreading like contagion, typify the touch of daemonkind, though such symptoms often prove recognizable only after the hour is far too late.
Daemons flourish upon the plane of Abaddon, a bleak expanse of cold mists, fearful shapes, and hunted souls. Upon these wastes, the souls of evil mortals flee predation by the native fiends, and terror and the powers of the evil plane eventually transform the most ruthless into daemons themselves. Amid these scarred wastelands, poison swamps, and realms of endless night rise the foul domains of the tyrants of daemonkind, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Lords of devastation, these powerful and unique daemons desire slaughter, ruin, and death on a cosmic scale, and drive hordes of their lesser kin to spread terror and sorrow across the planes. Although the Horsemen share a singular goal, their tactics and ambitions vary widely.
Along with mastery over vast realms, the Horsemen are served by unimaginably enormous armies of their lesser brethren, but are obeyed most closely by retinues of daemons enslaved to their titles. These specific strains of daemonic servitors, known among daemonkind as deacons, serve whoever holds the title of Horseman. Although these instruments of the archdaemons differ in strength and ability, their numbers provide their lords with legions capable of near-equal terrorization.
More so than among any other fiendish race, several breeds of daemons lust after souls. While other foul inhabitants of the planes seek the corruption and destruction of living essences, many daemons value possession and control over mortal animas, entrapping and hoarding souls—and in so doing disrupting the natural progression of life and perverting the quintessence of creation to serve their own terrible whims. While not all daemons possess the ability to steal a mortal being's soul and turn it to their use, the lowliest of daemonkind, the maniacal cacodaemons, endlessly seek life essences to consume and imprison. These base daemons enthusiastically serve their more powerful kin, eager for increased opportunities to doom mortal spirits. While cacodaemons place little value upon the souls they imprison, greater daemons eagerly gather them as trophies, fuel for terrible rites, or offerings to curry the favor of their lords. Several breeds of daemons also posses their own notorious abilities to capture mortal spirits or draw upon the power of souls, turning the forces of utter annihilation to their own sinister ends.
The Four Horsemen
Four dread lords, infamous across all the planes, rule the disparate hordes of daemonkind. Risen from among the ranks of their terrible brethren to displace those fiendish tyrants before them, they are the archdaemons, the End Bringers, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In the blasphemous annals of fiendish lore, they are the prophesied architects of multiversal ruin, destined to stand triumphant over cadaverous cosmoses and infinities of silence before also giving way to absolute oblivion. Undisputed in his power among their kind, each Horseman rules a vast realm upon the bleak plains of Abaddon and a distinctive method of mortal ruin: pestilence, famine, war, or death from old age. Yet while each archdaemon commands measureless influence, daemons know nothing of loyalty and serve only those they cannot overcome. Thus, though the Horsemen stand peerless in their power and manipulations among daemonkind, they must ever defend their thrones from the machinations of ambitious underlings and the plots of other archdaemons.
Upon the poisonous expanses of Abaddon, lesser daemonic peers carve petty fiefdoms and posture as lords, but despite their world-spanning intrigues, all bow before the Horsemen—though most do so only grudgingly. Ancient myths also tell of a mysterious fifth Horseman, the Oinodaemon, though nearly all mention of such a creature has been scoured from the multiverse.
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