Demon, ShachathThis winged abomination is a horrid mix of demonic and angelic features, as if two bodies were carelessly fused into one. Its fanged, inhuman face is frozen in permanent contempt, while a beautiful visage with an expression of horror bulges from the back of its skull.Shachath CR 11Source Pathfinder #75: Demon's Heresy pg. 84
XP 12,800
CE Medium outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar)
Init +11; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., detect good; Perception +27DefenseAC 25, touch 18, flat-footed 17 (+7 Dex, +1 dodge, +7 natural)
hp 148 (11d10+88)
Fort +11, Ref +14, Will +14
DR 10/cold iron or good; Immune electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 22OffenseSpeed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (average)
Melee +1 longsword +19/+14/+9 (1d8+8/19–20), 2 claws +14 (1d4+3)
Special Attacks blasphemous influence, lingering doubt, merge with host
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +18)
Constant—detect good, misdirection
At will—detect thoughts (DC 17), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), telekinesis (DC 20)
3/day—chaos hammer (DC 19), desecrate, greater invisibility, major image (DC 18), suggestion (DC 18)
1/day—blasphemy (DC 22), scrying (DC 19), summon (level 4, 1 succubus or 1 incubus 65%)
1/week—unhallow (only one such effect can be active at a time)StatisticsStr 25, Dex 25, Con 26, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 21
Base Atk +11; CMB +18; CMD 36
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Weapon Focus (claw)
Skills Bluff +23, Diplomacy +19, Disguise +14, Fly +21, Knowledge (planes) +16, Knowledge (religion) +16, Perception +27, Sense Motive +19, Sleight of Hand +18, Stealth +21, Use Magic Device +19; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic; telepathy 100 ft.
SQ change shape (Medium or Large humanoid; alter self), subtle magic, trophy takerEcologyEnvironment any (Abyss)
Organization solitary, pair, or cabal (1 plus 1–2 succubi and 1–3 incubi)
Treasure standard (+1 longsword, other treasure)Special AbilitiesBlasphemous Influence (Su) A victim that falls under the effects of a shachath’s merge with host ability becomes chaotic evil. Divine spellcasters subject to a shachath’s merge with host ability temporarily lose connection with their faith, and now gain their divine powers from the Abyss or a demon lord the shachath serves. Though they can still cast the spells they had prepared, they cannot cast spells with the lawful or good descriptor. If the victim of a shachath’s merging had access to the Good domain, that access changes to the Evil domain. If the victim had access to the Law domain, that access changes to the Chaos domain. If the victim had access to a subdomain associated with the Good or Law domain, that subdomain changes to the Demon subdomain. These changes last as long as the shachath remains merged with the victim. Other domain choices are not adjusted. If the victim is rescued from the shachath’s influence and the merge ends without the victim’s death, the victim remains chaotic evil—this may result in the victim losing some or all class abilities. An atonement spell can restore the victim’s alignment at no additional cost, at which point lost class abilities are restored.
Lingering Doubt (Su) Once per day, a shachath can use a touch attack to affect a creature with lingering doubt. The target must be able to cast divine spells, be able to channel positive energy, or have the lay on hands ability. If the target fails a DC 20 Will save, all augury, commune, divination, and similar spells cast by the target automatically fail. In addition, using divine spells and spell-like abilities, channeling positive energy, or using lay on hands has a 20% chance of failure. This curse is permanent, but can be removed normally. The target cannot detect the curse on itself, but other creatures may detect the curse normally. A shachath may use scrying on the cursed creature as if it knew the target well, and doing so requires only a full-round action. A shachath may only curse one creature at any given time. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Merge with Host (Su) As a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity, a shachath can merge its body with that of a helpless creature and control it if the victim fails a DC 20 Will save. A creature that successfully saves is not subject to the same shachath’s merge with host ability for 24 hours. While merged with a victim, a shachath gains control of the body and may use it as its own, as if it controlled the target via dominate monster. Misdirection or similar effects can hide the victim’s alignment change. The shachath has full access to all of the host’s defensive and offensive abilities, and the shachath can still use its own spell-like abilities as well. As long as the shachath occupies the host, it knows (and can speak) the languages known by the victim and basic information about the victim’s identity and personality. It can learn specific memories or knowledge from the victim by telepathic communication as needed. Damage dealt to a host body does not harm the shachath, and if the host body is slain, the shachath emerges and is dazed for 1 round. A shachath can choose to abandon a host body as an immediate action, but doing so causes the host to be dazed for 1 round, and the shachath must wait 24 hours before attempting to use merge with host again on any target. A shachath can be ejected from a host through the use of break enchantment (against CL 13th), dispel chaos, or dispel evil. Merge with host is a mind-affecting possession effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Subtle Magic (Su) Whenever a shachath targets a creature with a spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability, and that spell or ability has no obvious physical effects, the targeted creature has no sense of having been the target of a magical effect after making a successful saving throw against the effect. If the ability requires a touch attack but the target is unaware of being threatened, the shachath can attempt an opposed Bluff or Sleight of Hand check to touch the target without arousing suspicion or being noticed.
Trophy Taker (Su) A shachath that takes a personal item from a prospective target can wield greater power over that creature. The item must be something that the target considers its own possession and carries with it most of the time (for example, a piece of jewelry, a favored weapon, a holy symbol, or some other memento). The shachath gains a +2 bonus to the saving throw DCs for all of its supernatural or spell-like abilities that target the owner of the trophy. This bonus increases to +4 if the trophy is the target’s holy symbol. A shachath can only have one trophy at any time, and it loses any benefit from an existing trophy if it takes a new one.DescriptionA shachath’s duplicitous nature is reflected in its physical form. It is literally two-faced, and sees and speaks easily from either side of its skull. One face is angelic and the other horrific, but a shachath is a single being of pure malevolence. Shachaths are concerned with the destruction of mortal faith in anything, and are most often found in the service of Baphomet, Pazuzu, Sif kesh, or Socothbenoth. A typical shachath is 7-1/2 feet tall and weighs 320 pounds.EcologyShachaths are living embodiments of blasphemy. They form in the Abyss from truly blasphemous souls—those who actively work against true believers. Their merged forms can be inverted at their whims; at one moment, the demonic face might be carrying on a conversation, and in the next, with a folding of flesh and a cracking of bones, the shachath can bring its angelic face to the fore.Habitat & SocietyShachaths that reside in the Abyss typically act as advisors and counselors to more powerful demons that seek their unique insight into good gods, outsiders, and the mortal condition itself. Others are skilled at interrogating and breaking good-aligned prisoners. On the Material Plane, shachaths dedicate their efforts toward the corruption of mortal faith. This can represent an attack upon a devout cleric or an entire community—or both, if they can manage.Creatures in "Demon" CategorySource Pathfinder RPG Bestiary pg. 57
Demons exist for one reason—to destroy. Where their more lawful counterparts, the devils of Hell, seek to twist mortal minds and values to remake and reshape them into reflections of their own evil, demons seek only to maim, ruin, and feed. They recruit mortal life only if such cohorts speed along the eventual destruction of hope and goodness. Death is, in some ways, their enemy—for a mortal who dies can often escape a demon's depredations and flee to his just reward in the afterlife. It is the prolonging of mortal pain and suffering that fuels a demon's lusts and desires, for it is partially from mortal sin and cruelty that these monstrous fiends were born.
Demons are the most prolific and among the most destructive of the fiendish races, yet despite what some lore might preach, they were not the first forms of life to rise in the stinking pits of ruin and cruelty known across the multiverse as the Abyss. Before the first fledgling deity gazed upon reality, before mortal life drew its breath, before even the Material Plane itself had fully formed, the Abyss was infested with life.
Known to many scholars as “proto-demons,” these wretched and deadly beings were the qlippoth. Today, because of the influence of sinful mortal souls upon the Abyss, mixed with unholy tamperings at the hands of the daemonic keepers of Abaddon and the cruel whims of fate and evolution, the rule of the qlippoth has receded. The proto-demons dwell now in the noxious and forgotten corners of the Abyss, and the far more fecund and prolific demons rule now in their stead. With each evil mortal soul that finds its way into the Abyss, the ranks of the demonic hordes grows—a single soul can fuel the manifestation of dozens or even hundreds of demons, with the exact nature of the sins carried by the soul guiding the shapes and roles of the newly formed fiends.
The Abyss is a vast (some say infinite) realm, far larger than any other plane save possibly the primal chaos of the Maelstrom itself. As befits such a vast and varied realm, the demonic host is likewise diverse. Some carry in their frames humanoid shapes, while others are twisted beasts. Some flop on land while others flap in air or sea. Some are schemers and manipulators of emotion and politics, others are destructive engines of ruin. Yet all demons work to the same goal—pain and suffering for mortal life in all its forms.
Yet despite this, mortals have sought demonic aid since the start. Be it an instinctual draw to self-destruction or a misguided lust for power, conjurers to this day continue to draw forth demons with forbidden magic. Some conjure demons for lore, while others call upon them to serve as assassins or guards. Demons view such summoners with a mix of hatred and thanks, for most demons lack the ability to come to the Material Plane to wreak havoc on their own. They depend on the mad to call them up from the Abyss, and while they gnash their fangs and rail against the commands and strictures enforced, most demons find ways to twist their summoners' demands so that even the most tightly controlled demonic slave leaves a trace of ruin and despair in its wake. More often than not, a foolish spellcaster makes a fatal mistake in the conjuring and pays for it with blood, unwittingly releasing a terrible blight upon the world as his conjuration breaks free of his control.
The truly mad call upon demons to offer themselves, both body and soul, in the misguided belief that alliance with the demonic can buy salvation and protection when the demonic apocalypse finally comes to call. Tales of desperate kings who sought to engage demons to serve as generals for their armies or of lunatics who seek demonic sires to gift them with horrific children are common enough, yet worst are those mortals who worship the most powerful demons as gods, and who pledge their lives in support of that which would bring destruction to all. Demon SubtypeDemons are chaotic evil outsiders that call the Abyss their home. Demons possess a particular suite of traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry) as summarized here.- Immunity to electricity and poison.
- Resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10.
- Summon (Sp) Demons share the ability to summon others of their kind, typically another of their type or a small number of less powerful demons.
- Telepathy.
- Except where otherwise noted, demons speak Abyssal, Celestial, and Draconic.
- A demon's natural weapons, as well as any weapon it wields, is treated as chaotic and evil for the purpose of resolving damage reduction
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