Buy me a coffeeDaemon, Phasmadaemon: A Nightmarish Illusionist
“Unleash the Horrors: Meet the Phasmadaemon, a Daemon of Terrifying Illusions and Deathly Frights!”
Appearance: The Phasmadaemon is a nightmarish entity draped in a perpetual dance of shifting illusions, revealing glossy black flesh, a bone-white face, and twisted horns beneath. Its caiman muzzle gapes in a perpetual, unnerving grin, while two orbs move beneath its flesh, devoid of sensory organs. Its flexible, boneless body flows rather than moves, culminating in a long, skeletal tail.
Behavior: Personifying death by fright, the Phasmadaemon excels in conjuring illusions so terrifying they steal the very life from their victims. With a penchant for torment, it twists its body like a hellish contortionist and relishes in terrorizing foes with illusory enemies, unreal terrors, and false terrain. It prefers to grapple and constrict its prey, watching the fear fill their eyes before the final, fatal strike.
Habitat: Thriving in the chasms of Abaddon and beyond, Phasmadaemons hunt souls via stealth, preferring solitary pursuits to develop unique torment styles. They haunt the outskirts of societies, preying on isolated individuals, and when in groups, create multitudes of illusionary images to terrorize entire crowds or groups.
Modus Operandi: The Phasmadaemon hunts with elaborate illusions, leading targets to believe in fictional horrors tailored to their deepest fears. It extracts intrinsic fears, using figments as weapons against their owners. In physical confrontations, it grapples, constricts, and revels in the grotesque pleasure of striking mortal souls dead with fear-induced maladies.
Motivation: Phasmadaemons seek the thrill of the hunt, deriving pleasure from inducing fear-induced heart attacks and other physical maladies in their victims. They continually experiment with new terrifying combinations, exchanging horrific imaginings with one another. The connection between fear and mortality fascinates them, making the grotesque pleasure of striking mortal souls dead with fear their ultimate motivation.
Phasmadaemon 5e
Phasmadaemon Pathfinder
Phasmadaemon
Large fiend (daemon), neutral evil
Armor Class 32 (natural armor, illusions)
Hit Points 264 (23d10 + 138)
Speed 30 ft., Fly 40 ft. (good)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 (+5) | 25 (+7) | 23 (+6) | 19 (+4) | 18 (+4) | 22 (+6) |
Saving Throws Fort +19, Ref +14, Will +19
Damage Resistances Cold 10, Electricity 10, Fire 10
Damage Immunities Acid, Death Effects, Disease, Poison
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., True Seeing
Perception +30
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; Telepathy 100 ft.
Challenge 17 (102,400 XP)
Aura: Frightful Presence.
Any creature within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute.
Actions
Multiattack. The Phasmadaemon makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +27 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6 + 5 piercing damage plus grab.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +27 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 1d8 + 5 slashing damage.
Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +29 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature grabbed by the Phasmadaemon. Hit: 2d6 + 5 bludgeoning damage.
Rend. If the Phasmadaemon hits with both claw attacks, it can automatically constrict the target.
Legendary Actions
The Phasmadaemon can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The Phasmadaemon regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
- Illusory Assault. The Phasmadaemon creates an illusory enemy within 30 feet of a creature it can see. The creature must succeed on a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw or take 2d6 psychic damage.
- Terrifying Contortion (Costs 2 Actions). The Phasmadaemon twists its body in a horrifying display. Creatures within 10 feet must make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute.
- Feast on Fear (Costs 3 Actions). If the Phasmadaemon has a creature grappled, it can attempt to feed on its fear. The creature must succeed on a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw or take 1d6 points of Charisma drain and become shaken for 2d4 rounds.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the Phasmadaemon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Tangible Horror (Su)
If a creature succeeds at its Will save to disbelieve either a Phasmadaemon’s illusion spell-like ability, the conjured or evoked spell has 80% the normal effect or is 80% likely to occur, rather than 60%.
Little can be seen of this fiend, its body cloaked in a shroud of perpetually shifting, ghastly illusions and phantasms. Beneath its shimmering veil, it has glossy black flesh, a bleached white face, and twisted horns. Its long caiman muzzle perpetually gapes, but other than that, its face is void of sensory organs, save for two orbs that move below the surface of its flesh. This creature flows rather than moves, and its flexible body lacks a definite skeletal structure except for a long, bony tail.
[This content was created by Paizo Publishing LLC for the Pathfinder rules but is not from the Pathfinder RPG product line.]
Among the most powerful members of daemonkind, the phasmadaemons personify death by fright, and conjure powers of illusion so terrifying that they steal the life from their victims. A freakish creature of rubbery flesh, the phasmadaemon is capable of twisting its body like a hellish contortionist, and its ivory face is often the last thing its victim sees. Though capable of savaging foes with its fangs and claws, it prefers to torment them first with illusory enemies, unreal terrors, and false terrain before finally closing in as the victims’ hearts race and finally fail.
When a phasmadaemon does confront its prey physically, it prefers to grapple and constrict it to death, looking the victim directly in the face and watching the fear fill its eyes as the blood drains from its cheeks. A phasmadaemon rarely shows its true form all at once, masking itself in illusions or eerie porcelain masks, and it delights in unnerving even its own daemonic allies.
A phasmadaemon is 25 feet long from muzzle to tail’ though if it desires, it can stretch almost half again that length thanks to its flexible, elastic anatomy, and weighs 1,000 pounds.
| Phasmadaemon CR 17 |
| XP 102,400 NE Large outsider (daemon, evil, extraplanar) Init +11; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., true seeing; Perception +30 Aura frightful presence (60 ft., DC 27) |
| DEFENSE |
| AC 32, touch 17, flat-footed 24 (+7 Dexterity, +1 Dodge, +15 natural, 1 size) hp 264 (23d10+138) Fort +19, Ref +14, Will +19 DR 10/good and silver; Immune acid, death effects, disease, poison; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 28 |
| OFFENSE |
| Speed 30 ft., Fly 40 ft. (good) Melee bite +27 (2d6+5/1920 plus grab), 2 claws +27 (1d8+5) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks consume fear, constrict (2d6+5), rend (2d6+7) |
| STATISTICS |
| Strength 20, Dexterity 25, Constitution 23, Intelligence 19, Wisdom 18, Charisma 22 Base Atk +23; CMB +29 (+33 grapple); CMD 47 Feats Combat Casting, Deceitful, Dodge, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (greater shadow conjuration ), Spell Penetration, Vital Strike Skills Bluff +36, Disguise +36, Escape Artist +30, Fly +35, Intimidate +37, Knowledge (planes) +30, Perception +30, Sense Motive +30, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +29 Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft. SQ compression, tangible horror |
| SPECIAL ABILITIES |
| Consume Fear (Su) As a standard action, a phasmadaemon that begins its turn with a grappled opponent can attempt to feed on the creature’s mortality and innate terror. Any creature that does not succeed at a DC 27 Will save takes 1d6 points of Charisma drain and becomes shaken for 2d4 rounds; in addition, the phasmadaemon gains 5 temporary hit points for every point of Charisma drain dealt this way. If the creature being grappled is already panicked at the beginning of the phasmadaemon’s turn, it must save instead on a DC 27 Fortitude save or be slain instantly by the phasmadaemon, which gains a +1 profane bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, and checks for every 2 points of Charisma its victim had before dying; the profane bonuses last for 24 hours. The save DCs are Charisma-based. Tangible Horror (Su) A phasmadaemon’s illusion abilities are partially real at a level above and beyond those normally conjured forth by similar illusion spells. If a creature succeeds at its Will save to disbelieve either a phasmadaemon’s greater shadow conjuration or greater shadow evocation spell-like ability, the conjured or evoked spell has 80% the normal effect or is 80% likely to occur, rather than 60%. |
| ECOLOGY |
| Environment any (Abaddon) Organization solitary, pair, or cabal (3-4) Treasure standard |
Ecology
Phasmadaemons sometimes form from the type of soul that exemplifies extreme evil, namely those who inflict or suffer from extreme fear, such as deranged illusionists, schizophrenic serial killers, and corrupt mortals who died at the hands of other creatures that excel at captivating victims’ dreams and fears. In other instances, phasmadaemons are merely among the most fearful of the hunted souls of Abaddon, souls who eventually learn to exult in the terror they feel as a soul-devouring daemon stalks them; eventually, these vile souls may transform from the hunted into the hunters’ daemons seeking the thrill of the hunt for the horror-stricken faces of their prey.
Whether in the chasms of Abaddon or on other planes, phasmadaemons hunt for souls via stealth, following from a distance to study their prey for prolonged periods. They create elaborate illusions, leading their targets into believing in entire fictional environments and creatures, all dependent on the victims’ most feared imaginings. They extract each soul’s intrinsic, underlying fears, using the figments as weapons against their owners.
Phasmadaemons do not seek souls that are merely easy prey’ they adhere strictly to their own method of destroying souls, reveling in the grotesque pleasure of striking mortal souls dead with fear-induced heart attacks and other physical maladies. The connection between fear and mortality is something that continually fascinates the morbid curiosities of phasmadaemons, who mix fears like alchemists, conducting experiments and concocting ever more terrifying combinations of horrific imaginings.
Habitat and Society
Phasmadaemons tend to hunt alone, preferring to develop their own unique styles of torment and horror to unleash upon their victims. While some would suggest that the freakishly complex traps of crucidaemons or the cocooned feeding of sangudaemons rank as the most dreadful and frightening killing tactics among daemonkind, the terrors manifested by phasmadaemons exceed them both.
A phasmadaemon extracts a mortal’s own fears and turns the figments against their creator, not enjoying the torment the horrors induce so much as appreciating the effects of fear within its victim before the thing’s last fatal gasp – the tiny hairs standing upright, the racing heart, jerking muscles, paralysis. Such reactions spawn immense pleasure within a phasmadaemon, which continually seeks ways to fill its victims with dread. Among phasmadaemons, the buying and selling of fears is in itself something of a market, much like the economy of souls within the rest of Abaddon. The fiends exchange their own horrific new imaginings with one another, creating a collection of terrors unfathomable by mortals.
Phasmadaemons do not often serve a single Horseman exclusively, their skills not necessarily a boon to any particular facet of death. They tend to traverse the outskirts of societies both within Abaddon and outside of it, preying on travelers in the dead of winter nights or seeking out hermits in order to haunt their isolated homes. The tension before the kill is almost as thrilling to a phasmadaemon as the kill itself, and the foul beings wallow in the fear they create before swooping in for the final blow.
When they travel in groups, phasmadaemons use their powers to create great multitudes of illusionary images in order to terrorize entire groups or crowds of closely situated people, such as causing heart-stopping incidents in the middle of a playhouse’s performance, situating horrific conjurations in the middle of packed bazaars, and positioning frightful images at the gallows at a crowded execution.
About this Daemon Type
Phasmadaemons have a taste for terror, seeking to kill their victims outright via fear or by provoking them into a state of panic that jeopardizes their lives. The means by which they enact this fright are manifold, as the fiends possess incredible ability to create horrific illusions, including those capable of killing a victim outright. When bound into service, phasmadaemons make skilled but imprecise assassins. However, they have an unnerving predilection for using their illusions and other methods of sowing fear even when not on assignments, making them unnerving and even dangerous servants to retain for long.
- Personification of Death: Fright.
- Preferred Sacrifice: A willing, truthful admission of the summoner’s greatest fears.
Source Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Book of the Damned, Vol. 3 © 2011, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Todd Stewart.
Section 15: Copyright Notice – Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Book of the Damned, Vol. 3
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Book of the Damned, Vol. 3 © 2011, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Todd Stewart.