[Index]

DEMON5 (15)

Cypher Bestiary

Demons are malevolent entities that corrupt and destroy. Demons come in many shapes, or none at all, but whatever their form, they are always disturbing, grotesque, or often blatantly horrifying.

Health: 25

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound

Movement: Short

Modifications: Deception tasks as level 6

Combat: The demon attacks twice with their claws, toothy maw, horns, weapon, or other method, inflicting damage. Other options include:

The demon breathes out a twisting black cloud of baleful material (flies, necrotic energy, burning blood, etc.) that inflicts 3 Intellect damage (ignores armor) on a creature within short range that fails a Might defense roll, and 1 Intellect damage even if the defense roll is successful.

Some demons have alternate, or additional, malicious powers. Additional or alternate abilities include possession, shapechanging, pyrokinesis, and cursed sorcery, described hereafter. A demon may have just one, two, or potentially, all these additional abilities.

GM Intrusion: A successful exorcism transfers the demon from its previous host into the character performing the exorcism. The demon gets one round within the new host before the character can attempt an Intellect defense roll to expel it.

GM Intrusion: The character's shadow is beheaded by the demon, who laughs and disappears. Until the character can get the resulting level 5 curse lifted or dispelled, they are blinded.

GM Intrusion: The character mispronounces the demon's true name and is stunned, losing their next turn.

POSSESSION

A demon does great harm in a short time by forcing a possessed host to lie, steal, and harm loved ones.

Combat: In addition to or instead of other abilities, a possessing demon has the following combat options.

• The demon attempts to possess a target within immediate range. The target is possessed on a failed Intellect defense roll, whereupon the demon's form is subsumed into the target.
• A possessed victim can act normally the first round they're possessed. In the second and all subsequent rounds, the possessing demon can control the actions of the host, but the possessed victim can attempt an Intellect defense roll to resist being controlled. Successful resistance means that the character does nothing at all on their turn. During turns the demon doesn't attempt to control the victim, the victim can act as they choose. A possessing demon's actions are limited to whatever the host body is able to do, in addition to leaving the host.
• A possessed victim is allowed an Intellect defense roll to eject the demon each time they use a ten-hour non-rest recovery, in addition to exorcism attempts. The defense roll is hindered by one additional step each day of possession after the first seven days. An ejected or cast-out demon can't try to possess another creature for at least one day.
• While they possess another creature, the demon is immune to most attacks, except for psychic attacks, holy water, and spells that specifically harm demons. The host enjoys no special immunities; killing the host will eject the demon.
• One way to exorcise a demon is to command them out in the name of an entity that has power over the demon, or using the demon's true name. This can be attempted once per day (or once per round if using the demon's true name), granting the possessed character an additional Intellect defense roll to eject the demon.
• A demon allows a possessed host to act normally if it doesn't reveal the demon's presence. If their presence becomes known by others, the possessing demon might negotiate, but only after a tirade of lies and obscenity, and the demon likely betrays any deal reached.

SHAPECHANGING

Shapechanged demons insinuate themselves into a victim's friend group so that they can gaslight the victim over an extended period and cause other harm that can't be obviously traced back to the demon, like killing a pet or destroying a treasured object.

Modifications: Disguise tasks as level 8

Combat: In addition to or instead of other abilities, a shapechanging demon has the following options.

• The demon takes on the exact likeness of someone their foe loves, and on a failed Intellect defense roll, the foe can't bring themself to attack the demon in this guise until the foe succeeds on an Intellect task as their action to get over their reluctance, at which point the demon regains their standard form.
  
• The demon changes shape into something that can fly, swim, or squirm away.
  
• The demon automatically regains 2 health each round.

PYROKINESIS

Some demons have an affinity for flame. Alternatively, if possessing a creature, the demon can induce the possessed target into acts of arson that eventually lead to burning everything and everyone the victim holds dear to ashes.

Combat: In addition to or instead of other abilities, a pyrokinetic demon has the following options.

• The demon attacks twice each round with burning horns or claws, inflicting fire damage. If the target is alive or flammable, they ignite. Until someone takes an action to douse the fire, the victim suffers a minor wound (ignores armor) each round as flame consumes them.
  
• A creature up to a long distance away ignites on a failed Might defense roll and burns each round as just described. A targeted object burns each round until doused—an object left to burn is destroyed after about a minute.
  
• The pyrokinetic demon is immune to fire.

CURSED SORCERY

Bound by the very dark magic they practice, some demons find themselves in service to human wizards and occultists, until a slip by their binder allows them to get diabolical revenge.

Modifications: Magic lore as level 8

Combat: In addition to or instead of other abilities, a sorcerous demon can attempt one or more of the following spells as their action.

• Long-range spell that manipulates objects telekinetically with hand-like precision. Can use to choke a target for a moderate wound (ignores armor) each round the target fails a Might defense roll.
  
• Summon another demon and bind them to the sorcerous demon's service for an hour or more. Only a single servitor can be so bound at any one time by means of this spell.
  
• Force-shield spell that grants +3 Armor to the demon. (The demon can also use this spell to inflate a bubble of magical force within a target in immediate range; a successfully attacked or touched target takes a major wound (ignores armor).)
  
• Become invisible until the demon attacks. (The demon can also use this spell to blind a target within immediate range until the target succeeds on an Intellect task.)
  
• Curse a target with bleeding from all orifices on a failed Might defense roll, hindering all their tasks by two steps until they use a one hour or longer non.rest recovery.

THE ESSENCE OF A DEMON

Some demons are people tortured in a nether realm until all that was good in them was burned away, forging beings of spite. Such demons remember only fragments of their former life—every good memory cauterized, and every slight, misfortune, snub, and pain amplified, motivating them to tempt others into the same state, or to simply kill their victims and, in doing so, send victims' spirits to the same nether realm that created them.

DEMONS IN THE MODERN GENRE

A demon active in the real world or any modern genre means the setting is not strictly real world but is shading into horror and/or urban fantasy. Implications of a demon loose in a real world game include the following.

• A demon in a real world setting retains access to all the potential abilities described here.
  
• A demon in a real world setting possessing a victim may present as a serial killer.
  
• A demon in a real world setting might first manifest as a cursed object, such as a book or clock, until that object is destroyed, releasing the demon to their true form.
  
• A demon in a real world setting will likely find their opponents to be priests or those who hunt the supernatural and have some knowledge of exorcism rites.

DEMONIC FORMS

What does the just-encountered demon look like? Options include the following.

d10	Demonic Form
1	Bulges move under this humanoid's skin, suggesting living bugs, snakes, and/or vermin on the move
2	Made entirely of mouths, mostly human, but each with one or two clawed fingers for tongues
3	Fish-like beast pulls itself along land, completely swarmed with ants carrying egg sacks
4	Humanoid skeleton with horned horse skull; carries a bone sword that screams
5	Immaterial silhouette of boiling, ink-like shadow that doesn't stain but does chill the air
6	Fire-shrouded horned entity with a halo of putrid smoke that can serve as wings
7	Seems like a regular person, except flies seem attracted to them and they have no shadow
8	Resembles a greatsword that glimmers with green fire; a demonic face is revealed in polished metal
9	Greasy, odiferous humanoid with horribly elongated limbs and neck and stretched face
10	Unutterably corpulent humanoid with leprous lesions constantly peeling away

Immaterial demons cannot pass through solid objects whose level is lower than their own. They take only 1 point of damage from mundane attacks and full damage from magical, energy, and psychic attacks. Instead of physical attacks, their necrotic touch attack inflicts 5 Speed damage (ignores armor).

DEMONIC TRUE NAMES

A demon's true name might be what their name was before they were transformed into a demonic entity through diabolical torture in a nether realm. Such demons have true names like common names found in the setting, like Eldrin and Isolde Brightsword in a fantasy setting, or Dave Berg and Nancy Evans in a modern setting.

In other settings, a true name bespeaks some deeper essence of the demon and is usually difficult to learn and almost as difficult to pronounce. Those are the kinds of true names presented here. Options include: Bryrathax of the Bent Flame, Calthorath, Aexaldrax who Hungers, Dazrokhan, Fothulgolath, Gyx Rakul who Returns, Huravaxith, Izer Halon that Knows, Jyrad Groam, Kurkazul, Lozor Fulit Morag, Arakmosilan the Maul, Mehraxizul, Ozyph Razoth, Pergathram of the Spire, Rive Fragsev the Broken, Uulrena the Skinner, Suraexithor, Temorash Shred, Ulek Merek, Vimethanro in Bits

FINDING A DEMON'S TRUE NAME

Among other options, a demon's true name could be learned from one of the following sources.

• A banned book, possibly one with a title like Geometry of Lies or A Visitor from the Pale.
  
• Another demon, perhaps one that seeks a favor from the researcher in turn.
  
• Research in a wizard's library, but only if the wizard can be distracted by others.
  
• A trip into nether regions to find where the demon originates, seeking the namer.

USES FOR A DEMON'S TRUE NAME

Knowing a demon's true name offers some degree of control, including the following options.

• Summoning: Saying a demon's true name may summon them if the character succeeds on a difficulty 5 Intellect roll as their action. Some demons may require further offerings for them to actually appear.
  
• Binding: Using the demon's true name as part of a binding ritual may grant a degree of control over the demon. The ritual usually requires the demon to be held (possibly in some kind of magical circle, or just physically held from fleeing) while the binder recites the ritual and succeeds on a difficulty 5 Intellect roll. Once bound, the demon seeks any and every way to break the binding and does so automatically after they complete a task requested by the binder.
  
• Exorcism: A possessed character can attempt to free themselves from a possessing demon each time someone says the demon's true name along with some variation of "I cast you out." With a successful difficulty 5 Intellect defense roll, the victim is freed.
  
• Protection: If a character speaks a demon's true name during a conflict as part of another action, the demon's attack and defenses against that character are hindered for the remainder of the encounter.

Adventure Seed: Urban explorers break into a massive, abandoned car factory shut down years ago for too many safety violations and find a secret vault sealed with Sanskrit-like symbols. Behind the vault door, they hear whispers.......