Encyclopaedia Arcane Compendium V.I
| Author | Hahn, Sprange, Witt |
| Publisher | Mongoose Publishing |
| Publish date | 2004 |
| OGL Section 15 | eac |
The material below is designated as Open Game Content.
Throughout this book we have studied, in some depth, those who summon demons and the methods they employ to increase their chances of success in what is, ultimately, an extremely dangerous field of arcane magic. In this chapter, we take a look at the creatures of the infernal planes themselves. Demons are truly the most evil and malevolent beings any mortal will discover, able and willing to crush hope and innocence with no more thought than a man may swat a fly. They are structured into immense families, though there is little loyalty within them. Always, demons of all types are driven by the need to acquire both souls and power, either through battle, subterfuge or the patronage of a yet greater demon. This is the nature of the beings demonologists regularly come into contact with.
Of Souls and Burning
Demons of all families and creeds watch carefully for souls they may harvest from the mortals of the material worlds. Some are given freely to them, others must be stolen or outwitted whilst yet more are condemned to be sent to the infernal planes by the greater gods of other, more distant planes of existence. A soul trapped in the infernal planes is one subjected to eternal agony by the cruellest intentions of the demons that hold it.
The practice of soul harvesting goes far beyond a wish to cause an immense amount of pain for absolute eternity, however. Souls are used as bargaining chips between demons, for one with more souls in his possession is literally more powerful than any other. Powerful beings can transform tortured souls into lesser demons, such as the lemure or dretch. A lesser demon who succeeds in gathering a great many souls for his lord may gain sufficient notice to be granted a more powerful form and favours between demons of similar rank are almost always paid for with slaves as few are willing to cede actual territory within the infernal planes to a potential rival.
To a mortal, this can often appear to be a crude form of currency, or even barter, but the possession of souls drives deep into the heart of what it is to actually be a demon. One with an excess amount of souls can accomplish almost anything within the infernal planes, through having a greater source of power and being able to buy the services of any other demon. One with few souls is ripe for destruction by its enemies.
The one possibility a demonologist may care to keep in mind is that souls are often traded between demons, as shown above. A practitioner may feel himself fairly comfortable in gaining soul servitude to a succubus, but if his soul starts being traded between the higher ranks of demons, he may unwittingly find himself bound to a balor, the cruellest and mightiest of the Tanar.
Demonic Families
The infernal planes are divided into many separate regions, each ruled by a member of the great demonic royalty. Each member of this powerful ruling elite will also be at the head of one or more demonic families, with each family having potentially millions or even billions of demons in its service. The greatest of these families, the Tanar and the Baate are spread throughout the infernal planes, dominating hellish locales and forming immense power blocs that few can challenge directly. However, demonic families are rarely united themselves and rivalries between the greater demons of each can paralyse entire regions at times as they fight one another. Such wars rarely last long, in demonic terms at least, but they are relatively common. This allows the more minor families, such as the Tzaretch, detailed on our web site, to exist without being instantly crushed by the huge numbers of Tanar that oppose them. In practice, families such as the Tzaretch often collude and conspire with differing factions of the Tanar and gain power, souls and standing through the patronage of the greater family.
This complex interweaving of politics, threats, promises and subversions characterises the infernal planes perfectly. Every demon, high and low, is trapped in a web of promises, debts and war. When confronted with danger, most demons can call upon others they have aided in the past for protection but in doing so immediately invite a promise that must be repaid – this is why demons can never be compelled to summon demonic allies at the behest of a mortal summoner. In doing so they alter the very fabric of their network of alliances and would likely prefer to be slain on the material world and suffer weakness in the infernal planes than comply. In any case, other demons would be highly unlikely to respond to such a call made at the whim of a mortal.
Wars amongst demons and families are to be feared by the inhabitants of the infernal planes. Many mortals make the mistake of assuming that once slain on the material world, a demon is no more. This is, unfortunately, completely untrue for a demon may only be permanently slain when in its home region of the infernal planes – thus wars between demonic factions hold the highest consequences for the participants, much as they do for mortals. To beings immortal in nature, though, the thought of an absolute death can be terrifying. Demons tend to be more complacent in the material world, though death and banishment to the infernal planes still carries a penalty that must be addressed. A demon sent back to its home region in this way is greatly weakened and may fall to the non-existent mercy of its enemies. If it was sent back whilst in the service of a more powerful demon, it may also be directly punished, stripped of power and possibly even transformed into a lesser demonic form.
Ritual Components
Every summoning ritual, from the basic rite required to call a lemure, to the mighty powers that must be harnessed to force a pit fiend into submission, necessitates the use of two main components. First is the material the pentagram itself is constructed of. Contrary to the opinions of the layperson, pentagrams are not simply scratched into the ground but rather are made of fine powders of varying materials, carefully placed by the demonologist into ancient patterns of great power. The sole purpose of the pentagram is to provide a channel for the energies the demonologist is invoking, guiding them through the structure of the patterns and runes to the summoning focus in the centre, where the demon will finally appear, if all goes well. This summoning focus is the second necessary component of the ritual and is the point where all the arcane energies are channelled to open a door between the material world and the infernal planes. Both the materials used in the pentagram and in the summoning focus are utterly consumed by each summoning attempt, whether or not it is successful. If either the pentagram or summoning focus components are not present, then the summoning ritual may not be attempted.
In addition, there are sometimes other conditions that must be fulfilled when summoning a demon, particularly when named demons are concerned. One might be forced to perform the summoning ritual within a graveyard, for instance, or during a full moon. Not all demons require such conditions be fulfilled but the demonologist is well advised to do his research well and discover such facts before attempting an expensive and potentially dangerous summoning ritual.
A list is given below of all the demons found within the SRD, along with what they are capable of and the components required for their summoning rituals. However, the Games Master need not assume this list is complete – substitute materials may be possible for certain demons in some campaign worlds and named demons are likely to have wildly different components from others of the same demonic species. In these cases, the Games Master is welcome to use the components listed here as a guide only to his own, very different, named demons. Also, several components are not listed as having a gold piece value – these are items generally too rare to buy, even in major towns and cities and the demonologist may well be forced to locate them for himself. The Games Master is encouraged to set his own market price if he deems it fit that his players should be able to buy them in his own campaign world.
The demons below are organised into their level of Challenge Rating with the weakest, and easiest to summon, first. This is by no means a complete listing, however, for all the different species of demon are as numberless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. The Games Master is encouraged to come up with his own pentagram and summoning focus components for the demons he creates and those in other published supplements.
Lemure
These creatures are quite insane and it is often said this is the form the dead take when they travel to the infernal planes. Lemures are misshapen piles of flesh, vaguely humanoid in form. They are incapable of speech but can easily be compelled to obey most instructions from a dedicated demonologist, who tend to use them as guards, albeit fairly weak ones.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Lead powder (50 gp)
Summoning Focus: Small gem (200 gp)
Imp
Imps are fairly common creatures on the infernal planes and it is often said they were created simply to spread evil throughout the material worlds by working through malevolent wizards and sorcerers. It is indeed true that many demonologists able to bind demons on a permanent basis often choose imps as permanent companions, using them as spies and advisors. Though able to assume the form of several different creatures, an imp normally appears as a two-foot-tall devilish-looking humanoid with leathery batwings, barbed tail and wickedly sharp teeth and horns.
Demonic Family: None
Pentagram Component: Iron powder (100 gp)
Summoning Focus: Silver bound scroll (300 gp)
Dretch
These are the wicked rank and file troops of the Tanar demons. Only semi-intelligent, they rend their opponents with tooth and claw. For the demonologist, they are often considered to be very similar in application and use as the lemure, though a little more capable. Whereas a single lemure may be defeated by a warrior of mediocre skill, a dretch has the potential to take on several warriors at a time without being slain and sent back to the infernal planes.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Iron powder (100 gp)
Summoning Focus: Small gem (300 gp)
Quasit
Also often found in the company of demonologists as permanently bound demons, the primary goal of any quasit is to extol his master to greater acts of evil. Thus, whilst they may be a useful source of information on matters demonological, a practitioner must always be aware of how far his quasit is propelling him down the Dark Road. Quasits detest imps and the two will always attempt to attack each other if they are able, though they are most likely to employ subtle but lethal tricks, rather than direct physical assaults.
Demonic Family: None
Pentagram Component: Steel powder (150 gp)
Summoning Focus: Skin scroll
Hell Hound
As large, aggressive, fire-breathing dogs come straight from the infernal planes, hell hounds are terrifying to behold and many demonologists summon them either as guards or hunters. In either role they are likely to strike fear into those they are instructed to attack.
Demonic Family: None
Pentagram Component: Copper powder (200 gp)
Summoning Focus: Silver collar (300 gp)
Nightmare
These creatures are much renowned in both legend and wild adventurer tale and they certainly have an evocative appearance. Nightmares take the appearance of giant black horses, wreathed in flame and eminently willing to slay and destroy any near them. Demonologists may, on occasion, use such creatures as beats of burden, but are more typically interested in summoning nightmares to use as demonic steeds able to carry them huge distances far faster than any mundane horse.
Demonic Family: None
Pentagram Component: Copper powder (200 gp)
Summoning Focus: Silver horseshoe (800 gp)
Osyluth
Osyluths are feared even by other demons, particularly those of the Baate family. They serve the lords of the infernal planes, watching other Baate and reporting on their activities. For the demonologist, osyluths can provide an invaluable source of information on other Baate, though they are unlikely to have anything as notable as the true name of a demon. On the other hand, they can readily provide the practitioner with details on summoning rituals, if his own research is incomplete or suspect.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Silver powder (500 gp)
Summoning Focus: Large quartz overlaid with fine silver wire (1,000 gp)
Kyton
The chain-shrouded kytons are powerful combatants and it is for this reason many demonologists are interested in gaining their service. By preparing an area for them to guard with many lengths of chain, the practitioner is effectively able to stall or halt any advancing enemy with a single kyton as it utilises its ability to control the chains and attack intruders.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Powdered masterwork chains (650 gp)
Summoning Focus: Masterwork spiked chain inlaid with silver (1,000 gp)
Special: Summoning ritual must be conducted underground
Hellcat
Hellcats are often employed by demonologists wishing to track down an enemy who may be too powerful for the lesser hell hounds to effectively deal with. They are superior in many respects and intelligent enough to approach a target through tactically adept ambush rather than merely making a costly direct assault.
Demonic Family: None
Pentagram Component: Powdered lion bones
Summoning Focus: Complete lion mane
Barbazu
Where powerful demons may raise hordes of lemures to destroy their enemies within the infernal planes, it is the barbazu that are given the task of leading them, spearheading attacks as vicious shock troops. A single barbazu is capable of giving even a party of accomplished adventurers a severe beating and as they are unlikely to be able to supply a demonologist with much information on other Baate, they are typically used purely for their combat abilities, which are considerable. A barbazu unleashed upon an enemy is usually enough to guarantee his destruction.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Silver powder (500 gp)
Summoning Focus: Masterwork silver-tipped glaive (1,000 gp)
Erinyes
Like her Tanar counterpart, the succubus, an erinyes is one of the demonic entities all demonologists strive to uncover summoning rituals to. The reasons for this are varied but it is often said that no practitioner can consider himself a true demonologist until he has called upon either an erinyes or a succubus. Most are used either as information sources on demonological matters or to cause the temptation and downfall of an enemy, which they excel at. Less dedicated practitioners may well summon such creatures simply as tools of comfort to distract from lonely nights of intense research.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Powdered female elven hair
Summoning Focus: 50’ silken rope, threaded with gold (1,000 gp)
Hamatula
Seven feet tall and covered from head to tail with sharp barbs, the hamatula are vicious fighters, able to impale enemies upon their lethal bodies. They make superior guardians and, in this, the demonologist uses the hamatula in a service it is familiar with upon the infernal planes and can guarantee a greater chance of success for the instructions he issues.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Silver powder (500 gp)
Summoning Focus: Undamaged feather of a roc
Succubus
These are, perhaps, the most famous of all demons and are certainly the ones of which most stories are told. Taking the appearance of stunningly beautiful human women, they seem utterly flawless. Only in their natural form is any hint of demonic power revealed, with their large bat-like wings and eyes that actually glow with an evil and twisted light. Their uses, as far as the practitioner is concerned, are much the same as those for an erinyes though greater stature is given to a demonologist able to summon a succubus as the summoning rituals tend to be somewhat more complicated.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Powdered female human hair
Summoning Focus: Pure silver brush and mirror (1,500 gp)
Special: Summoning ritual must commence at twilight
Bebilith
The bebiliths are some of the most terrifying demons to behold, a factor that many demonologists considered when summoning them to use as hunters. Looking like huge and demonic spiders, bebiliths are capable of rending an enemy apart and their fangs constantly drip a lethal and viscous poison. They are particularly skilled at destroying Tanar, a duty any bebilith will relish, and so are sometimes called upon to destroy another demon
a practitioner knows has been set upon him.
Demonic Family: None
Pentagram Component: Silver powder (500 gp)
Summoning Focus: Silver capped skull (2,500 gp)
Special: Summoning ritual must take place in a place of burial
Cornugon
Standing at nine feet tall, a demonologist confronting one of the cornugons for the first time is likely to experience no little trepidation and this has led to the downfall of more than one practitioner. They are covered with scales and their huge wings and tail, combined with the aura of fear they almost constantly radiate, can quake the heart of the mightiest warrior. Excelling in battle, they are most often used by demonologists who require the death of an especially strong enemy.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Powdered bones
Summoning Focus: Powdered manticore wings mixed with powdered gold (2,500 gp for the gold only)
Gelugon
Armed with huge spears to match their wickedly sharp claws and spikes, gelugons are deceptively adept spies and assassins, a fact belied by their incredible twelve-foot height. Many demonologists are aware of their ability to infiltrate the most heavily defended of strongholds and from within launch an attack or steal an item of immense value. If discovered, they are more than capable of fighting their way free through great numbers of mortals.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Gold powder (1,000 gp)
Summoning Focus: Large egg-shaped ruby (5,000 gp)
Vrock
At eight feet tall with huge wings and vicious vulture-like heads, the vrock are, for many, the archetypal demon. Amongst practitioners of the black art, they are seen as something of a watershed. A demonologist able to summon and control a vrock has survived many challenges in his work without pushing himself too fast and is clearly capable of proceeding further down the Dark Road through the summoning of the greatest demons of all. Vrocks are typically used as pure battle demons, capable of slaying hordes of lesser attackers, be they mortal or demonic. This demon is the reason many demonologists are called upon by armies led by men of few morals, in order to guarantee a victory.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Elven blood
Summoning Focus: Golden weapon of medium size or greater (5,000 gp)
Special: Summoning ritual must take place at the site of a battle, recent or ancient.
Hezrou
Even more powerful than the mighty vrocks are the hezrou and in the infernal planes they are often used in the leading of lesser demons during the constant wars and strife that consume those dark places. Eschewing the use of weaponry, their huge toad-like mouths are lined with incredibly powerful teeth that can bite through the toughest armour. They are also one of the more intelligent of the Tanar and devote their intellect to the prosecution of war and the destruction of anything that stands before their masters’ ambitions.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Powdered skulls of warriors killed in battle
Summoning Focus: A war banner at least one hundred years old
Glabrezu
Despite being incredible opponents in battle, the main strength of the glabrezu lies in subtlety. Just as the succubus tempts mortals with passion, the glabrezu beguiles them with dreams and promises of power in the material worlds. It takes a wily demonologist to fully realise this capability rather than merely sending the demon to destroy all around it. The glabrezu is to be considered for any practitioner who wants to ruin his enemies utterly, rather than destroy them out right, though this is likely to take a great many summoning rituals to accomplish as the demon is constantly called back to carry out the next part of a long, tortuous and twisted plan of ruination.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Gold powder (1,000 gp)
Summoning Focus: Large diamond (6,000 gp)
Special: Summoning ritual must begin at the rise of a full moon
Nalfeshnee
Looking like a huge twenty-foot-tall cross between bear and boar, the nalfeshnee is amongst the strongest of all the Tanar and even a balor might reconsider attacking one without suitable advantages. They are incredibly bloodthirsty and yet prefer to outwit opponents over protracted periods of time rather than merely tearing them apart. Few can stand up to the fury of a nalfeshnee enraged but a demonologist may encounter additional problems in compelling this being into direct battle, such is its reluctance at times.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Powdered rope used to hang an instigator of genocide
Summoning Focus: Golden mirror at least four feet high (7,000 gp)
Pit Fiend
Pit fiends are amongst the most notorious of all demons, being the undisputed heads of the Baate family, though it is not known how many actually exist. They are immensely powerful beings and a demonologist is well advised to exercise a great amount of care when summoning and attempting to control such might. They are capable of succeeding at virtually any task the demonologist may set before them but their incredible wills have the potential to destroy the very minds of any foolish enough to make a mistake in a summoning ritual.
Demonic Family: Baate
Pentagram Component: Platinum powder (5,000 gp)
Summoning Focus: Magical weapon of medium size or greater, with minimum +1 enhancement bonus
Marilith
Mariliths represent almost the pinnacle of the demonological arts, being nearly as powerful as the notorious balors. They are superb tacticians and are often employed by practitioners wanting to gain a strategic edge on a military enemy, though they are also well-versed in politics of low cunning. Within the infernal planes they are often to be found in the service of the highest demonic royalty and thus they do not take to being summoned by mortals with any degree of complacency. A practitioner calling up a marilith is one who must be utterly certain of his own abilities.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Emerald powder (5,000 gp)
Summoning Focus: Magical weapon of medium size or greater, with minimum +2 enhancement bonus
Balor
For those demonologists ignorant of the higher demonic powers, the absolute rulers of the infernal planes, the balors represent the only worthy goal of their art. To summon and control a balor, to dominate it by sheer force of will is the dream of most practitioners. It requires an incredible attention to detail and few scruples to mass the knowledge and tools necessary to stand any chance of success in the control of the mighty balor, with even the most accomplished demonologists gambling their chances as no better than fifty-fifty. The mere presence of a balor towering over a summoner, wreathed in flames as it glowers down is sufficient to break the concentration of any lesser practitioner and thus few survive their first encounter with the leaders of the Tanar.
Demonic Family: Tanar
Pentagram Component: Diamond powder (6,000 gp)
Summoning Focus: Magical weapon of large size or greater, with minimum +3 enhancement bonus
