Bearded Devil

Barbazus are Hell’s career military—rank-and-file troops who are nevertheless worlds more capable than the mobs of lemures serving under them.  They are interested only in bloodshed…and as long as PCs understand that, they may be able to outfox the devils.

The paladins of the Iron Ring have taken to using wickedly toothed glaives.  The Red Hand Inquisitors are privately certain the polearms are of barbazu make, but so far the paladins do not seem to have lost their divine patron’s sanction.

A merchant swears “by all the beards of Hell” that he will best his rival or give up his business—a business that includes the contracted services of several highly skilled men at arms.  When he fails, a squad of barbazus comes to collect, slaughtering all who interpose themselves between the devils and their targets: the merchant and his men.

Adventurers ambushed by bearded devils may expect to be eviscerated, only to find themselves pressed into Hell’s armies.  They might even be well treated—by devil standards anyway—provided they follow orders instantly, without question or hesitation.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 73