The ram-horned, mantis-armed phasmadaemons personify death
by fright. They also happen to cause death by fright (convenient, that!),
courtesy of illusion spell-like abilities supercharged to be practically real,
and they feed on fright, too—demonstrating, all in all, a horrifically
efficient and thrifty biology.
Though phasmadaemons didn’t make it into the hardbound Bestiaries
till number 6, they’ve been around since Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
so GMs looking for a deep dive on their tactics, hunting habits and culture
should look there. Two things in particular jump out at me, though. The first
is how powerful (CR 17) phasmadaemons are—an indicator that causing death by
fear alone somehow situates them closer to the daemonic ideal than, say, more base
deaths such as drowning, being mauled, or exsanguination.
The second is that—though this isn’t really reflected in the
rules, it’s a great story bit—phasmadaemons somehow also collect fearful
imaginings and trade them with each other. I’m a big fan of the soul markets of
the night hags, so the notion of even more quiddity-derived commodity trades
excites me to no end.
Struck by an azata’s arrow, a thanadaemon goes mad as
the celestial wound grows septic. No longer content to represent death by old
age, it begins stalking the living, culling souls before their proper time—and
in the process, disrupting a phasmadaemon’s carefully orchestrated hauntings. Offended,
the phasmadaemon tricks mortal adventurers into hunting down the wayward
thanadaemon, though all the while it also sends illusory torments to harry
their progress and stoke their fear. Once the thanadaemon is slain, the
phasmadaemon offers its thanks by revealing itself to the adventurers before
attempting to murder them.
Fireworks, porcelain masks, and sinuous manticore puppets
are all hallmarks of the Yung New Year’s celebrations. But the court sorcerer
made a deal with the daemonic Lord of the Wastes to win Yung’s last war against
the northern barbarian tribes, and now daemons have begun slipping unchallenged
into the empire. The rise in terror and deaths are largely felt only as a
malaise that hangs over the city. But that changes during the New Year parade, when
a porcelain-masked phasmadaemon erupts out from under the procession’s manticore
puppet and sends illusionary horrors to torment citizens.
Bugbears that perfect the art of stalking and
terrifying victims are sometimes visited by a phasmadaemon. The daemon stalks
the chosen bugbear over the course of three days and nights, attacking at
random, setting up ambushes, and never letting the goblinoid sleep. Though few
bugbears could hope to defeat a daemon in combat, if the champion does not show
fear throughout the entire ordeal, the phasmadaemon will grant the bugbear some
boon. Often these boons include the gift of an intelligent magical weapon,
magical prowess (treat as added class levels or the half-field template),a
spell-like ability, transformation into a greater barghest, or some other dark
blessing.
—Horsemen of the Apocalypse 52–53 & Pathfinder
Bestiary 6 74
Hi guys. Been a while since we did a monster. For my Blogger
readers, here’s some of what’s been going on—including some fun with monster reading recommendations, some big news, and some bleak news. For my Tumblr
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