[ Outsiders > Fiends > Orphans ]
[ Ahvothian | Hurlilu | Karina | Ostovite | Quasit | Rhevanna | Shadow Fiend | Soul Eater | Soul Skelm | Vescavor ]
Shapes in the Shadows: the Orphan Fiends
The so-called ‘orphan’ fiends are the outliers, the singular races that seem not to fit into any Fraternity-of-Order-style grand fiendish family tree. Many of these creatures are obscure, highly localised to one part of one plane. But as befits an outlier, many are not, and can be encountered in all kinds of territories. Take the bebilith, for example. No, please, take the bebilith right away. These hunters of tanar’ri can be found throughout the Abyss, stalking their prey. Nobody knows where they came from. Perhaps they are even tanar’ri themselves, or obyrith, or even qlippoth and nobody’s figured it out yet… we know precious little about creatures as dangerous as these. And you know what? I don’t intend to personally try and find out any more either…
—Voilá!.
My ‘What in the Hells Is That?’ Guide to Twenty-Odd Obscure Fiends
A work in progress!
| Fiend | Home Plane | Fiendish Theme | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahvothian †| Abyss | Prehistoric savagery | Demonic saurial dinosaurs |
| Aoandon †| Pandemonium | Vengeance upon loved ones | Female yeti-ghost |
| Barghest | Gehenna | Fiends who send their whelps to the Prime to mature | Shape-changing golblin-wolves |
| Bebilith | Abyss | Hunters of tanar’ri | Giant alien lobster-spiders |
| Bisha Ga Tsuku †| Gehenna | Feed upon the warmth of the living | A freezing fog-bank |
| Bodak | Abyss | Broken souls | Tormented, twisted humanoid |
| Dahzagan †| Acheron | Orc valkyries | Female orc wolf-centaurs |
| Darkweaver | Pandemonium, Shadowfell | Lurkers feeding on the strength of others | Amorphous spider-like tentacle horrors |
| Dorvae †| Carceri | Selfish lone wolves | Reptilian humanoid made of snakes |
| Gallu ‡ | Nether | Kidnappers of mortals | Large faceless black demons |
| Hurlilu †| Abyss | Disobedient servants | Humanoid demon birds |
| Karina †| Gray Waste | Corpse cannibals | Sinister death owls |
| Kolax ‡ | Pandemonium | Dark passengers | Usually invisible |
| Maelephant | Baator | Loyal guards | Humanoid devilish elephants |
| Ostovite †| Abyss | Bone artisans | Skeletal centipede vermin |
| Quasit | Abyss | Obsequious treachery | Small slender demons |
| Rhevanna †| Gehenna | Hunters of celestials | Tortured angel-fiends |
| Shadow Fiend | Unknown | Merchants who sell minds | Skeletal shadow horrors |
| Soul Eater †| Gray Waste | Consuming spirits | Nebulous shadow with grasping arms |
| Soul Skelm †| Acheron | Bullies of the dead | Glowering human men with antlers |
| Tlacatecolo | Abyss | Cursed to spread disease amongst mortals | Shape-changing humanoid owls |
| Vescavor †| Abyss | Obeying their queen | Swarm of acidic wasp-fiends |
Would cataboligne from Dragon #295, homebrew tzaretchuk and other d*mons and d*vils of unclear position (say, tlacatecolo from 5e book “Journey to the Radiant Citadel”) be here or together with baatezu and tanar’ri?
I just realised that D&D cataboligne and the ones in PF1 and *completely* different beasts. The PF1 creatures are gargantuan qlippoth siege engines (so I’d added them to this list after you mentioned them before and then removed them again when I saw they were qlippoth), but the D&D ones are ugly gargoyles with sexy voices that are canonically NOT tanar’ri. I see no issue (beyond confusion!) with incorporating both forms somehow. Looks like the creature is a Gygax original rather than an adaptation from mythology. Which does beg the question why PF changed it so much!
The tlacatecolo were new to me, I have that book too, clearly I haven’t read it 😛 but a quick peruse suggests these disease-owls are basically the same concept as the karina. Thanks for flagging!
But yes – my idea is that any single-use fiend that isn’t the member of a larger family group could be added here. If they are a smaller family, they go on the parochial page. And the ‘dominant fiends’ page summarises the main ones that everyone should know.
Will the kythons from Book of Vile Darkness be added? They’re fiends native to a prime material and look like xenomorphs
Hey there. I think these are aberrations rather than fiends… so not to this page, no. Also, I have an issue with their name, it is far too close to ‘kyton’ (which ARE fiends) and I think that’s far too confusing. I think I’d probably rename these beasties. And maybe try to make them look a LITTLE less like a blatant carbon copy of the Aliens from Aliens.