Demons in Dungeons & Dragons are the living embodiment of the chaotic evil alignment. They exist solely to destroy and are not capable of the smallest amount of compassion. It’s simply not in them. All demons come from the abyss, a nightmarish hellscape of wanton violence where the only rule of law is personal power.
Though the abyss may be their home, no demon wishes to live there. Instead, they seek to escape their abyssal prison so that they may infect the outside world with their dark influence. A demon killed on any plane other than the abyss doesn’t truly die. Once killed, the demon’s body instantly remolds in the layers of the Abyss: its demonic pride dealt a blow that likely incenses the foul monster, leading to it plotting its eventual revenge. Scariest of all, the demon’s revenge might not take place in your character’s mortal life, but whatever life comes after.
Updated July 12, 2022 by Chris Stomberg: There is no shortage of terrifying demons to plague your D&D adventurers in a campaign. In case you were looking for more additions to this hellish collection, we’ve included more infamous demons on this list. Have fun tormenting your players with these hellish monsters!
15 Draegloth
The draegloth is a half demon half Drow abomination. They are created through a dangerous and dastardly ritual performed by a priestess of Lolth. In this ritual, the essence of the Drow and the essence of a glabrezu demon are intertwined. The result is a powerful bodyguard that seeks to further the goals of the priestess that created it.
Despite the fact that the ritual that creates the draegloth is rarely survived, many Drow vie for the honor due to the power that the demon blood provides. Should the Drow survive, he or she gains access to the powerful confusion spell and physical traits such as claws that can be used to rend enemies asunder. However, the draegloth cannot rise to any higher status in the cult of Lolth than favored servant of the priestess who created them.
14 Maurezhi
The maurezhi are like ghouls on steroids. They were created by the king of ghouls, Doresain, after he corrupted an elven society. Since their creation, maurezhi have gone on to lead entire legions of ghouls on their undead rampages across the Material Plane. They share all the same abilities of ghouls to paralyze enemies with their claws, benefit from magic resistance from their demon blood, and can reduce the Charisma score of their enemies with a bite.
They can also assume the form of any humanoid they eat as well as turn dead bodies into ghouls. If a maurezhi assumes the form of a humanoid it eats, the form gradually decays over the next 1d6 days in a rather grotesque transformation of the maurezhi back into its true form.
13 Hezrou
The hezrou are unintelligent, portly, frog-like demons who serve primarily as foot soldiers and sergeants in the front lines of the Blood War. To mortals though, they are known more for the terrible stench that follows their warty, spiny skin as well as their terrible appetites.
Simply standing near a Hezrou has a high chance to poison a player character brave enough to face their smell. If the terrible stench doesn’t cause you to keel over, the hezrou’s love for wanton destruction and huge teeth and claws might.
12 Shoosuva
The shoosuva are hyena demons created by the demon lord of gnolls, Yeenoghu. He gifts these vile pets to his most loyal and successful subjects, sending one as a present after a gnoll war band has achieved a significant victory. Any gnoll who bonds with a shoosuva is recognized as distinguished by the demon lord Yeenoghu himself.
On top of having the normally vicious jaws of a hyena, the shoosuva also benefits from a demonic tail appendage with a vile stinger at its end. The poison inside this stinger paralyzes anyone unfortunate enough to be subjected to it. Shoosuva also share the regular gnoll feature rampage, which allows them to move up to half speed and make a bite attack any time they down a creature.
11 Glabrezu
The glabrezu are the first demons on this list powerful and intelligent enough to command their own agendas. A glabrezu delights in tempting mortals with promises of ambition and power before pulling the rug out from underneath them and consigning them to a terrible fate.
Despite their rather impressive physical and magical abilities, Glabrezu preferred to weave secretive plots that eventually led to the soul of any they worked with being reborn in the Abyss as a demon. When the glabrezu do need to fight, their pincers and spellcasting abilities make them more than worthy opponents. Access to spells like confusion, fly, dispel magic, and especially power word stun make them difficult enemies to encounter without risking an ally’s life in the process.
10 Yochlol
Surprisingly enough, this demon doesn’t even serve the demon lords of the abyss. Instead, the yochlol serve the Spider Queen and matron of drow, Lolth. Yochlol form in Lolth’s realm, the Demonweb, and are extensions of their Spider Queen master. As a default, they attend their queen in the Demonweb, but yochlol also serve Lolth by watching over her most devout priestesses and places of worship. Yochlol are shapechangers and can take on the form of drow or giant spiders. However, their true form is quite a bit more unsightly. The yochlol’s true form is a pillar-like mass of yellow slime inside of which moves a single large eye.
9 Alkilith
At a challenge rating of 11, the alkilith doesn’t appear anything like what you’d expect from a demon. In fact, it’s easily mistaken for something as benign as a fungal growth around a doorway, cavern entrance, or window. This is because alkiliths are spawns of the demon lord Juiblex, a hideous, grotesque slime that sires all slime creatures. The alkilith’s affinity for passages is a symptom of its nature as alkiliths create portals to the abyss wherever they take root. Other, nastier demons can then use these portals to escape their abyssal prison and sow discord throughout the other planes.
8 Nalfeshnee
The Nalfeshnee is a bit stronger than its slime kin at a challenge rating of 13. It’s also quite a bit uglier. The nalfeshnee is a combination of ape and boar with small feathered wings and a bloated pot belly. Despite its brutish appearance, the nalfeshnee is actually quite cunning. Perhaps this intelligence has something to do with its dietary habits: the nalfeshnee thirsts for humanoid flesh, preferably still living. The creature’s flying speed is accompanied by the ability to teleport up to 120 feet, so escape from this man-eating monster is near impossible.
7 Wastrilith
Wastriliths are born from the tainted waters of the abyss. They have fish-like scales, the lower body of a snake, and a humanoid torso topped with a reptilian head. Instead of hands, their arms end in wicked hooks.
The foul water from which a wastrilith is born seeps out from the creature. Any body of water the wastrilith comes near immediately becomes befouled, poisoning any who touch it. Ingesting the water is even more dangerous. A painful death or terrible transformation into a demonic thrall is the fate awaiting any who make this mistake.
6 Nabassu
While transforming other’s souls into demonic thralls or using them for currency might seem evil enough, the nabassu has no time for such trivial matters. Instead, it consumes any soul it crosses: even those of other demons. While the act of killing other demons hardly bothers any who come from the abyss, devouring other’s souls is another matter. For this reason, the nabassu are even hated amongst their own kin. Of course, like any other demon, a nabassu seeks to escape to other planes. But, unlike its kin, the nabassu wishes only to devour as many souls as it can fit into its maw, becoming more powerful with each soul consumed. There is no limit to how powerful a nabassu can become, so even the great demon lords have something to fear from these soul-sucking fiends.
5 Maralith
Maraliths have the upper torso of a woman and the lower body of a serpent. Their upper bodies are surprisingly quite normal, besides the presence of six arms instead of two. Each of these arms wields a sharp blade with which the maralith can unleash a devastating number of attacks: 7 total per turn, including its tail.
Furthermore, the marilith has as many reactions as there are turns in combat and can use these reactions to parry an attacker’s strike instead of making an opportunity attack. Worst of all, any creature grappled by the maralith’s tail has no chance of avoiding its attacks. Once grappled, the maralith automatically hits you with any other attacks.
4 Goristro
The goristro is a demon that resembles a minotaur but is much taller at a towering height of over 20 feet tall. These are the living, breathing siege engines of demonic warfare. They are prized as pets by many demon lords, and are often outfitted with palanquins, or platforms, that contain many more smaller demons. Goristros are used to break through enemy defenses and unload troops into the enemy’s backline. Despite their great strength, even these monsters are the means to an end for demons higher up the food chain.
3 Sibriex
Sibriexes have the most disgusting shape a demon can take and are thought to be as old as the abyss itself, which is likely not a coincidence. The sibriex is a floating mass of flesh that is chained together and covered in orifices that ooze bile and blood. The liquids that constantly drip from a sibriex infect the ground they touch like a plague.
Due to their ancient lifespans, sibriexes are keepers of long-lost lore and even the demon lords themselves seek them out for knowledge of histories long past. The sibriex is also capable of warping the flesh of those it encounters, bestowing upon them a vile blessing or terrible curse.
2 Balor
Balors are the generals of the demon lords’ massive armies. The air sizzles in their presence, and they wield deadly magical weapons: a lightning edged longsword and flaming whip. Balors resemble devils in a way, but with a much bulkier frame. Extending from a balor’s back is a pair of huge wings big enough to carry its gargantuan form. Even if you manage to defeat a balor, the creature very well may take you with it. When a balor dies, it explodes in a fiery nova that requires creatures within 30 feet to make a DC 20 Dexterity save. The explosion deals 20d6 fire damage. Creatures who save take half damage, but even that might be enough to fell your beloved character.
1 Molydeus
Even more powerful than the generals of the demon lords’ armies are their personal servants: the molydeus. A molydeus is only created when a demon, whether by its cruelty, cunning, or overwhelming devotion, draws the attention of one of the demon lords. The demon lords are capable of performing an excruciatingly painful ritual that transforms a lesser demon into the demon lord’s own bound servant. This new form features two heads, one of a snake and one of a wolf, atop a 12-foot tall red-skinned body. The molydeus and its master are linked forever through its serpents head, so betrayal is nigh impossible. The molydeus are also provided a weapon forged from a part of their very souls as a gift from their dark lord. A molydeus’ ultimate duty is to ensure the safety of its master’s amulet: an object that allows a demon lord to reform in the abyss even if destroyed there.
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