Editing Baphomet

Baphomet is one of the [[Demon Prince]]s of the [[Tanar'ri]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Hailing all the way back to 1st edition, he is one of the original Demon Princes created by none other than [[Gary Gygax]], and specifically owes his name to real-world demonology.

In D&D specifically, Baphomet owes his inspiration to the stories of the Templars, who were said to worship a demon named Baphomet via the icon of a golden bull's head. Consequently, the D&D Baphomet is depicted as a massive and powerful [[minotaur]], furthering his connections to that race. 

In [[Pathfinder]], due to legal issues, Baphomet is instead styled after the more general depictions of his namesake, such as the titular character on the Devil card in the tarot's major arcana; he appears as a lean, humanoid goat with a brazier-like burning third horn jutting out of his head and an upside-down pentagram on his forehead. Amusingly, this is worked into his lore; long and short of it, he used to be the first minotaur and one of [[Lamashtu]]'s lovers/sons, until he tried to impress her by screwing over [[Asmodeus]]. The king of devils enslaved Baphomet, branded his mark into Bapho's skull and then tossed him into an extradimensional maze to die. Joke was on him, though; although he didn't do it until after he'd mutated into his present state, Baphomet eventually came to understand the maze so well he was able to not only leave, but to steal it away from Asmodeus and merge it into the AByss, founding his own fiendish kingdom.

This emphasizes a trait that both versions of Baphomet uphold; despite his title of the Demon Prince of Beasts, Baphomet is no idiot. In fact, he's actually really smart, and enjoys labyrinthine, almost diabolic plots and schemes, although always with the ultimate goal of tearing down and subverting civilization so that his beast-man servitors can rule over the rubble.

Baphomet is the patron god of the [[Minotaur]]s in most settings, although with his title, he could certainly be given authority over all kinds of beast-man species. He has a long-standing rivalry with [[Yeenoghu]], though exactly why has never really been made clear.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Gods of Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Demon Princes]]