Editing Demon (section)

==In ''D&D''==
Demons have been part of the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' mythos since the beginning, as the *cringe* [[Balrog]]. It eventually got into Gary's head that he couldn't actually do that. So he and the others got together to bring diversity to Hell.

It was decided to build ''two'' hells, with two sorts of fiend to inhabit them. That distinction boiled down to the ever-trying matter of [[alignment]] - subalignment in fact, as in the original version (maintained in the Moldvay / Mentzer / Moldbug schema) Evil and Chaos were as one. AD&D's 1978 Monster Manual sorted demons as [[Chaotic Evil]], devils as [[Lawful Evil]] (there were as yet no "daemons" ''etc'').

Demons got six main types, still remembered as the "True Demons" up to 3e. In order: vrock, hezrou, glabrezu, IV, V, and VI. The latter had "suggested" names, perhaps thought to be personal at this point: nalfeshnee, marilith (female), and baLOR. No, the Type VI "balor" was not a balrog, stop asking. He just looked like one. Spicing things up were succubi, whose model delivered PROMOTIONS to anyone seeing it; the Manes, who were something like pre-demons; and a few [[Demon Princes]]. ''Monster Manual II'' added more. ''[[Fiend Folio]]'' meanwhile had a "shadow demon" which got booted out in 2e, returning as a "shadow ''fiend''" (but still obviously a demon).

In [[Advanced_Dungeons_&_Dragons#AD&D_2nd_Edition|2e]], due to the legendary [[Satanic Panic]] of 80's ''D&D'', demons and devils were renamed as [[Tanar'ri]] and [[Baatezu]] respectively (Daemons became [[yugoloth]], [[Demodand|Demodands/Gehreleth]]s). Later in that edition the panic leveled off, so ''[[Planescape]]'' unofficially restated the original names whilst pretending oh no we have no demons here. This also brought in the [[Blood War]], a huge philosophical conflict that devoured worlds and was basically fought because "Tanar'ri" and "Baatezu" were determined to prove [[skub|their kind of evil]] was the [[Anti-skub|only true face of evil]].

Late [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3.5]] lore introduced [[Obyrith]] in ''Fiendish Codex 1: Hordes of the Abyss'', primordial demons that predated the Tanar'ri in the deep history of the Abyss who once shook the planes in great wars between Chaos and Law before being brought low. They're more [[Old Ones|Lovecraftian]] in nature; several of the most ancient demon lords were [[retcon]]ned into being Obyrith, and they inspired ''[[Pathfinder]]'s'' [[Qlippoth]]. Additionally introduced in ''FC1'' were the [[Loumara]], a newer race of incorporeal demons who like to possess people and only recently formed, though not much else developed for them.

In [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4th Edition]], demons and devils underwent a huge revamp to finally make them more than just alignment-distinctions.

In the 4e mythos, demons are elemental embodiments of corruption, madness and destruction, spawned by the last remaining shard of a dead universe destroyed by entities of pure evil polluting the Elemental Chaos - this was the 4e rendition of the Obyrith. This means they want to destroy the entire multiverse, then leap into the next reality and destroy it as well, and so on ''ad infintinum''.

Devils, meanwhile, are fallen angels who betrayed their own god and were twisted into monsters before being locked up in their ex-master's domain, which they have converted into a hellish prison. Their goals are to get out of their prison and take over the entire multiverse.

{{Pathfinder-Fiends}}

===Nonstandard ===
Some settings scrap the classical D&D / PF series and roll their own.

For the BXCMI series, the Masters Set introduced the '''Sphere of Death''' to handle otherworldly ''eeevil''. The Immortals rules got the types I-VI under different names, for instance III is "Howling" and the mainstay VI (floated in [[M1: Into the Maelstrom]]) is "Roaring".

In the [[Scarred Lands]], demons are the minions of the god of [[Chaotic Evil]], [[Vangal]] the destroyer.

In the [[Talislanta]] setting, the Lower Planes contain the Demonrealms. This setting's demons are the opposite of the creative [[elemental]]s, beings of negative elemental energy that create a physical body out of elemental matter at hand, so you have dust demons, drought demons, smoke demons, lava demons and such. They all have a weakness to the element opposing their own.

For ''[[Warlords of the Accordlands]]'', the demonic niche is taken by the Abyssal. Centuries ago, mortals and gods united to cast down the Dragon. They buried its corpse under the ground; its last breath became a permanent storm on the surface. Underground, animals and even some sentients tasted the dead Dragon's flesh. These became the Abyssals, a plague on the local [[dorfs]] especially. They are on a golden / orange theme.