The Rovilax Demon
Demons. They’re big and scary and … actually, they’re not all that big. Even the mighty balor is only Large size, only a single step higher than the average adventurer. While dragons go all the way up to Colossal, there are very few demons that really get all that big. And that makes me sad, because, as we all know, bigger is better. Today’s demon starts out pretty small (Large, the same size as the balor), but he grows quickly. I hope that his unique ability grows on all of you as much as it has on me.
Rovilax Demon
The creature before you is a hulking, brutish figure that appears to be carved from molten rock, and veins of bright red, glowing magma can be seen crisscrossed over its features. Its eyes and mouth appear to be little more than holes from which a bright-hot light shines intently. It roars and beats its chest with its fists, which ignite in dancing scarlet flames.
ROVILAX DEMON CR 17
XP 102,400
CE Large outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +28
DEFENSE
AC 30, touch 10, flat-footed 30 (+1 Dex, +20 natural, -1 size)
hp 287 (23d10+161); regeneration 10 (good weapons, good spells)
Fort +22, Ref +8, Will +17
Defensive Abilities painful invigoration; Immune electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 28
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +28 (4d8+5 plus 2d6 fire/19-20)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks breath weapon (60-ft. cone or 120-ft. line, 10d6 fire damage, Reflex DC 28 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), unholy flames
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +16)
1/day—summon (level 4, 2d4 babaus 30%, 1d4 nabasus 30%, or 1 glabrezu 40%)
STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 12, Con 24, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +23; CMB +29; CMD 40
Feats Cleave, Great Cleave, Great Fortitude, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Power Attack, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills Climb +31, Intimidate +32, Knowledge (planes) +25, Perception +28, Swim +31
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic
ECOLOGY
Environment any (the Abyss)
Organization solitary
Treasure incidental
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Painful Invigoration (Su): A rovilax demon’s natural regeneration intensifies when it takes damage. For every 5 points of damage that the rovilax demon suffers, its regeneration increases by 1 at the start of its next turn. The rovilax demon’s regeneration cannot increase beyond 1/4 its maximum hit points (typically 71). Damage that the rovilax demon inflicts upon itself does not cause its regeneration to increase.
Additionally, as the rovilax demon’s regeneration increases, it also causes the demon to temporarily bulk up, developing more muscle mass and size. When the rovilax demon’s regeneration increases to 15, and every 5 points of regeneration thereafter, its Strength score increases by 2 (to a maximum Strength increase of 12). When the rovilax demon’s regeneration increases to 30, and every 20 points of regeneration thereafter, it increases in size by one size category. This size change does not affect its ability scores or natural armor, but affects its space and reach, the size bonuses and penalties to AC, attacks, CMB, CMD, Fly, and Stealth, and also causes the damage dice for its slam attacks to increase by one dice size (4d10 at Huge, 4d12 at Gargantuan, and 4d20 at Colossal). The rovilax demon’s size cannot increase beyond Colossal in this way.
Each minute that the rovilax demon does not suffer any damage, its regeneration decreases by 5 (to a minimum of 10). As its regeneration decreases, increases to its Strength score or size caused by previous increases to its regeneration are lost.
Unholy Flames (Su): A rovilax demon’s fists are wreathed in dark red flames, which inflict an additional 2d6 points of fire damage with each successful hit. The rovilax demon’s breath weapon is made of the same dark red unholy fire. Fire damage inflicted by either of these methods cannot be healed by divine magic, although it can be healed by arcane spells that restore hit point damage, as well as by normal rest.
Ecology
Rovilax demons are among the most terrifyingly unstoppable creatures ever to crawl out of the deepest and darkest pits of the lower planes. These juggernauts roam the Abyss with relative freedom, as even demons who are much more powerful than they are know that defeating these monstrosities permanently is all but impossible without the aid of holy weapons or magic to overcome their incredible regenerative abilities. In fact, on more than one occasion, when a rampaging rovilax demon proved too disruptive and arrogant to bear, powerful demons have actually called upon mortal adventurers with access to such weapons and spells to kill the rovilax demon for them (this is typically accomplished either through coercion or deceit).
Some scholars argue that rovilax demons are a reflection of the self-hatred inherent in the Abyss and every demon, citing the fact that they generally prove far more disruptive and troublesome to demonic society than they are beneficial, and the fact that their peculiar power seems to tie directly into masochistic and self-loathing tendencies. Others consider this to be nothing more than wishful thinking, and point out that, although it is not common, there are plenty of cases where rovilax demons have been either manipulated or browbeaten by greater demons and cowed into servitude, hardly making them the “demonic antithesis” that the former scholars make them out to be. Such “domesticated” rovilax demons are often used as siege weaponry, and are typically whipped (quite literally) into a frenzy and then, once they grow to massive size and have all but unstoppable regeneration, unleashed upon their masters’ foes.