Succubus/Incubus: Fiends in Dreams

Lore: The Lure of Lust

Inhabiting the Lower Planes, succubi and incubi perform evil in service of all manner of dark masters. Two such examples are Asmodeus, ruler of the Nine Hells, and demon lord Graz’zt. The former employs them as general mischief makers, while the latter keeps them as advisors and consorts. Despite being referred to as separate beings, any succubus could become an incubus and vice versa; it all boils down to preference to them.

These fiends first appear in ethereal forms and whisper promises of forbidden pleasures to their would-be victims. Should the victim cave to these twisted desires within their dreams, they’ll be more likely to do so in waking life. Later, the succubus/incubus will appear physically to influence their victim, taking on the shape said victim will have seen within their dreams. The ultimate goal of the scheme: to twist a soul into performing evil of its own free will.

Mortals do not give their soul to these fiends by contract or pledge, but by making three betrayals: one of thought, another of word, and a final one of deed. The more virtuous the prey, the longer and more rewarding the fall. Once the corruption is complete, the succubus/incubus kills their victim and sends the soul into the Lower Planes.

While their charm is their ultimate weapon, only rarely does a succubus/incubus employ it. In doing so, the responsibility for one’s actions is not their own, so no corruption is levied against the soul. As such, they will only use their magical charm as a defense mechanism in dangerous situations.

A succubus/incubus’s kiss is hollow and cold. Those who receive these kisses feel no satisfaction, only pain and emptiness. It is not a display of affection, but an attack, a final farewell before the fiend disappears.

That said, these creatures reproduce in a vain eerily similar to humanoids. Sometimes, they mate with each other. Other times, with their would-be victims. Regardless of its mate, the offspring is destined to be every bit as fiendish and sinister as the parent.

God damn, that’s some good lore! You can get really creative with this! Maybe one of the players falls victim to the fiend and need to struggle against their temptation. Or the succubus/incubus could be a deadly mini-boss serving the BBEG, thus becoming a frequent enemy for the players. It’s good stuff!

Design: Putting Me to Sleep

There was so much that could have been done with this monster. It’s an evil demon that twists the soul with their darkest desires, spending half of its hunting cycle as a formless spirit. With a premise like that, you could come up with some really cool, unique designs!

What we got was not that.

Is it getting hot in here, or is it just the monster designers?

This is among the most flat and generic designs we’ve seen so far. Someone was given the prompt ‘sexy demon’ and they gave us the absolute bare minimum. Decently attractive woman and man, but with spooky wings, horns, and a devil tail. Sure, it gets the point across, but GOD is it boring!

It’s fitting that this monster lures good men to evil through their dreams. Because this design is putting me to sleep.

Stats: Deadly Temptation

This is a surprisingly durable monster. Its AC isn’t bad, and its HP pool isn’t that high, nor is it terrible. It’s also resistant to cold, fire, lightning, poison, and all nonmagical melee damage.

On top of that, there are two feats: Telepathic Bond and Shapechanger. Both of which do just about what you’d expect. Neither one is particularly dangerous, but they add an extra layer of complexity to the battle if used creatively.

Their actions provide a wide variety of options. Its Claw attack serves as a basic melee strike. With Charm, it can magically charm a victim for one day, turning a player’s ally into an enemy. Draining Kiss does a hefty chunk of damage and permanently reduces the victim’s total HP, killing them if their total hits 0. Finally, Etherealness allows it to easily shift between the Ethereal and Material Planes.

This could make for a pretty interesting fight! You’ve got mind-control shenanigans, Plane shifting, HP draining, all the tools you need for a tense and engaging battle!

Placement

This was a surprisingly strong entry! It’s lore and stats were great! If it just had a better design, it could have broken into the top twenty!

As it stands, the succubus/incubus are going to #51 on the Best of the Bestiary!

I’ll see y’all next week. Because we finally, finally, FINALLY, get to talk about the biggest beast of them all!

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Succubus/Incubus <—————–
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