Qlippoth
Qlippoth (singular & plural) are one of the many, many races of fiends that Pathfinder has chosen to create to further flesh out their array of evil outsiders, due to not being restricted to the Great Wheel.
The Hebrew word "qlippa" means "husk", -ôth is how a Hebrew feminine word gets pluraled. The Jews applied the term first to the pagans' idols. Later theologians applied this to the most unholy of evil spirits or the concept of "The Tree of Death", an antithesis to YHVH where all evil of creation goes.
In Pathfinder the Qlippoth are the original inhabitants and masters of the Abyss, squamous and horrific creatures with shapes reminiscent of lower life forms such as insects and mollusks, and one of the two oldest races in existence, preceded perhaps only by the Proteans. Driven to near-extinction by the howling hordes of demons, they have become obsessed with the need to exterminate all mortal life in order to stem the tide of sins that give rise to their rivals. Presumably once they're done with this they'll return to their old larger goal, which seemed to be the destruction of all existence outside of Qlippoth and the Abyss.
They're essentially the Pathfinder equivalent of D&D's Obyrith.
Types of Qlippoth[edit]
Word of Warning: these things are fucking weird-looking. Professional biologists may require therapy after looking at these pictures.
- Augnagar
- The Abyss's apex predators. Their bite imparts a flesh-rotting curse.
- Behimiron
- A giant beetle that lays its eggs in the corpses of those it kills.
- Cataboligne
- A giant six-legged hippo with spiked clubs in place of a head and tail, and a big mouth across its stomach. The tree growing on its back can emit a death beam that turns you to dust. Its bite also has flesh-eating bacteria. Other qlippoth, and proteans, use them as living siege engines.
- Chernobue
- Bulbous one-eyed thing with four tentacle "legs", two tentacle "tails" and two shoulder-mounted tentacles that end in lamprey-like mouths. Their bite injects a thick orange venom that is actually a living creature. If you successfully cure the poison, it shoots out of your body like a chestburster.
- Cythnigot
- A parasitic fungus that infects, mutates and controls animals. Looks like a venus flytrap.
- Deinochos
- Hermit crab like qlippoths that attach themselves to larger qlippoths like remoras and then control them with telepathy.
- Gongorinan
- Big green crabs with rocks growing on top of them. They have four different arms: crab claw, humanoid, mantis claw, and tentacle. Though their description says they have at least twelve eyestalks, they are only drawn with at most four. Arguably the single worst offender in terms of morphological bullshit, except perhaps for the Cataboligne above.
- Gorgoros
- three-eyed, many-tailed snakes that can turn you to stone with their gaze.
- Hydraggon
- Aquatic qlippoths that dwell in the River Styx. They have multiple prehensile tongues that can wield weapons.
- Iathavos
- Like the tarrasque, only one of these can exist at any one time. It can absorb creatures and turn them into nyogoths.
- Nyogoth
- Flying spaghetti monster. Half of its tentacles end in lamprey-like mouths.
- Shoggti
- These squidlike masters of mind control invade other realms in bands to capture creatures alive and turn them into charmed slaves.
- Thognorok
- A Shoggoth or Gibbering Mouther with more insectoid features. They used to live on the back of Rovagug like fleas, and are considered its divine servitors.
- Thulgant
- A spider with an upside-down head, tentacles coming out of its mouth, and three wiggly scorpion tails. When an augnagar becomes too fat off cannibalism, it rips itself apart to reveal a newly born thulgant.
- Utukku
- Shapeshifters whose job is to pretend to be clerics and start cults. Upon death, the cultists' souls will be transformed into quintessence that merges with the Abyss, thus denying souls to the demons.
- Vexenion
- An ooze-like qlippoth that feeds by absorbing prey. Created by the qlippoth lord Yamasoth. They are intelligent and have a habit of making small talk with their prey as they absorb it, asking about its favorite foods while commenting on the flavor of the prey itself.
Qlippoth Lords[edit]
- Aonaurious, The Enigma Clot
- Chavazvug, The Crawling Inferno
- Gholz (Deceased)
- Isph-Aun-Vuln, The Feaster Within
- Oaur-Ooung, The Blistering Womb
- Shiggarreb, The Marauding Maw
- Thuskchoon, The Everglutton
- Yamasoth, The Polymorph Plague
| The Fiends of Pathfinder | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lawful: | Asuras - Devils - Rakshasas - Velstracs | |
| Neutral: | Daemons - Divs - Sahkils | |
| Chaotic: | Demodands - Demons - Lilus - Nindorus - Qlippoth | |
| Any: | Oni | |
| Lords: | Ahriman - Archdevils Demon Lords - Four Horsemen | |