Homebrew Daimon Species Details

Levistus turns, whipping around with quick intuition to find the young man standing– bleeding– but standing, with no hint of pain shown in his face, in the way he walks or reacts to his wounds. The man is just as damaged as himself, but upon appearing in an empty space out of reach, he looks unfazed. With a flick of his only remaining hand, almost as if subconscious, he heals one of his fallen companions while laying them on the ground behind him. Levistus expects him to be distressed, even infuriated, maybe scared; but Leon turns to him, bleeding out from one stump arm, and smiling.

No, Smirking. 

Leon stands up straight and clasps his hand over the stump as if fixing a mere leak in the roof on a rainy day. No hint of pain, no form of concern, especially not for himself. Levistus eyes him down before intending to speak a threat, but as he opens his mouth to do so, Leon eyes him back. His eyes are flickering.

They were auburn, right? Some kind of darkened red.
They flicker like a captive electrical storm. They flicker brightly.
Bright cyan blue. Manic. 

"Your ignorance is entertaining," Leon's soft, precise voice is unsettling with such disturbingly cocky words. His unyielding eyes no longer blink, and his hand twitches, sparking with an overflow of barely restrained power.

"Don't you see? We were both the last ones standing, but I am the one that tore you down. You haven't hurt me. You can't hurt me." his smirk has elevated to a derailed grin, and any humanity left in him is long past disintegrated, "You're just a lone devil. I am a god."

— Leon Mureiy to the archdevil Levistus

 

The Daimon should not exist. 

By the standards of many religions, many figures, those who keep the known divine hierarchy close to their chests; the Daimon is not inherently, automatically hated by such individuals, but seen as a disaster waiting to happen. Some would consider such a thing high risk for high reward– but the rate of failure is far too high to prove such a thing true for the time being. The Daimon is a being, originally mortal, more than touched by the divine. Rather, takes up divinity by way of somehow taking it from another deity, finding it by way of direct divine intervention, or other undiscovered means. This is an incredibly rare circumstance, and if not dangerous, then suicidal. A Daimon can be considered a minor deity. 

A being who has found a loophole in mortality by way of inherited divinity or blessed divinity and thus has an ascended status– but attempts to maintain a mortal form. Status and power-wise compatible to a planetar in some senses. It is unclear how much of the individual is humanoid and how much celestial, as the frontier is odd and unexplored, and the being is just as mixed up in their own definition. Daimons are not good or bad inherently, and do not particularly have to have a higher patron. They lie somewhere between angel, mortal, and god. 

A being insisting on mortality while having achieved or inherited divinity is, essentially, a ticking time bomb. The being's mortal form is comparable to a shell, the force inside said shell being the divinity itself and every time it is presented the force threatens the integrity of the shell. Each time forming more cracks. Thus, in this sense, a being like this can live as a mortal, the mystery behind the creature is: for how long? 

Walls Closing In 

 

The Daimon lies between god and mortal. In a basic sense, they are mortal in physicality and divine in soul and raw power. Raw divine power can not be kept in such a space. As mentioned; they are considered wrong for this very reason. As long as the Daimon attempts to keep their mortal form and mind in tact, the power will chip away at such things every time divinity is brought to the surface. Most, if not all, minor deities trying to exist in such a way have ended up insane, and/or destroyed by themselves or others. Mortals who gain divinity can become stable, making for solid deities, but those in this category embrace immortality in a genuine, permanent divine form. The Daimon is a ticking time bomb– having to pick deityhood or mortality or face sheer madness, or even ripping themselves apart with raw power. 

Madness

 

The Daimon will be subject to madness upon any use of divine ability and display of power. This madness will correspond with the severity/strength of the action and the roll on the madness chart. The DM will determine the price of the individual divine abilities the Daimon has. They will stack up eventually to indefinite madnesses and so on and so forth.

Example:

 

madness	Divine Abilities
1 short term	All fire damage converted to radiant damage
2 short terms	Phoenix form
1 short term	Two divinity-granted spells
2 short terms	Max damage on fire spells (5th level and below)
1 short term	Advantage on a saving throw
	5 short terms = 1 long term. 2 long terms = 1 indefinite.

Conflicted Souls

The Daimon will likely be torn between their mortal life– loves, friends, familiarity– and the tempting superiority of deityhood. The Daimon can choose to not use their abilities and postpone any negative effects on their body and sanity, but is almost always drawn in the other direction with such power dangled in front of them. 

 

Daimon Traits

The daimon is observed to have the following traits.

Divine Penance

You will have a specific detrimental toll for your power decided on by your DM.

Innate Spellcasting

You have a certain number of innate spells as decided by your DM.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2.

Age

Daimons as mortal beings have the same lifespan as the race they were born with unless they give into immortality and sacrifice their humanity completely. Immortality, in this case, does not mean to be unkillable, but rather, unaging without a lifespan. 

Alignment

Any; however as they lose stability they will likely lean towards chaotic alignments.  

Size

Daimons have the same size as the race they were born with; typically medium. However, their divine forms are often larger; falling into the large category most of the time in this case.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Different Daimons may have different speeds, especially in celestial form.

Darkvision

Blessed with a radiant soul, your vision can easily cut through darkness. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Celestial Resistance

You have resistance to celestial, necrotic, and/or a damage type related to your godhood.

Healing Hands

As an action, you can touch a creature and cause it to regain a number of hit points equal to your level. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Light Bearer

You know the light cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write your native language(s) and Celestial.