Goristro

D&D 2024 monster: Goristro. Source: Monster Manual (2014). challenge rating 17, creature type Fiend (Demon), Huge size, speed 40 ft. The goristro resembles a fiendish minotaur towering more than twenty feet tall. When controlled by a demon lord, goristros make formidable living siege engines and prized pets. Goristros possess preternatural cunning when navigating labyrinthine passages and shifting corridors, pursuing foes in a terrifying hunt. A hulking goristro sometimes bears a palanquin, carrying smaller demons on its broad shoulders, much like an elephant carries riders on its back. Demons Spawned in the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, demons are the embodiment of chaos and evil-engines of destruction barely contained in monstrous form. Possessing no compassion, empathy, or mercy, they exist only to destroy. Spawn of Chaos The Abyss creates demons as extensions of itself, spontaneously forming fiends out of filth and carnage. Some are unique monstrosities, while others represent uniform strains virtually identical to each other. Other demons (such as manes) are created from mortal souls shunned or cursed by the gods, or which are otherwise trapped in the Abyss. Capricious Elevation Demons respect power and power alone. A greater demon commands shrieking mobs of lesser demons because it can destroy any lesser demon that dares to refuse its commands. A demon's status grows with the blood it spills; the more enemies that fall before it, the greater it becomes. A demon might spawn as a manes, then become a dretch, and eventually transform to a vrock after untold time spent fighting and surviving in the Abyss. Such elevations are rare, however, for most demons are destroyed before they attain significant power. The greatest of those that do survive make up the ranks of the demon lords that threaten to tear the Abyss apart with their endless warring. By expending considerable magical power, demon lords can raise lesser demons into greater forms, though such promotion...