On the nature of enemies
There are many dangers in the world. Of course, they are more or less under control, especially in the civilized regions - there are adventurers to face them, contain them or straight eliminate. The problem is, however, that most of them cannot be erased completely. They can only be eliminated temporarily (or, in rare cases, eliminated completely but that rarely includes strongest enemies and is limited only to certain types of enemies).
Daemonic Threat
Daemons are, by far, the most common enemies an adventurer will face. They are numerous types of them, each of them infinite in number when in Dark - only wild daemons, those living in the Light and in pocket dimensions in it, have finite numbers. They are also counted amongst the strongest enemies one can face, especially when there are a lot of them or they are strong (because when they are, they almost always have a lot of sidekicks).
The unique trump card daemons possess is their ability to regenerate. Daemons are creatures not of this world. They visit Reality in temporary bodies assembled from aether. While they are assembled in a way that allows it to resemble living creatures as good as possible (which means that slicing apart their eyes will blind them, because they actually use them to see), every lost part can be quickly re-assembled.
This doesn't mean that daemon can survive 'everything' that is thrown at him. They are creatures of pure magic - while even the weakest daemon have more magic power that average magician, it requires most of it to sustain itself. They have ability to replenish the lost magic, but overwhelming majority of it is required to cast spells and attack or defend. Each of them has a set amount of magic it can use on regenerating itself (in case of powerful creatures it might be enough to regrow their heads over and over again... or assemble themselves back from being reduced to dust few times).
When all of this magic is lost, daemon can no longer sustain itself in the Light and will be banished back to Dark. They are also ways of causing permanent damage to a daemon. Powerful magic from the schools considered antithesis to the daemon's nature, anti-magic weaponry (for example antegnite) or sufficiently powerful simple magic can cause permanent damage. Transcendentals, weapons made from highest grades anti-magical materials and many artifacts can even cause damage to their 'nature', meaning that even if they will be banished and then resummon, they will remain wounded.
Subtypes of Daemonic Threats
The Dead - In sort, souls of a mortal that entered the afterlife... and then, for some reason, returned under the form similar to a daemon. Most of them are the Damned, a cannonfodder of the Gehenna, but there are also rare cases of the better places sending visitors to the Real World.
Their biggest difference from the daemons is the existence of the soul. They are a core of their beings, untouchable by even the strongest magic or anti-magic. Because of that, they are invulnerable to the damage to their nature, and almost invulnerable for permanent damage. On the other hand, they cannot regenerate so well (because of their minds being more.... directly targeted than those of daemons), so beheading them will end the fight.
Physically Manifested Daemon - Physical manifestation of a daemon happens, when it spends sufficiently long time preparing and adapting to the Reality. Such daemons no longer are manifested from pure aether - they are organic, fully material being, with magic used merely to power up various anatomical shortcuts that allow them to exist and live in the Light.
Since it costs relatively lower amount of magic than typical manifestation, it also frees a lot of power to be used on attacking and defending. Each physically manifested daemon is a lot stronger than it should be. Being twice more powerful is the least that can be achieved that way. On another hand, it also means being vulnerable to critical damage such as getting beheaded, not to mention being easier to bound and imprison.
Wild Daemons - Wild daemons are pretty much identical to common daemons. The only major difference is that they are heavily bound to the Light. When banished, they return to their hidden domain, a small pocket dimension connected to the Real World in some well hidden place.
When followed there, they can be killed for real. Because of that, it's hard to find for example a nymph that doesn't hide her domain well. Very well. Letting mortals in is also almost unheard off.
Local Daemon - Local Daemon is created when a being moves into some location and takes over in a more metaphysical sense. It is a system very similar to both Imprint and the system of guardian deities watching over inhabited locations.
Local Daemon is an sovereign over his or her domain. If residing in the Dark, it has connection strong enough to manifest there at will. If it actually lives in the Light, it most cases has a connected dimensions where it resides normally. Weaker daemons living there will serve it or move away. Its approach to outsiders will vary from benevolent to malevolent. But very rarely they are interested in what happens beyond the border of their domain.
This category is in many cases created by top dogs amongst local wild daemons, for example dryads ruling over a forest or a melines lording over a cemetery. Sometimes a servile daemons of Gods become local daemons, especially when they move in to occupy a place.
Local Daemons lose their position (and their hidden dimension) if they are bound, or banished into their supernatural domain and then slain for real. When that happens, the place they occupied belongs to nobody... until something else moves in.
Anthropogenic Daemon - A rare variant of daemons created by a single person, in most cases a child or a madman since the strong connection to the Dark (in other words - imagination - is a prerequisite) creates their own, 'personal' daemons. They are completely unpredictable, because their maker's vision can overwrite common sense (nothing stops an anthrodaemon to be for example a burning snowman casting Death Magic and Leaves Magic).
They are also extremely rare, and are dangerous even rarer.
Non-daemonic Threats
While daemons make up for a majority of things that can and probably will chop you head off if you act like an idiot, there are also different enemies. There are three main categories of those, each of them completely different from the other and hailing from completely different origin. At least some of those origins are at least partially daemonic, which only proves how widespread that particular threat truly is.
The three types of non-daemonic threats are: Beasts, Husks and Artificials.
Beasts
Beasts are creatures of the Light, warped into partially supernatural nature by magic. This might include personal attention of a powerful daemon, being descendant of daemons that could multiply and did it in the Light (the daemonic nature disappearing after few generations top), being created as a beast by the Gods, or being descendants of simple animals inhabiting an aetherwarped location.
They are not very different than physically manifested daemon. Most of their bodies are that of the Light, however they can use magic to power various anatomic shortcuts that allow things normally impossible (like breathing fire). The mostly physical form gaves them high degree of resistance to anti-magic, but they aren't daemonic enough to regenerate (the few that does have that skill has it limited and decapitation will still kill them) or avoid death.
Beast killed will be dead for real. On the other hand, they are creatures of the Light - so they aren't limited to troublesome manifestation to be there, they can simply multiply.
Types of Beasts
Servile Beast - Servile beasts are either created to serve certain being (in most cases, daemon or deity), or are bound to serve it despite being of another origin. This makes them much more dangerous than normal, as many subtypes of beasts - even those normally hostile to each other - can cooperate against intruders.
It is quite often happening to dryads, that often have all beasts living in their forests become their servile beasts. While normally acting like typical beasts, they can quickly assemble into a host of quadruped (or not) warriors, ready to defend their queen against those who wish her harm.
Divine Beast - Beasts are at least partially supernatural. Because of that, they can undergo at least some changes due to popular belief about their nature. This often happens to either infamous man-killer beasts and those beasts that are believed to be powerful, but not malevolent, and began being a target of a sort of local cult.
Such beings tend to get massively more intelligent and stronger, the exact power depending on how widespread their fame becomes. They can be slain, however.
Warped Beasts - Warped Beasts are beasts created by daemons to serve as their pawns or bodyguards in Real World. They are extensively modified using magic, making them much more vulnerable to anti-magic. On the other hand, they tend to have their power amplified a lot.
They are different from the servile beasts by the fact that they are physically changed to be like that. If anything, they are often quite close in nature to servile daemons (especially of archdaemons).
Husks
Husks are created from human bodies that no longer possess souls. The lack of it makes them not only a supernatural version of free real estate, and forces civilized countries to proceed with the burial as soon as possible (preferably within few days top, as the remnants of divine protection bound into their souls quickly lose power and make it easier and easier to possess or use the body).
Undead are actually a tip of the iceberg, as such bodies can also be possessed or have their life 'reignited' (which changes them into abominable forms). They are often troublesome, though they rarely are very intelligent and in most cases can be defeated quite easily by exploiting their weaknesses - for example nature-aligned Holy Magic.
Types of Husks
Soulless - Soulless is the 'official' term for average undead. Mortal bodies animated by magic, made to move around and use weapons to defend themselves or attack. Their skills are in most cases lacking, due to them lacking souls. What's left are at best tattered remnants of what they once were, though it might be different if the body was fresh and necromancer competent.
They are vulnerable to nature-aligned Holy Magic. Character-aligned depends on whether they volunteered in live to have their bodies used by necromancers.
High Undead - Much rarer type of undead, which can be described as an undead made good enough to be granted a soul by the Bonehead. Powerful, dangerous and very varied in terms of their skillset. Ironically, they lack the 'tattered remnants' of their former skills, so when a High Undead is created, he has to learn everything from start.
They are vulnerable to nature-aligned Holy Magic, but impervious to character-aligned one, unless they acted evil and accumulated sins.
Horror - Horrors are created when a soulless body is desecrated by the eldritch powers (Pentagram-aligned, in most cases, but this isn't a rule) and given a mockery of soul. They are sad creatures, but also naturally evil by default.
They often suffer from mutations, often warping them overtime into even more grotesque and terrifying beings. They are very vulnerable to nature-aligned Holy Magic, while character-aligned works... quirky.
Profane Undead - Profane Undead is an undead with his past soul still bound to his body... in most cases against its will, used as a source of power, knowledge and skill. Few necromancers are insane enough to create a Profane Undead. Doing so is considered a grave sin against Death, and will rended you a target for her daemons trying to recover the lost soul.
Because of that, Profane Undeads are often created by the same type of creatures that are responsible for the creation of Horrors. They are still considered husks because while they still have soul, it simply is no longer in charge.
Artificials
Artificials are vast array of constructs created with magic from the matter that normally wasn't organic to begin with, or is now dead but kept from disappearing with magic. They are animated with magic, which makes them vulnerable to anti-magic... but less that purely magical daemons are. What's more, while generally not very intelligent, they are also almost invulnerable to physical damage, ot the point of sometimes being trapped and imprisoned rather than attacked directly.
They are hard to create, and require a lot of resources... especially when one truly wants to make them invulnerable to physical damage. When such a being is created, the only way of defeating them is either anti-magic (and a lot of it), or Life Magic and similar powers. Void Magic works well as well.
Types of Artificials
Golems - Golems are creatures created when an elemental assembles himself a physical body. There is a vast array of golems that can be created - from stone and metal, but also bones, wood, or even flesh. They can be created artificially by a spellcaster forcing (or persuading) and elemental to do that.
They are very resistant to damage. Especially stone and metal (regardless of subtype) are almost undestructible and completely resistant to physical damage. Destroying them is always tricky, but when achieved, is permanent, with elemental either destroyed or banished and forced to start the golem from the scratch.
Warmachines - Warmachines are machines assembled with fighting in mind, being to some level autonomous and capable of thinking. They are dozens if not hundreds of models running around in the wilds, being an aftermath of ancient civilizations conserved by anomalies.
They are armed in variety of weapons and about as resistant to swords and spears as every being covered in thick metal armour without any flesh to wound. Weaker ones can be damaged with blunt damage strong enough to damage the internal machines (slashing and piercing is mostly useless), while anti-magic is at best partially useful and depends on the way the machine was constructed.
Life Magic is also useless, making every advanced warmachine a potentially deadly threat. Thunder Magic and Void Magic work pretty well, just as heavy guns (like hand cannons) due to strength of impact.
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