[D&D] Characterizing Inept Demons
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Avoraciopoctules
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[D&D] Characterizing Inept Demons
I want to introduce an artifact in one of my campaigns. A magical crown sought after by the bad guys, the device grants 2 powerful demons as minions. The catch is, both of the demons suck at being evil. They have a decent chance of being outright liabilities to the antagonists. But I haven't settled on specific demon types and foibles yet. Any suggestions?
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Lago PARANOIA
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What do you mean by 'suck at being evil'? Are they self-sabotaging in an Ironic Tragic Flaw way? Are their powers not very good? Are they like Sinfest or Disgaea demons in that their 'evil' is mostly harmless and adorable? Are they like Full Metal Alchemist homunculi in which they're too parochial and petty to really be effective? Are they like Cave Story 'demons' in which while they're compelled to obey their master their hearts really aren't into it and try to sabotage or thwart their masters when given the chance? What?
Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.
Just plain not being mean is a bad trait in demons. Likewise, so is being honest (or too dumb to lie).
A helpful question to consider: Why are they bound to the crown?
I mean, these could be demons in 'reeducation'.
It could also be a demon who has some lawyering talent to find a way to take 'offense' or exact-word his way into attacking whoever orders him, no matter what they do. But -asking- him to do something can work. If he feels like doing it.
A helpful question to consider: Why are they bound to the crown?
I mean, these could be demons in 'reeducation'.
It could also be a demon who has some lawyering talent to find a way to take 'offense' or exact-word his way into attacking whoever orders him, no matter what they do. But -asking- him to do something can work. If he feels like doing it.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Which does add a potential layer of lack-of-fuck-to-give to their mentality.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Josh_Kablack
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Nearly indestructible? Known for pursuing plans that backfire in dangerous ways? Continuing undaunted in the face of repeated failures?
That sounds an awful lot like a certain pop culture character,
who I would probably try to reference in as many subtle, non-obvious ways as I could:
That sounds an awful lot like a certain pop culture character,
"But transportation issues are social-justice issues. The toll of bad transit policies and worse infrastructure—trains and buses that don’t run well and badly serve low-income neighborhoods, vehicular traffic that pollutes the environment and endangers the lives of cyclists and pedestrians—is borne disproportionately by black and brown communities."
You know, that actually sounds like Bebop and Rocksteady, if someone writing the turtles was grimderp enough to add massive civilian casualties to the show.kzt wrote:However the demons are extraordinarily tough, so they always come though without any major damage, no matter how awfully the plan goes sideways or however many people get killed in the ensuing disaster.
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Avoraciopoctules
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The basic premise is ripped off from Cave Story, but I was thinking the characters themselves would be kind of different. The bound demons got press-ganged into crown duty by a bunch of fellows who couldn't stand them anymore. I haven't settled on specific reasons yet, but the base creatures should be kind of badass.Lago PARANOIA wrote:What do you mean by 'suck at being evil'? Are they self-sabotaging in an Ironic Tragic Flaw way? Are their powers not very good? Are they like Sinfest or Disgaea demons in that their 'evil' is mostly harmless and adorable? Are they like Full Metal Alchemist homunculi in which they're too parochial and petty to really be effective? Are they like Cave Story 'demons' in which while they're compelled to obey their master their hearts really aren't into it and try to sabotage or thwart their masters when given the chance? What?
Yeah, that sounds like it'd be an okay starting point. Or maybe Bulk and Skull from Power Rangers, but I don't want to let things slip completely into comic relief territory, the party should take them at least sort of seriously.shau wrote:You know, that actually sounds like Bebop and Rocksteady, if someone writing the turtles was grimderp enough to add massive civilian casualties to the show.kzt wrote:However the demons are extraordinarily tough, so they always come though without any major damage, no matter how awfully the plan goes sideways or however many people get killed in the ensuing disaster.
Last edited by Avoraciopoctules on Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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JonSetanta
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Avoraciopoctules
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Basic ideas:
A babau who slips on its own acid slime. Keeps wanting to hold treasure and cursing its faulty memory when the loot dissolves in its hands.
Vrock aspires to be an opera singer and gardener, but its tuneless screeching can even stun other demons. Will quite literally stop evil missions to smell the roses.
Coloxus who is really hung up on keeping clothes tidy. If mud gets spilled on its suit, will turn invisible in embarrassment and teleport home to change. Complimenting fashion sense
Shadow demon who is so terrified of the sun, can be frightened off by an unexpected lamp. Party can distract it into shaking its fist and shouting "curse the sun!" and just walk off.
I think I like the vulture-and-fly-demon duo the best. They both fly at similar speeds, so I can say they get teleportation nausea and just fly everywhere together, bickering on the way.
A babau who slips on its own acid slime. Keeps wanting to hold treasure and cursing its faulty memory when the loot dissolves in its hands.
Vrock aspires to be an opera singer and gardener, but its tuneless screeching can even stun other demons. Will quite literally stop evil missions to smell the roses.
Coloxus who is really hung up on keeping clothes tidy. If mud gets spilled on its suit, will turn invisible in embarrassment and teleport home to change. Complimenting fashion sense
Shadow demon who is so terrified of the sun, can be frightened off by an unexpected lamp. Party can distract it into shaking its fist and shouting "curse the sun!" and just walk off.
I think I like the vulture-and-fly-demon duo the best. They both fly at similar speeds, so I can say they get teleportation nausea and just fly everywhere together, bickering on the way.
Basically, you're looking at
Occasionally competent, but only when given really minor tasks, like pretending to be children to lure a hero into a deadly battle. So inept that they can't even kill a baby correctly.
Occasionally competent, but only when given really minor tasks, like pretending to be children to lure a hero into a deadly battle. So inept that they can't even kill a baby correctly.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.
You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Tjeck out the original B&W Ninja Turtles comics. They were not the same as what everyone fondly remembers watching as kids.shau wrote:You know, that actually sounds like Bebop and Rocksteady, if someone writing the turtles was grimderp enough to add massive civilian casualties to the show.
(Theoretically, the original TMNT was what Palladium were trying to get with their Ninja Turtles game. Between their rules being stupid and players being, well, players, that is not what happened.)
Count Arioch the 28th wrote:There is NOTHING better than lesbians. Lesbians make everything better.
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JonSetanta
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I mentioned this recently to my brother. I remember standing in a comic store as a young child holding a book of the comics wondering why it was so different, yet now when I look for a copy there's none to be found (and it's too rare to torrent)Koumei wrote:Tjeck out the original B&W Ninja Turtles comics. They were not the same as what everyone fondly remembers watching as kids.