Yeah, maybe. It definitely has the possibility to be morally ambiguous, which could be part of the fun.
D&D 5E Moral Agency
MarkB
Legend
But do the means justify the ends? If you choose to give someone a chance at redemption when you know there is little or no chance that they'll actually change their ways, and then they go on to kill again, do you bear culpability for that outcome?
Not all the way to celestial, but there is Fall-From-Grace from the Planescape: Torment game, a succubus who has become Lawful Neutral with tendencies towards good. It's a licensed game, so I would assume she counts as canonical.
Laurefindel
Legend
There are precedents of fallen celestial and reformed fiends (although none that I know have ascended to the status of celestial).
The vengeance/redemption party is very intriguing however. It has potential for epic roleplay... and for epic campaign derailing and crash. I hope that while your characters may see things differently, you, the paladin players, the other players, and the DM, are all on board with it however.
The vengeance/redemption party is very intriguing however. It has potential for epic roleplay... and for epic campaign derailing and crash. I hope that while your characters may see things differently, you, the paladin players, the other players, and the DM, are all on board with it however.
MechaTarrasque
Hero
I would argue that Evil benefits by having evil or fallen celestials, so it keeps them celestials unless there is a strong reason to change them (like overlordship of a layer of Hell). That is why Evil trots them out to show you that Good is weak or lying to you.
There aren't a lot of (ahem) good reasons for Good to keep redeemed fiends as fiends. Good therefore tries to turn redeemed fiends into celestials as soon as possible. Since Good isn't trying to make PR points and if Evil heard Good was trying, it would be easy and probably horrifically tragic to sabotage that effort ("yeah, I'm a totally reformed demon too. Why don't you bring all the kids in town here so I can give them some presents."), there is no reason for anyone to hear about redeemed fiends.
There aren't a lot of (ahem) good reasons for Good to keep redeemed fiends as fiends. Good therefore tries to turn redeemed fiends into celestials as soon as possible. Since Good isn't trying to make PR points and if Evil heard Good was trying, it would be easy and probably horrifically tragic to sabotage that effort ("yeah, I'm a totally reformed demon too. Why don't you bring all the kids in town here so I can give them some presents."), there is no reason for anyone to hear about redeemed fiends.
MarkB
Legend
Since when is Good not trying to score PR points? That's what sermons are. Being able to demonstrate that nobody is beyond redemption would be huge for many good-aligned religions.
MechaTarrasque
Hero
I have been told that sermons are supposed to inspire you to greater good.
I think you will have to work pretty hard to convince me that scenario B is more compelling than scenario A (both below). Feel free to give it a shot:
Scenario A
"Hi. I'm Bob. As you can see I am a deva angel. What you don't know is that this time last century, I was a vile vrock demon. A paladin spared my life after a fierce combat and I realized that there was a better way. The Goddess of Redemption gifted me this form knowing a body made of pure goodness would reinforce the rehabilitative process."
Scenario B
"Hi. I'm Bob. As you can see I am a vrock demon. DON'T RUN AWAY! I swear I will infect you with the spores of madness if you run. As I was saying, I am totally good now. A paladin spared my life after a fierce combat and I realized that there was a better way. I am still a demon, because a body made of pure evil that can only feel any sort of pleasure by inflicting pain and fear on lesser beings like you.... Paaaaiiiin......Feeeaaaar......feels sooo good. Sorry, got caught up for a moment, but I don't do that anymore (mostly). Hey, I said DON'T RUN."
MarkB
Legend
You'll have a hard time convincing me that these scenarios are not PR.
And what makes the second scenario more compelling is that scenario B involves actually seeing a Vrock demon doing good works, while scenario A just involves someone claiming to be an ex-demon. Seeing is believing.
There was one Devil that became a Planetar. They were not special or unique like most fallen angels are, they just became a bog standard Planetar. Gosh, this is going to take some digging to get her name.
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Flamestrike
Legend
Try genocide.
Really, it's just a mercy killing on a grander scale. So even more mercy than a standard mercy killing.
You cant get much more merciful than that.
Really, it's just a mercy killing on a grander scale. So even more mercy than a standard mercy killing.
You cant get much more merciful than that.
Flamestrike
Legend
Resounding Justice (Celestial Planetar servant of Tyr in FR) was once a Fiend (a Devil).
There is a LG Succubus Paladin in the 3.5 BoED from memory.
More relevantly, if the PCs redeem the Archdevil Zariel at the end of Descent into Avernus, she ceases being a Fiend and becomes a Celestial (again).
Fall from Grace was a LN (good tendencies) chaste Succubus, from Plansecape Torment.
Grazzt ceased being a Bateezu and became a Taanari when he changed alignment from LE to CE (still a Fiend though).
Redeemed Fiends are rare. Fallen Celestials are far more common. Four of the current 9 Dukes of Hell were once Angels, and the entire sub-race of Erinyes were all once Angels (or descendants of those that fell to evil).
It's easier to fall that rise.
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