D&D 5E Ways for a demon to go incognito around a paladin, without being unfair to a player

[MarkB]

Give her a Fairy Dragon familiar, that wears a Hat of Disguise to look like an Imp. Whenever the paladin detects a fiendish presence in her direction, she just points to the familiar.

 

[Oofta]

While I think there are multiple ways of doing this, a twist you could do with Nystul's is to have the succubus convince people to have it cast on them. Just pick random innocents, so if the paladin does try to "ping" for a fiend they find them. Then if the spell isn't active on the succubus (or they find some way around it), the succubus can just say it's one of those false positives.

 

[jgsugden]

PCs have abilities and should benefit from them - but an immortal creature that thrives on deception figuring out how to avoid detection is totally fair game. It tells a good story.

Ways I'd handle it:

1.) Have the Succubus/Incubus charm a local and have that local constantly follow the paladin. With the telepathic bond, the local could help keep the paladin away from the succubus.

2.) Have the Succubus hire/charm a spellcaster to cast the Magic Aura spell and make sure it passes the paladin's detection while under the effects to dismiss them as a suspect.

3.) Have the Succubus take on the identities of existing people rather than come up with an identity of their own. If the town has 200 people in it and all of them are accounted for as not the Succubus/Demon ... perhaps it impersonates a few people that spend a lot of time at home in truth.

 

[iserith]

I think really the best way to avoid these kinds of conundrums is to just not design your adventure scenarios that way.

For now, let's assume you don't put something in there that could obscure the succubus' demonic nature and the paladin, while interacting with the succubus in disguise, uses Divine Sense and discovers her true nature.

Does that mean the adventure or even the mystery is over?

 

[GSHamster]

Here's a question: if the paladin cannot use Divine Sense in this situation, in what situation could she use Divine Sense? Only when it's already really obvious that a demon is present?

It seems like if you go to lengths to nullify Divine Sense here, there's not much point in having the ability at all.

Edit: I would have the villagers/townsfolk suspect something else, something that isn't detectable by Divine Sense. Maybe a group of suspicious travelers, or fey, or a tribe of nomads who have come to trade with the village. Maybe a gang of children from the wrong side of the tracks. If they suspect a demon, the paladin is going to use Divine Sense, and I think it's a bit unfair to nullify niche abilities on the rare occasions when they actually apply.

 

[J.Quondam]

Here's a question: if the paladin cannot use Divine Sense in this situation, in what situation could she use Divine Sense? Only when it's already really obvious that a demon is present?

It seems like if you go to lengths to nullify Divine Sense here, there's not much point in having the ability at all.

To be fair, Divine Sense is not being "nullified" here, as far as I can tell from the OP. The intent doesn't seem to be to shut down the pally's ability everywhere and forever.
The question is just about a single NPC who is likely smart enough and experienced enough to make some effort to hide her nature from meddling "holy" people. That's really not an unreasonable thing to expect a succubus to do.

 

[Bohandas]

I recommend a ring of mind shielding. Or the undetectable alignment spell

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

We should point out that Nystul's Magic Aura is an ILLUSION spell...so, even though the Succubus doesn't detect as Infernal and does, instead detect as a celestial, the party might be intrigued why she has an aura of illusion around her when someone casts Detect Magic.

EDIT: although, the spell implies you can hide the aura of a target to seem 'non-magical' so you can probably hide the aura that the spell, itself, causes.

 

[Eltab]

Once the succubus knows there is a Paladin, she does some variant of "Minor Illusion through a keyhole" so the two are not in the room together.

 

[billd91]

If you want her to foil a paladin's Divine Sense with something like a Nystul's magic aura spell, the she should have a reason to go above and beyond her normal skills and abilities and that could be a clue for the PCs. Perhaps she has had problems with a paladin in the recent past and is now prepared to counter their detection powers. Maybe a few paladins have gone missing in the region in recent months and the PCs can hear rumors about them - something to give them a clue about paladins being singled out and targeted for some role they play or ability they have. Then you might devise a clue trail of some sort leading someone pursuing wizards who the Nystul spell.