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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What Would Happen if Fiends Came to Fill the "Low CR Monsters" Niche?
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<blockquote data-quote="Hexmage-EN" data-source="post: 8523987" data-attributes="member: 79428"><p>I've been thinking for a while that D&D, if it wanted to, could just shift a lot of the negative traits ascribed to goblins and orcs and whatever to certain low CR demons and make them more common as low-level enemies. It would also help give dretches and what not more personality.</p><p></p><p>Part of the argument against having orcs and goblins and such as common enemies is that their are frequently good individuals, they reproduce, and they may be native to the area. In contrast, low CR demons (manes, rutterkin, dretches, quasits, etc) are are pure evil without the civility that devils can have, don't reproduce, are invaders from the Abyss rather than natives of the world, and don't even really die when destroyed unless destroyed in the Abyss. Their presence in large numbers also increases the Abyss' link to a world, so wiping out incursions is also an imperative, and there are higher CR demons that can serve as bosses forcing lesser demons into servitude (though, being Chaotic, many of these demons would probably flee to go do their own thing, further making them a threat to the countryside even as the boss demon summons more minions from the Abyss).</p><p></p><p>Demons are the most obvious choice for rampaging monsters, but devils and even yugoloths could be justifiable (thought currently the lowest CR yugoloth, the mezzoloth, is at CR 5). How many adventures with some villain forcing orcs or goblins into their employ would work just as well with summoned fiends in that role?</p><p></p><p>The only thing is I have the suspicion that putting demons in the goblins' niche might somehow end up making people want to start portraying literal demons and devils more sympathetically, which would be bad optics for the game that once suffered under the Satanic Panic. Making them staples of low level adventures where the authors try to get creative with them might make them more interesting as NPCs, and we could have players starting to want to play good demon PCs.</p><p></p><p>Thoughts?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hexmage-EN, post: 8523987, member: 79428"] I've been thinking for a while that D&D, if it wanted to, could just shift a lot of the negative traits ascribed to goblins and orcs and whatever to certain low CR demons and make them more common as low-level enemies. It would also help give dretches and what not more personality. Part of the argument against having orcs and goblins and such as common enemies is that their are frequently good individuals, they reproduce, and they may be native to the area. In contrast, low CR demons (manes, rutterkin, dretches, quasits, etc) are are pure evil without the civility that devils can have, don't reproduce, are invaders from the Abyss rather than natives of the world, and don't even really die when destroyed unless destroyed in the Abyss. Their presence in large numbers also increases the Abyss' link to a world, so wiping out incursions is also an imperative, and there are higher CR demons that can serve as bosses forcing lesser demons into servitude (though, being Chaotic, many of these demons would probably flee to go do their own thing, further making them a threat to the countryside even as the boss demon summons more minions from the Abyss). Demons are the most obvious choice for rampaging monsters, but devils and even yugoloths could be justifiable (thought currently the lowest CR yugoloth, the mezzoloth, is at CR 5). How many adventures with some villain forcing orcs or goblins into their employ would work just as well with summoned fiends in that role? The only thing is I have the suspicion that putting demons in the goblins' niche might somehow end up making people want to start portraying literal demons and devils more sympathetically, which would be bad optics for the game that once suffered under the Satanic Panic. Making them staples of low level adventures where the authors try to get creative with them might make them more interesting as NPCs, and we could have players starting to want to play good demon PCs. Thoughts? [/QUOTE]
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What Would Happen if Fiends Came to Fill the "Low CR Monsters" Niche?
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