Would a Demon do this?

[The Amazing Dingo]

I was working out my campaign a little more, filling in the details before the game gets going, and decided to go with a handful of demons that had allied themselves with...well, anyway, one demon has been trapped beneath a noble manor house now for over 500 years but has managed to weaken his cage enough to communicate with the inhabitants. (Yoinked from PirateCat's SH)

To throw my own twist in here, he has managed to enlist the services of several other minor demons (quasits and some succubi) to act as spies and, for his future plans, thieves.

By the way, I like to give themes to my demons and decided to make him a demon of hunger and starvation.

So, here he is pretending to be an angel of a god and giving the noble information his spies have been culling in order to gain the noble's trust and also to give him something to do (500+ years is not long for a demon, but evil he has to want to do something after a while). This noble, from that help, has managed to wiggle himself and his proxies into position of power into this mercantile/capitalism based city that is LN as a whole.

Now, here is where the thieves come in. The demon has them begin to sneak into the vaults and banks of merchants and individuals and exchanging their money. Instead of simply taking the money, the thieves are exchanging the money with tarnished gold pieces with the face of a jester (a tilt of my hat to Cauldron and Batman's Joker for this theme).

The problem begins in that the mayor (the noble who is unaware of his "angle's" true nature or plans) issues an edict that none of these false coins are to be used to buy anything. The rich won't suffer as much, but those poor people will. And with a society based on a mercantilistic/Darwinian philosophy will be loathe to be "kind" enough to give away the food that the poor people are unable to purchase.

There might be a few kinks in the plan (and if you notice any, please feel free to speak them out) but the main question about all this is this:

Is a demon "lawful" enough to work out this plan and be patient enough to let it take effect? Most of the upper level demons have at least a Wisdom of 14 (if one assumes that Wisdom has something to do with patience, which I do). I think this would at least give a demon enough sense to know he has to set up plans but demons are inherintly chaotic and I think that takes importance over the Wisdom. It is their very essence and what they are comprised of...I'm just wondering if they would have it in them to really set up a formulate an indepth plan (this one isn't too indepth of conniving...very straight forward, which might well be within a demon's scope).

Anyway, you can see my internal problems here...anyone able to help?

 

[Li Shenron]

Is a demon "lawful" enough to work out this plan and be patient enough to let it take effect?

My opinion is that lawful has nothing to do with cunning plans.

 

[Hand of Evil]

"If you believe in forever, life is a one night stand"

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Hmmm. Sounds like a Twilight Zone episode, waiting to happen.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Echo that sentiment... planning doesn't necessarily mean lawful.

As for the lesser demons. I think they'd follow the leaders plans, partly because they might appeal to them, but mostly from fear of what the big guy will do if they screw things up! Standard demon heirarchy...

However, I'd have thought it well within their nature to modify the plan with any 'amazing ideas' they came up with by themselves? Could make for some interesting hooks?

The only potential kink I can think of is - can you re-smelt the fake gold pieces? If so, then I could see the lord arranging to exchange them, albeit at a reasonable rate, of course!

 

[Zappo]

Demons make plans as well as anyone else. Their chaotic nature means that they don't work together. Their plans tend to rely on themselves alone.

This demon is using minions; this is still OK because he can easily bully them into obedience by virtue of his own might. However, it is a weak point in his plans. The minions are chaotic too and they may decide by themselves to "improve" on the plan, or betray him in some other way.

 

[DragonLancer]

In my opinion, outsiders truly are their alignment. If its a demon and therefore chaotic I would find that sort of planning perhaps a little much. However, he has been trapped under a house for 500 years and has probably learnt some patience to find a way to be get free.

Sounds like a good plot, run with it.

 

[Piratecat]

Anyways, his plan is creating economic chaos. I really like it. Note that an enterprising illusionist or two will probably start a business casting illusions on the bad GP, long enough to spend them at a merchant's.

I'd also expect someone enterprising to buy the new coins for a fraction of their face value, and later re-smelt them.

Consider making the demonic coins carry a curse of violence. It has a VERY low will save (DC 5 or so), but that means that about one in 20 people who handle the money later go into screaming and murderous fits of violence. Because it affects people hours later, the anger isn't immediately tied to the new coins.

Alternatively - this is better! - in keeping with the demon's theme, some people who handle the coins become unable to gain any nourishment from food. They can eat all they want, but they'll begin wasting away. The only thing that actually quenches their hunger and helps them is to eat human flesh. If that doesn't foment social as well as economic chaos, the demon isn't trying hard enough.

 

[Bigwilly]

Sure am glad he ain't my DM

Alternatively - this is better! - in keeping with the demon's theme, some people who handle the coins become unable to gain any nourishment from food. They can eat all they want, but they'll begin wasting away. The only thing that actually quenches their hunger and helps them is to eat human flesh. If that doesn't foment social as well as economic chaos, the demon isn't trying hard enough.

It's stuff like this that proves PC truly is a RBDM. And while his players may fear him, lowly Not So Evil DMs (NSEDM) like myself can only look on in awe of his twisted evillness.

Bigwilly, NSEDM

 

[Piratecat]

Actually, I'm kind of stealing from Stephen King's "Thinner," but don't tell anyone. The reason I like plots like this is because no matter which plot thread the PCs decide to follow - the coins, the cannibalism, the thieves - it all leads neatly back to the same bad guy. I'm also a total sucker for scenes with otherwise kind people who are forced to choose between two really horrible decisions. Must be all the Call of Cthulhu games run by my wife.

Anyways, I think the Amazing Dingo's plot is a great one. As I said, as long as the demon isn't a stupid one I think this plot is entirely within a demon's purview.