Friday, November 14, 2014

Demons, Daemons

I have decided that I don't like AD&D 1E or OSRIC Demons.  Well, I mean, they are fine for what they are.  I just want my demons to be more "demon-ey"

By that I guess I am thinking about an adventure I want to write that involves a house and a person who are haunted/possessed by Demons.  As Demons go by AD&D 1E/OSRIC standards, that's just not working.

When I think of Demon possession, I think automatically of "The Exorcist".  Even a little bit of movies like "The Exorcism of Emily Rose".  I want my demons like the ones that possessed "The Amityville Horror".

So, from here I am creating my own Daemons. Yes, they are the ultimate Chaotic Evil same as the others. One difference is that there are only two types of Daemons.  Lesser Daemons and Greater Daemons.

Lesser Daemons are 8HD monsters that really have no physical body manifestation in the Astral Plane where they are found.  If they take any type of physical form in the Material Plane, it will be that of a large or over-sized animal such as a pig/hog, hyena, etc...  Only on a roll of 1 to 3 when rolling 3d6 will a Lesser Daemon take it's own physical form in the Material Plane.  If it is summoned to the Material Plane by an evil Cleric or some such individual, it will have a 50% chance of taking possession of an inanimate object or a 10% chance taking possession of a mortal being.

(roll1d100)  1-50 possesses object (nearby structure; ie mausoleum, house, etc...), 51-90 animal possession, 91to 00 possesses mortal within 100 yards of summoning or so named person within that area.

If unable to take possession of an object, animal or a person within 1d10 rounds of summoning, there is a 90% chance the Lesser Daemon will return to the Astral Plane and a 10% chance they will try to possess the summoner.

If a character has a Faith score of 15 or higher (WIS and INT combined then divided by 2) they reduce the odds of being possessed by 15% each attempt.

If a character is of Good alignment and has a selected deity and are in the good graces of said deity, they can petition the deity for intercession (immediate casting of the demon to the Astral Realm) once per attempt at possession.  If all conditions are met for intercession, there is 50% chance of successful intercession.  If not all conditions are met (not in good graces, etc...) then only a 20% chance of success.



Greater (Named) Daemons are 10HD monsters that really have no physical body manifestation in the Astral Plane where they are found.  If they take any type of physical form in the Material Plane, it will be that of a large humanoid, usually wearing a cover, robe, cowl, etc...  Only on a roll of 1 to 6 when rolling 3d6 will a Greater Daemon take it's own physical form in the Material Plane.  If it is summoned to the Material Plane by an evil Cleric or some such individual, it will have a 25% chance of taking possession of an inanimate object or a 50% chance taking possession of a mortal being.

(roll1d100)  1-35 possesses object (nearby structure ie. mausoleum, house, etc...), 36-50 animal possession, 51to 00 possesses mortal within 100 yards of summoning or so named person within that area.

If unable to take possession of an object, animal or a person within 1d10 rounds of summoning, there is a 50% chance the Greater Daemon will return to the Astral Plane and a 50% chance they will try to possess the summoner.

If a character has a Faith score of 15 or higher (WIS and INT combined then divided by 2) they reduce the odds of being possessed by 15% each attempt.

If a character is of Good alignment and has a selected deity and are in the good graces of said deity, they can petition the deity for intercession (immediate casting of the demon to the Astral Realm) once per attempt at possession (the GM should ask the PC to roll percentile die or GM can roll themselves).  If all conditions are met for intercession, there is 76% chance of successful intercession.  If not all conditions are met (not in good graces, etc...) then only a 15% chance of success.

A character that becomes possessed by a Demon takes 1d4 damage per round of being possessed until they die.

In the case of the possessed  dying during the process of possession, there is a 50% that the Daemon will continue to animate the corpse, which then functions as a 4hd Ghast.  Upon destruction of the animated Ghast, the Lesser Daemon is cast back to the Astral Plane and the Greater Daemon will have one final attempt to possess the nearest object, animal or person with a 25% chance of success.

The act of possession by a Daemon in an animal or person is to insert their own Astral Presence into the body of the possessed and take control of the possessed's mind entirely while the possessed is fully aware of what is happening but unable to stop it once it has become a successful possession.

Only deity intercession or a successful exorcism by a Good Cleric can end a Daemonic possession.  This causes the Daemon's Astral presence to be cast from the mind and body of the possessed and back to the Astral Plane.

Characters with a device or spell to see into the Astral Plane will be able to see the Daemons for what they are and to see that a character is being possessed.

During an established possession, a PC will act as a conduit and the Daemon's abilities will be able to be carried out while in the possessed.  The body of the possessed will attain the HD of the Daemon while being possessed (thus allowing the possessed to be tortured longer and giving the Daemon more time to carry out the possession)

A Paladin with a Holy Sword (+10 vs Chaotic Evil), upon killing an animal or person that is possessed will immediately send the Daemon back to the Astral Plane with no chance to animate the corpse.

 Lesser Daemon

Frequency: Common
No. Encountered: 1d3 or 1d6 (in the Astral Plane)
Size: Large
Move:120 ft;
Armour Class: 0 (character assumes same AC while possessed)
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks:2 claws/1 bite (while in animal form taken or character possessed)
Damage: 1d8/1d8/1d6
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defences: See below
Magic Resistance: 50%
Lair Probability: 5%
Intelligence: Low
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Level/XP: 7/1,275 +10/hp

Description:
they can cause darkness, but only in a 5 ft radius. They also possess the following special abilities which they may use at will: detect invisibility (objects only, otherwise as per the 2nd level magic user spell), gate in another Lesser Daemon (10% chance of success), or telekinesis (as the 5th level magic user spell, up to 200 lbs).

Greater Daemon

Frequency:Uncommon
 No. Encountered: 1 or 1d6 (in the Astral Plane)
Size: Large
Move: 90 ft
Armour Class: -4
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 2 claws/1 bite (in robed form or while in possession of a character)
Damage: 2d6/2d6/1d4+1
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defences: See below
Magic Resistance: 60%
Lair Probability: 15%
Intelligence: High
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Level/XP: 8/2,400 + 14/hp

Description:
At will, they can cause darkness in a 10 ft radius. Additionally, they may use the following abilities at will, one at a time: Cause fear (as the 4th level magic user spell), levitate (as the 2nd level magic user spell), pyrotechnics (as the 2nd level magic user spell ), polymorph self (as the 4th level magic user spell), telekinesis (as the 5th level magic user spell, up to 400 lbs), gate (as the 9th level magic user spell) another Lesser or Greater Daemon (30% chance of success).

2 comments:

  1. Think its great except for the "A character that becomes possessed by an Lesser Demon takes 1d6 damage per round of being possessed until they die.

    A character that becomes possessed by a Greater Demon takes 1d10 damage per round of being possessed until they die."

    Part. Characters will be dropping dead before they can do anything interesting to the rest of the unsuspecting party!

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    1. yeah, I was going with basic idea. this is all prone to some adjustment. how about 1d4 for both. The damage refers to the kind of punishment a possessed victim takes in terms of how the daemon will toss the body around like a rag dog, contort it, scratch, scrape, gouge, etc...

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