How do you handle devils, demons or general fiends in your setting?

succubi are tipically not ment for combat encounters and they focus on more manipulation curruption and carnal pleasures they tend to be masterminds behind plots or the intelligence behind stronger demons

As most demons and devils are outsiders and not bound by reality their forms or fluid and can change at the whim of the Demon or devil designs with the exception of Fallen Celestials which continue to have the corrupted and warped visque of their orginal form.

I tend to keep greater devils and demons off the prime material and instead let the mortals make the mistake of bringing them into being Devils are usually very respectful and demanding of contracts for any services rendered and will twist said deals in their favor unless they beleive the mortal is worthy of an ally which is rare.

Demons on the other hand make deals but do not honor them are more likely to kill their summoners and go on rampages or attempt to open ways for more of their kind threw. They are impatient and cruel while Devils are calm collected and plot every move with several steps into the future.

Demons are relatively common, and most are relatively harmless since they keep to themselves.

Since magic in humans is incredibly rare as well as despised they are known to be the only things that perform it on a regular basis and as such, they are often the target of persecution and worship.

Demons often don't have any name for themselves other than the identity they get from being part of their species or a name given to them by humans. There are demons with true names and they are generally very powerful, but also have a tendency to be more conniving and malicious.

There are a few demons that offer some of their power through contracts, and if a contract is broken by either party there are some severe punishments involved. There are also a few humans that can kill demons and absorb their essence, but those people are incredibly rare and hunted by both humans and demons alike.

>>52114407
Sign pact with the first one that makes plausible offer and use thus acquired power to boss all the others around.

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>>52114407
A demon/devil shouldn't be just another enemy type. An evil monster from a world outside our own should be as big a deal in the given setting as it would be if one appeared in front of you right now.

They should be imposing, they should be legitimately threatening, and the impact of having even one around should shake the foundation of the land it appears in. If not the fucking planet.

I never really liked the ideas of creatures made of evil being just another fodder enemy to make up The Dark Badlord's army or infest the cave some cult has overrun. There are dozens of other spooky otherworldly archetypes to fill that slot. A demon should be something a little more.

Obviously all matter of preference of corse.

>>52114407
That's a really good webcomic.

Devils are antithetical to gods of high concepts and creations of mortals. You won't find a devil of Lust, but you will find Devils of Adultery, among other sexual acts. You will find Devils of Greed and Heresy, War and Murder but not Wrath.

Demons are antithetical to gods of natural concepts and innate traits of reality. You will find Demons of Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Death, Birth, Spiders, Madness. There are also demons of specific kinds of animals.

There are spirits good, bad and neutral. They are often pure spirits un-incarnate in the material world and existing in the firmament or upper air, and have been there since the beginning, or came down at some turbulent time. There are also the souls of ancestors and such, disincarnate and somehow trapped outside of the reincarnation process. They exist as they would outside the material world, pureform spirits.

Vampires and Dragons are physical manifestations of darkness and the malevolent will of the Tyrant Godhead.
Vampires are born from intense, obsessive greed, lust and envy, the kind that consumes a person. They covet more and more, seek to consume and spread themselves about, feeding the fire of their souls. They are also born from particularly sinful corpses left in dark graves and tombs which seek to continue their abhorrent existences. They are cunning but monomaniacal.
Dragons are creatures born from the corpses of the wrathful and slothful, as well as darkness. They are mindless forces of destruction, spewing choking smoke and poison from distended guts as they crawl on hideously taloned limbs. Some even glide and flap horrible wings of skin.

Demons, proper, true demons, are spirits incarnate through pure darkness in the material world. They are like spirits, but instead of being drawn from the outside, they arise in the material world, where darkness is present. They are wholly malevolent and manifold, they hold countless terrible forms and vary in intelligence from roving beasts to scheming devils. They are confined to ruins and desolate place where the darkness has gone unbroken for ages. Light hurts them, but in their domain, they rule.

Darkness in this world is physical thing, it's like a fog, or a very thin water, it resists you when it's deep enough, it snuffs out lights, it soaks things and gets into them, it builds up and congeals and solidifies. It is the domain, will and mark of the Tyrant Godead.

>>52114407
Demons is a catch all term. If it's weird and spiritual, it's a demon. Totems, angels, gods, etc. are all demons. Ghosts are protodemons, or sometimes demon food depending. They also eat normal stuff sometimes. They can be negotiated with, but it's pretty frustrating talking to one because they have though processes that don't make sense to humans. Most demons are willing to make a deal. Servitude can go both ways, some demons love money as much as any human, and they're likely to make specific requests just go fuck with you. You are encouraged to do the same with them.
Demon shapes are whatever.
People can become demons through fuckery.

>>52114908
I actually agree with this. They should, at the least, be above the common tier of monsters, even a weak, wretched demon should pose some kind of specific threat other things don't. This is a DEMON, a being of pure evil or malevolence or spiritual power.

Demons are beings of pure emotion, only capable of feeling those emotions in their most extreme forms. The concepts of moderation and balance are completely foreign to them.

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Demons are non-physical psychic entities created by a god with sole purpose of tormenting and exterminating intelligent life.
They are parasites of sort, and can be in general only be perceived by person whose mind they inhabit.
While weaker demons are incapable of causing physical harm ( still a threat due risk of possession / mental damage ), more powerful demons can harm the host - in Freddy-style manner.
However, due to design flaw lot of them float in Sheol ( having been dragged down by souls they killed ) and manifest there. I haven't actually illustrated them, yet. I really should...

As for other extraplanars, there are Sheoleans, natives of Sheol and precursors of life. They are largely neutral and very rarely visit physical plane. Being near them is ill-advised due mutating touch/presence.