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View Full Version : Pathfinder What can an LN cult (of Asmodeus) do to further the interests of an LE master?



Coidzor
2017-03-19, 05:30 PM
That is to say, what purposes can I put LN cultists to for the master's LE ends without having them turn either LG or LE as a result.

What tasks could they be set to for short term periods without risking alignment change that would be potentially problematic if they were left doing them long term without balancing them out in some way?

One thing that I could see is training a number of them to be scribes and clerks and using a combination of tactics get them deeply entrenched in an organization's logistics and use them as a way to feed false information to a rival group, such as getting false holy texts distributed around to a rival religion or spreading forged documents and legitimizing them so that adventurers are hired to go off on a snipe hunt that will put them into conflict with a group you want taken out but don't want to move against directly.

The specific situation I have in mind is in a Way of the Wicked game I'm in.

The party is currently a group of LE servants of Asmodeus with an NE assassin working for our boss, the only Cardinal of Asmodeus in the kingdom of Talingarde as far as we're aware.

We're currently on a mission to enslave a daemon prince so our master can get access to some especially virulent plague, but for many of us, we have an additional side objective that we'd like to accomplish, namely, reviving the cult of Asmodeus in the isolated city of Farholde, which is effectively an exclave of the kingdom of Talingarde. Or at least, as far as we're aware, it can only be traveled to by ship due to there being no roads that travel over the mountains and forests that separate it from the main heartland of the kingdom.

As a feather in our cap, if we see a way to take control of the city or have enough control over it to have it effectively secede whenever we give the order, we want to jump on that with gusto.

To that end, I see a (primarily) LN cult as the best way to start, as it'll have more potential to appeal to the normal people of Talingarde and I'd prefer not to have the lid blown off of the cult by a Paladin using Detect Evil while out in the marketplace.

As a result, I want to brainstorm some ideas for what I could do with them, both to keep them LN and to eventually move them towards LE, or at least key individuals that show enough promise to be especially useful beyond the rank and file.

Murdering people for us would seem to be a no-go for them maintaining a LN alignment, for instance. Grave robbing, OTOH, I'm less sure about, and I suspect that distributing drugs and other vices consensually would probably be compatible with maintaining them as LN.

Not sure exactly how re-organizing and taking control of the prostitution industry would go, but we have contacts with the local criminal underground, so while I haven't found out yet, I can inquire about the current state of affairs there.

I'm interested in the general beyond just my specific situation, though, so any perspective is appreciated.

VonMuller
2017-03-19, 10:49 PM
Asmodeus is the god of contracts. Have them amass wealth through money-lending harsh contracts, legal representation, acting as notaries, and arbitration of conflicts between merchants (the definition of LN) and then have the wealth -minus a fee for their effort- reach an evil organisation through only a handful of the members that are truly evil and divert the money.

This will put lawful PCs in trouble, since the wealth is lawfully acquired, the Lawyers, Scriveners and Arbitrers of Asmodeus cannot be directly attacked since they are a legal and essential part of society.

Can you imagine a world without lawyers?

Yours truly, a real life Lawyer.

Tuvarkz
2017-03-20, 02:51 AM
This is me taking some stuff from the Golarion setting, but Asmodeus's faithful there run orphanages, that end up with the orphans growing up to be functional members of society. Or just all-around handymen who work for a price, not too high, not too low, but are always available and do the job perfectly, and who all happen to praise their Dark Prince. They basically just act as PR for Asmodeus, no actual direct benefits, but plenty of indirect ones.

tadkins
2017-03-20, 04:54 AM
Can you imagine a world without lawyers?



*pictures a land of rainbows and happiness where everyone comes together in peaceful unity*

weckar
2017-03-20, 05:11 AM
*pictures a land of rainbows and happiness where everyone comes together in peaceful unity**pictures a world where everyone is defenseless against baseless accussations*

tadkins
2017-03-20, 06:12 AM
*pictures a world where everyone is defenseless against baseless accussations*

I was only joking around. xD Got that from this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG3uea-Hvy4

Geddy2112
2017-03-20, 11:42 AM
Just because the head honcho of the organization is LE, and the organization as a whole is, does not mean everyone who works there is. A lot of the lower rung employees might not even know the depths of how evil their organization is. These are not the people turning a blind eye, or rationalizing the actions of evil. These are the janitors and other staff that simply don't know, or even if they have suspicions they don't know the extent, and are trapped there for reasons.

I am sure a cult of Asmodeus has a lot of janitors, tellers, receptionists, etc etc etc etc that don't see or know how evil their boss is. They might not even know their particular vocation is serving a cult of Asmodeaus.

Find every job this cult needs done, and for all but the explicit evil acts, put in Joe Blow NPC#32. Take over the city legally and by the books-grab up investment property, make yourself the only company paying around, start paying in company script....