Demonology

[Superfluous Crow]

I'm currently trying to come up with an alternative demon and demon summoning system, but i thought i would just drop by the boards and hear if anyone had a ready to use alternative system so i could get some inspiration before i got started. With demon summoning being such a popular thing in litterature and fiction, somebody has got to have made one.  

[Ravenspath]

I have not created one but would be really interested also to see what others have made or help build one!

Demons are cool!

In a non real life, fantasy game sort of way! (he hastily adds.)

Are you looking for a new system that is new as in not the typical 'summon and demon with its name' or more of a new crunchy method that keeps the typical fluff?

[So-Keher]

Maybe the demon's soul could be encased in an item (like a gem?) and then released when the item was smashed it would summon the demon to the material plane. I like that I might use that in my own setting if you don't lol.

[Superfluous Crow]

In the campaign/system i'm working on, demons are spirits that have a powerful lifeforce/essence which gives them certain supernatural powers, depending on the demon. They have no bodies as such, and after being summoned from the non-material world they reside in, they'll have to be provided with a physical body they can inhabit (the body can be either dead or living, though living bodies can make the situaration unneccesarily complicated. After being summoned into the body, the demons lifeforce reshapes the body of the creature to a certain degree, which is what makes the creature look demonic or supernatural. In addition to being bound into bodies, you can also bind them into items (creating magical objects) or binding tatoos, which are similar to ordinary summoning circles except that they are tattooed onto ones skin. These tattoos then provide access to the demons powers. Demons also have the strange characteristic that their souls are compound souls made up of a single emotion or group of emotions, taken from the souls of deceased creatures. So demons are in most cases embodiments of an emotion or ideal, like hatred or bravery. This is my take on it.

[So-Keher]

Cool that sounds really original. I like your interpretation of the demons representing an emotion. It could provide ways to justify their actions based on whether they hate, are over-the-top courageous or what. Is this what you needed help on...?

[Raelifin]

It's not a ready to use system or evena  demon summoning system, but in my main world there is a branch of spellcasting devoted to becoming a demon. I use a taint system where increased taint means increased power and decreased control.

[Superfluous Crow]

I might need some help with it later, when i've written something down, but for now i just wanted to hear what you guys had come up with concerning demons.

[Ravenspath]

I like the single emotion aspect of what you have written as well. When I've used demons on modern games I go with two type, the stupid/specialty ones (tracker for example) that does one thing really really well, and pretty much nothing else and then the super smart ones that control things.

I didn't worry about summoning them. But one thing I did do was used trapped souls. A character was playing a fallen angel (which in my world was different from the regular term. A Fallen Angel could get back to Heaven. A Cast Out Angel could not and become a demon). The PC rescued a soul from Hell and it was in a box around his neck. That soul began to manipulate others around him and  could Call demons to him. Kind of like an emergency beacon or GPS.

[LordVreeg]

Love the compound soul thing. My Demoonic, Daemonic, and Devilkin can feed on negative emotions while they are out of the void.
Youd sound almost like ghosts...