Adventure Path without the demonic influence


Pathfinder Adventure Path General Discussion


The only Adventure Path I've read was Council of Thieves and I was a bit turned off by all the demons and hellish things. Which Adventure Paths would you recommend with a mind to avoid that kind of flavor? Thank you.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Just going by that question, I'd go for Kingmaker as it tends to involve more early enemies (giants, humans, fey, etc) rather than the evil outsiders that are so prevalent throughout the rest of the adventure paths. Jade Regent has some prevalent evil outsiders (oni) but they're removed enough from the Western concept of devil that it might work for you. I don't recall Rise of the Runelords or Carrion Crown being in general that demon-heavy, but they've got some horrific elements that you might want to avoid if you're squeamish about these sorts of things.

You'll want to avoid Second Darkness and Curse of the Crimson Throne, as the baddies behind these are demon worshippers or allies of devils.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Kingmaker has a couple of Daemons, none of whom are plot essential and can be replaced by CR equivalent monsters without too much drama.

Jade Regent has Oni, don't know if that's different enough for your tastes.

Skull & Shackles has some devils at the end, but they can be replaced.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Legacy of Fire is not Demon/Devil heavy at all.


Council of Thieves was set in Cheliax, the empire that's ruled by devil-worshipers, so there are a lot of devilish things in that one.

Demons and devils are fairly common high-level foes in PF, and they do appear regularly. They are pretty much always cast as enemies for the PCs to defeat, not allies to side with.

You could keep them, and just use TSR's terminology for them from AD&D 2nd Edition: devils became "baatzu" and demons became "tanar'ri." Nothing else changed except the name. This mostly appeased people who took objection to the presence of things called "demons" and "devils" in the game.

Speaking as a Christian, I say that you can call these monsters whatever you want. Regardless of your personal religious beliefs, the write-ups in Pathfinder are all for imaginary, fictional, made-up things that are fun to tell stories about. The devils and demons in the game are no more real than the angels, or the elves, or the dragons, or the magic, or the in-game gods. Which is to say: not real at all.


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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Infernal machinations are a central theme of Council of Thieves.

If you prefer something different than "fiends from the lower planes" as a major focus, then Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne only have limited amount of demons and devils; volume 5 of Rise of the Runelords and volume 6 of Curse of the Crimson Throne probably have the heaviest concentrations. You should avoid Second Darkness, as demons are pretty central to the main plot. Legacy of Fire pretty much avoids daemons/demons/devils almost entirely, with the focus being on genies instead. Kingmaker also mostly avoids them, apart from some important influence on volume 3. Serpent Skull has some central demonic influences, so you may want to skip it. Carrion Crown focuses mainly on gothic horror, so evil outsiders are not central to the plot. Jade Regent, as mentioned, is focused on kami/oni and daemons/demons/devils are mostly avoided. Skull and Shackles has some focus on devils toward the end, but that's more a consequence of the Golarion setting than anything.

Going back to the Dungeon Adventure Paths, all three used fiends pretty heavily. Demons and demodands were central to Shackled City. Age of Worms, even with the heavy undead focus, had a lot of demons and devils. Savage Tide was entirely about thwarting a demonic plot.


Dragonchess Player wrote:

Infernal machinations are a central theme of Council of Thieves.

If you prefer something different than "fiends from the lower planes" as a major focus, then Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne only have limited amount of demons and devils; volume 5 of Rise of the Runelords and volume 6 of Curse of the Crimson Throne probably have the heaviest concentrations. You should avoid Second Darkness, as demons are pretty central to the main plot. Legacy of Fire pretty much avoids daemons/demons/devils almost entirely, with the focus being on genies instead. Kingmaker also mostly avoids them, apart from some important influence on volume 3. Serpent Skull has some central demonic influences, so you may want to skip it. Carrion Crown focuses mainly on gothic horror, so evil outsiders are not central to the plot. Jade Regent, as mentioned, is focused on kami/oni and daemons/demons/devils are mostly avoided. Skull and Shackles has some focus on devils toward the end, but that's more a consequence of the Golarion setting than anything.

Going back to the Dungeon Adventure Paths, all three used fiends pretty heavily. Demons and demodands were central to Shackled City. Age of Worms, even with the heavy undead focus, had a lot of demons and devils. Savage Tide was entirely about thwarting a demonic plot.

Many thanks for this. Exactly what I was looking for.

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