There are no inherent risks to summoning demons by summon monster, more than any other summon option. It is a spell with the evil descriptor, when used to summon evil monsters, so that does mean that over many castings, the character should slowly make a shift to evil (and the player should hopefully play along that way).
Slavery: Not inherently evil in a society that accepts it. This is totally opinion though. Indentured servitude, where someone can sell themselves into slavery is a simple commercial transaction, and in societies that allow it, sometimes there are laws about the treatment of slaves, yada yada.
Kidnapping people and selling them as slaves where their owners can beat them and kill them with no recourse is an evil act.
So you can see, that like any activity, the intent matters a lot, and there are shades of grey.
In Andoran, slavery is indeed illegal, and I'd suspect that if you run into one of those groups or enter cities with slaves, you'd be imprisoned at worst, and your slaves would simply be released at best.
This is all opinion. There's no real rules on this aside from the spell rule i quoted earlier about casting an [Evil] subtype spell being an evil act. So take it for what its worth
Summoning demons tends to ping against your alignment. The degree to which it does so, and what the actual risks are, tend to be up to the GM. It ranges from "negligible" to "you are contributing to demons' ability to cross over from the Abyss". It's also a shift towards Chaotic.
Typically in Pathfinder, slavery (in and of itself) is considered Lawful (in areas that allow it). Buy a slave and treat them fairly, and it's LN. Buy a slave and mistreat them, and it's LE. Buy a slave and treat them well, giving them a chance to earn their freedom, and you could make a case for LG (again, in Pathfinder). Slavery where it's illegal is going to be a little more Neutral than Lawful I would guess, and any underground slave trade is going to tend much further towards Evil. Expect table variation on this.
Andoran, however, is very anti-slavery. Not only do they oppose it, they actively send out agents to fight against it in other countries (severely hurting their standing with many other countries), so it is a very big deal. You would probably be arrested and spend a long time in jail. It is the worst country in Golarion to try that in.
A character who is summoning demons (CE) and participating in illegal slave trade really sounds like he's NE/CE.
We also have a paladin in the group. Any ideas on how to deal with him? Other than hiring and assassin.
This comes up a lot on the boards. The answer is don't be a jerk. Is it really important that you go around summoning demons and buying slaves in literally the worst place in the world to do that?
Yeah. That's my response. Don't be a jerk. Even evil people understand that working with others tends to get better results. Summon neutral things and don't buy slaves around the paladin, so when you really HAVE to do something evil, you can do it when he's not around and he'll defend you to the death.
(Only do this is the paladin player is ok with it and it sounds like fun to you both!!!)
My take:
Summoning EVIL creatures causes the spell to have the [evil] descriptor, but there are ZERO rules that say using [evil] spells makes you turn evil.
That said...
Anyone who is GOOD wouldn't want to do this in the first place; he would find it morally reprehensible, especially since he could use the SAME spell to summon GOOD creatures for the same purpose. Anyone who voluntarily uses [evil] spells is probably already evil, or at least super close to it. Your bard is claiming to be NEUTRAL but, deep down, it sounds like he's already got at least one foot, maybe both feet, on the EVIL side of that line - if he didn't, he would not be so eager to use demons in the first place.
As for slavery, it's pretty much always evil to own people. Even Golarion is not really all that "gray" on that one. Using the "but it's legal here" excuse is just B.S. - it's only legal in places where the prevalent alignment is EVIL, the government is EVIL, and the slave owners are EVIL. Becoming a slave owner puts you in that group, quite squarely in fact.
Finally, you should NOT be here asking people what will happen to your characters if you do something in your GM's campaign. You should NOT even be reading about Andoran. Your CHARACTER has skills, especially Knowledge(Local) - you should be using that and talking to your GM to find out what YOUR CHARACTER knows, and then make your decisions based on that.
That last bit is how most GMs I have ever met would expect you to play, though I know that some GMs really don't care. In any case, before you start filling your head with stuff your character might not know and then making your in-character decisions based on knowledge that character doesn't have, you should be certain that your GM is OK with you doing that (most are not). If you have already done so, and he is OK with it, then disregard my final point, but then I still can't answer your question because I don't know enough about Andoran in general and your GM's campaign in specific to answer it.
My take:
Summoning EVIL creatures causes the spell to have the [evil] descriptor, but there are ZERO rules that say using [evil] spells makes you turn evil.
That said...
Anyone who is GOOD wouldn't want to do this in the first place; he would find it morally reprehensible, especially since he could use the SAME spell to summon GOOD creatures for the same purpose. Anyone who voluntarily uses [evil] spells is probably already evil, or at least super close to it. Your bard is claiming to be NEUTRAL but, deep down, it sounds like he's already got at least one foot, maybe both feet, on the EVIL side of that line - if he didn't, he would not be so eager to use demons in the first place.
I wholeheartedly agree with the first half - repeatedly casting [Good] spells isn't going to magically make you Good, and I've never seen the argument that it does or should, so casting [Evil] spells shouldn't magically make you Evil.
As to the second part, there are plenty of ways to RP this, considering this is a Summoning, not a Conjuring.
Perhaps when he calls out for outsider aid (ie: casts Summon Monster), Demons are the only thing that answer him, and while the player is making the choice, the character has no say in it. Perhaps it's related to the Demon that's haunting his dreams.
In Golarion lore, slavery is outlawed in Andoran: you can hire servants, but you can't absolutely can't buy slaves there. If you bring slaves in from another country, they would normally be considered freed the second you cross the Andoran border, but your GM might let you fudge that (for example, if you have some kind of "official foreign emissary" title or "diplomatic immunity" or something).
Also, there are multiple branches of the Andoran military (some well-known, some covert) entrusted with the mission of hunting down slavers and bringing all the slaves back to Almas, where they are granted full citizenship (if they want it) and a kind of refugee status. There is also an "underground railroad" type network based out of Andoran that smuggles slaves out of other countries.
If you want your character to have slaves walking around Andoran, expect it to be a major issue everywhere you go. You might get away with calling them "bonded servants" or some such if their servitude is only temporary (Ulfen tribes do temporary "slavery" to repay a dept or as a recompense for a crime, for example).
But if a Halfling gives your slave a pretty bell-shaped flower, better sleep with your eyes open. :-)
If your GM is OK with you guys reading background material (or if he wants to read some himself), check out the Pathfinder Wiki.
For a good "inside scoop" on Andoran's anti-slavery activities around Golarion, I recommend Pirate's Promise (it's also just a good book overall).
I am the (newbie) GM of the OP. As a new player and GM, with little-to-no experience with D&D-type games, I'm trying to keep things simple yet fun. I've read many places that GM's usually will not allow evil PCs and especially new GM's should refrain from it.
The issue that you inevitably run into is that you have one PC that is opposed to the rest of the PC's and that makes the game less-fun. So for my first game, I want the PC's to all be good together. I don't mind a little neutral mischief or tom-foolery but anything darker than that and I will shut it down. A majority of my game will involve the PC's fighting against evil characters and I think that combination works well, increases fun and everyone feels good. Good guys win, bad guys lose and people are happy. We eat pizza, laugh and go home feeling good.
I know in our last session, the character in question stole a potion from a hole-in-the-wall herbalist shop. He had no reasoning for needing the potion and he simply stole it because he wanted to steal something. The rest of the party did not approve and in the future I don't believe they will tolerate this character consistently performing such non-good actions. Robin Hood stole from the rich, but not the poor.
I suppose I just don't feel good with one character devising a future that will be diametrically opposed by the rest of the group.
These are just the feelings of a brand new GM and I have told the player that I'd rather not have his character stray evil. I'd rather he start CN and drift more towards good as he is influenced by the good works of the rest of the party.
As for the 'Campaign Setting' knowledge issue, I don't have a problem with it as long as it stays geographical and broad. I would expect an adult character living in Golarion to have an understanding of the world and some of its areas.
At our first session, I explained to the group that I am running a pre-made module and that they could spoil everything if they wanted, but they are all adults and should know that doing so would destroy the fun for themselves. When you are a kid, cheating seems fun but when you become an adult, you realize that it is the not-knowing that carries the fun of the game.
Once I am comfortable with the game and the rules, I will be using Golarion as a setting and will create my own adventure paths but for now I am using a module to take some of the load of being a new GM.
Just my 2 cents. :)
I am the (newbie) GM of the OP. As a new player and GM, with little-to-no experience with D&D-type games
Then here's your first tip: be suspicious, very suspicious, of ANY player with a Chaotic-Neutral alignment. In my experience, it's almost always a guy who wants his character to be a disruptive jerk and then use some variation of the excuse that "my guy is just playing his alignment!".
Again, in my experience, I've very rarely seen a PLAYER choose CN as an alignment and NOT be this kind of player.
Sorry, I'm not trying to actually call the OP a jerk, but I am suggesting that his character probably is. All my DM red-flags are up on this player and his character - the portents look bad. His comment about how to deal with a paladin in the group is the icing on the cake. Even though I assume his assassin suggestion was a joke, the very fact that he already knows his character will have conflicts with that paladin and he's asking how to fix the paladin rather than how to fix his own character gives me ample concern for the future disruptiveness of this character.
I suggest the two of you sit down and have a long discussion, NOT DURING THE GAME, about what you both want and how you can find a way to make this work for both of you, or there will be lots of frustration for you two and for the other players at this table.
I suggest the two of you sit down and have a long discussion, NOT DURING THE GAME, about what you both want and how you can find a way to make this work for both of you, or there will be lots of frustration for you two and for the other players at this table.
Thanks for the advice. The player is a totally awesome guy and if it wasn't for him this entire game wouldn't even had happened in the first place. He has already affected some really cool surprises and twists in our game with the two of us working together. His character is the most colorful and interesting in the party so far and I am excited to see how his character develops ion the future.
We talk every day about his character and he always gets my permission before doing anything questionable and I appreciate that immensely. I know that everything will work out in the end and there's no worries. ;)
depends would you make someone good if they started summoning angels?