Masking Evil

[Currahee Chris]

I have a party of 5 10th level pcs who are going to the deserted PF lodge in westcrown under the guise that another PF is going to meet them there. While they are there, they are going to work to translate an ancient religious text which they hope will provide them some further insight into a long forgotten prophecy.

I am using a treachery demon (Glabrezu) to pose as the PF they are going to meet up with. My question is what can I do to "mask" the evil of the Glabrezu and his demonic minions? One of the clerics can detect evil- if the evil is "masked" then what might that cleric feel/see when he attempts to detect?

Thank you for your time and advice! :)

[Saldiven]

Give the Demon three Damnation Feats, including the Mask of Virtue. (This could represent choices made by the soul prior to death and being converted to the Demon. Must have been a pretty bad son of a gun to make it to Glabrezu, huh?)

With Mask of Virtue, if you have a total of three Damnation Feats, the creature can select an alignment within two slots of his own, and he detects as being that alignment.

[Dastis]

Ring of Mind Shielding is the cheapest. Either reads as spell failed or alignment not detected by dm choice

[Dave Justus]

Probably the most basic is the undetectable alignment spell. There are some other spells as well as magic items that cause the same or similar effects.

If a cleric casts detect evil, and an evil creatures alignment is concealed from that magic, then the cleric doesn't detect any evil. He doesn't feel or see anything (unless their is some other evil in the detection area).

If by 'masked' you don't mean magical protection, but simply mundane or magic disguises that don't conceal alignment, then when the cleric casts detect evil, with our mild mannered professor (actually a demon) in the cone, the first round he would feel that there was evil there, the second round he would know that there were (however many are in the cone) evil presences and the most powerful is an overwhelming aura. In the third round he would know that the overwhelming aura is coming from the professor and the power and location of the other auras (if any) as well.

[Dasrak]

The undetectable alignment spell is a pretty reliable choice. The nondetection spell is less reliable, particularly if the Glabrezu cannot cast it itself, but can block all divination spells and not just the tiny subset that undetectable alignment does. Nondetection is available in item form, and there's nothing stopping you from using both methods since they have long durations and are reasonably low-level spells for a 10th level adventure.

[Murdock Mudeater]

Currahee Chris wrote:

I have a party of 5 10th level pcs who are going to the deserted PF lodge in westcrown under the guise that another PF is going to meet them there. While they are there, they are going to work to translate an ancient religious text which they hope will provide them some further insight into a long forgotten prophecy.

I am using a treachery demon (Glabrezu) to pose as the PF they are going to meet up with. My question is what can I do to "mask" the evil of the Glabrezu and his demonic minions? One of the clerics can detect evil- if the evil is "masked" then what might that cleric feel/see when he attempts to detect?

Thank you for your time and advice! :)

Normal detect evil is a 60ft cone and requires 3 rounds of concentration. It is also a verbal spell, so they can't do it silently (without silent spell, of course). The Paladin version doesn't require 3 rounds, but if using it in this quick manner, the paladin must specify which object or creature he is detecting each round, rather than having an entire cone.

So, a sneaky/invisible character with an evil alignment can actually evade Detect evil by manuvering around the cone and not staying within for the 3 rounds. They'll still detect evil presence at 1 round, but not enough to pinpoint it. The paladin version is tricky, but if they don't notice the sneaky/invisible character specifically, they can't target them with the detect evil, so are limited like the cleric in cones over 3 rounds.

Another note is that the cleric version does require a divine focus for the spell, which would be their holy symbol. You could have a sneaky NPC attempt a steal or disarm (as approiate) to remove the holy symbol from their possession. This isn't always an option, but with improved steal, the character wouldn't even be aware it was stolen.

Lead will also block detection spells. It is entirely reasonable to assign random parts of walls and undground passages to have lead in them, likely as piping (forgotten or in use). This will still only come into play if the pipe is directly between the caster and the target of detection, but it is an option. Nothing in the detection spell indicates that the PC would be aware of the lead blocking the spell, unless they knew evil was behind and wasn't registering.

[Currahee Chris]

Thank you for all the kind replies. You have given me quite a bit to work with! Basically the Glabrezu is posing as the PF ally of the party to try and split the party. They are in possession of the religious text and an NPC who is a "messiah" type. He is going to let 2 of the party members stick around with the "messiah" and work on translating the text and then send the rest of the party on a fools errand to find a dwarven cleric to assist in the translation.

It seems like all the groups I have played with use detect evil and detect magic as if they were one of the basic senses like taste or smell.

[TPK]

Angelskin Armor is a non magical method of reducing or completing removing the detection of evil. And, it is not noticeable by a PC using detect magic to see if anything is blocking their detection.

[Boomerang Nebula]

Currahee Chris wrote:

I have a party of 5 10th level pcs who are going to the deserted PF lodge in westcrown under the guise that another PF is going to meet them there. While they are there, they are going to work to translate an ancient religious text which they hope will provide them some further insight into a long forgotten prophecy.

I am using a treachery demon (Glabrezu) to pose as the PF they are going to meet up with. My question is what can I do to "mask" the evil of the Glabrezu and his demonic minions? One of the clerics can detect evil- if the evil is "masked" then what might that cleric feel/see when he attempts to detect?

Thank you for your time and advice! :)

I prefer role playing based reasons for this kind of thing, subtle is usually a better option than blatant. Blatant is railroading and ultimately unsatisfying for the players. Perhaps an NPC warns the PCs that this character (the disguised demon) is jittery around spell casters, so please don't cast any spells in his presence. The PCs can choose to follow this advice or not, but at least you have foreshadowed the possibility of treachery. They won't be annoyed at you when the character ultimately turns out to be a demon that betrays them.

[Pizza Lord]

Undetectable Alignment is probably the best choice. It's low level, long-lasting, and pretty much fool-proof to divination spells, unlike misdirection or nondetection which allow the viewer a Will save.

A lesser globe of invulnerability would also work, but since that creates a visible field of shimmering energy, there'd have to be a logical reason or bluff as to its purpose there.

[Currahee Chris]

Boomerang Nebula wrote:

I prefer role playing based reasons for this kind of thing, subtle is usually a better option than blatant. Blatant is railroading and ultimately unsatisfying for the players. Perhaps an NPC warns the PCs that this character (the disguised demon) is jittery around spell casters, so please don't cast any spells in his presence. The PCs can choose to follow this advice or not, but at least you have foreshadowed the possibility of treachery. They won't be annoyed at you when the character ultimately turns out to be a demon that betrays them.

I agree completely and did that. Peeling back a little bit, the party had to travel to Osirion to meet with an ancient Lich known as Mumm Ra (YES- That Mumm Ra! lol. His story was never finished in the cartoon so I brought him into my PF world and he made a play for his salvation). Anyway, the PF's were approached by Mumm Ra's agents that he had information on the last know whereabouts of the religious text. He would trade that information for his phylactery. He was unaware of where his phylactery had gotten off to but the Pathfinders discovered it's location in the Mwangi expanse. The party set out and recovered it and exchanged the phylactery for the information. Mumm Ra had the party cleric destroy it and Mumm Ra was transformed to an Osirion Pharoah before he passed away. Thanking the party for saving him, he informed them that the Pathfinder (named Grogan) is "not what he seems to be".

So there has been some discussion amongst the party during their travels to obtain the religious text on whether or not they can trust the dying words of a redeemed lich :)

Ultimately, I am looking for the pathfinder (grogan), to arrive at the WestCrown lodge at the same time the poser Glabrezu is there. I am wanting the party to roleplay that out. Once the Glabrezu senses he's in trouble and the jig is up he will reveal his true self.

[Pizza Lord]

Quote:

Thanking the party for saving him, he informed them that the Pathfinder (named Grogan) is "not what he seems to be".

That clearly means that Grogan is a werewolf. Possibly some other cursed and hapless victim of an enchantment which naturally makes him detect as evil, which is why he needs the PCs' help. Obviously...

[Murdock Mudeater]

Another option would be to have some sort of manlfunctioning artifact in the area which gives everyone an evil aura. He'd still detect as evil, but it would be meaningless.

I will note that there are ways to make non-evil creatures register as evil, even if only temporarily. Do this a few times and the liberal uses of detect evil will stop. Remember, merely detecting as evil doesn't mean the target is evil. And having the party believe a character is evil, when they aren't, will actually create lots of problems for the party.

If not already doing this, I strongly suggest requiring bluff checks when the players are speaking honestly. The check is not about deception, but about making their words ring true in the ears of others. Even if a PC always speaks the truth, if their social skills suck, they may just be really bad at making the truth sound honest.