Why do demons and devils want souls?

[robertsconley]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

This^.

Appreciate the compliment.

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

It's a mistake (one made by D&D and other games and stories) to characterize evil as a motivating principle, that is, 'x' does evil because of dedication to some abstract 'ideal of evil'. Genuine evil is more about self-interest out of all restraint, or at the further level, simple hatred for its own sake.

When we give demonic entities a rational, economic motive for behaving as they do, we turn them into something else.

In the cosmology, I use for my campaigns and published works, the primary motivation of demons is their desire to reshape creation in their image instead of God (or the One in my settings).

The problem is that the results of doing that are incompatible with the existence of life either physically, spiritually, or magically. But Demons in my setting are not nihilists who desire to end all existence. At the end of the day they want to be the Lords of Creation in place of the One. The one rational thing they can be counted on to do (for the most part) is to preserve their existence.

To make a long story short, Demons have driven themselves insane trying to do the impossible. Maiming themselves spiritually in pursuit of their goal to the point where they are incapable of doing good, acting rationally, or even being redeemed.

Sounds a bit boring, and it is except for the fact that individual demons vary in their irrationality. So how this manifest differs and sometimes is subtle enough to fool the PCs. Or make for an interesting antagonist for the party.

And there is enough overlap between the different groups I have refereed over the years that one of the things experienced players warn those new to my campaigns not to deal with demons under any circumstances due to a few memorable incidents where a demon corrupted a PC into doing evil.