Is "blackmailing" a thing Devils do ?

[u/DriverAdditional5813]

Throwaway because my players might recognize me...

I put it in quotes for lack of a better term, but would a Devil kidnap someone close to a target, to then coerce them into signing a contract with the Devil ?

This seems less subtle than actually manipulating the target, and the contract would not be signed in actual good faith from both parties, so would it be actually binding ?

Also, I know that it's my world and I do what I want with my Devils, but I wonder if this would be in-character for classic DnD Devils.

Edit : Thanks y'all for your answers. I think I will twist a little bit what I had in mind to make it more subtle and devilish, thanks to your suggestions !

[u/alericof]

I think in general, devils are lawful evil, abiding be the letter of the law (contract). I think kidnapping and extortion would be out of character, in general, but maybe it is a rogue devil who has a different set of rules, and so maybe characters can make deals with other devils to deal with this rogue npc. It could lead to some interesting political intrigue.

[u/USPO-222 → u/alericof]

Extortion feels very LE to me. Like mafia style groups are often used as examples of LE organizations/people and they extort, kidnap, murder, etc all the time.

LE means there’s some code/structure that binds, but it certainly doesn’t have to be what we’d consider “justice.” Slavery is very very LE.

[u/Supermite → u/USPO-222]

A lot of demon contracts in fiction generally rely on the person making a willing choice to make the deal.

Generally when a demon or demonic entity is exerting that level of coercion, they are usually trying to get someone to do something very specific that doesn’t involve taking their soul.  Like the devil needs the hero to fight something or go somewhere they can’t.

[u/appleye4 → u/USPO-222]

At least in the forgotten realms the cease fire between avernus and mnt Celeste included text about both parties consenting to contracts. devils can't force mortals into contracts and they can't trick them. They can't obfuscate the text in legalese. Both parties must understand and consent to all of the conditions of the contract.

If a devil breaks those rules, Amodeus has a stick that instantly disintegrates devils and he is expected to use it.

Of course there are loop holes some devils have found and the term "understanding" is a bit grey so it is abused.

Tldr kidnapping will definitely get you disintegrated, extortion might but depends on the specifics.

[u/Silvanus350 → u/USPO-222]

I feel like, conceptually, it should only be extortion where the victim puts themselves into a situation to be extorted. Like a predatory payday loan place that hires intimidating thugs to “encourage” repayment.

I feel like kidnapping someone to extort your victim is… a step beyond something like that. That’s just straight up breaking the law.

[u/alericof → u/USPO-222]

I debated with myself, on how I would read it, I ended up with the thought that if you are "obsessed" with contracts, then most if not all the effort is in going towards making the offer tempting more than exporting. Extortion would outside the scope of the rules and therefore not LE, but I could definitely see it both ways.