Planar Binding Advice

[Dming For Noobs]

So one of my players decided to retire his old character, and make a new one. He decided to play a malconvoker. And he just gets planar binding next level. So i need some advice on how to deal with him. Not the summon monster stuff, but planar binding. We have also been playing with two home-brewed spells, minor and least planar binding. Link (http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page11376.php). Just need some good ideas how to have his bindings backfire, and maybe make him a bit more catuious:smallbiggrin:

[Psyren]

You should probably find out what he's doing with it first before you take any steps. It may be that he doesn't want to do anything especially bad, e.g. binding an Erinyes to help him scout a dungeon (huge stealth/perception bonuses, constant true seeing etc.)

If he's planning to bind Efreets, Nightmares etc. on the other hand, that may be where you'd want to step in.

[jedipilot24]

Probably the best way to discourage abuse of Planar Binding is to make the creatures Literal Jerkass Genies who will always find a loophole to exploit. Here are some examples to get you thinking:

"But master, you never ordered me not to attack you..."

"That word means (something completely different) in ___language, I thought that was you really meant."

"Raze your intelligence, master? Sure, I'll do that."

"Yes I agreed to that, but you never specified when!"

Perhaps also have a few extraplanar hit teams stalking the party, or even have the party hired as such a hit team to stop another spellcaster who is abusing planar binding.

Since Efreet are evil, any magic items that they are forced to create for someone else should be cursed in some way, preferably one that isn't harmful to Efreet but is harmful to anyone else.

[Silva Stormrage]

Probably the best way to discourage abuse of Planar Binding is to make the creatures Literal Jerkass Genies who will always find a loophole to exploit. Here are some examples to get you thinking:

"But master, you never ordered me not to attack you..."

"That word means (something completely different) in ___language, I thought that was you really meant."

"Raze your intelligence, master? Sure, I'll do that."

"Yes I agreed to that, but you never specified when!"

Perhaps also have a few extraplanar hit teams stalking the party, or even have the party hired as such a hit team to stop another spellcaster who is abusing planar binding.

Since Efreet are evil, any magic items that they are forced to create for someone else should be cursed in some way, preferably one that isn't harmful to Efreet but is harmful to anyone else.

I suggest against doing that unless they leave out something REALLY obvious, the "Race your intelligence" and "But master, you never ordered me not to attack you..." ones aren't fun at all. And then they just write 10 page long legal documents.

[Fyermind]

My favorite way to run planar binding is deal with the devil style. If you expect an outsider to do something for you, they expect something in return and in the mean time they will take collateral. Collateral may take the shape of your soul (or part of it) but might also be the lives of innocents, treasure, family members, or even something like their luck (at one point during the game if the player fails to perform their end of the deal, you may decide they have rolled a 1. Period. No second chances to way around it. you promise to pick a time when this is important).

Even good outsiders have some sort of request or requirement, it just usually serves less dangerous aims: donate treasure to a temple, perform a quest to stop someone evil, etc. Their collateral might still be your soul (sent to purgatory forever? Unable to be raised until your friends perform the task you were assigned, welcome to hard mode), or it might be a attuning your items to their ring of call weaponry such that they can confiscate your stuff whenever they want to.

Even minor outsiders have powerful overlords and work in some sort of a hierarchy so don't be afraid to make big claims about the consequences of deal breaking. The Lantern Archon isn't an independent contractor, and even Demons have bosses they grovel to for support and protection from people like Mr. Malconvoker.

I would generally say that outsiders will follow the intent of the summoner to the best of their ability if they are being justly compensated. If they discover they have been bluffed or lied to, they will try to sabotage things without violating their terms in a manner in line with their mental stats. Once their job is over, they may directly attack Mr. Malconvoker if he really screwed them over (Hired them to scout a cave, angry dragon was in the cave, used them as distraction/bait to steal from the dragon's horde or get the surprise on the dragon) but generally they are so weak that they are best used as a frustration targeting things around the players or things that the players care about.

In general I would advocate using the planar binding line rather than trying to discourage it. Whenever a player tries to use planar binding say "Yes, AND ..." Don't give them allies for a spell slot. Give them stories that come with allies and enemies and problems for a spell slot. Make them pay you to give them a plot they want. If he's playing a malconvoker he likes the idea of sticking it to the bad guys and cheating devils at their own game. Let him gamble with his own soul. Let him win some, let him come dangerously close to losing. Let him lose and have to work his way back, but make it clear when he will lose, and give him a way to avoid it that just sucks bad enough that losing and fighting to get back seems like more fun.

Players love exciting stories that seem like fun. When given the prompt "Your gear is being called to the Nine Hells as collateral because you failed to uphold your end of the bargain with the Black Chain Mercenary Brokerage of Blood Inc. Would you like to hold onto it and go the the nine hells? Doing so will tear a one way gate that should last a few rounds" while you pick up 2d6 and start rolling them in your hand will get most players to say yes. Congratulations you just got the chance to run ANY STORY IN THE NINE HELLS that won't interrupt the anything they were doing previously and enhances continuity instead of destroying it. If they player says "no thanks" they deserve it, and you will help them find a way to get some replacement swag, but in the mean time, they will understand why they keep facing angry devils at inopportune moments (like when they are shopping, or trying to sleep, in the middle of tense negotiations with new minions, or just washing their privates).

Edit:
Have you ever seen Burn Notice? Think of the summons that you get from Planar Binding being like the people who Michael Weston deals with. Some of them, like the CIA and various recurring groups will continue to hassle him and hold stuff over his head for a long time. Others want cash up front and then go away, others need a favor and then go away. Some of them he bullies into it by getting blackmail or just pulling his reputation on them (or even just plain lying). I'd say the reactions of the world of Burn Notice is a great model for your Binding Targets.

[Psyren]

I suggest against doing that unless they leave out something REALLY obvious, the "Race your intelligence" and "But master, you never ordered me not to attack you..." ones aren't fun at all. And then they just write 10 page long legal documents.

Indeed, you might as well ban the spell entirely as do that. Just come up with a list of things you think they should be able to safely bind and tell them. Or come up with three lists: "Safe" "Risky" "Impossible" where wish abuse and astral projection stuff would probably fall into the latter camp.

[Deophaun]

My favorite way to run planar binding is deal with the devil style. If you expect an outsider to do something for you, they expect something in return and in the mean time they will take collateral. Collateral may take the shape of your soul (or part of it) but might also be the lives of innocents, treasure, family members, or even something like their luck (at one point during the game if the player fails to perform their end of the deal, you may decide they have rolled a 1. Period. No second chances to way around it. you promise to pick a time when this is important).
I like the rest of your post, but generally planar binding is "Do what I say, or rot." Compensation is nice, but unnecessary to anyone optimized for Charisma checks against a captive target.

That said, yes. Planar binding is a double-edged sword (for some things: your basic elementals are pretty safe binding targets). You may get a competent servant to carry out a task, but you run the risk of that entity going off to extract revenge after the terms of service have elapsed. That may involve direct action, or it may be giving rivals information, or letting the boss know why they weren't there for the past eight months.