Way of the Wicked - Faustian Pact

[Umbranar]

Hello playgrounders!

First of all: My players should be leaving right now!

For the rest of you guys, I`m currently DMing the Way of the Wicked adventure path and my party is currently level 5. They just entered the Horn in book 2 and one of my players died. Some basic info for those not familiar with Way of the Wicked:

-The party serves a High Priest of Asmodeus
-Most of the party worships Asmodeus
-The character that died is a CE Barbarian worshipping Rovagug (more info on him can be found on the PF page)
-The party captured one of the attackers, a Fey Elf, and is planning to sacrifice her to Asmodeus in a ritual hoping to bring the dead barbarian back to life.
-Party consists of: Warlock 1/Cleric 4 of Asmodeus, a Summoner 5 worshipping Asmodeus, a Rogue 5 (not sure if he worships Asmodeus, he is sort of secretive about it), a Druid worshipping Asmodeus, a Dread Necromancer worshipping Asmodeus.

Now the player wants to continue his character since he likes the character very much, so I was thinking to sent a Devil to negotiate a deal.
The devil will provide a way to bring him back (possibly through true resurrection).

What I need help with is the cost of this kind of deal?

Please advice :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: I`m getting my info about Hell from the Fiendish Codex II from D&D 3.5.

[ComaVision]

I'm of the opinion that death has to matter in D&D for the fights to mean anything, so that plays a role in my suggestion.

Make the cost something that is going to hurt them later, like the Devil demands the deaths of all the Bullywogs (and thus the party will not be able to get any help with them). I haven't actually read or played the Way of the Wicked so I don't know if there's a better sacrifice to require.

For extra entertainment, have the Devil demand a sacrifice without stipulating how he's going to bring back the Barbarian, and then have the Devil bind his soul in to a Bullywog body. Ayyyyyyy

[Telonius]

Depending on how smart the devil making the deal is, they might demand that the Fey Elf not be sacrificed. The Elf then becomes an agent of Asmodeus, possibly through a Pact Insidious, and returns home to start corrupting her friends.

Alternately, you now have a hostage. Perhaps the Elf has relatives or loved ones who would do anything to get her back...

[Flickerdart]

You can use the divine sacrifice rules in BoVD. IIRC, the best result is a miracle or wish which can be used to bring the guy back.

[Frosty]

1) this AP doesn't allow Chaotic alignment, so I'm not sure why there is a CE barbarian. Would Asmodeus want to help a chaotic character?

2) by the time the characters take the horny they should be level 7. He'll by the end of book 1 they should be level 6. Why are they they so under leveled?

3) he sacrifice isn't enough. For a fun side quest, the deal requires that he party sneak into the Abbey of Saint-Celeste and retrieve a certain Large +1 Frost Glaive. Could make a fine weapon for Grumblejack.

[atemu1234]

You can use the divine sacrifice rules in BoVD. IIRC, the best result is a miracle or wish which can be used to bring the guy back.

That would require conversion from 3e, but is entirely possible, I would suppose.

Sacrifice those virgins, OP.

[Umbranar]

1) this AP doesn't allow Chaotic alignment, so I'm not sure why there is a CE barbarian. Would Asmodeus want to help a chaotic character?

2) by the time the characters take the horny they should be level 7. He'll by the end of book 1 they should be level 6. Why are they they so under leveled?

3) he sacrifice isn't enough. For a fun side quest, the deal requires that he party sneak into the Abbey of Saint-Celeste and retrieve a certain Large +1 Frost Glaive. Could make a fine weapon for Grumblejack.

1)The AP discourages Chaotic alignments but I didnt want to put this restrain on the players. I made it clear that I don`t want to see party murdering or any kind of screwing around too much with other players to keep things fun. And ofcourse he signed the Pact of Thorns condemning his soul to Hell if he would break it.

2) This is a 6 men party, being slightly behind makes things challenging. Besides, they only just entered the horn having only fought the Boggard Chief, Jurak the Treant and Calliaste the Lillend (which ended up killing the barbarian).

3)I like the idea of the side quest, I`ll keep it in mind in case they need to farm more XP.

Also I`m currently thinking about the Devil being Dessiter and demanding that the party will use their Third gift from Vetra Kali (as the dirges say the first gift must be mercy and the second gift should be the tears of Acklys) to force Vetra Kali to serve a particular Pitfiend that the party will meet much later. This way the Devil gets a Arch-Daecon as a servant and the party won`t be able to ask for anything they desire.