Do you allow Fiendish Codex II Rewards, and what are some "corruption 4" acts?

[gogogome]

Basically the FCII rewards allow 2 free feats in exchange for inability to be resurrected, and the requirement of performing two "corruption 4" acts.

Do DMs regularly allow Fiendish Codex 2? And what are some good "corruption 4" acts? The FCII only lists Inflicting cruel or painful torture. Murder is corruption 5, and the reward rating (4 for feats) must equal the corrupt act.

[Jowgen]

I only use faustian pacts if the Lower Planes are a prominent feature within the campaign; and if the players accept the pact and are damned, I make damn sure to have Baator try to orchestrate their early demise.

An immediate rise in power in exchange to having Asmodeus' posse gunning for you can be a rewarding addition to a story if played right. It just can't be a total "freebie" kind of deal in my book.

I do not like the corruption point system in itself. It provides a good guideline, but based on circumstance it certainly needs adjustment. Tortuing a Saint for fun is at least two levels more Evil than torturing a Half-Fiend to save a village.

[Troacctid]

The main drawback for accepting a Faustian Pact is the inability to come back from the dead afterwards. FCII says that in campaigns where that's not a significant drawback, Faustian Pacts should not be allowed. In most of my campaigns, I allow players to make a new character if their old one dies, so I don't generally use Faustian Pacts.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I allow it if a player wants it but they have to jump through a few hoops.

First, their character has to either roll an appropriate knowledge check, either planes or religion, and/or a gather information check to find a harvester they can engage in a pact with (whether they know that's what he is or not from the knowledge check).

Second, they have to roleplay the negotiation. No writing it into your character's backstory.

Finally, they have to uphold their end of the bargain. Breach of contract is rewarded by losing the bonus feats. There's no getting around this, it's right in the rules for faustian pacts.

You'll also have to deal with being on hell's radar. The harvester you've dealt with is offering such deals to drive people to damnation. The things he's going to ask you to do (a number of lawful and evil acts that add up to 8, not necessarily two level 4's) will be specifically intended to push you to becoming lawful evil. If you're already lawful evil, you're not getting two feats. You're getting a cursory deal to lock your damnation to that particular devil and a relative pittance for your soul.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that it's an available option but it's not terribly exploitable and will lead to an antagonistic sub-plot for the campaign.

[Bohandas]

For maximum dickery, if you're using the Fiendish Codexes and you've made this pact and it looks like you're about to die your last words should be "Pazuzu Pazuzu pazuzu" (successfully invoking Pazuzu instantly and automatically shifts one's alignment one step towards chaotic)

[Kelb_Panthera]

For maximum dickery, if you're using the Fiendish Codexes and you've made this pact and it looks like you're about to die your last words should be "Pazuzu Pazuzu pazuzu" (successfully invoking Pazuzu instantly and automatically shifts one's alignment one step towards chaotic)

Keyword in bold.

Pazuzu is aware of the general situation (unless you resist his scan) when he's summoned and will likely ignore such calls (whether you resist or not).

[Bohandas]

Keyword in bold.

Pazuzu is aware of the general situation (unless you resist his scan) when he's summoned and will likely ignore such calls (whether you resist or not).

Awareness of the situation is key. I think this he'd be willing to answer the call purely to screw up the Baatezu's ability to claim the character's soul.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Awareness of the situation is key. I think this he'd be willing to answer the call purely to screw up the Baatezu's ability to claim the character's soul.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends largely on his chaotic whims and whether he'd think it was more amusing to leave you twisting in the wind or beat up some baatezu (level will likely play a role). It's basically a craps shoot. Good luck :smalltongue: :smallamused:

[magicalmagicman]

Awareness of the situation is key. I think this he'd be willing to answer the call purely to screw up the Baatezu's ability to claim the character's soul.

You still need to roll 10+pazuzu's hd in knowledge planes to know of his existence. You can roll once every time you level up to see if you know of him.

[Bohandas]

You still need to roll 10+pazuzu's hd in knowledge planes to know of his existence. You can roll once every time you level up to see if you know of him.

That never made sense to me. If anything more powerful creatures should be more well known, even if the details may be more obscure

[Honest Tiefling]

That never made sense to me. If anything more powerful creatures should be more well known, even if the details may be more obscure

I imagine a lot of people would be quite tempted to make this knowledge obscure. A few book burnings, a few geases...I mean, I doubt the town priest is ever going to say 'Oh, by the way, you can totes summon this Demon Prince super easy by repeating his name. Now, everyone, pinky swear never ever do this, stick a needle in your eye."

But now I sorta want to run a story where some peasants just came across some knowledge and just summoned a great evil because they were drunk.

[Troacctid]

But now I sorta want to run a story where some peasants just came across some knowledge and just summoned a great evil because they were drunk.
See also Buffy the Vampire Slayer S4E4 "Fear, Itself".

[Honest Tiefling]

I'm not really a Buffy sort of person, so can you give me a synopsis?

[Bohandas]

I imagine a lot of people would be quite tempted to make this knowledge obscure. A few book burnings, a few geases...I mean, I doubt the town priest is ever going to say 'Oh, by the way, you can totes summon this Demon Prince super easy by repeating his name. Now, everyone, pinky swear never ever do this, stick a needle in your eye."

Perhaps not but they might have at least heard of him, in general terms, perhaps as an example of the unpleasant things in the fiendish realms

[Flickerdart]

That never made sense to me. If anything more powerful creatures should be more well known, even if the details may be more obscure
Lots of people know about powerful beings. Your average commoner will readily tell you that Pelor exists if you ask about his god, because "common knowledge" is DC 10. A 1st level adept will readily discuss Pelor's responsibilities and teachings (DC 15 basic questions) and a mid-level cleric will be able to tell you his exact domains, the precise location of his divine realm, and so on (DC 20 or 30 for tough questions).

10+HD is used to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. None of these people who know of Pelor can tell you what level of spells he casts, or what spells he typically prepares.

Similarly, loads of people know that there are wish-granting fiends out there, and some people know Pazuzu is such a fiend. But to know that his attention is drawn when you call out his name three times, you need the difficult check.

[Honest Tiefling]

Also given linguistic drift (Hercules, anyone?), it would be easy enough over centuries to twist the name with the judicious application of magic so that people might have the wrong name.

[Troacctid]

I'm not really a Buffy sort of person, so can you give me a synopsis?
Drunken frat boys unwittingly summon a fear demon at a Halloween party.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibzkii6A0HI

Also contains one of my personal favorite lines from the show:

Giles: (reading from book) "The summoning spell for Gachnar can be shut down in one of two ways. Destroying the Mark of Gachnar..."
Buffy: (goes over and destroys the Mark of Gachnar)
Giles: "...is not one of them and will in fact immediately bring forth the fear demon itself!"

[magicalmagicman]

Lots of people know about powerful beings. Your average commoner will readily tell you that Pelor exists if you ask about his god, because "common knowledge" is DC 10. A 1st level adept will readily discuss Pelor's responsibilities and teachings (DC 15 basic questions) and a mid-level cleric will be able to tell you his exact domains, the precise location of his divine realm, and so on (DC 20 or 30 for tough questions).

10+HD is used to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. None of these people who know of Pelor can tell you what level of spells he casts, or what spells he typically prepares.

Similarly, loads of people know that there are wish-granting fiends out there, and some people know Pazuzu is such a fiend. But to know that his attention is drawn when you call out his name three times, you need the difficult check.

Sure, if there is a church of pazuzu in the region, every peasant would know.

Fiendish Lore is highly secretive and obscure. The RAW books themselves say that even the cultists that worship these fiends don't know anything. If they did, they'd know their worship would only damn them to an eternity of torture, not save them, so they wouldn't worship them, but the books specifically said that they don't know that, so they worship them, and damn themselves.

So what I am saying is, I doubt anyone who is not a master of fiendish lore would know the names of the demon princes or devil lords, the hierarchy of the fiends, whether balor or pit fiends exist, etc.

None of you in real life probably know the greatest figures of alchemists in history even though the information is readily available on the internet, and we're talking about d&d, where there is no internet, and books about fiends are very difficult to come by. Not to mention standard education for commoners is like... horrible. I doubt even wizards who graduate would know much about fiends unless they decide to specialize in it.