Need help writing a contract for Asmodeus

[ImpieBA]

Hey! It's been a long time, sorry, but I could really use some help here. In the next session I'm dming, I'm having a bit of a transition for the plot. Long story short, I had a major event happen in my last campaign. This campaign is two years after the last one. As a result of the first one, the gods have ended up in a major dispute and have been warring on the planet. Quite a few of them will be fighting in the next session.

This is where I need help. In the next session, I plan to have the leaders of the world get the gods to sign a contract that essentially makes it so everyone with a divine rank has to go play on a different planet. I see this looking like a truce, and most gods will readily agree because no one will lose ground by leaving on this common ground. The rest will agree because the rest have signed and they don't want to be focused on. Besides, they all have followers and nothing prevents them from using aspects or the like.

As for the contract itself, it's a ploy used by Asmodeus in an attempt to remove the real deities off the map so he can make an attempt to claim his own godhood without their direct influence. So, a few notes on it:


Asmodeus will get the leaders to propose the contract. He will use any nonmagical means to have the contact written, but he wants to leave no trace to the deities that he was involved, keeping the contract legitimate.
It will be his words to the letter, even if he isn't writing it. He's been writing contracts for a long time, so I want it to have next to no loopholes.
If possible, there is a god that caused all the problems in my last campaign. He's basically on lockdown on the planet. He'd like to leave that god there, in case he can siphon godhood from him while he's imprisoned. This is optional, but preferable.
Also, his goal is to obtain godhood. He wouldn't want to be instantly booted off the planet the moment he obtains a divine rank. With that in mind, I'd like it to affect only current gods.
Both of the last details should be easily missable. He doesn't want it to appear suspicious at all, and he's been doing this a long time.


The big thing is that I have no practice with contracts, and one of my players is very analytical. He'd find a loophole and I know it. Exact words would be really nice, but I don't mind writing it up myself. I just don't really know how. I could really use tips, pointers, people to note my mistakes, suggestions, anything. I want to have the actual contract written out. Please help!

[flappeercraft]

As a small beginning this could be something you could work on and improve by suggestions in this thread.

"Hereby, all current deities in any way, shape or form of any variation including Demigod, Lesser God, Intermediate God, Greater God, Overdeity, etc must leave this plane of existence to resume their fights, wars, combats or disputes among each other and may not return here as an avatar, possessed creature, original form, any kind of duplicate or anything that involves bringing your consciousness and or body until those are settled. Nor may the deities accept or use any permanent or temporary planar travel to this material plane such as a Gate, Plane shift, Shadow walk or any location that may transport to this version of the material plane or any of its mirror worlds which includes but is not limited to the Astral plane and the Plane of Shadow. Anyone involved with the deities on the combats, wars, disputes or fights must go with them to the other plane and follow the same rules added into this contract."

Also forgot something.
RED FEL RED FEL RED FEL RED FEL RED FEL RED FEL RED FEL RED FEL. I summon thy governor of the 9 Hells of Baator

[Segev]

My advice isn't to write the contract, but to simply say it was done with the clauses, conditions, and loopholes you want.

I also suggest that the contractual exodus be enforced by a punishment that allows any god who stays behind to have his power splintered by "the Enforcer," who should be referenced just enough that it seems forgettable without being so omnipresent as to be, well, ominous. The Enforcer should be defined as the agent of opposition to "gods in this world" and perhaps implied to be chosen by them, but actually be defined by a set of hidden criteria which just so happen to fit an Avatar of Asmodeus that he doesn't use very often, but plans to dust off for this occasion. When all's said and done, because the one god is imprisoned on this world, that god is subject to his authority and punishment and the "splintering." So Asmodeus is getting to work on that. The other gods didn't think about this because hey, this god is imprisoned, so he's not causing trouble. The fact that this loophole leaves a helpless (well, seemingly helpless, perhaps) prisoner at some Enforcer's mercy is overlooked. Or maybe isn't, and the other gods think it fitting. But don't want to admit it.

[Telonius]

I'd tend to agree with Segev. You might want to give the basics of the agreement:

- All of the current pantheon agree to leave for the other planets.
- They may all continue to grant spells to their Clerics, but otherwise neither they nor any of their representatives will (either by action or inaction) interfere with the affairs of the material plane.
- They can't return (or seek to return) by any means.

If you want to get more information, have a check (with high DC vs going crosseyed from boredom) to find out some additional info.

Now, here's where the loopholes start coming in. The penalty phase. If a deity breaks any of the major rule, they are fined a certain number of souls. The souls are to be returned to a holding location, where they will be kept until the closest-aligned deity can take ownership of them.

Further on, a clause on ownership of souls postmortem. Souls go to the deities they would usually go to. If a deity is unwilling or unable to take ownership of any soul that is due them, the souls are to be administered by the highest-ranking Lawful creature in the material plane until such time as their proper administrator can collect them.

The final kicker - the location of the holding place is on the material plane.

So, any interference means the deities lose souls, which go straight to Asmodeus (the highest-ranking Lawful creature still around).

[ImpieBA]

So, the deities are unable to interfere against Asmodeus or they will lose souls which only serve to make Asmodeus more powerful? Oh, I really like that. Also, I have Red Fel's guide up in another tab and I'll definitely give it a once over or two.

Thanks to everyone!

I'm really enjoying these clauses, subclauses, and the like. I really enjoy that. I would like to have it actually written out. I think it would be a good prop. Still, just saying that it was done with the clauses and everything would really help. Leaving it as the highest-ranking Lawful creature sounds just innocent and official enough to go without notice, too. You guys have definitely given me a lot to think about.

[Krobar]

If you write it out your players will ultimately see it and analyze it 7 ways from Sunday, and they WILL find problems and loopholes with it you didn't think of.

[Stealth Marmot]

Just remember that the word "CURRENT" is the easiest method of having it so Asmodeus can attain godhood on the planet without having to leave it. It also can be easily explained away by saying that's so they don't have to worry about ancient or forgotten gods that no longer have power or worrying about causality.

[khadgar567]

If you write it out your players will ultimately see it and analyze it 7 ways from Sunday, and they WILL find problems and loopholes with it you didn't think of.
Exacly as asmodeus and red fel likes do not produce solid copy of pact whatever when your players can divine and modify at their skills content

[Segev]

If you want PCs to have a chance to find loopholes - deliberate or otherwise - give them Profession(Lawyer) and Knowledge(Law) DCs to find. You could probably create a set of difficulty modifiers for anybody who is pouring through it to "invent" loopholes (i.e. discover them, in-character) that do what the player of the investigating character wants. These can be quite high; Asmodeus is a master of them, after all, and he wrote it. Heck, you could have it be opposed checks against Asmodeus's skill, itself, based on the idea that any effort to exploit something will be pitting itself against his desired goals and how he wrote it to cover those exploits, or restrict them to his own uses.

And remember that they might find a loophole they can exploit! But that in so doing, they might still be helping Asmodeus. So if he wins the opposed roll, think about a way to twist or force them to contort to "qualify" that makes Azzy come out ahead. You don't even have to tell them they failed or succeeded. Just tell them, based on their result, what they discover and what they learn they have to do to get what they said they wanted.