Pact/Contract Spell...thingy

[Sancelot]

Greetings,

3 months ago, the PCs helped a Tiefling in his quest to avenge his family and killed a famous and beloved mage... who was a jerk but was influential and had powerful friends. However, they were captured by the standard "very very rich dude who has lots of influence" and he wants a favor (aka new main quest) in order to free them and forge their innocence. So, I'm wondering, is there any spell/item/something stronger than Geas and weaker than Wish that can bind em to a "do this thing in 30 days or die"? Cause if it's Geas, the PCs(level 5 atm) can easily afford or cast a remove curse or something along those lines and wish sounds a bit too extreme... like, I'm reeeally trying to avoid adding lvl 17-20 npcs atm.
Also,They don't have families so I can't blackmail em. And the dude isn't that evil at all.

[Laserlight]

I've always hated it when my character got a geas. It felt like the DM wanted to railroad us and couldn't be bothered to offer us a plausible motivation. Surely if this dude is so rich, he can offer a carrot or a stick, or both. ”I gotta lotta influence in this town. The people I like, good things happen for them. The people I don't like, well, we don't need to talk about unpleasant topics, do we?”

[Azgeroth]

have them sign a 'magical contract' similiar to that which a fiend(or is it devil?? the ones from hells, dammit) would use, so if they fail to upkeep their part of the deal, they loose their souls..

this is good, because even if they fail, by intent or otherwise, they do have a means to get their souls back, and doesn't have immediate consequences, but if they die with out their soul... well... game over, unless they can preserve the body long enough to rescue the soul.. and thats hard, especially at level 5..

just how it is this rich and influential dude has access to these kinds of contracts i leave to you, but there is a presidence for them.

[Unoriginal]

IMO I'd rather not force the PCs to go on the main quest, just find a reward that'd motivate them.


But if you absolutely want that kind of obligation:

Have the noble summon a succubus lawyer to draft a contract, and have the group sign it.

Then have the succubus tell the group, in secret, that there is a way to get out of the contract and that she'll reveal it if they do the quest a way that benefits her.

Then, if they do, or if the PCs are about to finish helping the rich guy, she reveals that the contract was never actually binding because a) she's a succubus, not a Devil, so there is no magic in the contract and b) it was done under duress to it wouldn't be legal in the first place.

[Sancelot]

I've always hated it when my character got a geas. It felt like the DM wanted to railroad us and couldn't be bothered to offer us a plausible motivation. Surely if this dude is so rich, he can offer a carrot or a stick, or both. ”I gotta lotta influence in this town. The people I like, good things happen for them. The people I don't like, well, we don't need to talk about unpleasant topics, do we?”

Gotta say, I agree with that. I don't like to force my PCs to do anything cause that usually bore em. Up till this point, they've done everything that they wanted and never railroaded them... but considering that they didn't even think twice bout killing the mayor/mage of the town cause they "didn't like the way he talked" and the general "we're low level gods, damn I'm OP af, bulletproof" idea, I think this is a good point to teach em a lesson.


have them sign a 'magical contract' similiar to that which a fiend(or is it devil?? the ones from hells, dammit) would use, so if they fail to upkeep their part of the deal, they loose their souls..

this is good, because even if they fail, by intent or otherwise, they do have a means to get their souls back, and doesn't have immediate consequences, but if they die with out their soul... well... game over, unless they can preserve the body long enough to rescue the soul.. and thats hard, especially at level 5..

just how it is this rich and influential dude has access to these kinds of contracts i leave to you, but there is a presidence for them.

Hmm, love this soul thing, I'll prolly implement it next session :smallbiggrin:, ty
Btw, I'm thinking about a high rank Zhentarim member.



IMO I'd rather not force the PCs to go on the main quest, just find a reward that'd motivate them.
But if you absolutely want that kind of obligation:

Have the noble summon a succubus lawyer to draft a contract, and have the group sign it.

Then have the succubus tell the group, in secret, that there is a way to get out of the contract and that she'll reveal it if they do the quest a way that benefits her.

Then, if they do, or if the PCs are about to finish helping the rich guy, she reveals that the contract was never actually binding because a) she's a succubus, not a Devil, so there is no magic in the contract and b) it was done under duress to it wouldn't be legal in the first place.

Hmm, choices, I like em. And since the plot is drifting towards a devil centered scheme, I think adding creatures from other planes might be the best idea, also, it's not the same as adding a high level spell caster, so I'll take it. Thanks