Imp Contract Ideas

[BaconAwesome]

My players are wrapping up a conflict in which they have killed a warlock/necromancer - unknown to them, the warlock had an imp familiar, who is currently guiding the warlock's zombie army towards them, but if things play out the right way, I'm considering having the imp offer a familiar contract to one of the wizards in the group. I'd love to hear ideas.

1) Nobody in the group is evil, but one of the wizards is quite power hungry, especially for knowledge and new magic. He might go for it if he thought he was safe. Any thoughts on good ways to tempt him?

2) Any thoughts on good contract terms? Ideally, they (a) reassure the wizard that he can handle it, (b) put the imp on a path to get the wizard's soul, and (c) not give him more power than I might give with a typical magic item for his level. (He's level 2 but they should milestone to 3 by the end of the next session)

Thanks - my first thought is the imp will stick to the contract terms but is free to lie before then. He'll say (somewhat accurately) that he doesn't want to leave the material plane and is desperate to make a deal, and that he can offer a lot - spying, infernal knowledge, connections with other powerful people, etc., but any suggestions for contract language to push for or avoid is welcome.

[Wildarm]

Here's a good starting point:

http://dndspeak.com/2018/08/100-things-demons-devils-ask-for-in-their-contracts/

For your scenario I'd say the Imp will agree to serve but has first dibs on the wizards soul if he dies. If the group wishes to raise him from the dead, they'll need to deal with the imp first in order to regain the wizards soul. The imp won't actively endanger the wizard but it may not always act in his best interests.

In terms of game effects. The MM Imp variant familiar is perfectly good. The shared magic resistance is an excellent benefit at the risk of being perma-dead. Make sure to RP the imp as not 100% obedient. He does not stick out his neck very often and will not voluntarily leave the wizards side. Gotta keep an eye on the merchandise...

[Man_Over_Game]

1) Nobody in the group is evil, but one of the wizards is quite power hungry, especially for knowledge and new magic. He might go for it if he thought he was safe. Any thoughts on good ways to tempt him?

Describe that the wizard knows of several of his peers who have been offered a chance at a familiar/contract before, and that they've profited from them in the past. By implying that there are "safe" versions of creating one of these contracts, the Wizard might feel compelled that this is possibly a similar event.

[noob]

Describe that the wizard knows of several of his peers who have been offered a chance at a familiar/contract before, and that they've profited from them in the past. By implying that there are "safe" versions of creating one of these contracts, the Wizard might feel compelled that this is possibly a similar event.
Except that if the gm does that not only it is the gm outright lying but also it means that the player will get very suspicious because it is word from the gm that outright oppose all form of common sense.
It does not make sense for the "character knowledge" to be doing the speech of corruption when it is the imp which is supposed to do the job.
Also if the contract is not written in full in front of that player then the player is 100% right in refusing it.

[ChildofLuthic]

By implying that there are "safe" versions of creating one of these contracts.

Lol imp pun.

So a wand with a level 1 spell is an uncommon item, which you can acquire at level 3. So getting an upgraded familiar seems like a pretty fair trade for a that, especially if there's strings attached. I'd probably add some sort of condition about having the help the imp with its goals, and use that as an adventure hook.

To tempt the wizard, have the imp mention that devils are oathbound, lawful creatures who always honor their word, and maybe suggest that the wizard is too intelligent to be tricked.

[JackPhoenix]

Except that if the gm does that not only it is the gm outright lying but also it means that the player will get very suspicious because it is word from the gm that outright oppose all form of common sense.
It does not make sense for the "character knowledge" to be doing the speech of corruption when it is the imp which is supposed to do the job.
Also if the contract is not written in full in front of that player then the player is 100% right in refusing it.

The GM doesn't need to lie. Perhaps there *are* such wizards. Hell is good at delivering its promises. You want gold, power or knowledge? They can give you access to all that... or, help you to gain them on your own. See, there's this tome of powerful magic, but the owner won't part with it easily... but I'll tell you where to find it, and you should be able to kill the owner on your own. Or just steal it. Don't worry, he's a richard anyway. Oh, and here are some scrolls with spells to summon devils... they'll obey your commands, guaranteed. Sure, summoning fiends may be evil, but you're using them for good purposes, right? I'm sure it'll balance out in the end. What's that? You want more? Sorry, I've run out of my free handouts for this century... but, you know, just between the two of us, if you do [mildly morally dubious thing], I'm sure I can talk to the boss to get some more

The imp would be perfectly obedient servant, and the deal would be good and without any dubious requirements. It should look like the wizard's got a good bargain because he did. Perhaps the price... to alleviate suspicion... is that the wizard kill someone and dedicate his soul to Hell. But hey, he's an adventurer, he's gonna kill people anyway, and at least some of them would be evil and on a way there already... the imp is a sucker, it should've speciviedt the soul must be innocent or something. That's no price at all!

Something a deal that looks too good to be true actually is that good... it's the imp later "helpful" advice that would set you on a road to Hell. But you would walk it on your own.

[Fayd]

Give the contract an out:

“Ownership in fee simple of the spiritual identity belonging, after execution of this agreement, to the party of the second part shall revert to the party of the first part in fee simple upon successful execution by party of the first part of three (3) secondary Agreements with at least one individual per secondary agreement who possesses free and clear title to their own spiritual identity that contains verbstim the clauses listed in Appendix F: Secondary Agreements.”

I tried to legalese it up a bit but in short, if the person can convince 3 others to sign an agreement that sells their soul, the Wizard gets ownership of their soul back. Of course these other people have a similar out clause (that’s one of the things to be listed in Appendix F) as well as a clause that transfers ownership of the third party’s soul to the imp or the imp’s devilish master. Because here’s the thing: if you convince three people to sell their soul, and maybe get those people to sell their souls? Odds are good you’re destined for the hells anyway.

It’s not a temptation EXACTLY, but the opportunity to get out of it goes a long way to make it seem more palatable. Plus, it’s plot hooks.

EDIT: Another important feature of this would be found in
Appendix A: Designation of Devil's Advocate: In the event that the party of the first part to the attached Agreement, incorporated by reference herein, dies while in possession of fee simple to their spiritual identity and said spiritual identity becomes located within the Hells, ownership of above referenced spiritual identity transfers in fee simple to the party of the first part for such length of time as the Hells continue to exist. This Designation shall survive and remain effective if any or all of the above referenced Agreement is found to be unlawful or inoperable.

There is an intentional loophole in the designation above; first, the imp gets the soul if the soul is condemned to the Hells even if the 'out' clause is utilized, but it actually grants ownership if the soul ever just goes there after death. So if they get trapped in a soul gem and brought to the Hells? Tough luck.

[rel]

The soul contract is bad at a meta level because either:

a) The party has no access to raise dead and the player rerolls if their character dies making the loss of the characters soul meaningless to the player.

or

b) The party has to negotiate with the imp for the characters soul during which time the characters player cannot participate in the game at all.


I recommend costs like:

- The imp will call on the character for help with a mission from time to time

- the imp will get up to mischief and will expect the character to get them out of it

- the imp requests an amount of gold and treasure in exchange for its services

- the imp is genuinely helpful but in an evil way:
+ It has found a shady wizard willing to trade spells for human bodies as and adventurer you come across a lot of those...
+ It knows a great recipe for poison that can be refined from common plants really easily...
+ It read through the laws of the local town and there is an old law about honor duels that was never repealed. How would you like to legally kill that annoying old geezer who refuses to show you proper respect...
+ It called in a favor and found someone willing to share the animate dead spell and keep quiet about it

[Talionis]

Not sure it will help but it may give you an idea that is different. My Warlock has a contract that was just about inflicting the Watlock pain. After the XGtE printed the max heal invocation for pain they came up with the backstory that they were happy to heal the Warlock so he could take more pain.

[JackPhoenix]

Do not try to get anything shady through the contract. The contract is essentially irrelevant. It's just an excuse for the imp to hang around, and a way to test the victim's willingness to deal with the devil at all.

If someone summons or approaches a devil, asking for something, the devil can set up the price, because the target is either evil (and propably ends up in Hell anyway, so it's just about gettting the specific devil's name on the receipt) or aware of the potential price and willing to pay it anyway.

The imp is trying to corrupt someone who's not hellbound already, and who doesn't want its services in the first place. That means it can't ask too high a price, or it'll get refused. It's about the long game. The imp shold act slowly and subtly, not pull out a blunt instrument like contract with "your soul for my services". That would be failure. The victim must get something helpful at minimum to no price. Give them the first dose for free, and they'll come beg for more later.

Perhaps the price is something that leads to further adventures and win for everyone involved: fight off a demon incursion (everyone agrees demons are bad, so it's a good act that serves the devils at the same time), destroy a ritual to summon more powerful devil (so nobody can use it, and the imp will get rid of the competition/help its boss to stop being annoyed by mortals, and if the wizard decides to keep and use the ritual for himself, hey, it's also a win for the team LE!)

[BaconAwesome]

This has been very helpful - I'll go in with a bunch of negotiating ideas and let the players negotiate the imp to something they think they can live with, if they're willing.

I guess I need a clause for what happens if the imp dies in a player's service and isn't resummoned. I'll give that some thought.

[Keravath]

I'd suggest spending a little time figuring out what the Imp's goals are. I think any contract that straight up gives the Imp the wizard's soul in exchange for service is likely going to be a non-starter (unless the player likes role-playing or doesn't really consider decisions much).

So things the imp might want ..
-help with a task
* like recovering a particular magic item that the imp really wants
* like killing off a former master that REALLY irritated the imp ... maybe they were in a forced servitude type pact previously
* help killing a demon/devil that knows the imps true name
* help killing a wizard that knows the imps true name
- help gathering souls
* perhaps the imp has a way to harvest souls but it isn't a very strong creature so it needs someone to knock them out before the imp can harvest the soul - the stronger the better - maybe specify a certain number/month that the character has to provide

There are lots of ideas. Keep in mind though that the Monster manual imp that makes deals with characters is significantly more powerful than the imp from the players handbook that a warlock can summon as a familiar due to the shared magic resistance which the monster manual version has and the players handbook version does not.

[Zanthy1]

Imp agrees to serve as the Wizard's familiar on the following terms:

1. At the time of the Wizard's death, the Imp claims his soul. However, the more powerful the Wizard becomes, the more powerful and valuable his soul becomes, thus giving the Imp reasons to not cause harm to befall him. (If he fails all death saves, the soul is immediately sent to hell and the imp gets credit for it, if the wizard is pretty high level it is possible the imp could even get a promotion. A level 20 wizard soul could quite possible get him close to Pit Fiend status).

2. The Imp will not be commanded, but so long as the Wizard treats it with respect will probably always help him out. Once again, a dead low level wizard's soul is not nearly as valuable as a level 14 wizard's soul.

3. The Imp will grant knowledge when applicable and generally will help when possible (though will not risk its own life personally, so will not rush into combat)

4. The imp will grant the wizard his special Spell Resistance (as per the imp familiar in the monster manual). This allows the wizard to get a familiar that is better than the standard Find Familiar, with a really cool effect.

[noob]

Imp agrees to serve as the Wizard's familiar on the following terms:

1. At the time of the Wizard's death, the Imp claims his soul. However, the more powerful the Wizard becomes, the more powerful and valuable his soul becomes, thus giving the Imp reasons to not cause harm to befall him. (If he fails all death saves, the soul is immediately sent to hell and the imp gets credit for it, if the wizard is pretty high level it is possible the imp could even get a promotion. A level 20 wizard soul could quite possible get him close to Pit Fiend status).

2. The Imp will not be commanded, but so long as the Wizard treats it with respect will probably always help him out. Once again, a dead low level wizard's soul is not nearly as valuable as a level 14 wizard's soul.

3. The Imp will grant knowledge when applicable and generally will help when possible (though will not risk its own life personally, so will not rush into combat)

4. The imp will grant the wizard his special Spell Resistance (as per the imp familiar in the monster manual). This allows the wizard to get a familiar that is better than the standard Find Familiar, with a really cool effect.

So you expect a wizard to accept to sell a soul and not even get a devil to obey him in exchange of that soul?
If the cost is the soul of the wizard the contract should be at least: in exchange of owning your immortal soul I the imp will serve you until your death and obey each and every order until your death.

[Amdy_vill]

My players are wrapping up a conflict in which they have killed a warlock/necromancer - unknown to them, the warlock had an imp familiar, who is currently guiding the warlock's zombie army towards them, but if things play out the right way, I'm considering having the imp offer a familiar contract to one of the wizards in the group. I'd love to hear ideas.

1) Nobody in the group is evil, but one of the wizards is quite power hungry, especially for knowledge and new magic. He might go for it if he thought he was safe. Any thoughts on good ways to tempt him?

2) Any thoughts on good contract terms? Ideally, they (a) reassure the wizard that he can handle it, (b) put the imp on a path to get the wizard's soul, and (c) not give him more power than I might give with a typical magic item for his level. (He's level 2 but they should milestone to 3 by the end of the next session)

Thanks - my first thought is the imp will stick to the contract terms but is free to lie before then. He'll say (somewhat accurately) that he doesn't want to leave the material plane and is desperate to make a deal, and that he can offer a lot - spying, infernal knowledge, connections with other powerful people, etc., but any suggestions for contract language to push for or avoid is welcome.

this is how i handle contracts. the character just gets what they want up front. but there are other things they can get if they start doing evil things, such as you can invoke my name to resurrect a person but you then need to destroy a temple to a god. players tend to take contracts like this as they think they are getting the better end of the deal.

[Zanthy1]

So you expect a wizard to accept to sell a soul and not even get a devil to obey him in exchange of that soul?
If the cost is the soul of the wizard the contract should be at least: in exchange of owning your immortal soul I the imp will serve you until your death and obey each and every order until your death.

I expect a Wizard to sell his soul for advantage on all spell saving throws, and a familiar Imp that will do most anything asked of it, with the right to refuse if it is truly putting the imp's health at risk.

[BaconAwesome]

I expect a Wizard to sell his soul for advantage on all spell saving throws, and a familiar Imp that will do most anything asked of it, with the right to refuse if it is truly putting the imp's health at risk.

Yeah, since these players aren't going to sell their souls outright, I'm planning on working things so the spell resistance (and sense sharing) don't kick in until they do. The imp wants a foot in the door, and conditions that will either corrupt the signer or impose useful penalties. Also, given the game we're running, the imp has some other goals.

[IIzak]

I think the trickiest thing I ever did with a devil contract was to type it up. What you do is type up the terms of the contract, you can make it as favorable or unfavorable as you like. On the last page though, put the area for the name of the PC waaaaaaay at the bottom of the page. If you want you can give your PC like an insight roll or something to figure out that something is up. If they sign it though, that's when the clause written in invisible ink appears on the page. Have a second copy of the contract typed with all the words on it in that long section between their signature and the last item. Feel free to put the clause most favorable to the Devil in question in this part. Give the PC's the chance to discover the invisible section, and have a blast. In this portion, I like putting something that won't totally screw over the PC's, but is something clearly favorable to the Devil (Go kill my boss so I can move up in ranks was what I used when I did this).

[noob]

I think the trickiest thing I ever did with a devil contract was to type it up. What you do is type up the terms of the contract, you can make it as favorable or unfavorable as you like. On the last page though, put the area for the name of the PC waaaaaaay at the bottom of the page. If you want you can give your PC like an insight roll or something to figure out that something is up. If they sign it though, that's when the clause written in invisible ink appears on the page. Have a second copy of the contract typed with all the words on it in that long section between their signature and the last item. Feel free to put the clause most favorable to the Devil in question in this part. Give the PC's the chance to discover the invisible section, and have a blast. In this portion, I like putting something that won't totally screw over the PC's, but is something clearly favorable to the Devil (Go kill my boss so I can move up in ranks was what I used when I did this).

Except that contracts have power only if the person signing the contract did read it.
Here the person did not read the contract: a significant portion of it was invisible.
It is like saying "I did give you the contract but all the text is on the other side of the multiverse and entirely impossible to reach"

[Rabidmuskrat]

Do keep in mind, unless you back the PCs into a corner, they have no reason to sign something that gives them a net 0 gain.

The wizard can call any familiar, that gives him a certain set of benefits, including total obedience. This is guaranteed and costs him 10gp. On the other hand, we have this Imp that is still just an Imp and gives... obedience when it feels like and the OPTION of advantage on all spell saves at cost?

In exchange the Wizard has to potentially have an evil spy in his party, be tempted whenever the Imp thinks it can, deal with any potential trouble the Imp can think up in an attempt to get the Wizard to pay the costs, etc. And to get the option, he has to sell his soul, thereby making being raised from the dead a vastly more complicated and potentially extremely expensive business.

And any fiend that gives my character a contract wrapped in that much legalese as the previous posters suggested is going to get stabbed just for safety. The risk of getting screwed over by a convoluted contract is far far higher than a simple one and the player/character knows it. Keep the base contract simple, with clear benefits and a very conditional downside that is not too bad AND easy to avoid. That is the trap. The downside is irrelevant, its all about upselling later.

[Unoriginal]

Imps are about the lowest-ranked devils that can still offer a contract on their own, and in a way they represent the insidious spark of selfishness inside everyone that may bloom into full-on evil. I would keep any contract an imp offers very simple. But its simplicity makes its strength.

Maybe something like "I serve you as familiar and you get all the benefits it has over regular familiar, but you have to kill the demonists or diabolists I tell you to kill and spare those I tell you to spare, in the limit of your capacities" (ie kill those who made pacts with the imp's rivals, and let the operations of the imp's boss non-disturbed).

It may seem like typical adventurer side-encounters, but knowingly acting as a hitman for Hell while letting others free to do evil just for your own benefit is not going to do good to one's soul.

[Rabidmuskrat]

Imps are about the lowest-ranked devils that can still offer a contract on their own, and in a way they represent the insidious spark of selfishness inside everyone that may bloom into full-on evil. I would keep any contract an imp offers very simple. But its simplicity makes its strength.

Maybe something like "I serve you as familiar and you get all the benefits it has over regular familiar, but you have to kill the demonists or diabolists I tell you to kill and spare those I tell you to spare, in the limit of your capacities" (ie kill those who made pacts with the imp's rivals, and let the operations of the imp's boss non-disturbed).

It may seem like typical adventurer side-encounters, but knowingly acting as a hitman for Hell while letting others free to do evil just for your own benefit is not going to do good to one's soul.

I think that's a step in the right direction. I would make it less vague, however. Restrict it to a single individual (or perhaps a low number of them) so the Wizard knows exactly what he is getting into.

"I serve you as familiar and you get all the benefits it has over regular familiar, but I can designate a single person of my choosing and for a period of 1 day/week/month, neither you nor anyone you know may harm this person unless they harm them first. Failure of this clause will immediately end this agreement and cost the signatory 10 years of his life."

No mention of a soul, as for many people (unless they go in with the idea of "selling my soul for power") any mention of the possibility of losing your soul is an immediate non-starter. The 10 years thing is just a suggestion. The idea is to find something that the character would hate to lose (so they legitimately try to keep to the contract), but that they dont feel like they are risking everything JUST IN CASE the imp is trying to trick them. Another idea is to take the Wizard's ability to HAVE a familiar at all on failure unless he renegotiates with the Imp.

[Unoriginal]

I think that's a step in the right direction. I would make it less vague, however. Restrict it to a single individual (or perhaps a low number of them) so the Wizard knows exactly what he is getting into.

"I serve you as familiar and you get all the benefits it has over regular familiar, but I can designate a single person of my choosing and for a period of 1 day/week/month, neither you nor anyone you know may harm this person unless they harm them first. Failure of this clause will immediately end this agreement and cost the signatory 10 years of his life."

No mention of a soul, as for many people (unless they go in with the idea of "selling my soul for power") any mention of the possibility of losing your soul is an immediate non-starter. The 10 years thing is just a suggestion. The idea is to find something that the character would hate to lose (so they legitimately try to keep to the contract), but that they dont feel like they are risking everything JUST IN CASE the imp is trying to trick them. Another idea is to take the Wizard's ability to HAVE a familiar at all on failure unless he renegotiates with the Imp.

"You or anyone you know" seems pretty wide.

As for the "breaking the contract fine", I'd rather something annoying but not harmful, like "you can't use your 1rst level spell slots for a month" or "you have X spell slots drained after each long rest until the next target is designated"

[DeTess]

Another thing, if you want to go with a classic "sell your soul" contract, is to go with a deal that doesn't involve the imp automatically getting the wizard's soul. An example could be that the Imp can only claim the wizard's soul "If the wizard commits regicide", or "when the imp and wizard stand on the surface of the moon", or some other condition that would seem highly unlikely to occur to the wizard. This'd usually make people more likely to make the deal, because they believe that if they're smart and observant enough they'll never have to pay up.

[Spore]

My players are wrapping up a conflict in which they have killed a warlock/necromancer - unknown to them, the warlock had an imp familiar, who is currently guiding the warlock's zombie army towards them, but if things play out the right way, I'm considering having the imp offer a familiar contract to one of the wizards in the group. I'd love to hear ideas.

1) Nobody in the group is evil, but one of the wizards is quite power hungry, especially for knowledge and new magic. He might go for it if he thought he was safe. Any thoughts on good ways to tempt him?

2) Any thoughts on good contract terms? Ideally, they (a) reassure the wizard that he can handle it, (b) put the imp on a path to get the wizard's soul, and (c) not give him more power than I might give with a typical magic item for his level. (He's level 2 but they should milestone to 3 by the end of the next session)

Thanks - my first thought is the imp will stick to the contract terms but is free to lie before then. He'll say (somewhat accurately) that he doesn't want to leave the material plane and is desperate to make a deal, and that he can offer a lot - spying, infernal knowledge, connections with other powerful people, etc., but any suggestions for contract language to push for or avoid is welcome.

A whole soul is way too much value for a little magic item and safe passage. That would be a hard NO from even my most greedy characters.

You first need to get on good terms with the group. The imp claims he never liked the necromancer anyway and will safely escort you outside with the undead army - so he can attack you if you do attack the imp

Then the imp would check with which character is greedy enough to maybe deal with him - and proceed to catch them with a small gift with the promise for more.

The imp then simply gives you a trinket too small for it to qualify as a real reward, with the promise of more to come (I like a ring of warmth for that. It is neat, it shows great magical power but it is honestly just a doodad). If the/a wizard is curious, then proceed to show them the warlock's grimoire. Tempt them.

:roach: If you can deceipher the secrets in this book, its magic is yours. If you need help, just summon me dropping a drop of blood on the cover page.

The trick is: The book is filled with the most malevolent spells imaginable. The wizard can copy them into their spell books with altered material components (Longstrider would use charred bone remains, false life would use chloroform not alcohol etc.) No major changes, just small ones. Any kills done by these spells would drain the victim's soul, but into the book, not the imp.

So the more they use the book, the more powerful it becomes (the harder it becomes to control). Eventually it will semi regularly use the summon demons spells on itself (a hidden imp would activate this in the thick of battle) or it would increase or decrease the areas of spells, but only spells learned via the book. Of course the book would be cursed and bound to one (or several) arcane casters of the group.

If they have enough and want rid of the book, the imp would offer them to remove the curse, for a small price (tell them before that killing the imp does nothing): Either two of their souls, or one innocent soul.
(If they kill the first innocent, the killer automatically gets his or her soul removed for such a vile deed).

[Unoriginal]

Of course devils are adept of the old and efficient "give one for free now, then charge up when the mark is hooked" tactic.

Maybe have the imp travel with the wizard for only a token price and then increase said price when it's time for the renewal of the partnership?

[BaconAwesome]

Thanks for the help, everyone - that dndspeak link was especially helpful. Here's what I ended up doing.

- I reskinned the imp as a chibi little girl to make her seem less threatening.
- The original offer was:

1) Imp provides typical familiar services.
2) Imp and Counterparty agree not to intentionally cause the other physical harm.
3) Each week, Imp can choose a good deed (must be actually good). If Counterparty fails to complete deed by end of week, Counterparty surrenders 1% of soul.

4) This contract is permanent unless modified, and may only be modified at the mutual agreement of Imp, Imp's superior, and Counterparty.

The party figured out the loophole, so the Imp negotiated down to:

3) Each day, Imp will select a legitimately good deed of her choice and a number of days for completion. If Counterparty does not complete the deed with the time allotted, Counterparty must complete a legitimately evil deed of Counterparty's choosing prior to the expiration of the period.

An Imp is lawful by nature, so I tried to be fair and answer any questions honestly, but her partner will soon learn that:

a) Her share senses and share spell resistance don't work well unless your soul is compatible. Make a wisdom save where the DC is based on how evil you are, or be stunned. (Commiting your soul to Imp's superior also removes the saving throw altogether.)

b) Failure to complete either the good deed selected or a legitimately evil deed subjects the partner to a variety of penalties, starting with bad dreams, missed long rests and exhaustion and working up from there. Evil deeds are judged by the superior, who will judge fairly but has no obligation to tell you if you've succeeded or explain its reasoning, so you might want to err on the side of being a little extra evil.

(The two wizards jumped on the offer and were racing to sign.)

[Unoriginal]

Well, that Imp deserves a promotion, for getting anyone to sign a contract with those terms.

Hell, give the former Imp two subordinates so both PCs can sign. Honestly it sounds like the start of a franchise.

[DeTess]

Thanks for the help, everyone - that dndspeak link was especially helpful. Here's what I ended up doing.

- I reskinned the imp as a chibi little girl to make her seem less threatening.
- The original offer was:

1) Imp provides typical familiar services.
2) Imp and Counterparty agree not to intentionally cause the other physical harm.
3) Each week, Imp can choose a good deed (must be actually good). If Counterparty fails to complete deed by end of week, Counterparty surrenders 1% of soul.

4) This contract is permanent unless modified, and may only be modified at the mutual agreement of Imp, Imp's superior, and Counterparty.

The party figured out the loophole,


Heh, yeah, it's a pretty big one, but can be missed if you're not paying attention. Good for the party for finding it.



so the Imp negotiated down to:

3) Each day, Imp will select a legitimately good deed of her choice and a number of days for completion. If Counterparty does not complete the deed with the time allotted, Counterparty must complete a legitimately evil deed of Counterparty's choosing prior to the expiration of the period.



....Uh, scratch that. This doesn't close the loophole at all and is even worse worse for the party than the original deal.

Imp: So, your good deed for the coming period will be to slay the evil Tyrant of Alamar.
Party: Wait, that's the superpowerful sorcerer living on the other side of the continent, right?
Imp: Yep, you've got 1 day.
Party: wait, WHAT?
Imp: And might I point out that here's an orphanage on the other side of this street? And it looks like it's made from pretty flammable wood.

[BaconAwesome]

Yeah, I haven't actually written it down and handed it to the player yet (I didn't want to slow things down, and the players didn't demand it), so there's some room to tune things up if I don't want to be too rough

The intent was:

- The amount of time on the good deed must be proportional to the task. (Not generous, but not impossible).

- It can be very hard (and almost maximally inconvenient) to do the good deed in the time allotted, but not impossible.

- The wizard can choose any evil deed. So maybe he corners a homeless guy and spends a couple minutes making him feel as bad about himself as possible, or sends an invisible servant to pretend to pickpocket a merchant to sow discord or something. The idea is that he's corrupting himself by thinking of and performing evil acts, like a dark side run in Knights of the Old Republic.

That said, the player did agree to exactly what I originally said, so I could be mean if I wanted, but I'm really shooting for a battle of wills and gradual corruption. (Also, this Imp has some specific good deeds it wants done that happen to benefit it personally.)