Invoking Grod's Law with 'devil deals'

[No brains]

Here's a weird idea: have 'devils' offer PCs powers that violate Grod's Law. The 'evil' of this Faustian bargain is that these OP options will eventually bog down play and the PCs will question if it was worth it.

Just another stupid thought experiment to see if bad gameplay mechanics can be used thematically.

I haven't played Avernus yet, but I suspect there may be elements of this in their devil deals. Evil powers are cool, but their consequences are tedious- and that's the true punishment for someone wanting to play a game.

[P. G. Macer]

I think this is a bad idea, primarily because the DM and the rest of the group also have to deal with a bogged-down game, not just the player whose character made the deal. In effect, you’re punishing everyone for one PC’s action.

[JNAProductions]

Here's a weird idea: have 'devils' offer PCs powers that violate Grod's Law. The 'evil' of this Faustian bargain is that these OP options will eventually bog down play and the PCs will question if it was worth it.

Just another stupid thought experiment to see if bad gameplay mechanics can be used thematically.

I haven't played Avernus yet, but I suspect there may be elements of this in their devil deals. Evil powers are cool, but their consequences are tedious- and that's the true punishment for someone wanting to play a game.

Bad idea. The point of the game is to have fun-anti fun mechanics, even if they're thematically appropriate, are bad ideas.

[JackPhoenix]

There's another fault with the reasoning: "Bogging down play" has no effect on the PC, but on the player. The PC has no reason to question anything.

[sithlordnergal]

Here's a weird idea: have 'devils' offer PCs powers that violate Grod's Law. The 'evil' of this Faustian bargain is that these OP options will eventually bog down play and the PCs will question if it was worth it.

Just another stupid thought experiment to see if bad gameplay mechanics can be used thematically.

I haven't played Avernus yet, but I suspect there may be elements of this in their devil deals. Evil powers are cool, but their consequences are tedious- and that's the true punishment for someone wanting to play a game.

I can see you ending up with one of a few scenarios:

A) The players continue to use the OP abilities because they're so OP, despite the consequences. Even if they're losing HP, as long as the OP ability makes up for it, then they might not care

B) Players will eventually get annoyed, an we'll get a post asking how to convince their DM to change their character, or ways to kill their character in order to avoid what, I assume, are meant to be long term effects

C) The players take the bait, use it once, realize that using these powers are a pain, and never use them again, which ends up making the hard work you put into them pointless.

As a general rule, try to avoid bogging down the game with unnecessary mechanics and such. You can already guess how people feel about bogging games down just by asking "What do you guys think of casting a 5th level Conjure Animals to summon 16 beasts"? Your usual answers will be "I nerf the spell to keep it from getting out of hand and bogging down the game".

That said, do feel free to give them a bit of a curse. Something that doesn't bog them down or make them useless, but instead gives them something they can work around or feel clever for finding a way to work around it. And maybe make the curse slowly grow stronger with each use of the OP thing, while doing something repentant can lower the curse's effect.

[No brains]

I suppose it is a terrible idea. I just wanted to see what others thought. Thanks for checking my work.

[Kane0]

To play devils advocate however, ask your table. If your players are into wacky rube goldberg shenanigans then a deal that is as powerful as it is convoluted could be a blast for them.
That is, after all, how we ended up with the likes of the Locate City Bomb, Pun Pun and the Astral portal Arrow.

[Droid Tony]

Here's a weird idea: have 'devils' offer PCs powers that violate Grod's Law.

Well, keep in mind that grods law is like that law that says it's illegal to get a fish drunk......

Though you might want to go with:

*Offer Infernal Powers that enrich and enhance play.