D&D Monsters Should Offer Deals and Pacts | D&D Topics
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Hello! This video is me providing suggestions for how DMs can have their monsters make magical deals with the adventurers.
The focus is on inoffensive and table friendly magical deals that newer DMs can implement without disrupting their campaign. The same principles apply to mundane deals too. As always, take whatever you find useful here and run your games however you want!
Thanks very much to Emily and Kyla for the art.
Music by: Habit - @mynameishabit - / @mynameishabit
Chapters:
00:00 - 02:11 - Deal #1: Everything for a Price
02:12 - 02:35 - Why Magical Deals?
02-36 - 04:18 - Devils & Deals
04:19 - 04:51 - Parts of a Deal
04:52 - 05:48 - Making an Offer
05:49 - 06:55 - What and How to Ask
06:56 - 07:42 - Hidden Agendas, Devils
06:43 - 08:12 - Presentation, Devils
08:13 - 11:52 - Deal #2: The Invisible Fuse
11:53 - 12:54 - Hags & Deals
12:55 - 14:32 - Haggling with Hags
14:33 - 15:04 - Examples of Hag Deals
15:04 - 16:00 - Now go make some deals! - Розваги
It feels as though the "do nots" are more important than the "dos". Who is safe when a Succubus is in service to a Hag?
A lot of the time yes! Nobody is safe
Succubus: asks for the firstborn son.
Player: Deal! So when do we start?
Terrible 🤣
One change I like to make in the lore is how contracts work.
Devils - as written. The letter is more important than the spirit of the contract.
Demons - spirit > letter. Spirit of the contract is more important than the exact wording.
Hag or any other being that makes deals - what ever interpretation benefits the monster > spirit or letter.
yugoloths - whatever interpretation poses the most disadvantage to the mortal. (Note this is different from the hag/monster in that the mortal losing something is more important than gaining something.)
Fey - Pure chaos. You are rolling the dice. Sometimes letter, sometimes spirits, sometimes both, often neither. (real answer: what ever will be funnier to the fae in question)
I like running deal this way, but my players also really like playing warlocks so I've developed this system as a direct result.
I really like this and it gives Yugoloths a very specific identity to help flesh them out a bit.
I'm more of a fan of letting Yugoloths keep their identity as straight up mercs, as long as you can pay them the right price they shouldn't really be malicious directly to the person making a deal with them. Of course the cost should be prohibitively restrictive and then you have them start haggling it down.
Why they say "devil's in the details"
Brilliant stuff here! It also has me thinking of a few things!
1) What's the deal with all the cultists in D&D? They are a generic baddie but it makes me want to come up with some in-game reason or game mechanic that makes cults actually make sense. So for example in one game I ran cultists can receive boons from their patron much like a warlock gets. Some of them had Devil's Sight! Adds a new twist. And can also be something used to tempt PC's!
2) If a player makes deal for their character's soul I think it would be extra evil (muwahaha!) to dramatically reach out and drag their *actual character sheet* away, never to be seen again. That might let it sink in. Also over time the GM might acquire multiple sheets like this and be able to use them later for some nefarious purpose. Even just the mere suggestion that this is going on might be enough to make the players wonder repercussions this might have down the road. Especially if this pool can draw from previous campaigns! So this ties into the "invisible fuse" category.
3) Related to that I just *LOVE* the idea of having to deal with hags and similar entities just in order to trade and sell magic items! "Oh, yes yes yes, I will gladly trade for that +1 sword!" Adds a whole new dynamic to things! Players can still get the toys that they want but it will no longer feel trivial and meaningless. There will always be some level of mistrust of the item or at the very least an uneasy feeling in the gut knowing that the trade might have had foul repercussions.
Thanks for the comment! Glad you enjoyed.
I like the idea of cultists getting mechanical benefits. Opens up design space to give unique abilities to the more basic enemies.
I’d advise you to let the players know what the consequences might look like if they make those deals! Tainted magic items is one thing but a character sheet might be a bit on the personal side. If that’s cool with them, it would be a huge moment at the table if done right.
Cults in Esoteric Enterprises are all followers of a forgotten god. They are drawn to the deity for the offer of power or devotion to their ideals. The gods are generally jealous, petty, wrathful creatures who draw you in deeper into worship and sacrifice they crave. All cults are illegal. The state suppressed them all. The cops harass them on sight. Cults work like illegal street gangs with fronts and illegal activities to support their work. The state does not negotiate with people like you.
@@dmofmanyfacesMystics, the cultist class of Esoteric Enterprises, are effectively clerics. There are no legit clerics. Even a low-level cultist has effectively a cleric level. The wrath of the state hangs over them all.
The best deals are to that nature, but also hopefully with minimal foreseeable consequences if they want it attractive and have future deals.
A devil's first deal that is not too big can have no personal consequences, just merely a single cog in larger dealings. A small favour in delivering a message that may involve a bigger deal.
A fairy/hag, their magic doesn't work like player magic, they can interact with otherwise intangible items, and so personal objects and concepts could be up for grabs. Really cool idea to ask for something that might sound benal, but might describe an important object later in the story. Which the player is compelled to give.
Absolutely nailed it with the voice acting!
Thank you so much 😊
Thanx for bringing up my worse nightmare on those last minutes. Loved the vid either way
Glad you liked! Was the Hag stuff unsettling?
@@dmofmanyfaces no, the walrus clip.
Dealers in D&D rolls of the tongue.
My very first session, minutes after meeting a couple of the other PCs: We encounter an emaciated man. A prisoner, shackled in the sewers of Yrev Ynnuf. The barb speaks with the man who eventually offers us a deal. If we can agree to remove the magical anchors that bind him to his shackles he will help us find the missing party member the others had come looking for in this city. The barb signs the deal and I follow suit not knowing any better. The scrolls magically roll up and vanish in thin air as the man reveals himself to be The Boneman. He's an Arch Fae Lich who apparently always puts a clause in his contracts. If he suffers any injuries they will befall the contracted instead. If one of his bones should break, a replacement will be forcibly removed from the contractor's body to replace his own. That was a great introduction to deal-making.
That is so metal!
Love your edit. If you make more of this kind of videos, I will 100% subscribe to this content.
That is the plan! Thanks for watching
An addition to the Imp and the Hidden Agenda.
Imps might be working on behalf of a much more powerful fiend. Not always of course - and I'd imagine intelligent fiends would keep it that way. But one could have an Imp show up and offer straightfoward deals regularly, because the much more powerful fiend thinks that they can get a lot out of them when this friendly, trusted face shows up on the Archfiends behalf - and with the Archfiends power and costs behind them.
01:04 "Stay your blade, vagabond"
I loved that!
👍Thanks!
@@dmofmanyfaces
I like the issue of pacts and deals with demons, I had not seen a better analysis of that, I really loved it. I have even downloaded it to have it more convenient for reference.
I didn't know about that kind of monster-witches, but I found the distinction very interesting that what prevails in them is bitterness and the desire to make others miserable or suffer... while demons/Imps may even try to to like you at first. The possibility that imps are even eager to make pacts/deals with people because they are wishing they could improve in power and position, wishing to find a human desperate or naive enough to let their guard down and sell them everything. It changed the image I had of the demons and imps that until now... were only there in my worlds; It had never occurred to me that imps proposed pacts because they had no power in them, but with what you have commented in this video... they can offer themselves for a lot, even becoming servants or slaves of a human who has sealed a pact like "If you remain my slave/servant for 40 years from now, you can keep my soul" with which the imp will not only serve him but will try to protect him in any way possible so that he stays alive for those 40 years. For example, in the city of Korvosa from the pre-written Pathfinder 1e campaign The Curse of the Crimson Throne is full of imps, many keep them as servants/pets. From now on, all the imps that exist anywhere, I will make them super helpful... very much like salespeople or scammers who are super friendly and "eager to benefit anyone". You can imagine? Imps pretending to be good and caring about others, always offering to help. Ignorant people would easily believe that imps are a super friendly and gentle race. Now I see the point in there being so many Tieflings, because perhaps one way to win someone's soul is to cajole, become best friends with someone even for years, especially those shy or lonely people, and finally... subtly introduce them the contract, perhaps someone in love would see giving him his soul as something romantic, like "I give you my heart".
And it occurs to me that an imp, for example, begins to make small pacts, small jobs or favors for a character of level 1 or little more... and from then on he dedicates himself to following him wherever he goes, like that phrase of "it follows you everywhere like a pig in love"; but he begins to despair/anxious when he sees that the character is becoming more and more capable and powerful... with which the imp becomes less and less capable of being of use/help to him, so he could begin to put obstacles in his way or act in against that character secretly in order to generate opportunities to offer their help. And perhaps eventually that Imp would end up resigning himself and finally leaving... or perhaps he would return when that character is old. This could be quite common in a world where imps exist, and would make them as common to see in cities as stray dogs or pigeons, giving meaning to those old paintings in which sleep paralysis or night terrors were represented as imps sitting on top of the sleeping person. It could be something super common and naturalized that old people are harassed by Imps as if they were cats or flies.
For the machine God
Just subscribed great work.
I now want to run a campaign where a charismatic imp randomly asks the party for small mundane favors for nice little trinkets at first but as the campaign goes on he upgrades forms and asking/paying more each time until he stops showing up until the party hears of a powerful Balor striving to overtake one of the Lords of hell
Thanks for the sub! Imp is playing the long con
Good stuff. Gives me ideas for lesser deals i had not fully considered.
Glad to hear it!
Definitely learned a lot here! So many neat ideas
Awesome! Thank you! 😊
I have a plasmoid in an ongoing dnd server i play and dm in, Vverrum, they are a bard and to put things simply the setting in the game is sigil mercenary grout that goes through a door to do contracts.
So we walked into a room on fire, so was a bit rough but found the cause to be a big circle on tbe ground summoning something, so we went about destroying it.
Her magic didnt have good area damage so i tried to scratch it out with her rapier. This turned out ti be a bad choice as her rapier wasnt magic (theres crafting etc dont worry about it).
This ment she had inadvertently signed the contract without her name, as the circle itself was the contract. The devil shows up saying welp she owes it her soul when she dies. They did make an offer, they would not take her soul if she got it 5 more instead.
As a bonus, it became a patreon for her, so when level up she gets a warlock level. She also learning damage to a contract counts as signong made a bargin that amused it so got a magic item, a case of contracts, these would act as a sheild spell that if used the creature signs its soul over to the devil. (havnt played her for a bit cause irl stuff)
When i was a player for once, the dm had a fiend of some kind offer my character a deal, so my ranger/fighter (an illiterate bruiser) didn't know how to sign the contract so asked for a handshake, the fiend not having hands (it had only wings) extended its taloned foot so when the time came and said fiend to hold up its end it said "footzies doesn't count" and went back on its word causing a series of misadventures to force it to honor the deal
Hilarious! I love the idea of the more chaotic fiends resorting to these school yard tactics
The sea hag was awesome. :D
Thank you so much!
W video
Thank you!
Great examples! Great approach! Thanks!
Ya know what get me a bottle of rum and the answer is smash
No for real fantastic video given me a few ideas. Be fun if the first deal made is actaully to free a warlock as the imp cackles at tricking the party he realizes they already know his master as a friendly npc. Next time party makes a deal they may be more confident in getting one over
No comment on the first line lol
I do like the idea of the party knowing the NPC. Great excuse to have a character reoccur rather than to make a whole new character.
Loved this video, instantly subscribed, like I knew this could happen but I didn't trult grasp what I could do. Now for me things like the riddle or contract might be difficult to come up with but it would be so cool
Thanks for the sub! Don’t sell yourself short, maybe try using these as guidelines and try coming up with your own delivery method? Whatever works best with your DMing style
This was excellent! I'm starting a new campaign soon and can't wait to use some of these ideas
Awesome! Let me know how it goes
Perfect! I'm offering a deal to the bard next session and I've got some great ideas about presentation thanks to this! 😈
Nice! Mess that minstrel up
Great video! Can't wait to pull some shenanigans on my players!
Go for it!
Long time DM, excellent video.
Hey, thanks! Good to have feedback
Should this video had been up back in the day (campaing 5 years ago in this case) would had saved me a BIG headache with a deal made by a Devil with a player. And would had made more awesome the meet with the hag for the party
I once had a player bargain with a hag. He agreed to give her his last breath. While he did not know the meaning at the time, he would die upon 2 failed death saves instead of 3. Sad thing is he died because of a friendly AOE someone didn't think through.
Great minds think alike!
This is exactly the type of deal I’m talking about. Friendly fire sucks for the player but I imagine the hag would get a good chuckle out of it.
This is my favorite thing to do as a (new) DM. My party bargained with a green dragon, and came close to all getting a free warlock level for killing their main NPC questgiver. They decided against it after long deliberation. I was gleeful.
Later they bargained with a green hag to stop eating the local peasants in exchange for access to the more powerful families in town... More consequences to be determined
Fantastic! Literally eat the rich? 🤑
Couple seconds in, seeing Parnell from Evolve caught me off guard
I’m glad someone else played that game 😂
Remember, there's also nothing stopping your being from gaining a slight link of power to the PCs, just a sliver. Enough to create homonculi that become the PCs. They don't need to know that comes with the deal since it doesn't affect them, they didn't ask.
Very insidious!
@@dmofmanyfaces In that case you'd want the deals to be beneficial to the players, with no last second backstabbing on completion so they feel more comfortable dealing with the being in question. The more they gain, the more they give, until the homonculi are stronger than the PCs, like 5 levels higher each. Then they get a fond Welcome to the Nightmare!
I love contracts and deals, too bad I m’m incapable of creating good ones ahahah
I tried to give a few examples for you! But I agree it’s a lot of work to get a full contract written out.
@@dmofmanyfaces oh and I appreciated, I’m just bad at it ahahah, but definitely will try more using your suggestions.
Mine did. My party didn't like their deals and quit playing.
I had a dragon kidnap the Daughter of a player character.. Instead of fighting the dragon he offered a deal..
The dragon extracted his heart and kept it in a jar.. If he ever disobeyed her she would squeeze the heart.
I love this idea as a Warlock backstory. A sort of reverse DragonHeart plot. Very cool
@dmofmanyfaces I stole the idea from transformers. Megatron does this to a spark.
He was already a level 15 Barbarian. Bit late to be taking warlock levels. Just a nasty plot!
You can make any offers. You are free entrepreneurs who plan out and lead expeditions into the unknown.
We have answered offers of cash with "If this chump can offer this much, how much is stashed under their bed?"
I played with a guy whose Rogue referred to this as “Wealth Redistribution”
I wonder if the “pact with the devil” trope was inspired by marriage 🤔
See "Faust"
@@macoppy6571 The Faust and the Furious
Hag offers a female paladin a living dragon egg to raise and eventually be able to ride into battle. Just trade me your first born child to whom you will try to start conceiving within 1 month of you and/or any of your current party entering any town or village. If you do not take this deal, I will have an omelet for dinner tonight. Oh, and in case you think this a trick, this is a real GOLD dragon egg that will hatch within a months time AND if you perform a simple ritual that I will teach you, it will bond to you, not as a slave, but as a partner. If THE dragon Egg does not hatch as promised, the deal will be null and void. I will also guarantee your child will not be harmed by me or mine. A simple trade: a human life, one of millions, vs. a gold dragon, 1 of very very few. Do you take the deal?
Love it.
Our current campaign has us all in service to a black dracolich through the consumption of his blood
We are yet to find out the terms
That sounds pretty nasty, was your character aware of what was happening?