Appendix A: Diabolical Deals

A hallmark of devils is their delight in striking deals with mortals. These deals are more than mere agreements; they are cosmically binding exchanges in which a devil grants a mortal character some measure of power for a price. Once an agreement is reached, the deal is sealed with a binding contract, which both parties must sign.

A devil’s ultimate goal is to claim mortal souls. If it can’t get a mortal’s soul in one fell swoop, the devil tries to take it one little piece at a time by encouraging the mortal to commit evil acts and thereby condemning the mortal’s soul to the Nine Hells.

Infernal deals are enforced by the weight of the multiverse itself, by the very essence of the forces of Law and Evil. Devils channel this essence through the infernal hierarchy that governs their existence. Devils higher up in the hierarchy can leverage more potent deals and offer more enticing gifts.

Least devils can’t enter into deals. Lesser and greater devils can enter into deals either for themselves or as an intermediary for their infernal superiors. Archdevils are the only devils able to freely deal with creatures outside the Nine Hells, usually when mortals invoke them to beg their favor.

Entering into a Deal

Despite their thirst for trapping mortal souls in binding contracts, devils can enter into deals only in specific circumstances. The easiest way for a devil to forge a deal is to do so within the Nine Hells, where it’s closer to the infernal hierarchy and can more easily channel its power. Elsewhere in the multiverse, most devils are too removed from their power structure to enter into binding deals without some extraordinary circumstances.

A deal consists of a proposal that covers the terms each party expects, and a contract that seals the deal and makes it binding.

Lesser and greater devils can’t freely make deals outside of their home plane, but there are ways it can be done. If a summoner on another plane knows a devil’s true name or has its talisman (as described in “Devil True Names and Talismans” in the Monster Manual), instead of binding the devil into service, the summoner can create a ritual circle that allows the devil to forge a deal. Once the deal is sealed with a contract, the devil returns to the Nine Hells.

An archdevil who wishes to make a deal with a character can do so in person or send a minion to propose the deal and negotiate on its behalf. A character can also contact an archdevil by killing a chaotic- or good-aligned humanoid and praying to the archdevil over the course of 1 hour. The archdevil hears the character’s prayer and can choose to respond in dreams or visions, or it can send a minion with the authority to make a deal on its behalf.

Infernal Hierarchy

Proposal

Diabolical deals start with either the devil or the character broaching the subject and offering something. The terms of the deal require, at a minimum, the devil to offer a gift and the character to agree to a price. If the terms aren’t acceptable to either party, they can negotiate and try to sweeten the deal by offering more valuable terms, or simply walk away. Not every deal is meant to be.

If the price is anything less than the character’s soul, a devil often stipulates a penalty in the event the character fails to meet the deal’s price.

Once both parties agree to the terms, they seal the deal with a physical contract, which can take one of many forms (see “area Infernal Contracts").

Ability Checks and Deal-Making

Most deals with devils can be resolved without rolling dice to determine the outcome. A Charisma check can’t deceive or persuade most devils into a bad deal because the fiends are too clever and experienced in deal-making to be fooled. If devils do get involved in a deal that sounds too good to be true or is confusing, they’re likely to pause negotiations while they ask smarter devils for their opinions on the deal.

The following ability checks can be made during deal-making:

• If a devil attempts to deceive a character at the deal-making stage, the devil can make a Charisma (Deception) check opposed by the character’s Wisdom (Insight) check. If the character’s check result is higher than the devil’s, the character sees through the devil’s deception.
• Devils like to slip extra clauses into the fine print of a contract. When this happens, a character who can read Infernal can make an Intelligence (Investigation) check opposed by the devil’s Charisma (Deception) check. If the character’s check result is higher than the devil’s, the character detects the extra clauses in the fine print and can have them removed before the contract is signed.

What Devils Want

A devil wants souls, as every soul that it acquires brings the devil one step closer to its next promotion. If a character wants something from a devil but isn’t willing to trade their soul, the devil might ask the character to perform a service for it instead. Archdevils are also fond of making mortals swear fealty to them.

Souls

When characters give up their souls to devils, they are promising to serve in the Nine Hells as devils themselves after death. Once promised to a devil, a character’s soul can’t be claimed by another creature.

Services

A devil that can’t claim a character’s soul might demand a service by way of compensation. Such services drive the character toward committing evil or morally questionable acts designed to make the character more amenable to darker deals in the future. Here are a few examples:

• Without using magical coercion, the character must convince another mortal to enter into an infernal contract with the devil.
• The character is told about a plague, an invasion, or other calamity that the devil has orchestrated, but must do nothing to affect the outcome.
• The character must steal a holy relic from a good-aligned temple and deliver it to the devil or one of its subordinates.

Fealty (Archdevils)

Archdevils prize fealty almost as much as souls. One way in which a mortal can demonstrate fealty to an archdevil is to lead a religious cult devoted to the archdevil or perform heinous acts in the archdevil’s name. A character can also enter into an agreement to serve the archdevil as a warlock. Such a character must take at least one level in the warlock class, choosing Warlock (represented in this case by the archdevil) as their otherworldly patron.

What Devils Offer

The limits of what a devil can offer are determined by its status in the infernal hierarchy. The area Infernal Hierarchy table lists devils in ascending order of power, from lowly lemures to the mighty archdukes and archduchesses. (The orthon is included in this table for the sake of completeness, though orthons don’t appear in this adventure or in the Monster Manual. You can find out more about them in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.)

Devils like to tempt mortals with treasure and magic items. Magic items bestowed by devils usually have a devilish cast to them. They’re made of infernal iron, bear Infernal script, give off faint wails of torment, smell of brimstone, or have some other telltale sign (see the Special Features; What Quirk Does It Have in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for examples).

Devils might also agree to serve mortals for a time, acting as advisors and bodyguards.

Lesser Devils

A lesser devil can offer any or all of the following:

• Up to 500 gp worth of art objects, coins, or gems
• An uncommon magic item
• Loyal service for a period not exceeding nine years

Greater Devils

A greater devil can offer any or all of the following:

• Up to 5,000 gp worth of art objects, coins, or gems
• An uncommon or rare magic item
• Loyal service for a period not exceeding nine days

Archdevils

An archdevil can offer any or all of the following:

• Up to 50,000 gp worth of art objects, coins, gems, or property
• An uncommon, rare, or very rare magic item
• A valuable piece of information that can’t be acquired by any other means
• A single task that the archdevil or one of its minions can complete within the next nine days
• A supernatural gift manifesting as a charm (see “Supernatural Gifts” in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide and “area Archdevil Charms")
• The benefit of a wish spell (with no exhaustion for using an effect other than duplicating another spell)

Infernal Contracts

Once the devil and the character agree to the terms of a deal, the agreement must be sealed with a contract, which the devil can produce as an action. The contract often appears in some theatrical manner; for example, it might arrive in a puff of smoke, accompanied by a fiendish cackle or an imp waving a sparkler.

Contracts take a variety of forms, with the terms of the deal written out in Infernal, and are made binding in one of several ways, ranging from a simple signature to a revolting act. Once all concerned parties perform the actions necessary to enter the contract, the deal is struck. The character who struck the deal gains the benefits of the devil’s gift and is bound to pay the price.

Breach of Contract

A character bound by an infernal contract who fails to pay the price specified in the contract immediately suffers a penalty for breaching the contract, as specified in the contract itself. Common penalties include the following:

• The character’s soul is forfeit when the character dies (that is, the character is reborn in the Nine Hells as a lemure).
• The character loses all monetary wealth and property, or a powerful magic item (determined by the DM), to the devil.
• The character grows horns, a tail, or some other devilish features that can’t be removed by any means short of divine intervention (though illusions or disguises can conceal them). As long as these marks persist, the character detects as a fiend when subjected to detect evil and good spells or similar magic.
• The character gains a new flaw. A character who exhibits behavior inconsistent with this flaw has disadvantage on all attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws until the behavior changes to match the flaw.

Voiding a Contract

Voiding an infernal contract releases all parties from its terms without penalty, as if the deal never happened. Any gifts or prices revert immediately, though some contracts might leave a scar or other lasting effect.

The devil and the character who signed the contract must both agree to void the terms of the contract. As an action, the devil magically produces the contract. When both parties state their agreement to terminate it, the contract crumbles to dust and is destroyed.

Devils require compensation in exchange for voiding a contract. Some cowardly devils might be willing to void a contract in exchange for their lives, but most would rather risk death than demotion to a lower form of devil and the scorn of its peers.

A devil might be persuaded to void a contract in exchange for one of the following:

• One or more Soul Coin (lesser devils will often settle for three, greater devils for nine, and archdevils have no interest in such a paltry alternative)
• An exorbitant sum of gold plus the sacrifice of many humanoids in the devil’s name
• A powerful artifact, such as the Hand of Vecna or the Sword of Zariel

Contract Forms

The Contract Forms table has examples of different forms of infernal contracts. The sections that follow the table describe the various contracts and the means by which they can be destroyed and voided.

Contract Forms

Baby Dolls

The devil produces two baby dolls made of dirty rags or rotting wood. The dolls recite the deal in high-pitched voices (in Infernal) and spew blood when they are hugged. To enter the contract, the devil and the character making the deal must each hug a doll. When the contract is finalized, the devil keeps one doll and the character keeps the other.

To void such a contract, each doll must be destroyed within 1 minute of the other. Failure to destroy the second doll in the allotted time causes the first doll to re-form after 1 minute. Each doll is a Tiny object with AC 9, 9 hit points, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to poison and psychic damage.

Damned Wretch

A portal opens, and a humanoid bound in chains with its eyes and mouth sewn shut stumbles through it. This individual is likely someone who breached their own infernal contract and is now paying the price. The terms of the deal are carved into the poor wretch’s skin. To enter the contract, the devil and the character who made the deal carves their names into the wretch, who is then promptly banished.

Use the commoner stat block to represent the wretch, who is blinded while its eyes are sewn shut. Once the contract is signed by both parties, the wretch no longer ages or needs food, drink, air, or sleep, and it gains immunity to all damage that isn’t dealt by the devil or the character who made the deal. If the wretch dies, the contract is void.

Infernal Scroll

The devil produces a vellum scroll with the deal written on it in blood. To enter the contract, the devil and the character making the deal sign the scroll in their own blood, or that of a humanoid who has been dead for no longer than 1 minute. Immediately after it’s signed by both parties, the contract vanishes to a secure location in the Nine Hells.

Burning the scroll voids the contract. It’s immune to all other damage and harm.

Lemure Kiss

The devil summons a lemure with the deal printed in glowing runes on its lumpy flesh. To enter the contract, the devil and character making the deal and must kiss the lemure. When that happens, the lemure is transformed into a stone statue with the deal visible on the surface. The statue then vanishes to the depths of the Nine Hells.

The statue is a Medium object with AC 17, 50 hit points, and immunity to all damage except radiant damage. No spell can turn it back into a lemure. Destroying the statue voids the contract.

Song of the Devil

The devil produces sheet music with the deal written on it. To enter the contract, the devil and the character making the deal must sing or play the discordant song, which remains stuck in their heads until the deal is fulfilled.

Soaking the sheet music in holy water destroys and voids the contract, and causes the character and the devil to lose the ability to speak. A greater restoration spell or similar magic ends the effect on its recipient.

Written in Stone

A swell of lava oozes from a crack in the ground and quickly cools into rock. The deal appears as glowing script on the hardening lava. To enter the contract, the devil and the character making the deal must each place their left hand into the lava, which doesn’t harm them, and leave a hand-shaped imprint in the stone. The slab of cooled lava then vanishes to a place of safekeeping.

If the left hands of both the devil and the character who struck the deal are severed and placed into the handprints, the hands and the contract are destroyed, which also voids the contract.

Archdevil Charms

Charms are supernatural gifts described in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Archdevils and their appointed vassals can bestow such gifts on mortals, usually to entice them into signing an infernal contract. This section describes several new charms that archdevils and their vassals can bestow.

Charm of Agelessness

While you have this charm, you don’t age naturally, and your skin gains the waxy complexion of a doll. Magical aging still affects you, however. This charm vanishes from you when you die.

Charm of Diabolical Inspiration

You grow a short, vestigial tail when you receive this charm unless you have a tail already. When you make an ability check, an attack roll, or a saving throw, you can use this charm to gain advantage on the roll. Once used nine times, the charm vanishes from you, as does your vestigial tail.

Charm of Greater Conscription

While you have this charm, you attract flies. As an action, you activate this charm to summon a horned devil. This devil appears in an unoccupied space within 30 feet of you, obeys your commands begrudgingly, and serves you under protest for 9 days or until it dies, whereupon it disappears. When the devil disappears, this charm vanishes from you.

Charm of Hellish Rebuke

A fiery halo appears above your head when you receive this charm. This charm allows you to cast the hellish rebuke spell (9th-level version) as a reaction. Once used nine times, the charm vanishes from you, as does the fiery halo.

Charm of Lesser Conscription

While you have this charm, you attract flies. As an action, you activate this charm to summon a barbed devil, two Bearded Devil, or three Spined Devil. All devils appear at once in unoccupied spaces within 30 feet of you. Each devil obeys your commands and serves you eagerly for 9 days or until it dies, whereupon the devil disappears. Once all devils summoned by this charm disappear, the charm vanishes from you.

Charm of Many Tongues

You can speak and understand all languages, you gain proficiency in the Deception and Persuasion skills, and you can add double your normal proficiency bonus when using those skills. This charm vanishes from you when you die.

Charm of the Adamant

This charm has 9 charges. You can use an action to expend 1 charge from the charm to gain 30 temporary hit points. For the next hour, your eyes become voids of utter darkness, and you can’t be charmed or frightened. Once all its charges have been expended, the charm vanishes from you.