D&D 5E Meta pacts for those too aware

What if a character realized they were in a game? Maybe they don't know D&D is a game but they know there is or are some sort of far away being(s) of get power who can change the world around them in ways they could not imagine.

How would the Pact of the Dungeon Master look?

What mechanics would a warlock with a pact with a Player patron have?

What powers would a Game Designer give someelf who makes a contract with them?

I think a DM Warlock with the Pact of the Tome pact boon would at least have excerpts of the real DMG appear in it sometimes. What use that would be, I dunno.

"Josh is real. He only has power on every other Saturday for 4-6 hours sometimes. But Josh could destroy this town just like that."

This reminds me of a passage I recently read in the Rock of Bral Spelljammer accessory:

"Very few people realize that Luigi's knowledge is godlike in its scope--that he is a vision of the potential of the beholder race. He has, at one time, known everything there is to know about anything in the entire multiverse. Chance are good that he realizes that all of existence is contained within the imaginations of a weird class of beings beyond gods who call themselves role-players." - Rock of Bral, p. 78

Pact of the Dungeon Master
When you choose this pact you must decide if your patron is Kind or Malicious. Each time you sacrifice a snack to a Kind DM, they grant you advantage on any one roll of your choice after you see the result, but before you know if it's a success or failure. Each time you sacrifice a snack to a Malicious DM, you prevent 4d6 damage they only inflicted upon you to get your snack.

So, not in D&D...

I once played a game (home-designed ruleset) in which PCs could have very freeform powers. YOu'd propose it, the GM would give it a point cost. If you had the points, you could manifest the power.

Once, for sake of stress-test, the guy designing the system asked us to make up Highlander-style immortal characters. He gave us an insane number of points to play with. And the guy who tended to be the wackiest player among us took the power "Speak with Player".

Now, he was dedicated enough to role play this out, and have goofy conversations between himself and the character, who was not always on board with everything he was being told he should do. It was a hoot, because he was awesome at it.

However, if you don't have his level of skill, metagame power like that is probably more for one-shot shticks, than campaign play.

Please note: you can ONLY choose Pact of The Dungeon Master if your PC's Passive Perception score is 40 or you pass a Perception check with a DC of 40.

Weiley31 said:

Please note: you can ONLY choose Pact of The Dungeon Master if your PC's Passive Perception score is 40 or you pass a Perception check with a DC of 40.

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Technically do-able!

There is a comic, Die, and this with its own TTRPG, where the player has got two PCs, the one within the fantasy, and who is playing with her own mechanics.

I remember in kickstarter a 3PP with its own setting where the PCs know they are within a videogame.

Other idea is adding to the D&D multiverse something like the recursion worlds, from the RPG The Strange, created by the fiction and collective memory.

If the PC are natives from that fantasy world, then they will believe they are "puppets" and some god or supreme power is the puppeteer playing with them.

I've wondered about this too. But what could a PC or NPC possibly offer a GM to make it worth their while to have a Pact with them?

Guang said:

I've wondered about this too. But what could a PC or NPC possibly offer a GM to make it worth their while to have a Pact with them?

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Obviously having agents to nudge the PCs into the adventures the DM prefers and keeping important locations safe until the DM needs them.

Pact of the DM would grant a load of divination as the DM gives their warlocks info on the major heroes and villains.

Expanded Spell list.
The Dungeon Master lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. All divination spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Tweak of the DM
At 1st level, you gain the ability to magically change the resistances of an enemy. As a bonus action, you can point to a creature withing 30 feet. The creature must make a Charisma saving throw or the damage types of up to 2 of their resistances or immunities are changed to the damage types of your choice. The creature has advantage to the saving throw if you attempt to change an immunity.

You can alter resistances or immunities a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest

Dungeon Master's Guide
Your patron gifts you a magical book that grants you a measure of the DM’s power. The guidebook is a Tiny object, and you can use it as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells. If you have have the Pact of the Tome, you may choose if this guidebook is your Book of Shadows or a separate book of its own.

When you have the guidebook in your possession, you have advantage on Intelligence checks to recall information about the planes and the pantheon of you world. In addition, you may cast the identify spell once per week at no cost.

If the book is destroyed or you lose it, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your patron. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and the previous book burns to ash if it still exists.

I was having this kind of idea when I was dming.
A demon have knowledge that the PCs souls were special and source of great power. He knew to regonize them and understand that special things happens around those characters.
it is a close look of knowing that you are in a some kind of game, like some character that realize they were programs in the holodeck in Star Trek.
it can give some funny behavior.
you can imagine power that happens only once per session, or once per hours.
the session concept can’t exist in the DnD world, but for one who see over the screen it does.