Rituals, Deals with the Devil, and other short cuts to power!?

[Gregor]

Hey all,

I have a wizard in my party who is interested, for character reasons, in looking into a way for him to quickly gain more power but at a cost (for roleplaying). In terms of story, he has a rival that he wants to destroy and is willing to pay some kind of price in order to overpower him. His wizard is very bookish and would probably like learning about some kind of ritual, ceremony or lower plane entity he could contact to make some kind of bargain. The party is currently at a university of sorts and has access to all kinds of arcane and divine archives.

He is currently level 5, so I don't want it to be something way over the top (and I definitely don't want him to outshine everyone else in the party), but its a pretty neat idea and he'll roleplay it quite well.

So, I turn to you, wise minds of Enworld, to help me think up something really neat that I can set up for my player. It can be a long term thing (i.e. find weird items for a ritual) or short term, bizarre or common, whatever. Hit me with your best ideas!

Thanks!

 

[PureGoldx58]

Hey all,

I have a wizard in my party who is interested, for character reasons, in looking into a way for him to quickly gain more power but at a cost (for roleplaying). In terms of story, he has a rival that he wants to destroy and is willing to pay some kind of price in order to overpower him. His wizard is very bookish and would probably like learning about some kind of ritual, ceremony or lower plane entity he could contact to make some kind of bargain. The party is currently at a university of sorts and has access to all kinds of arcane and divine archives.

He is currently level 5, so I don't want it to be something way over the top (and I definitely don't want him to outshine everyone else in the party), but its a pretty neat idea and he'll roleplay it quite well.

So, I turn to you, wise minds of Enworld, to help me think up something really neat that I can set up for my player. It can be a long term thing (i.e. find weird items for a ritual) or short term, bizarre or common, whatever. Hit me with your best ideas!

Thanks!

Order of the Stick did it kinda like that with the temporary power to defeat and crush your enemy. Giant In the Playground Games from there on, deal with devil scenario, limited power.

Our DM of the last campaign gave us the power to do ANYTHING as our endgame but only one change to the world (Ultimate power or save it kind of thing).

Anything can really work, gods can do pretty much anything with alter reality at will. So, have fun I would always have a cost and if no cost, make it temporary.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Simple (Relatively) power boosting options:

Symbionts.

Grafts.

Acquirable templates.

 

[PureGoldx58]

Acquirable templates.

UN Acquirable templates even if you want to go with something out there.
The gods or demons could bestow a template like half-celestial half-fiend. That would give him a lot of power though and might alienate the other players...then again Wizard.

 

[kitcik]

double post

 

[kitcik]

He makes a deal with <insert evil power here>.

He gains 4 temporary levels.

Each day he must make a Fort save. DC 6 day one, increasing by 2 each day. Every time he fails a save he loses a level. This goes on until he reaches his original level REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH XP HE HAS GAINED IN THE INTERIM (i.e. all XP gained in the interim is lost).

He may forestall the increase in DC each day by committing an EGREGIOUSLY evil act on that day. This act must be committed openly in the presence of others.

Good luck to him.

 

[Jacob Marley]

So, I turn to you, wise minds of Enworld, to help me think up something really neat that I can set up for my player. It can be a long term thing (i.e. find weird items for a ritual) or short term, bizarre or common, whatever. Hit me with your best ideas!

Thanks!

Allies. Powerful, powerful allies. Like, Marlon Brando in The Godfather allies. Allies who are willing to assist with a problem but... at some point will want you to repay their "friendship."

In our current campaign, the player of a LE Cleric of Hextor currently has on retainer an Assassin, a warband of Hobgoblin mercenaries, and a Night Hag. They were each brought in to assist him with specific problems and now he is currently in the process of paying off his debts. Of course, the payments are far greater than the services provided. And, of course, the Cleric keeps digging himself further into debt.

 

[Ahnehnois]

The Fiendish Codices address this topic (unsurprisingly). There's also some valid stuff in various other evil-themed books, BoVD, Elder Evils (free vile feats for worshippers), Fiend Folio (fiendish prestige classes that can grant ability bonuses to mortals for a price) etc.

 

[Vegepygmy]

I have a wizard in my party who is interested, for character reasons, in looking into a way for him to quickly gain more power but at a cost (for roleplaying).

That's a classic trope in literature and movies, etc., but it doesn't work well in any game because either (1) the power gained is greater than the cost and thus unbalances the game or (2) the cost is equal to or greater than the power gained, in which case it isn't actually a benefit and only the most hard-core role-player will accept that deal (and will probably annoy the heck out of the not-so-hard-core role-players in your group).

The best handling of it I've ever seen was in the DragonQuest system. There, you could join the College of Black Magics by making pacts with the Powers of Darkness and thus gain spellcasting ability. The first pact you made was simply an oath of allegiance to some Power and granted you minor abilities; the second pact was a significant step up in power, but required a token of your allegiance (perhaps the loss of your eyesight or primary hand, or gaining a vulnerability such as a deadly allergy to alcohol). The third pact gave you access to the greatest abilities, at the cost of your soul (you could never be raised or resurrected).

It was still unbalanced, but it was also a lot of fun when they inevitably paid the terrible price.

 

[Herzog]

The Tome of Magic contains, among others, Pact Magic, that might apply to his needs.