Generic, Text: Guide to Infernal Contracts

The first example of Infernal law predates the Nine Hells themselves. Asmodeus convinced the Gods that their creations would only heed Divine Law if there were something to dissuade them from disobedience. Mortal creatures would then have the choice between upholding the Word of the Gods and Asmodeus’s harsh alternative - punishment. After much deliberation, a lengthy decree was drafted by Asmodeus and agreed upon by the gods. It was called the Pact Primeval, the First Contract. The Pact Primeval granted Asmodeus and his allies dominion over the then-abandoned realm of Baator, which would eventually become the Nine Hells. It also established a procedure for the punishment of the wicked souls destined for its layers. However, over time, the Gods found that a decreasing number of souls reached the Upper Planes because Asmodeus and his Devils were deliberately tempting them. When the gods disputed the First Contract, claiming that Asmodeus had violated its terms, he dispassionately replied, “Read the fine print.” In addition to the Pact Primeval located in the Nine Hells, there are two other copies of the contract. One is housed on Mount Celestia, the Seven Heavens of Goodness and Law. The other is located on the Clockwork Plane of Law, Mechanus.
 

Differences Between Infernal Law and Mortal Law

There are quite a few similarities between Infernal Law and Mortal, with some theorising this being that Devils helped write some of the earliest humanoid legal frameworks (with an exception of Elf Law and it's progenitors the Fey Courts). Arbitration, Precedent, and the concept of the accused standing trial before a jury are all found in both the Nine Hells and various settlements in the Forgotten Realms. This also makes it easier to convert future souls into the Ways of Devils.
 
However, conflating mortal and infernal law is a dangerous supposition. Devils have no moral code, and they only abide by corpus juris infernis (“the body of infernal law”) and the archdevil that commands them within their hierarchy. There is no spirit of the law or interpretation, and ambiguity in a Contract does not automatically side towards the Signee. Instead generality in a Contact is in itself something worthy of punishment from higher-devils, a sign of sloppiness that might leave proper loopholes in future contracts that can't be overturned in Abitration.
 
In the end, to the contract adminstrator, the ultimate goal is procurement of a soul at the lowest possible cost to themselves or their superiors. To this end they can most increase their quotas and find advancement in both rank and responsibilities. Murder is not an act that can void contracts, unlike the mortal world. Even killing a Signee, Drafter, or Contract Adminstrator will not modify a contract unless explicitly stated. Like-wise a contract's drafting and signing are unrelated, with sometimes rarely a devil creating a contract and gifting it to a Signee confident that the contract will eventually be signed.
 
The greatest difference, is State of Mind. For example, when two living creatures exchange goods, there is generally the assumption of competency, i.e., both sides must be mentally capable of understanding their agreement in order to consent. Although consent must be present in an infernal contract, there is no requirement of competency. This fact creates a fine line that many devils gleefully walk, extending handshakes to nostalgic nobles on their deathbeds or offering lengthy scrolls to grief-stricken widows who can hardly process new information.
 
Finally for logisitics of Contracts, Devils require to spend 50gp of reagents to craft the physical paperwork of a signature, as well as permission from a Superior Devil if they are unable to provice the necessary power themselves.
 

Components of an Infernal Contract

While each contract is tailored to the signee by the drafter, few strict requirements must be met in for your contract to be legitimate. A proper, respected infernal contract includes five elements: Consideration, the Offer, Obligation, Fine Print, and Acceptance. However, many contracts contain additional clauses that further bind the signatory a nd/or contract administrator.
 
 

The Consideration

Become the beast, We don’t have to hide. Do I terrify you, Or do you feel alive?
 
Burdon, reciprocation, these are essential to the nature of Contracts. Devils cannot freely give gifts, therefore there must be a burdon both ways. Strong bonds can cross this natural law, the sort where reciptrocation is guaranteed. Contracts are the easiest way to form these bonds, a simple exchange of goods or service returned in kind. The most well known cost of these is to promise one's soul, but that's hardly a tempting offer for supposedly silver-tongued creatures. Instead, they can take a promise for a later favour in kind, or even more mundane service like the retrieval of an object or person.
 
Also the lowest of Devils can work off 'Life-Years' deals as they develop their selling and drafting skills. That way a Devil could even protentially sign multiple deals with the same creature as they chip away to the big Deal. 'Life-Years' is a concept for post-mortem serve, with each 'Life-Year being 1/100th of a beings lifespan. That way long lived races gain no benefit from their ancestry, and Signees who die young have recieved less benefit from their deal. This has the added benefit of the cost being intrinsiticly benefital to the signee's cost. The time being spent after death is often done with menial tasks or hard labour in Baator beneath a Devil. It could also be spent in torture (giving or receiving), or even fighting on behalf of The Hells as a legionaire.
 
Some other classic costs can be far more abstract; gaining a magical scar or mark, giving a pound of flesh or even a limb/digit, an inability to tell the truth or to lie to a certain group or demographic, a very specific evil act, future financial obligations off profits, memories, emotions, tracking down a contract voider, your bloodline could become tainted, you could be transformed into a Tiefling, a future opportune moment of control, a future item or reward, or even a portion of your vitality.
 
 

The Offer

I get overwhelmed so easily, My anxiety creeps inside of me, Makes it hard to breathe, What's come over me?
 
A good offer can make or break an infernal contract. After all, it’s not as if the River of Styx is backed up with masochistic passengers eagerly awaiting torment in the Nine Hells. The contract administrator is responsible for creating an offer so enticing that the signee can overlook the Devil in front of them. In contracts of the soul, the Devil must suggest something to the signee that is genuinely priceless or unattainable except through them. It is also worth considering the State of Mind aspect. Deals are often based on the consideration time of the mortal.
 
A deal made when the Signee has time to consider and weigh their options almost never goes well. Which is why most Devils try to put time constraints on their world, to rush their clients. If a Devil wants you to take your time and think things through... generally not a good sign of your immediate circumstances, and that they know more than you do about your future.
 

Example Offers

These are by no means an exhaustive list, merely an example of the format these benefits usually take and their cost on the Devil creating them;
 
Conditional Love: Prerequisite: Degree 3+, Fierna
You have learned to use your charms to hit at the heart of a creature. Expectations;
• Whenever a creature fails a Charisma saving throw due to a spell or magical ability you control, you can use your reaction to gain temporary hit points equal to 1d10 + your Character’s level.
• You cannot do this again until you complete a short rest.
 
Expansive Knowledge: Prerequisite: Degree 1+, Mephistopheles
Most people have hard limits on what they can know, you have had an extra bit of room driven into your head;
You learn additional spells from the Cleric, Warlock, or Wizard spell list equal to your Charisma modifier. You must have a spell slot level equal to or greater than each of these spells. You know these spells in addition to your total Spells Known.
 
Free-Flowing Youth: Prerequisite: Degree 1+, Oublivae
My bones no long creek as I stand, my fingers no longer ache each day. I am youthful again;
• You regain 25% of your ancestral lifespan, reducing you by 2 age catagories.
 
Luck of the Devil: Prerequisite: Degree 3+, Glasya
You are blessed with supreme luck by the Lady of Misfortune, Queen of Hell herself;
• You automatically succeed on a d20 roll. You cannot reuse this ability until 7 days have passed.
• If this was an ability check, you gain a +5 to all future ability checks of this type.
• If it was a Saving Throw, you gain advantage against all Saving Throws originating from that same creature.
 
Prodigious Talent: Prerequisite: Degree 2+
Devils are nothing is not skillful. They are also particularly talented at gifting these skills to others;
• You gain three proficiencies that you do not already possess. Alternatively you can make two skills you are proficient in into expertise.
• This ability cannot double your proficiency bonus on a skill whose proficiency bonus is already being doubled.
 
Returned Soul: Prerequisite: Degree 4+, Glasya
• Cast True Resurrection on a creature without expending material components.
 
Second Chances: Prerequisite: Degree 2+, Malkizid
As you begin to fall, the blood so recently torn from your body is sucked back into your wound, keeping you on the edge of death;
• If you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to roll a Hit Die. If you do, your hit point total becomes the Hit Die result instead.
• You can’t use this feature again until you complete a long rest.
 
Touch of Agony: Prerequisite: Degree 1+, Zariel
Your touch brings pain to your enemies, your satisfaction from that fact is unending;
• When you hit a creature with a melee attack or melee spell attack, you can add your Charisma modifier to the damage dealt.
 
Unbridled Knowledge: Prerequisite: Degree 4+, Mephistopheles
You ignore the typical limits of mortals, able to push yourself that much closer to your goals;
• Upon completing a short rest, you can spend 1 Hit Die and regain any number of spell slots whose total is equal to or less than the result of the Hit Dice + Charisma.
• If you do, you suffer psychic damage equal to the number of spell slot levels you regained.
• You cannot use this ability again until you complete a long rest.
 
Wings of Blood: Prerequisite: Degree 2+, Malkizid
You can conjure two bloody bat wings, each beat of their massive surface filling you with dread;
• As a bonus action, you can manifest or dismiss magical wings. They also disappear if you are knocked unconscious.
• You cannot manifest your wings while wearing heavy armour.
• You can manifest your wings while wearing medium or light armour if it is made to accommodate them.
 
Unsurpassed Misfortune: Prerequisite: Degree 1+, Glasya
You are blessed with supreme unluck by the Lady of Misfortune, Queen of Hell herself;
• Whenever a creature makes an attack roll, skill check, or saving throw within 20 feet, after the GM has rolled but before they have determined the result, you can use your reaction to roll a d20.
• If you roll a 10 or higher, the attack roll, saving throw, or skill check immediately fails.
• You cannot do this again until you complete a long rest.
 
Additional Ideas: Long Rest, permanent Tongues, Immunity to a damage type, Increase Attribute score.
 
 

The Obligation

When God is gone and the Devil takes hold, Who will have mercy on your soul?
 
In any contract, an obligation is the legal duty of the two parties to perform. The signee and the contract administrator are bound by its terms. If either party violates this ironclad agreement, they may face harsh punishment according to infernal law. And Archdevils are not a compassionate sort, quick to understand extenuating circumstances. For a mortal who hasn’t yet signed away their soul, a sentence coming from the Diabolical Courts carries a terrifying prospect.
 
However, a soulless mortal may wonder what more could come from a breach of contract. Quite a bit, actually. Devils are incredibly creative when it comes to torture, and few things delight them as much as tormenting the guilty. When devils break infernal law, the punishment is more severe. Higher-ranking devils are capable of demoting those beneath them, forcing them to squirm and shuffle as larva-like lemures for a few centuries. In some instances, the offender’s soul may be consumed, destroying it forever.
 
 

The Fine Print

Bite my tongue, Bide my time, Wearing a warning sign, Wait till the world is mine.
 
The reality is that contract negotiations can be a really big pain. No one actually wants to meticulously go over a writen contract for over an hour instead of actually playing D&D. But the Lore AND tropes generally suggest that Infernal contracts should have some fine print within. If the player is definitely aware of the true costs they logically they shouldn't sign a damn thing. But we're playing a game, where the inevitable shoe falling can be so much more fun than if everything goes according to plan.
 
If that's not a level of chaos or trust in your Dm you have, well honestly it's surprising you made it this far long my document of damnation. The fine print is a classic and necessary component of a n infernal contract, dating all the way back to the Pact Primeval. So instead we throw in a few Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Arcana) checks, maybe throw down some Dispel Magic or Detect Magic for illusions over portions of text and call it a day.
 
It is also worth considering that what a Devil says and what they offer in writing can be vastly different. The Contract Administrator might not have even grabbed the right document, just picked the closest pre-written contract made in mass by some more Drafter in the Nine Hells. And Most Devils are immune to the sort of enchantments that can force truth out of them (Zone of Truth and Detect Thoughts being two examples).
 
The goal of fine print should never be to cheat your players. Dungeon Masters should root for their players as the protagonists of the narrative, celebrating success and good storytelling. Most adventurers are not gullible; while a player may gloss over certain aspects of an Infernal Contract, their character has been hardened by their journey. These are meant to be roleplaying opportunties rather than some 'puzzle' or 'trap' to outsmart. In truth making these sorts of agreements is far more difficult than tearing them apart or 'winning'.
 

The Acceptance

And once the water starts to rise, And heaven's out of sight, She'll want the devil on her team.
 
No contract is complete without acceptance. Regardless of all the tantalizing offers and sinister tricks that a devil may use to entice the Signee, it cannot force an agreement. Just like any mortal contract, both parties reserve the right to walk away if they are not satisfied enough to sign. But not all contracts have signature lines. The drafter reserves the right to determine the method of the agreement once all is said and done, though this must be stated in the contract. For example, a succubus or incubus may seal their deals with a kiss rather than a pen and parchment. Anther may require a toast with blood, maybe even interpretive dance, song, or the lighting of a candle.
 
Many contracts contain supplementary clauses apart from the five standard components. Clever signees employ such clauses to reign in dubious statements and other liabilities. Conversely, the drafter may include additional sections to disorient the signee further and ensure that the deal tips in the devil’s favor. Typical elements to include are; Breach of Contract Clauses, Collateral, Damages, Cancellation, Nondisclosure, Noncompete, and finally Collection.
 

Glossary of Terms

Benefactor: A higher ranking Fiend who fufils the contract terms/punishments
Drafter: The creature who writes the specific terms of the Pact
Contract Adminstrator: The Devil that negotiates the signature
Signatory/Singee: The creature that signs the contract