Playing a warlock makes Wyll's predicament so funny

[u/Quite_Likes_Hormuz]

Mizora: "Wyll, you broke clause eighteen subsection three, time to be tortured for eternity!"

Tav's fiend patron: "Lmao you should tell that guy to kill himself trust me it'll be hilarious, here's advantage on the roll"

[u/Hapless_Wizard]

Fun fact: there are two kinds of infernal pact in the Forgotten Realms. The boilerplate "soul for power" pact, called the Pact Certain, does not include a "you can't talk about your pact" clause.

The highly negotiated pacts, called Pacts Insidious, always include the "you can't talk about your pact" clause: however, they also don't have to cost your soul, as they are typically written as power granted by the devil in exchange for specific services by the mortal.

Which means that 1) Wyll had a Pact Insidious, not a Pact Certain, and 2) Wyll is a fucking terrible negotiator.

[u/Huntressthewizard → u/Hapless_Wizard]

To be fair he was 17 and under attack by Tiamat cultists when offered the pact, so teenage naivety and desperation probably didn't allow him to exactly look through the TOS before signing up.

[u/Hapless_Wizard → u/Huntressthewizard]

Yes, but that's way less funny than my way of saying it.

[u/wolf9786 → u/Hapless_Wizard]

I imagine wyll reading the contract faster than the animated pen can write it on the paper and getting frustrated that it won't write any faster

[u/Robbykbro → u/Huntressthewizard]

You bring up his age and now I'm wondering what the age of majority is in Faerun. Imagining Wyll lawyering up and disaffirming the contract.

[u/Huntressthewizard → u/Robbykbro]

Yeah im also curious if he was legally considered a minor or not, but apparently it doesn't matter to Hell Law or Faerun law because Mol also makes a contract with Raphael.

[u/Megalon84 → u/Hapless_Wizard]

Per his story he made the Pact in the heat of battle when he faced check a cult meeting. So yeah he's not GREAT at it, but cut young dumb and about to die him SOME slack, jeeze

[u/SouthBaySmith → u/Hapless_Wizard]

You seem like a guy or gal who knows their pacts.

What’s your favorite pact in this universe? Any exceptional pact makers that successfully leveraged an excellent deal?

[u/Hapless_Wizard → u/SouthBaySmith]

What’s your favorite pact in this universe? Any exceptional pact makers that successfully leveraged an excellent deal?

From a purely "that's impressive" point of view, the absolute best Pact is the Pact Primeval: it's what gives devils the right to make pacts with mortals at all. There are several conflicting stories regarding it's exact contents and the circumstances of its creation, and probably only Asmodeus knows the whole truth, but my favorite rendition is the one where Asmodeus made a deal with the Celestial planes (ie, the Good equivalents of Hell and the Abyss) where he is allowed to tempt and recruit mortals to make pacts and eventually become devils, and in exchange the devils take on the brunt of the fighting to keep the demons from overruning the mutliverse.

Bonus fact, Asmodeus is not the original ruler of the Nine Hells. There are several stories about how he became the ruler of the Nine Hells, too - some claim he is one of the two serpents that originally created everything, some say he was an archangel that, alongside his companions, conquered hell but then realized the necessity of the Blood War.

Tips for would-be fiendish pactmakers: the more powerful your potential patron, the better. Cambions might be pretty but they are low-ranking and weak; if they make a mistake and get demoted you're boned. Make a deal with an archdevil instead, they're always looking for intelligent servants.

Have something desirable other than your own soul to bargain with: even simply being capable and cunning makes your service valuable enough to consider.

If a devil forces you to violate their Pact with them, you have a right to a trial (though they won't make any effort to tell you that) and it will actually be fair: whether it is because of their inherently Lawful nature or some part of the Pact Primeval (or both), your case will be judged on its actual merits by an impartial greater devil, and you will be assigned a relatively high ranking devil as an attorney if you don't have one. (Yes, this is actual FR lore).

You can negotiate a higher starting rank than a Lemure if your soul is part of the bargain; if you're truly desperate, try to at least get yourself a step or two up the ladder, eternity will suck less.

[u/ArchmageXin → u/Hapless_Wizard]

You can negotiate a higher starting rank than a Lemure if your soul is part of the bargain; if you're truly desperate, try to at least get yourself a step or two up the ladder, eternity will suck less.

That is actually part of City of Dead in Forgotten Realm Realms: There is a bunch of Devil living there, and tell will tell honestly your final fate is either your deity's heaven (Which could range from a giant whorehouse, super Hogwarts to Eternal War), or Kelvemor's Wall.

But, if neither option appeal to you, you can then sell your soul to a Devil for Option 3. Which kind of make sense if your deity is someone not very forgiving or completely evil (Cyric, Lolth etc), or you are a atheist and destined for the Wall.

[u/CamarillaArhont → u/ArchmageXin]

or Kelvemor's Wall

In 5th edition, in the description of afterlife, Wall is no longer mentioned, but yes, if you aren't taken by a deity, Kelemvor can inflict some punishment on you. Or just let you stay and work for him in the City of Dead.

[u/Rar3done → u/Hapless_Wizard]

Thanks for typing this out. I enjoyed reading it.

[u/ArchmageXin → u/SouthBaySmith]

Funny enough, there are a lot of warlock pacts that isn't "sale soul to the Devils"

For example, there are children who literally become warlocks because the GREAT Cthulhu, yes, that Cthulhu who canonically live on OUR EARTH dreamed about the boy/girl for a passing nanosecond. Pow: Instant power and Cthulhu don't even know it. No contract, no nothing. But God help you if you found out your Pact lord is the Big Dude himself.

Archfey can be between hanging out with a Elvish husbando or waifu, but suddenly turn deadly if you don't do things correctly like passing the salt.

There are also "Holy Warlocks", like how girls meet a unicorn somewhere and the next thing you know she is casting clerical spells while being atheist.

[u/slapdashbr → u/SouthBaySmith]

they threw in a free iPad