Demonic Summoning

Version 0.10 · not yet playtested

Jon Mayo. PUBLIC DOMAIN (CC0-1.0)

Demonic Summoning

Demonic summoning borrows its power. Every effect a summoner works is drawn from a patron beyond the world, against the only collateral that thing wants: the summoner’s soul. Every working deepens the debt, and when the ledger fills, the patron collects. Alone in the family, this source’s price is external (see Alternative Magic Systems): the cost is a character across the table with wants of its own, and the GM plays it.

This supplement swaps the core’s stress fuel for a pact clock and its falter for a collection. Everything else, the 3d6 ladder, the four magnitudes, magical harm, durations, the dry-caster poke, stands unchanged. If a rule is not below, it works as the core book says.

1 The Pact Clock

A summoner has a pact clock of 6 segments, drawn on the sheet. Casting does not spend a pool; it ticks the clock toward the patron’s collection. You can always cast, until the clock fills.

Magnitude | Ticks | What it does
Cantrip | 0 | A borrowed trick, at will. Never ticks.
Spell | 1 | One real effect now: a hellfire bolt, a bound imp, a curse, a charm.
Greater spell | 2 | A horde, an aura of dread, a possession, a wall of flame.
Ritual | — | The great summonings. Costs time and a price the patron names, negotiated, not ticked (see below).

On a partial (9–12) take the reduced effect free, or tick +1 segment for the full result. Always optional.

The casting attribute is Presence: you do not understand the fire, you command it, and a bargainer’s will holds the entity to its word.

2 When the Clock Fills: The Collection

When a casting fills the last segment (or overflows it), the patron collects. The GM chooses or rolls what the debt buys the patron now, then resets the clock to zero. Until the collection is resolved, the patron withholds its power: the summoner cannot cast spells (only the dry poke remains) until they have answered, at minimum through the rest of the scene, longer if the demand is a task.

d6 | The patron collects
1 | A task. A service the summoner must perform before power returns: a life taken, a thing fetched, a place defiled.
2 | A mark. A brand, horn, or blacked eye appears on the summoner, obvious and permanent; strangers distrust, the faithful recoil.
3 | A tithe of flesh. Take harm as the patron takes its due, and lose a Speed step until you next rest.
4 | A whisper obeyed. The patron dictates one action you must take at the next opportunity, against your interests.
5 | A hostage. The patron seizes a boon, a memory, a name, a loved one’s safety, held until a later, larger service.
6 | A glimpse of the collector. Something of the patron manifests briefly and does as it pleases; the summoner is not in control of it.

Play the collection as a story. A summoner who serves the patron’s ends finds the demands lighter; one who defies or ignores it finds them cruel. Escalate over a campaign: the price of power is a slow surrender.

3 The Patron as a Character

Before play, define the patron with the player: its name and nature, what it wants in the world, and its temperament (a cold banker, a jealous lover, a mad prince). The pact clock is the patron’s attention; the collection is its voice. Give it goals that pull on the summoner’s, and it will run itself.

4 The Dry Ember: Infernal Rebuke

Every demonic bundle grants Infernal Rebuke, the at-will poke, borrowed hellfire that flows even when the patron is withholding: one action, 2 magical harm (ignoring armor) or brief Frightened on one target, rolled to hit. It never rivals a real weapon or the bolt. It ticks nothing; it is the ember the patron leaves lit to keep its servant useful.

5 Recommendations for a Playbook

Casting attribute: Presence. Lean the L1 grant toward Presence; the summoner commands, charms, and browbeats.

Spellcasting Advanced Action named in voice (the Compact, the Invocation, the Binding). Grant a starting bundle: one cantrip, the Hellfire Bolt, and one ritual, plus Infernal Rebuke as the poke. Define the patron.

The pact clock (6 segments) on the sheet, with the collection rule.

Light armor, ordinary HP. The summoner’s exposure is the debt, not frailty; their conjured servants are their shield.

Speed 2, baseline.

Niche and lack. The summoner does summoning, fear, curses, and command better than anyone, and lacks trust, a clean reputation, and control over their own fate.

Setting flavors:

The Warlock. A private bargain for personal power. Signature: a curse. Fits most fantasy worlds with a devil to deal with.

The Diabolist. Calls and commands demons wholesale. Signature: Summon the Horde. Fits a war against, or with, the pit.

The Cultist-Champion. Empowered agent of a dark lord. Pairs with Eldritch Magic’s cultist; the patron may be an entity as much as a demon.

6 Sample Spell List: The Infernal Compact

A ready-to-use demonic catalog, sorted by magnitude. Copy chosen entries onto a spell-book sheet. Damage numbers are the L1 default; a playbook’s damage step scales them. All damage is magical harm.

6.1 Cantrips (free, at will)

Infernal Rebuke. The poke: 2 magical harm, or brief Frightened, to one target, ignoring armor.

Devil’s Sight. See through darkness, even magical dark, for a while.

Sense Sin. Read the strongest guilt or desire in someone you speak with.

Whisper of Temptation. Plant a single tempting thought; the hearer knows it is not quite their own.

Mark of the Pact. Brand a harmless sigil on a surface or a willing person.

6.2 Spells (1 tick)

Hellfire Bolt. The workhorse: 4 magical harm to one target, ignoring armor. On 18+, the flames cling, 1 harm again next round.

Bind Lesser Spirit. Concentration. Call a minor imp or servitor to fight or fetch for a scene while you hold focus.

Curse. Concentration or Anchored (a taken token). One foe takes −2 to a chosen kind of action while the curse holds.

Charm. One NPC treats you as a trusted friend briefly; a Presence contest if it resists. Ends if you harm it.

Drain Vitality. 3 harm to one foe; you heal half as much.

6.3 Greater Spells (2 ticks)

Summon the Horde. Concentration. Call several lesser demons, or one greater, to fight beside you for a scene.

Aura of Dread. Concentration. A zone of terror; foes within are Frightened and cannot willingly approach you.

Infernal Contract. Bind a willing or desperate NPC to a bargain enforced by the pact; breaking it costs them dearly.

Possess. Seize a weak-willed foe for a round or two; a Presence contest each round to hold it.

Wall of Flame. Concentration. A burning barrier fills a zone edge; crossing it deals 4 harm.

6.4 Rituals (time; a price the patron names)

Summon a Demon. Call and bargain with a named entity for service or knowledge. The clock and the collection loom; the patron sets the terms.

Open a Hell-Gate. Anchored (a circle in brimstone). Tear a lasting way to the pit. Closing it is another matter.

Soul Bargain. Trade for a great boon at a lasting, personal price, a scar on the character that never fully heals.

Scry Through Fire. Watch a distant place or person in a flame.

Bind the Name of a Fiend. Learn a demon’s true name to command or banish it.