Culture
The Seven Hells are built on a strict hierarchy and bureaucracy. Draconian chains of command place each devil in service to a higher authority—typically a more powerful devil. While devils are lawful, they’re always looking for another way up the ladder. They twist every rule to their benefit to gain power and usurp those they answer to, eager to uncover loopholes in the eternal struggle for significance and supremacy.
Summoning Devils
Ritually summoning a devil is not to be taken lightly. These rituals are costly and dangerous, and those determined to see it through are typically desperate, driven, or simply foolish. This section explains the rules for summoning devils, the costs involved, and the consequences of such a ritual.
The Ritual
To perform a ritual to summon a devil, a creature must meet the following requirements.
Material Components. The ritual requires the following material components, which are consumed regardless of whether the ritual succeeds (see “Summon Check”):
- 500 gp worth of brimstone
- 500 gp worth of obsidian
- 250 gp worth of magical incense, chalk, and candles
- 125 gp worth of Celestial blood, blessed by a priest (if such blood is unavailable, the priest can bless 250 gp worth of Humanoid blood in its place)
Personal Sacrifice. A creature who attempts to summon a devil must sacrifice their vitality as follows, regardless of whether the ritual succeeds (see “Summon Check”):
- The summoner rolls a number of d10s equal to their level or challenge rating (minimum of 1) and loses hit points equal to the result.
- The summoner also expends half their maximum Hit Dice with no effect. (If the summoner has less than half their maximum Hit Dice available, they can’t perform this ritual until they regain enough Hit Dice.) Hit Dice expended in this way can’t be regained until the greater restoration spell is cast on the summoner twice within the same hour, or by means of a wish spell.
FINDING COMPONENTS AND TRUE NAMES
Most of the material components required for summoning devils can be purchased at churches or magic shops. The characters might also come across these components in a cult hideout, an abandoned wizard’s tower, or the lair of any creature who has cause to consort with fiends. Characters might discover a devil’s true name in a dusty tome after months of research, or they could hear it from the lips of a lesser devil with a score to settle. If you’re using the domain rules in Kingdoms & Warfare, the characters can discover a devil’s true name with a successful Lore test (DC equals 10 + the devil’s challenge rating).
Ritual Length. When summoning a devil, a creature can perform either an instantaneous or hour-long ritual.
A desperate creature can use their action to perform an instantaneous ritual, which has a greater chance of failure. However, the exacting steps performed in an hour-long ritual reduce the summon check DC by 3.
True Name. A creature who knows a devil’s true name can speak it aloud when performing the ritual. Invoking a devil’s true name reduces the summon check DC by 5, and if the ritual succeeds, it summons the specific devil whose name was spoken.
Summon Check. To finish the ritual, a creature must make a summon check. This is a DC 18 Charisma check, though the DC decreases if the summoner performs an hour-long ritual or uses a devil’s true name. “Ritual Consequences” details the results of a successful or failed summon check.
Another creature can assist the summoner with the ritual by taking the Help action. They are branded with the same infernal rune as the summoner, as described in “Ritual Consequences.”
Ritual Consequences
Succeed or fail, summoning a devil has weighty consequences.
Branded. Succeed or fail, a creature who attempts or assists in a summoning ritual is branded by an infernal rune on a prominent part of their body, such as their head, chest, or back. This rune marks them as someone who has tried to summon a devil. Communities and individuals who recognize the meaning of the rune may treat the summoner with fear, suspicion, or contempt.
Success. If a creature succeeds on the summon check, a devil is random summoned by the ritual (unless the summoner spoke a devil’s true name during the ritual, thereby summoning that specific devil). At the GM’s discretion, other devil types can be summoned instead.
A successful ritual binds the devil to a contract with the summoner. The devil must help the summoner with a specific task, such as finishing the current battle or aiding in a single quest objective. At the GM’s discretion, a devil may be willing to extend the contract, but this has additional consequences for the summoner’s soul and requires further payment, often in the form of favors.
Failure. If a creature fails the summon check by 4 or fewer, no devil is summoned.
If a creature fails the summon check by 5 or more, a devil is summoned as in the “Success” section, but the fiend isn’t contractually bound to the summoner and can act as they please. At the GM’s discretion, the devil could still offer a contract—one that asks much of the summoner.
If a creature fails the summon check by 10 or more, they suffer the consequences of failing by 5 or more, and an additional planar entity—such as a demon, an Elemental, or a Celestial—is also summoned. This additional entity is hostile toward the summoner.
Characteristics
Physical features
Biology
The majority of devils start their lives as dead mortals turned into lemures. Reproduction by sexual means is almost impossible for devils because female ones are not capable of becoming pregnant, with the exceptions being brachinas and erinyes. Still, male devils can father half-fiends with mortals.
In general, sexuality is enjoyed more like a hobby by devils and among them far more often by the powerful than the weak.
Diet
Devils do not need to eat or drink. This does not mean they cannot. To them, eating and drinking are either a hobby, where fine food and drink are concerned, or a show of power and domination when they are eating one of their enemies.
It is not clear if devil flesh is poisonous, carries disease or parasites, or if it is edible in general; some mad adventurers claim to have tried it, but their claims cannot be verified, and it is fully possible that doing so is the cause of their mental state.
Mental traits
Not every devil in the Seven Hells wants to ruthlessly ascend the hierarchy. Some others do desire advancement, but they remain dissatisfied at the bottom. As luck would have it, these fiends can free themselves from Hell’s bureaucracy—for when a mortal overestimates their fortitude and dies while enacting an infernal summoning, it leaves open a passage to the Mundane World that an enterprising devil can cross through.
Some of these defectors cling to old habits, acquiring power in mortal spheres of business, law, or politics. Others, inspired by mortals, join adventuring parties or set out to explore the world.
Abilities
These winsome fiends can acquire great influence through corrupting mortal souls—who then become subordinate devils when they die. Devils are virtuosos with words, skilled at tempting and coercing people into performing atrocities. They exploit the weaknesses of mortals—greed, revenge, vanity—or just simple desperation. In the heat of battle, a devil’s supernatural charisma can influence a mortal to do their bidding, often without realizing until it’s too late.
All devils have two names: one they’re commonly known by, and another secret true name. Every devil zealously safeguards the latter, as their true name can be spoken aloud to aid in summoning the fiend or to strip them of their power.
Notable members
Comments