in Descent, devil dealmaking seems very odd. It’s stated “Lesser and greater devils can’t freely make deals outside of their home plane.” Since those devils can only make deals in Baator, isn’t that counterproductive regarding soul quotas? @Dan_Dillon_1 #DnD
— Dan Stivers (@dan_stivers) November 12, 2019
They can’t do so freely, but as the rest of that paragraph describes, there are specific ways you can call up on lesser and greater devils outside Baator. You can go out of your way with the right knowledge (true name or talisman) to forge a deal, but you can’t do so on the fly. If you want to do just ask any old barbed devil to do you a solid in exchange for some or all of your immortal soul, you'll have to be in the Nine Hells where they can reach out and pluck the power of Asmodeus or their archduke and make it happen.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 12, 2019
A few things went into it.
1. We mechanized deals for the first time (at least in 5e). They were talked about in narrative terms, but never set down concretely. When you lay out rules, it opens up a lot of interesting cases that can get out of hand, or go in odd directions. 1/-
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 12, 2019
2. We wanted to preserve the narrative of deals but keep it from becoming what happens EVERY time you encounter ANY devil ANYWHERE. If every imp fight turns into “let’s make a deal” that’s hitting the wrong note. In Descent, that’s fine because it’s reinforcing the theme. 2/- 3. Related to the previous, Archdevils should be the exception. That's why they can make deals anywhere if you get their attention (slightly harder outside the Hells, but not terribly so). They might send a lesser/greater devil to represent their interests. 3/-
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 12, 2019
By gating deals behind either being in Baator, OR having to go through some mystical, trope-reinforcing hoops, it allows us to preserve deal-making, and keep devils as things you reasonably have to just fight sometimes. So that’s what we were thinking. We wanted to keep deals a thing you can really get into, without making them become the de-facto encounter with every devil every time. If devils could just cut straight to deal-making, that’s very likely what would happen. Why wouldn’t it? 4/- 5/-
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 12, 2019
And of course, if you prefer it to be open season on deals, feel free to remove that restriction from devils at your table!
I hope that helps! Devils have to corrupt mortals on the Material through subtlety and guile rather than direct deals in most cases: The imp familiar constantly tempting their “master” into more and more lawful evil acts that push their soul further into the clutches of the Nine Hells. 6/- 7/7#dnd #WotCStaff
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 12, 2019