Subsystems and You 15: Binding Outsiders
(art by SamabyArt on DeviantArt)
Today’s subject is less of a subsystem per se, instead being more of an expansion on the details of an already existing system, and that is the intricacies of summoning, binding, and negotiating with outsiders via the planar binding spells.
Calling spells in general are much more powerful than basic summoning in that in theory any outsider can be conjured as long as they meet the hit die limit of the spell version, and they conjure the outsider for much longer, albeit with a specific task in mind and bargaining.
This system originally showed up in Ultimate Magic, but it mostly focuses on the specifics of planar binding in all it’s forms rather than the planar ally spells mostly used by divine casters. This is because planar ally is limited to conjuring outsiders that serve the caster’s deity specifically, meaning that aside from negotiating payment, the conjured being is mostly inclined to help.
Planar binding, however, yanks an outsider from whatever they were doing, which is not contusive to a positive start to negotiations even if the caster and entity are on the same page morality-wise, so the caster must negotiate payment, browbeat, or otherwise really work to get what they want, assuming the outsider doesn’t just break free.
So let’s get into it!
The info first focuses on the concept of a true name, which when used to address an outsider offers a lot of leverage in binding them. The system offers skill check DCs for researching the secret name of an outsider that the character wishes to call upon, but you can also forgo this to make such a thing a quest reward or even impossible depending on the being in question.
Next up, the article points out that since planar binding definitely counts as coercion even if the outsider would be otherwise be predisposed to like and aid the character, one must be either extremely accommodating to the desires and goals of the outsider they wish to bind (picking a creature to call based on the task in question as well as being willing to provide aid and rewards in return), or full-force domineering with the threat of destruction or suffering to back it up (many fiends will straight-up not respond to anything else). Trying to act as an equal in a relationship with an inherent power imbalance is a recipe for disaster, no matter how distasteful it might feel.
And so this section has broad strokes of what each outsider type (at time of the writing) likes, and what substances and implements they find distasteful and anathema to threaten with and leverage against them for that purpose.
They then go into further detail with each specific outsider type and all known members at time of writing, giving more details on their specific role and goals, and what will impress them. Elementals, for example, respond best to demonstrations of the opposite element or undermining their connection to their own (such as levitating an earth elemental off the ground), or how qlippoth almost never bargain, needing to be browbeaten into service and constantly controlled, or how handmaiden devils might ask for child sacrifices in exchange for service).
Now, the list of guidelines for outsiders is a bit out of date now, what with whole new outsider types and individual species having come out since then, but the provided guidelines are useful for thinking about how the newer outsiders would act and what they would ask for or demand.
Planar Binding is a lot more risky than the planar ally spells, but it can be very rewarding if used correctly, and this guideline is useful for roleplaying actually going out and doing so.
With that, though, we can probably end here. We’ve got one more entry this week though, so look forward to that!