Patrons: Much Older than DCC

The Carcosa blog got replaced for reasons I don't know. Geoffrey makes decisions that confuse sometimes. In any case, I thought this little post was good enough to loose from the confines of the Wayback Machine. Mr. Carcossa's words follow:

Lewis Pulsipher scooped Carcosa by 28 years.
I stumbled upon a very cool one-page article by Lewis Pulsipher on page 12 of Dragon #42 (October 1980), entitled "Patron Demons". It gives rules for "Any Chaotic Evil player character" to make pacts with any one of the demon lords. When the PC makes the pact, he must sacrifice intelligent living things. (No, the blood of chickens, cows, and goats does not satisfy the likes of Demogorgon.) Chaotics may not be sacrificed. And the most efficacious sacrifices are humans, elves, and dwarves. Finally, the more people sacrificed (up to a weekly maximum of 20 HD of beings, or 4 times the level of the PC, whichever is higher), the more likely that the pact will be successful.

The point of making a demonic pact? To get the demon lord to help you out, of course!

You can call on your chosen Abyssal Majesty no more than once per week. Here's how to see if the demon lord heeds the call:

1. Multiply your level by 2. (Or, if you're a cleric, multiply your level by 3.)

2. Add the average number of weekly sacrifices made in the past 4 weeks, subject to the maximum mentioned above.

3. Divide by the number of times you've called on the demon lord in the past 4 weeks.

That gives you your percentage chance of successfully getting the demon lord to do something for you. If you are very lucky, the demon prince himself will appear and actually fight alongside you! (At least for a while...) Alternately, he might send a demon (of type I, II, III, IV, V, or VI) to help you. Or, failing that, he will send you a monster (such as a gargoyle, shadow, leucrotta, etc.) to help you out.

If you want Juiblex or Yeenoghu for your patron, you have to be at least 2nd level.

If you want Orcus for your patron, you have to be at least 5th level.

If you want Demogorgon for your patron, you have to be at least 10th level.

A semi-humorous note near the end of the article: "Remember that non-player characters also may have patron demons, but only a few have the courage (or foolhardiness) to take the chance. Obviously, the referee must use great discretion."

I'm going to print-off this article, and the next time I play AD&D I'm going to be a chaotic evil cleric. As soon as I get to 2nd level, I'm going to take Juiblex as my patron. Then I'll start sacrificing a minimum of 20 HD worth of dwarves, elves, or humans each and every week. You never know when my cleric will need some help...
Posted by Geoffrey at 4:49 PM

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Claytonian at the gmails.