What is a Demon? Who the hell knows! Don't try to explain any eco-system or get to involved with the dice. These things tend only to destroy and mystery or mystique. To know the name of a Demon is to control him. Magic users like all mortal beings cannot pronounce the name of a Demon, instead the name is read from a book containing the name within a passage of summoning. Once spoken the name is forgotten for it is magical and only exists at the moment of speaking, thereafter the name returns to the parchment it came from. Magic users may seek the names of Demons in order to harness their power but they themselves never here the word spoken when they are sane. Instead the Magic users transcribe and study the words of those possessed by lesser Demons in the slim hope of being able to pull a name from the tounges in which the insane babble. Summoning a Demon involves both summoning and control. If control fails the Magic users is used as a channel into this world by the Demon. His mind is stretched and warped by this channeling even if the demon chooses not to posess the wizard.

Failed Summoning penalties:

Save Vs Death. The initial shock of contact with the otherworld ether that come through the pentagon of summoning can kill instantly. If the save if failed the Pc has the comfort of knowing that he is infact still alive although his disembodied spirit exists now in the other world suffering eternal torment at the hands of unspeakable creatures. If the PC makes it he/she then must fight possession.

Save Vs Majic X Demon HD. This is the act of possesion through involuntary channeling. If the Magic user survives the saving throws he escapes possession but frees the Demon. Thereafter the demon will either return or flee as far from the otherworld nexus within the pentagon as possible. Although the wizard "may" be safe and "may" never see the Demon again the Demon is loosed upon the world of mortals. If the Demon is loosed and wishes only to carry out a task ( i.e. kill a Magic user who summons him often or destroy the books that carry his name ) he may return in which case the wizard must open a portal again and speak the incantation in reverse. Low level Demons will jump at the chance to escape into the world of mortals to boost their power. When they are strong enough they will seek to return to a more powerful role in the otherworld. The minimum number of saves vs magic is five ( no less than that ).

* note all saving throws are made at the basic face value of characters level with race bonus. Include curses but ignore bonus magic items, spells are accepted as initial protection but if the save vs death is failed all spell saving throw bonus is reversed and minused from the possession roles. For each save v magic failed the user looses a level for the purposes of the next saving throw. A failure of all throws results in the cumulative loss of all levels once the possession is over.

Why summon a Demon? A Demon once successfully summoned is bonded to the summoner. It can stay for the amount of hours equel to the Magic users level plus the Demons HD. Once summoned the user may instruct the Demon to carry out any task or keep him bound within the pentagon. Binding the Demon gives the user the equilalent level of his level plus the Demon HD divided by two. The Demon confers this power upon the user without any need for the user to learn the spells himself. At the time of binding the spells are choosen as if a new day had started. There is a danger however that the pentagon may be broken. If this happens the Demon will escape and attampt to kill the wizard. If the Demon suceeds he will increase his HD by the users level and return from whence he came. If the Demon is to carry out a task by himself he will do as commanded as this will allow him to return instantly once the task is completed.The magic user may wish the Demon to posess someone or kill them. To posess the Demon will locate the person and attempt to posess them. The target must save vs. magic three times in order to resist. Spells and magic items are allowed for protection. If the Demon is to kill, then it is combat, but the Demon will strike first and draw first blood. A Demon values nothing more than his own hide and so will strike when the target is venerable. He must complete the task given him or he cannot return to the otherworld. The Demon does not gain the levels in HD that he does for killing a Wizard unless the target is a wizards. The safest use of a Demon is questioning. Once bound (without the spell level incantation) the Demon may be asked one question on any subject. He will answer truthfully and fully, wishing to return as quickly as possible to the otherworld he will not seek to be evasive.

Once in possession of a book containing a name the wizards need only set up the physical apparatus of summoning. A pentagon in which is written the words of binding is etched in chalk upon the ground. Five bowels (one at each point of the pentagon) are placed containing a mixture of mandrake, powdered gargoyle, red/black dragon, or liches tooth and the blood of an acheron. This is burned when the incantation is chanted to create a mixture between the ether of the otherworld and that of men. It is from this smoke that the Demon will initially start to materialise. Necromancers use different ingredients, using cursed and violated blood as the initial cross over gateway. The Demon will appear in any number of ways, he may step forth from the smoke of materialize as it is given form. He may arrive in a flash, climb through a burning or obsidian abyss in the floor or in the case of the necromancer form from congealed blood to take gradual shape.

Step 1. Find and prepare the text

Step 2. Draw the pentagon and runes of containment while chanting the initial part of the invocation.

Step 3. Start the bowels burning/scatter blood.

Step 4. Start the incantation of summoning speaking the Demons name throughout.

Lesser Demons of 5 HD or less can be summoned with a Save vs User Level to check for success. Failure is not disasterous unless a critical failure is rolled. Otherwise failure will invole no penalty as well as no Demon. However in every instance of failure the Pentagon must be destroyed afterwards, a process taking two full days to reverse the initial work. Demons over 20 HD will ingnore a summons unless the user is of sufficient level. Greater Demons between 5 aand 15 HD can be summoned using this table as a guide line.

00 to 05 HD. Requires Save vs Level.

05 to 15 HD. Save vs Level minus half Demon HD rounded up. Failure is always Critical.

15 to 19 HD. Save vs Level minus 3/4 Demon HD Rounded up. Failure is always Critical

20 or Higher HD. Save vs Level minus full Demon HD. Failure is always Critical

The guild or magic user may have information on a Demon, but if information Demon being summoned is wrong and the creature is more powerful there will definitly be trouble. For instance the Guild doing the summoning has a demons name they choose from their archives. The demon was a lesser Demon when summoned last, some ten years ago. However in the interum he has been summoned and killed his summoner, a powerful magic user, and gained another 10 HD. The incantitations to demons of specific strenght are different and another 10 HD will make the spell go seriously wrong. For every HD above the expected the summoner must roll save vs magic (failure penalties still apply). If a roll is failed the summoner looses the total extra HD X 1000 xp from his experience points. A failed roll must be made again and again if necessary. If the Summoner losses a level he losses conciousness and the Demon is freed. If it is a group summonoing the save is taken by the next in line ( it starts with the weakest). The chance of a serious mis-calculation like this is calculated thus:

2% chance per year sience last summoned.

To compensate for this the incantation level may be guessed. To overshoot the mark or undershoot the mark calculate the HD penalty by adding or subtracting from the actual. i.e. An 5th level demon was summoned thirty years ago. The Guild choose a sixth level incantation to summon. The expected demon is infact not tenth so the penalty is 4 HD or 4 saves.

A Coven may opt for a group summoning. To prepare for this the Wizards must copy the texts exactly. this takes one month. It can be done in less but there is a 5% penalty that a text may be faulty with another 2% per text in circulation ( each member has there own ) and a further 2% per day less that sixty ( the monimum for a perfect copy ). Failure of one text results in a critical failure. The group summoning has however the advantage of combining levels. For the incantation roll although the combined levels are calculated by first adding and then dividind by 2 and then multiplying by three to give 2/3s of present levels for use in the spell. The advantage is offset by the problem of texts but it does allow the user to summon a greater Demon. Critical failure results in each member making the Save vs Death, than each member must make at least one Save vs magic as the Demon attempts to escape through the combined host. The save vs magic starts with the lowest levels and works its way forward. So if for example we have 15 wizards who are attempting a group summoning and fail they all save vs death, then the number of save vs magic is divided between the wizards staring the rolls with the least powerful. A failure to make a save leaves a Majic user posessed, if the next in line fails than the previous failed wizard is unconcious and looses 1 level ( equivalent to the HD he has exerienced ). The saves will continue through the line until all the saves are failed or have been made. Failure will result in the highest magic user being possessed, all others will be a level lower and have the standard future penalty in place permanently.

Another avenue, but a rarer one, is the existance of shell wizards. These are those who have failed to summon and been killed. Speak with the dead, or reanimate can be a method to briefly gain good information, rarer still are those whoes bodies still live while there spirit writhes in torment. For these poor souls the body is the vision of the otherside given the form of insane words. It is practice to keep the body alive and out of sight so the utterances may be transcribed.Some people have been told the names of Demons in their dreams and some mad men who claim to have seen the other side have uttered true names, but the latter these is rare and even if true they can be so cryptic that it takes years to decipher. You may be thinking "Why not summon and ask a Demon some names". Well simply put within the actual game the description of Demons falls only into lesser and Greater really, so any answer will be vague. You cannot ask a demon how many HD he has, these terms of referanec do not exist in the GreyHawk world the characters live in.

From all this you can see that delving into the dark side is as dangerous as it is potentially powerful. Wizards can gain graet fame in magical circles for re-summoning a Demon dorment for centuries, a dangerous feat if it can be done. The penalties above may seem harsh but unnderstand that wizards are attampting to handle powers never meant or mortals and so the peril is all the more extreme. Beside this it takes the hack and slash hit point element out of magic and robs the game of its worst enemy, predictability.