Sorcerer & Sword Pact Rules

[John]

The Pact rules in Sorcerer & Sword seem fairly straightforward when applied to on-going tasks like having a demon guard a vault.  However, they are less obvious when applied to asking a demon to perform instantaneous or short duration tasks.

Does the category "One act (specified or not)" mean:

1) One type of task, like having a demon with the Vitality power use it on the Sorcerer after every combat (for the duration of the pact).

or does it mean

2) A single task, like healing the Sorcerer after a single combat.

The first option (1) makes a great deal of sense to me - otherwise there is no difference between pacting a demon sword with (say) the Fast, Armor, & Special Damage Abilities and ordering it to help the Sorcerer win whatever battle she draws it in and Pacting a demon sword that only has the Fast Ability and ordering it to speed the Sorcerer's blows whenever she draws the blade in combat.  

Under (1) the demon sword with Fast, Armor, & Special Damage either counts as "Several specified acts" or "Unspecified acts wih a single goal", while  the sword with only the Fast Ability is in the category of "One act (specified or not)".

Under (2) both swords count as "Unspecified acts wih a single goal", despite the fact that the second demon sword does far less for the wielder.


Reading (1) seems more balanced, OTOH, this reading of the rule might make pacting too easy.  

What do others think?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi John,

Welcome!

Your option #2 is exactly what I had in mind for that category of Pacting. "Heal me after every combat" means the demon is on call throughout any and all combats, as well as in between. That sort of demand on its time is either Binding or a long-term Pact of some kind, and the category refers to Pacting about one thing delimited in both time and space. For example, "Heal me the next time I'm hurt unto death." You are correct in identifying both of your sword examples as not being valid one-time Pacts.

For the kind of command like, "Heal me whenever I'm hurt, for the next week," that's a longer-term Pact.

I'm not sure what you mean by "more balanced," unless you're pointing out that many demon abilities and concepts are not consistent with short-term Pacting. I agree about that, but it's on purpose. Pacting is definitely a sub-set of Binding in more ways than one, not the least of which is that a demon's full range of behavior and abilities may not be very well employed.

Best,
Ron