# Pact Magic Beings that cannot exist inhabit a place that cannot be. Cursed by gods and feared by mortals, these entities fall outside the boundaries of life, death, and undeath. They are untouchable by even the most powerful deities, though they can be summoned and used by the weakest mortal. The practitioner of pact magic contacts these alien forces by means of special symbols and rituals. Once a summoning is complete, he strikes a bar- gain with the summoned being to gain great supernatural power. ## Lesser Pact Magic Pact magic exists in many forms. Oaths, a lesser form of pact magic, are often used to add power to words. Indeed, oaths are so commonplace that few recognize their similarity to the pacts made by pact magic practitioners. But an earnest and freely given oath has power for both for the speaker and recipient. Even the most cold-hearted of people can feel the impact of betraying an oath... even if that does not stop them from going back on their word. On a subconscious level, they still feel something has been sundered and diminished. ### Oaths to Ideals Many characters make pacts with themselves. Such an unspoken promise can be as binding as any contract signed by a merchant—and far more effective at forcing a person to keep his word. The power of these oaths can be seen in those who dedicate themselves to causes and philosophies. Barbarians, clerics, druids, monks and paladins swear oaths to themselves and their ideals, even if they do not always know it themselves. While some oaths may be accompanied by a swearing of devotion to a god, a lord, an order, an institution, it is the personal binding that grants them their power. When that oath is broken, so to are they... at least for a time. ### BARGAINS WITH OUTSIDERS Mortals can make binding agreements with outsiders. Spells such as lesser planar ally, planar ally, and greater planar ally allow a spellcaster to bargain for the services of an outsider or elemental. The planar binding spells work in a similar manner, allowing a character to task a particular creature in return for its freedom. ### COVENANT SPELLS Some spells create a hidden pact between caster and subject, although the target need not be willing. Geas/quest and its lesser version force a creature to do the caster’s bidding or suffer the consequences. Mark of justice sets up clear expectations for the subject’s behavior and defines the punishment that will follow should the subject choose to behave otherwise. ## THE METHODS OF PACT MAGIC A promise possesses power. An oath owns its maker. These two simple statements express the fundamental principle of pact magic. From this kernel, pact magic grows and branches, letting mortals draw from a wellspring of power that no divine power can touc ### VESTIGES A pact magic practitioner gains his power by bargaining with entities called vestiges—the remnants of once-living beings now trapped beyond life and death. Whether they were mortal souls strong enough to shatter the cage built by death, wayward outsiders too willful to cease existence, or dead deities unable to lie quietly in their astral graves, vestiges are the outcasts of the cosmos. They dwell in a place no one can reach and exist in a manner no one truly comprehends. This eternal distancing from reality drives most vestiges mad and twists their views of all beings—even themselves. Because vestiges have been divorced from normal reality by some extraordinary means, they can return to it only by binding themselves to other souls. Binders, so named for their willingness to share their souls with these exiled spirits, can summon them forth by means of special rituals. Since vestiges constantly hunger for any small taste of reality, they always answer the call of any binders powerful enough to draw them forth from the void. ### VESTIGES’ SEALS Each vestige is associated with a seal—a series of lines within a circle—that acts as its symbol and as a portal through which it can enter normal existence. To call a vestige, a binder must know and be able to draw its seal. In fact, anyone can draw a seal, but only someone with the power to host a vestige can hope to create a pact that opens a door for it. ### SUMMONING Immediately after drawing a seal, a binder must ritually invoke the desired vestige’s name and title to summon it. Again, though anyone can intone the proper words, the binder’s power is the key to success. Even so, a binder can summon only those vestiges that are within the range of his personal power. The origins of a vestige’s name and title seem associated with both its previous existence in reality and its current state. These appellations can change over time, although such alterations occur only rarely. For this reason, most binders spend a great deal of time studying the origins and theories of pact magic in order to gain the insight that will allow them to foresee future developments. ### PACT MAKING Once a summoned vestige manifests, a binder must formally address it and request a pact. The general terms of the pact are always the same, no matter which vestige is summoned. To gain the powers that a vestige offers, a binder must agree to host it for a period of 24 hours. When a binder offers a pact, a contest of wills ensues between him and the vestige. This contest might be played out by means of an argument, a staring match, a riddle posed to the binder, or in any number of other ways. If the vestige ultimately wins, it maintains an amount of influence over the binder for the duration of the pact. If the binder does not act as the vestige wills, it can punish him. However, if the binder reigns supreme after the contest, the vestige quietly accompanies him. ### BINDING Once a binder makes a pact with a vestige, the two are inex- tricably bound. A shard of the vestige’s soul fuses with the binder’s spirit, creating a link so tight that the binder’s body manifests some physical sign of the vestige’s presence. The inconvenience of such a sign is a small price to pay for the supernatural powers that the vestige grants—powers that require no components, no complicated gestures, and no tongue-twisting words to use. When a binder wishes to use the abilities granted by a vestige, he simply wills the desired result to happen. ## LEARNING PACT MAGIC Those who practice pact magic expound upon its ease. A binder need never beg on his knees for power or study moldy tomes for hours on end to grasp the secrets of a few simple spells. Once he learns the basics of pact magic, he can call up a vestige at any time and take its power for his own. Ves- tiges never refuse pacts, and they ask little in return for the power they grant. However, the tempting ease of pact magic and the necessity of soul binding with a being whose nature is completely alien generates suspicion about its practitioners. Many churches actively hunt binders and attempt to eradicate evidence of pact magic to prevent the faithful from learning that beings can exist that are beyond the reach of the gods. This general condemnation of pact magic makes discovering it difficult, even though the art itself remains quite simple. Many binders are defrocked priests or acolytes who took up pact magic after discovering the rituals to contact vestiges in heretical texts kept hidden in secret temple libraries. Others take up the path after discovering the secrets of pacts and seals during investigations of ancient ruins. A few gain their knowledge of the binder’s arts from elder binders, but tutelage is rare because of the secrecy that most binders try to maintain and the cloud of suspicion under which they must work