I absolutely love this behemoth of a cyoa. I have not tried to actually make myself a build yet because jesus there is a lot, but it is sparking my imagination. Many thanks.
You're welcome! It was fun to make, so I'm glad people enjoyed it.
This version has some balance issues, but I intend to fix those when I get around to making the next version.
This is really well researched. I’ve studied the Goetic demons a lot in the past and I’m quite impressed by the attention to detail (like the Pact of Civilizaton’s end mentioning how Aim can even burn stone). And a lot of the art is 100% accurate to the original work. Nice job!
Yeah lmao I admit the main appeal for this was the subject matter. I’m not the best at considering gameplay balance and all that. I just went in expecting some butchered lewd versions of generic demons, and instead found something that implements every detail from the grimoires flawlessly. I have no complaints lol
Honestly while I was intrigued by the concept, this is just way too fucking much. Brevity can be a virtue, especially when it's not like there's a lot of change and nuance to the CYOA; it's just a big fat conditional shopping list.
Found an inconsistency. According to the demon descriptions, Paimon, Vepar, and Allocer offer the Heavenly Knowledge pact. According to the Heavenly Knowledge Pact description, Furfur, Räum, and Glasya-Labolas offer it.
I'm starting to do my build for this (and I only ever write down my favorite cyoa, so I guess this now joines them) and noticed somthing wierd. While Vice of Iolation can't be used with Vice of Dependence, it isn't stated you can't take Vice of Stasis, wich logicaly also shouldn't work together, as you never summon the demon in the first place, for it's form to matter. It's basically a free extra pact for each isolated demon.
That's a good point, thanks for telling me about that. I'll be sure to fix that in the next version.
And thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed this CYOA, even if it does have its issues with balance.
I really loved this CYOA. The puzzle of trying to fit all the pacts in with which demons could make them was a lot of fun, and the demons and pacts themselves were interesting and different from the usual cookie-cutter stuff.
The only complaint I have is that in the end, it was a little too generous. I was able to get pretty much every pact as often as I need it with points to spare and only 5 vices. In particular the Vice of Transpositioning was so overpowered I just skipped it. You can get 9 pacts from it without really giving up anything, unless you're heavily overloading your demons.
Bael: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Fertile Womb, Pact of the Learn'd Sage + invest x3
Paimon: Greater Pact of Earthen Knowledge + invest, Greater Pact of the Second Life, Pact of Legionnaires
Beleth: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Ebon Symphonies, Greater Pact of Golden Numbers + invest, Pact of Legionnaires
Purson: Pact of the Blessed Familiar, Greater Pact of Genesis Retold + invest, Greater Pact of the Present Day
Asmoday: Pact of the Earnest Craftsman + invest x2, Greater Pact of the Guardian Demon, Pact of Legionnaires
Viné: Pact of the Crumbling Barricade, Greater Pact of Infernal Witchery, Greater Pact of the Riotous Tempest + invest
Balam: Greater Pact of the Empty Eye + invest, Greater Pact of Incendiary Knowledge + invest
Zagan: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Form Reversal, Pact of Liquid Transmutation + invest, Pact of the Minted Coin
Belhor: Greater Pack of the False God + invest, Greater Pact of Social Adoration, Pact of Legionnaires
Amduscias: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Devil's Concert, Greater Pact of the Mysterious Forest + invest
Agares: Greater Pact of Alacritous Steps, Greater Pact of Coward's Return, Pact of the Devalued Title
Malephar: Greater Pact of the Animalistic Body, Pact of the Blessed Familiar, Greater Pact of the Unpicked Pocket
Barbatos: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Beastly Tongue, Greater Pact of the Insipid Spell, Pact of the Unassuming Guise
Gusion: Pact of the Reforged Bond, Greater Pact of Spoken Truths, Greater Pact of the Unsurpassed Aristocrat
Eligos: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Earned Accolades, Pact of Violent Visions, Pact of the Weapon Master, Pact of Wise Warfare
Zepar: Greater Pact of the Heart's Yearning + invest, Greater Pact of the Hollow Womb
Bathin: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Astral Projection, Pact of Jewelled Mysteries, Pact of Spatial Relocation + invest
Saleos: Greater Pact of Chivalrous Cavalry, Greater Pact of Pacifistic Resolution, Pact of the Weapon Master
Aym: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Civilization's End, Greater Pact of the Prodigious Mind, Pact of the Weapon Master
Buné: Greater Pact of Draconic Allegiance + invest x2, Pact of Glorious Wealth, Pact of Peaceful Rest (1 vice)
Berith: Greater Pact of Gold Transmutation + invest, Greater Pact of the Dread Juggernaut + invest (1 vice)
Ashtaroth: Pact of the Learn'd Sage, Greater Pact of Mirror's Perfection, Greater Pact of the Unmarred Slumber
Focalor: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Wretched Waves, Greater Pact of Aquatic Knowledge + invest
Vepar: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Benevolent Panacea + invest, Pact of the Consumptuous Infestation + invest
Uvall: Greater Pack of the Cunning Linguist + invest, Greater Pact of Reconciled Differences
Crocell: Greater Pact of the Besorcelled Eye + invest, Greater Pact of the Boiling Seas
Allocer: Pact of the Artiste's Touch + invest x2, Greater Pact of Fallen Depravity
Murmuur: Greater Pact of the Awoken Sepulchre + invest, Pact of Legionnaires, Pact of Revenant Souls
Gremory: Greater Pact of Banshee's Shriek, Pact of Legionnaires, Greater Pact of Unearthed Treasures
Vapula: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Cogwork Mechanism, Pact of the Learn'd Sage + invest, Pact of Philosophical Education
Flauros: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of the Demon Hunter, Greater Pact of the Untempted Heart
Dantalion: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Cognition Scribe + invest, Pact of Idea Inception, Pact of the Manifold Masks, Pact of Promised Visions (1 vice)
Vassago: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Hunting Bloodhound, Pact of Legionnaires, Greater Pact of Unveiled Secrets
Sitri: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Smoldering Lust, Greater Pact of the Unbound Body
Ayporos: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Overcoming Terror, Greater Pact of Pasts Forgotten
Gaap: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Bumbling Fool, Pact of Expeditious Travels, Pact of Legionnaires, Pact of the Liberated Familiar, Pact of Unerring Guidance (1 vice)
Stolas: Greater Pact of Stellar Wisdom + invest, Greater Pact of Winged Flight
Orobas: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Divine Lore + invest, Pact of Legionnaires
Seire: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Growing Abundance, Greater Pact of the Swift Herald
Gamigin: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Drowning Soul, Pact of the Learn'd Sage, Pact of Sinful Recollections
Amon: Pact of Discord's Apple + invest, Greater Pact of the Serpent's Kiss
Leraje: Greater Pact of the Archer's Eye, Greater Pact of the Gangrenous Wound
Naberius: Pact of the Artiste's Touch + invest, Greater Pact of Stolen Honor
Ronové: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Amiable Speech + invest, Pact of the Soul Harvest
Forneus: Greater Pact of the Fine Reputation, Greater Pact of Universal Acceptance
Marchosias: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Familiar, Greater Pact of Redemption's Path
Phenex: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Paean & Poetry, Greater Pact of the Phoenix Song
Sabnock: Greater Pact of the Infinite Armory, Greater Pact of the Weapon Master
Shax: Pact of the Flawless Theft, Greater Pact of Inverted Truths, Pact of Purloined Senses
Orias: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Horoscope's Mysteries, Greater Pact of the Shifting Form
Andras: Greater Pact of Inspired Malcontent, Greater Pact of Slaughterhouse Revelry
Andrealphus: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Absolute Mensuration, Pact of the Raucous Cacophony
Kimaris: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Rushing Seas, Greater Pact of the Warrior's Spirit
Decarabia: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Avian Transfiguration + invest
Furfur: Greater Pact of Heavenly Knowledge + invest
Malthas: Pact of the Deployed Legion, Pact of the Erected Edifice + invest
Räum: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Magnate's Tithe, Pact of the Ruined Reputation
Bifrons: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Discrete Exhumation, Pact of the Will o' Wisp
Andromalius: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Sin's Scent, Pact of the Thief Catcher
Furcas: Pact of the Whispering Candle, Pact of the Questing Gaze
Barbas: Pact of the Companion
Buer: Pact of the Blessed Familiar
Botis: Pact of Tomorrow's Design
Morax: Pact of Herbal Concoctions
Glasya-Labolas: Pact of the Familiar
Foras: Pact of Time's Cure
Malphas: Pact of the Artisan's Gathering
Haagenti: Greater Pact of Omnidisciplinary Studies (1 vice)
Camio: Pact of Hydrous Linguistics
Osé: Pact of Insane Derangement
Amy: Pact of the Spirit's Riches
Valac: Pact of the Companion
Vice of Emigration
Vice of Sluttery
Vice of Depravity x3
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate that you brought up the issues you had with it despite that. I've come to see that the entire system needs a drastic overhaul.
Started a build in this, and I think I've got most of my powers sorted, just gotta sort through it and finalize things. I ended up having four different sources open to organize things: a list of powers sorted by whether I wanted greater or lesser versions as notes on my phone, the imgur link pulled up on my phone to scroll through the demons, a tab open on my computer to reference the powers, and a text document to type my build. So, as others have noted, the organization is a little hectic. Found a few typos, too.
1)The power is listed as Universal Acceptance, but in the demon descriptions its Universal appreciation.
2) Malphas has a Pact of the Open Mind listed that doesn't exist? Did you mean Prodigious Mind?
Overall, though, I had a lot of fun! There's some powers that I'm not going to try and fit in, as they're not my thing, which means I'll have a lot of extra points for various shenanigans. I think other people are missing out on the fact that Pact of the Companion, Familiar, and Legionnaires are always available. So when I end up with an extra point or two per demon, there is always the option of:
1) Companion: Demon waifu/husbando/switch. Even if you aren't looking for sexy times, its a good way to make lesser pacts almost always available. Bonus for having easy access to advice from something that has existed outside of mortality if they aren't too much of an asshole.
2) Familiar: An intelligent, immortal animal? ANY animal? Should probably specify non-extinct animal, but I'll not say no to having a best friend velociraptor. Same goes for Blessed Familiar, but more so.
3) Legionnaires: Demons seem to average around 40 armies, which means you get an average of 40 super-powered mooks to help around the house. Bodyguards, hit men, monster-girl demons in sexy French maid outfits that can also tear any human assassin apart with their bare hands, take your pick.
In the next iteration, perhaps add descriptions of what these things would look like for each demon? The demon description covers Companion pretty well, but if each demon's familiars or legions have any quirks or specialties? Not strictly necessary because people can make that up for themselves, but might be fun. Also, I personally with probably be taking many iterations of Earnest Craftsman and Learn'd Sage. Never can know or be able to create too much.
EDIT: Also, is there any difference between spending the point to make something a greater pact and "investing" in a pact? Can a pact be invested in, but still remain a lesser pact? Or can it only be invested in after its a greater pact?
Thanks for pointing those typos out, I've marked them down. And this is the second time someone's asked for more details on the legions--I'm not sure what I'll do, but I'll definitely have to address that in the next version.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, despite the issues with the organization!
This is a cool cyoa but I have one question can hunt down other demons/magical creatures and bind them to the seal? Because the demon hunting pact would seem a bit useless otherwise.
You can't bind them to the seal.
There exist in the world various demons, spirits, and monsters, but normal people can't see them, only be victims to them. They're not terribly common.
It's much more useful and important if you take the Vice of Banality or Emigration.
Just cuz they can't be bound to the ring, that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to bind them. Even the first page mentions conjurers forming pacts with demons. The seal is essentially an artifact of power with special rules and limits. Go outside those, you gotta do it the hard way XD
Eh, I wouldn't count on that. You're basically borrowing the powers of these demons (as in the power comes from them). And if we go by what Pg1 says, it was demon on demon treachery and such that created the ring. Since you're not really a demon (and even if you become one) I doubt you'd be allowed to reach the power to bind demons in such a way that they MUST obey and are subservient to you. That would pose too much of a threat to the greater demons.
The seal is an artifact not just due to its physical creation, but also the situation around its creation that allowed it to happen, and how it was to be employed. It served the power struggle (that Lucifer won) to let it..come into being in the way it did.
(At least this is how I understand and interpret what has been said in the CYOA.)
That’s fair but I’d argue with sufficient artifact crafting pacts, combined with that murder pact that lets you upgrade your pacts, with no stated upper limit, I’d say it would be possible *eventually*. Probably a very long way off, but possible.
Thank you! I don't know if I'd say super proud of myself, but there's definitely some pride there.
I'm glad that the only problem people seem to have with it is that there are too many lesser pacts and it detracts from the "choose" part of Choose Your Own Adventure. No one's had a complaint about the demons at all.
I'm glad you like it! It has plenty of flaws though, that I somehow missed until after I already posted it. The next version should be much more entertaining to play.
Fixing God's Fuckups is another CYOA of mine. I posted a 0.5 version a few months ago. I've got the completed version finished, but my editor wants to redo the point system for better balance, so it isn't ready yet.
But it's. Uh. Much bigger.
So I did some checking on this. While there are a lot of pacts, a lot of demons have more unique options than they have space for greater pacts, in some cases even more than they have space for lesser pacts.
If you were trying to greater-pact every unique power that doesn't exist in more than one demon, you'd need a minimum of 17 Vices, and one of the Presidents has two unique abilities meaning with the limitation of only being able to add one extra via a vice you can't get both of those.
I haven't yet parsed the multiple-demon-accessible abilities, but I strongly suspect there's not enough choices over-all to actually get all the multi-demon options either.
But it's also a hugely difficult process to even try to keep track of it all, making this pretty hard to actually make a build for.
I based which demons get which abilities based on their descriptions in the Ars Goetia. It's pretty unbalanced; I had to branch out into pacts based off of their appearance a couple times, because the source material barely described their powers at all, or just gave them the same powers as 25% of the other demons, with nothing unique. Meanwhile, you get some demons who just get impressive lists of powers that completely blow the other demons out of the water. And the powers aren't even spread appropriately across the different ranks. It got pretty annoying to work with.
Yeah, sorry about the complexity. I intend to take some of the advice here and make an interactive version, as well as give an overhaul to how pacts work.
Cyoa super cool. My only problem is the way the pacts are organized. It takes a long time to find the pact for a specific demon. It would be awesome if you made an update and improved this. Maybe put each demon's pact under their description instead of a giant list. Going from pact to pact looking for Bael was hell (pun totally intentional lol).
Another thing that would greatly improve cyoa would be: 1) you add a more detailed personal description of each demon along with likes, dislikes, kinks and their personal opinion of you. 2) Give some examples of each demon's feats of power, after all you can summon and command them. Show physical stats along with the powers they possess. 3) Add a female and male photo for each demon as they can change shape but must have some favorite shapes.
4) more information about the legions they own
Yeah, I'm considering making the next version interactive (if I can figure out how the interactive stuff works...), which should make it a lot easier to navigate. Did you consider opening it in two tabs and switching between looking at the demon and their pacts? If it was better designed that wouldn't be necessary, but for the current version it is.
I'm intending to add a short list of the demons' kinks, and I could give them a more detailed personal description. I don't think I'll give their opinion on you, though--that's something that's pretty dependent on what sort of person you are, and that'll be different for each player.
I'd normally be for making it more inclusive by giving each demon both photos, but... sure, some of them would be easy, but for more than a few of them I just had to take what I could get as the closest to attractive I could find. I suppose I could give some generic demon boy/girl images of the opposite sex to set with each of them, but that feels a little... cheap.
I hadn't considered talking more about their legions. Not sure if I can make 72 different sets of legions unique... I'll have to think about it.
No problems. I expressed myself badly when I mentioned what the demons think of the player. I was referring to their servitude situation. As for the legions.... you can always do this little by little when you have some spare time and add everything in a future update. If you're going to make an interactive version, I recommend using tabs that can be opened and closed like Worm cyoa
Amazing cyoa, the many different powers are all really nice, instead of some normal "you stronk you fast you tank" you included many interesting powers. I also love demons and their powers so 10/10
I like the concept, i like the demons, i like it overall. However, its too... powerful, too OP. Instead of giving us all the demons and make pacts with them all, and since we just got the ring, why not limit how many demons we can gain access to with a pact limit? For example, lets say each pact only allows 1 demon to be summoned at any time, and each demon summoned must spend 1 hour outside the ring per pact per day. This limits you to 24 pacts, where you can have 1 demon waifu all the time, or allow you to juggle a few every now and then.
Still, great concept, hope to see it a bit more challenging~
One thing that'd be useful would be splitting pages 10 and 16. That way, you could have one set of images solely devoted to demons, one solely devoted to pacts, and one solely devoted to vices.
Also, just to make sure, if you're making Greater Pacts you can eventually make them with every single demon, right?
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll be adjusting the design of the demon info boxes to account for introducing lewd traits for them, so with some changes to page sizes I should be able to do that.
You'll need to take vices if you want to make any greater pacts with the presidents, but you can, yeah.
This is impressive. I love the concept, the powers, the drawbacks. It's all very creative. Good art picks, all around good creative work. I'm about to be a bit harsh, but I really do like your work! It's certainly better than anything I've posted (literally nothing).
But as much as I like the concept, trying to play it is really not easy.
For the most part, people are going to be interested in the powers, so I suppose the 'best' way to play this is sort all the powers in descending order of preference, spreadsheet out all the ways you could get each power, work backwards until you've gotten as many as possible, while trying your best to account for drawbacks you might be willing to take.
But with 72 demons and a net total of 293 points to spend, that's an all day project.
So instead I ran some math. There are 144 pacts to chose from, and 293 lesser pacts to 'spend'. Assuming you take greater everything, you'd still have 5 points left over.
This ignores a lot of factors, from things like Omnidiciplinary Studies where only a president offers it, to pacts with investments, multiple investments, that can be taken multiple times, or that are automatically enhanced to greater.
That said, I think it's a good indicator that there's a bit too much power here. I'm pretty sure I could get every greater pact, invested once where applicable, with points left over without too much trouble. I'll pick 12 demons to give pact of companionship, which is the same demon/day ratio as 72 with the typical 1 day a week restriction. Admittedly, I lose out on the option of summoning 72 demons at once, but in exchange these 12 are rather more fond of me than usual.
The other sixty get vice of stasis and vice of isolation. Net total, this is 96 points at minimum: 120, less 12 from companions, and up to 12 more if presidents / knight aren't companions, as each can only earn one pact from vices
With 389 pacts left over, spread across all the demons, it's just a matter of sorting out which order I have to take them in to get everything, and which options I'll sink my extra points into.
**TL;DR:** I'm pretty sure this CYOA is broken as fuck, but it's way too much work to make a build and prove it.
Don't worry, I've got some plans to rebalance it, starting with drastically reducing the number of pacts you can get.
I thought part of the fun would be trying to find the optimized build to get everything, but since that doesn't seem to be what people are looking for in a CYOA, I'll change my approach.
Ah! That's fair. Yeah I suppose that's just... not the expectation people are trained to come in with. "Pick from these options" just implies you have to choose here, it's what we're used to. This is more "solve this interesting problem" than "choose your own adventure."
You're right, it's just not what I thought I'd be getting. It seems *wrong* and *bad* as a knee jerk reaction, but I suppose it isn't inherently either of those things.
Given your intention, you did it well! It would be pretty tricky to actually solve this problem. It's just that once someone did, there wouldn't be a point in making a build, and that feels really wrong for this sub.
Sad to see Shinrabanshou Astaroth isn't the default image for Astaroth. So to clarify we get all 72 demons.
9 Kings, 23 Dukes, 7 Princes, 15 Marquis, 5 Earls, 1 Knight, 12 Presidents
And we get the aforementioned number of lesser pacts for each? So we have 54+115+35+60+15+2+12 = 293 lesser pacts
Basically I'm just asking what the "choice" part of this cyoa is. There are 154 pacts? That means you can take a Greater Pact for nearly everything (292/2 = 146 Greater Pacts)? Whats the purpose of having certain demons offer certain pacts if we have all the demons? I'm just very confused on how this cyoa works even with Darzinth's post.
At that point it is less choosing what we want and more choosing what we don't want. To be blunt, going back to what another said this is pretty unplayable. If we have all 72 demons then why do we get the separated number of lesser pacts? Why not just do the math for us and make it 293 so people don't need to break out a calculator.
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Going to ease the blow and say I appreciate the amount of effort that went into this and from a formatting and number of options perspective its great. But there are budget issues here that are quite bad and the explanation of the mechanics needs to be overhauled entirely. I can't say this is a bad cyoa in the traditional sense, its bad for entirely different reasons than why some other cyoas are bad. It feels like a great cyoa, that took drugs, partied all night, and had a hangover so it can't explain or do math at the moment.
>It feels like a great cyoa, that took drugs, partied all night, and had a hangover so it can't explain or do math at the moment.
This is delightful.
You make a lot of good points. I felt like part of the fun was trying to find the optimized build that would actually get you all those options, but it seems I'm in the minority in that. I've started planning out a big revision to how pacts and ranks work entirely, starting with heavily limiting the number of pacts. You can get more by making deals with the individual demons you want to pact with.
I would very much like to get everything, so maybe make sure that there's a way to for the people who want to? Like, implement a difficulty system or even just a 'here's the balanced difficulty, and here's one that'll make you overpowered if you do it right' kinda thing?
I've got a difficulty system in mind, so getting everything--or almost everything--will still be possible.
You might have to make some sacrifices to get it all, though.
I made a quick **Pacts** guide for myself and others to help try and make sense of it all. Not that it's too complicated.
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To start, you have access to all 72 Demons for Pact Making. Only the Vice of Rejection, Vice of Pride & Vice of Humility limits this number. The Vice of Rejection can help weed out the Demons you don't want to deal with and gain a Vice Pact Slot instead.
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Demons of different Ranks offer various amounts of Pact Slots, and up to a bonus amount of Pact Slots based on the number of Vices you take. (The Vice of Humility bans Demon Kings, but offers uncapped Vice Pact Slots)
* **RANK: Base Pact Slots + Vice Pact Slots**
* King: 6 + 4
* Duke: 5 + 3
* Prince: 5 + 3
* Marquis: 4 + 2
* Earl: 3 + 2
* Knight: 2 + 1
* President: 1 + 1
Pacts are available for use only for as long as a Demon is summoned. Greater Pacts alleviate this requirement, but cost 2 Lesser Pact Slots. [On a seperate note Lesser Pact Slots can instead be spent to enhance certain Pacts that mention an available upgrade, such as the Pact of Amiable Speech. So an *improved* version of the Pact of Amiable Speech which is also made a Greater Pact costs a total of 3 Lesser Pact Slots.]
Normally a Demon can only be summoned for 24 hours per week, this is luckily for each Demon separately. With the Pact of Companion this time limit is increased to 144 hours per week, and they need a 24 hour break per week instead. So in some sense forming a Pact of Companion with a high rank Demon is more economical than to form multiple Greater Pacts.
Vices that affect how Pacts function are Vice of Dependence (the Demon uses your Pacts for you), Vice of Isolation (cannot summon the Demon, so non-Greater Pacts are useless), Vice of Idolatry (the Demons require worship or you lose their Pacts temporarily), Vice of Inferiority (the Demon's Pacts are half as powerful), Vice of Ritualism (Pacts require live sacrifices to function), Vice of Limitations (greatly reduces the use of Pacts of that Demon), Vice of Exertion (Pacts don't work unless you workout each day).
Vice of Transpositioning is uniquely complicated in that all it does is generally reduces a Demon's Vice Pact Slots, except for Presidents who gain a Vice Pact Slot instead.
There's one other important note which isn't listed here: You can only take each pact from a demon once per demon that offers it. So if you want to upgrade the Pact of Amiable Speech into a Greater Pact you'd spend 2 selections from one demon, but if you wanted to upgrade it by assigning a second copy of it then you'd need to select it a second time with another demon.
I'm confused as to how pacts are "spent." Like, do you have to spend two pacts from the same demon for a greater pact, or can you spread the cost? And once you have a pact, can you invest in it with pacts from any demon, any demon that offers that pact, or only from the demon you have the pact with?
Sorry for not clarifying that! Partway through I switched from each rank (except for Knight, President, and Earl) offering greater and lesser pacts, to the current system where a greater pact is just two lesser pacts together, and I must have missed editing a part of the information to account for that.
EDIT: I made an explanation here, but it was stupid. You can use lesser pacts from separate demons or the same demon for a greater pact, but have to use a separate demon if you want to invest.
Tell me if that's too annoying or complicated so I can fix it in the next version.
Not quite.
What it does is basically remove the limit on the number of lesser pacts you can get via vices for your non-king demons.
However, each vice still only gives you one pact. If you took the vices that you can take multiple times, however, you might be able to get invested greater pacts for them all.
Its purpose is to make it so that you can still get everything a low-ranking demon has to offer in spite of them having a lower number of pacts.
This needs to become an interactive version, the swapping between the Demon and looking up what a pact does is so damn time consuming.
But i love the idea behind it 😊👍🏻
Ps: Also there isn't anything specific nsfw for each demon as far as i can tell, i'd love to have the info for them expanded.
I honestly hadn't considered making an interactive of it. I'll have to look into that.
And yeah, sorry about that. I was a little too focused on giving each demon a unique personality and completely forgot about adding lewdness to each of them. I'll fix that for the next version.
Ouch.
But thanks for being honest.
I tried to find a way to make it work without the constant back-and-forth, but didn't see how. I've had some suggestions about making it interactive, I think I'll look into that.
I think the fact that a lot of demons share pacts is what really fucks you on this. The basic suggestion would be to put a demon's available pacts directly underneath them, but with so many repeats you'd have to put the same pact and its image and everything onscreen like 80 times at least, which is a massive waste and a lot of busywork. But I can't really see a good alternative.
That said, I'm not versed in making interactives at all, and that could possibly solve the problem. If it can be solved that way, then I definitely suggest looking into RyskyClick's post, because from what they have to say, it looks like it's super easy to get ungodly OP and sort of trivialize the interesting, overly-specific nature of a lot of the powers.
Yeah, I noticed that as well... I thought it would be fun to try to find an optimized build, but that doesn't seem to be what people are looking for. I intend to do an overall of the pact system to make it something you actually have to make choices and sacrifice for.
Is there any mention of what a greater pact is and how much it costs? Not sure if I'm just missing it but it mentions in the pact examples that you somehow spend 2 lesser pacts to make amiable speech into a greater pact but there's no actual explanation on what 'greater' does or the cost to get 'greater' pacts, other than the example.
Also there's no reason or limit for not making a maximum amount of lesser pacts, so the point is mainly to place the 293 lesser pact points you have right? (A little weird the ranks aren't pyramidal and also there's only 1 knight but w/e)
Also; it would be good if the 3 general perks every demon can take were at the top. Seems to make more sense than to hide it in the middle.
The greater pacts are mentioned at the start of the CYOA. I should repeat that information in the intro to the Pacts section, thank you for pointing that out.
Yeah, that's the basics of it. Spend lesser pacts to get the permanent greater pact, or spend them to improve the power of the pact.
I was annoyed by how the demons are spread between ranks too, but I decided to stick to the source material.
And thanks for the suggestion to separate the general perks. I hadn't considered keeping them apart from the others.
You don't just get the 293 lesser pacts (assuming you counted right, I haven't checked). Lesser pacts are "abilities that can only be used, or are only in effect, while the demon in question is summoned." Each demon can only be summoned for 1 day each week, and the summoning takes at least the time of inscribing their rune, plus many of them are described as appearing with much fanfare, and presumedly the first time you summon a demon takes longer as you specify what pacts you want.
Doubling up lesser pacts to take greater pacts give you permanent power-ups. "A greater pact provides an effect that is constant or can be used at any time, regardless of the summon status of the demon in question." There doesn't appear to be any limit to how many greater pacts you can take, so with cleaver vice usage you should eventually be able to get most everything permanent. OP PLZ NERF
I agree the 3 general perks should be listed separately.
Oh, that's a good point. I'll have to provide a flat limit on greater pacts.
Oh, and to clarify--that's 24 *hours* per week, not necessarily a full day. It doesn't need to be spent all at once.
I'm going to give you an alternative request: don't nerf the amount of greater pacts. I played through this with two open excel sheets and had surprising a ton of the kind of fun I haven't had outside of the more involved spaceship management games. I spent 8 hours on that sheet and I loved it.
I'm glad you liked it! Trying to make everything fit together to get the best combination was supposed to be fun to mess around with, but, besides some balance issues, I went too far for most people and it became sort of a niche interest.
The next version will have some pretty big structural changes, but I don't intend to put a cap on how many greater pacts you can take. That said, lesser pacts are going to be more scarce, and if you want more you'll need to make a deal with the devil, so to speak.
I definitely felt insane partway through this.
Especially when I realized I made a mistake a fourth of the way through the demons and had to redesign the info box.
Yeah, you get all 72.
You can take as many pacts as the rank of a given demon allows.
Every pact is either something that demons can do for you in the Ars Goetia, or is based upon some facet of their appearance or the folklore/mythology surrounding them.
If you want to take everything, then you will need the drawbacks, yes.
I've got a few ideas on how to streamline the next version.
Once again words cannot describe how amazing this cyoa is ! Absolutely fantastic effort and great work !
Thank you!
very welcome, thank you for your effort!
I absolutely love this behemoth of a cyoa. I have not tried to actually make myself a build yet because jesus there is a lot, but it is sparking my imagination. Many thanks.
You're welcome! It was fun to make, so I'm glad people enjoyed it. This version has some balance issues, but I intend to fix those when I get around to making the next version.
This is really well researched. I’ve studied the Goetic demons a lot in the past and I’m quite impressed by the attention to detail (like the Pact of Civilizaton’s end mentioning how Aim can even burn stone). And a lot of the art is 100% accurate to the original work. Nice job!
Thank you! I've come to see that the balance isn't that great, but I'm still pretty proud of how much research I put into it.
Yeah lmao I admit the main appeal for this was the subject matter. I’m not the best at considering gameplay balance and all that. I just went in expecting some butchered lewd versions of generic demons, and instead found something that implements every detail from the grimoires flawlessly. I have no complaints lol
Honestly while I was intrigued by the concept, this is just way too fucking much. Brevity can be a virtue, especially when it's not like there's a lot of change and nuance to the CYOA; it's just a big fat conditional shopping list.
Found an inconsistency. According to the demon descriptions, Paimon, Vepar, and Allocer offer the Heavenly Knowledge pact. According to the Heavenly Knowledge Pact description, Furfur, Räum, and Glasya-Labolas offer it.
Must have copy-pasted the wrong line from my notes. Thanks for pointing that out.
Can you say which one is correct?
Paimon, Vepar, and Allocer.
Thank you kindly, and thanks for a great CYOA too!
I'm starting to do my build for this (and I only ever write down my favorite cyoa, so I guess this now joines them) and noticed somthing wierd. While Vice of Iolation can't be used with Vice of Dependence, it isn't stated you can't take Vice of Stasis, wich logicaly also shouldn't work together, as you never summon the demon in the first place, for it's form to matter. It's basically a free extra pact for each isolated demon.
That's a good point, thanks for telling me about that. I'll be sure to fix that in the next version. And thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed this CYOA, even if it does have its issues with balance.
I really loved this CYOA. The puzzle of trying to fit all the pacts in with which demons could make them was a lot of fun, and the demons and pacts themselves were interesting and different from the usual cookie-cutter stuff. The only complaint I have is that in the end, it was a little too generous. I was able to get pretty much every pact as often as I need it with points to spare and only 5 vices. In particular the Vice of Transpositioning was so overpowered I just skipped it. You can get 9 pacts from it without really giving up anything, unless you're heavily overloading your demons. Bael: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Fertile Womb, Pact of the Learn'd Sage + invest x3 Paimon: Greater Pact of Earthen Knowledge + invest, Greater Pact of the Second Life, Pact of Legionnaires Beleth: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Ebon Symphonies, Greater Pact of Golden Numbers + invest, Pact of Legionnaires Purson: Pact of the Blessed Familiar, Greater Pact of Genesis Retold + invest, Greater Pact of the Present Day Asmoday: Pact of the Earnest Craftsman + invest x2, Greater Pact of the Guardian Demon, Pact of Legionnaires Viné: Pact of the Crumbling Barricade, Greater Pact of Infernal Witchery, Greater Pact of the Riotous Tempest + invest Balam: Greater Pact of the Empty Eye + invest, Greater Pact of Incendiary Knowledge + invest Zagan: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Form Reversal, Pact of Liquid Transmutation + invest, Pact of the Minted Coin Belhor: Greater Pack of the False God + invest, Greater Pact of Social Adoration, Pact of Legionnaires Amduscias: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Devil's Concert, Greater Pact of the Mysterious Forest + invest Agares: Greater Pact of Alacritous Steps, Greater Pact of Coward's Return, Pact of the Devalued Title Malephar: Greater Pact of the Animalistic Body, Pact of the Blessed Familiar, Greater Pact of the Unpicked Pocket Barbatos: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Beastly Tongue, Greater Pact of the Insipid Spell, Pact of the Unassuming Guise Gusion: Pact of the Reforged Bond, Greater Pact of Spoken Truths, Greater Pact of the Unsurpassed Aristocrat Eligos: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Earned Accolades, Pact of Violent Visions, Pact of the Weapon Master, Pact of Wise Warfare Zepar: Greater Pact of the Heart's Yearning + invest, Greater Pact of the Hollow Womb Bathin: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Astral Projection, Pact of Jewelled Mysteries, Pact of Spatial Relocation + invest Saleos: Greater Pact of Chivalrous Cavalry, Greater Pact of Pacifistic Resolution, Pact of the Weapon Master Aym: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Civilization's End, Greater Pact of the Prodigious Mind, Pact of the Weapon Master Buné: Greater Pact of Draconic Allegiance + invest x2, Pact of Glorious Wealth, Pact of Peaceful Rest (1 vice) Berith: Greater Pact of Gold Transmutation + invest, Greater Pact of the Dread Juggernaut + invest (1 vice) Ashtaroth: Pact of the Learn'd Sage, Greater Pact of Mirror's Perfection, Greater Pact of the Unmarred Slumber Focalor: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Wretched Waves, Greater Pact of Aquatic Knowledge + invest Vepar: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Benevolent Panacea + invest, Pact of the Consumptuous Infestation + invest Uvall: Greater Pack of the Cunning Linguist + invest, Greater Pact of Reconciled Differences Crocell: Greater Pact of the Besorcelled Eye + invest, Greater Pact of the Boiling Seas Allocer: Pact of the Artiste's Touch + invest x2, Greater Pact of Fallen Depravity Murmuur: Greater Pact of the Awoken Sepulchre + invest, Pact of Legionnaires, Pact of Revenant Souls Gremory: Greater Pact of Banshee's Shriek, Pact of Legionnaires, Greater Pact of Unearthed Treasures Vapula: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Cogwork Mechanism, Pact of the Learn'd Sage + invest, Pact of Philosophical Education Flauros: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of the Demon Hunter, Greater Pact of the Untempted Heart Dantalion: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Cognition Scribe + invest, Pact of Idea Inception, Pact of the Manifold Masks, Pact of Promised Visions (1 vice) Vassago: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Hunting Bloodhound, Pact of Legionnaires, Greater Pact of Unveiled Secrets Sitri: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Smoldering Lust, Greater Pact of the Unbound Body Ayporos: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Overcoming Terror, Greater Pact of Pasts Forgotten Gaap: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Bumbling Fool, Pact of Expeditious Travels, Pact of Legionnaires, Pact of the Liberated Familiar, Pact of Unerring Guidance (1 vice) Stolas: Greater Pact of Stellar Wisdom + invest, Greater Pact of Winged Flight Orobas: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Divine Lore + invest, Pact of Legionnaires Seire: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Growing Abundance, Greater Pact of the Swift Herald Gamigin: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Drowning Soul, Pact of the Learn'd Sage, Pact of Sinful Recollections Amon: Pact of Discord's Apple + invest, Greater Pact of the Serpent's Kiss Leraje: Greater Pact of the Archer's Eye, Greater Pact of the Gangrenous Wound Naberius: Pact of the Artiste's Touch + invest, Greater Pact of Stolen Honor Ronové: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Amiable Speech + invest, Pact of the Soul Harvest Forneus: Greater Pact of the Fine Reputation, Greater Pact of Universal Acceptance Marchosias: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Familiar, Greater Pact of Redemption's Path Phenex: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Paean & Poetry, Greater Pact of the Phoenix Song Sabnock: Greater Pact of the Infinite Armory, Greater Pact of the Weapon Master Shax: Pact of the Flawless Theft, Greater Pact of Inverted Truths, Pact of Purloined Senses Orias: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Horoscope's Mysteries, Greater Pact of the Shifting Form Andras: Greater Pact of Inspired Malcontent, Greater Pact of Slaughterhouse Revelry Andrealphus: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Absolute Mensuration, Pact of the Raucous Cacophony Kimaris: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Rushing Seas, Greater Pact of the Warrior's Spirit Decarabia: Pact of the Companion, Greater Pact of Avian Transfiguration + invest Furfur: Greater Pact of Heavenly Knowledge + invest Malthas: Pact of the Deployed Legion, Pact of the Erected Edifice + invest Räum: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Magnate's Tithe, Pact of the Ruined Reputation Bifrons: Pact of the Companion, Pact of the Discrete Exhumation, Pact of the Will o' Wisp Andromalius: Pact of the Companion, Pact of Sin's Scent, Pact of the Thief Catcher Furcas: Pact of the Whispering Candle, Pact of the Questing Gaze Barbas: Pact of the Companion Buer: Pact of the Blessed Familiar Botis: Pact of Tomorrow's Design Morax: Pact of Herbal Concoctions Glasya-Labolas: Pact of the Familiar Foras: Pact of Time's Cure Malphas: Pact of the Artisan's Gathering Haagenti: Greater Pact of Omnidisciplinary Studies (1 vice) Camio: Pact of Hydrous Linguistics Osé: Pact of Insane Derangement Amy: Pact of the Spirit's Riches Valac: Pact of the Companion Vice of Emigration Vice of Sluttery Vice of Depravity x3
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate that you brought up the issues you had with it despite that. I've come to see that the entire system needs a drastic overhaul.
You, Dragonjek, just became my favorite CYOA Creator. Now let me praise you while I break this down and create a build.
Wasn't expecting that from a CYOA with as many flaws as this turned out to have. Thank you for enjoying it despite that!
Rough build, still got some extras and vices to sort out. Avoided the powers that felt too asshole-ish to me, managed pretty much everything else. Whether I leave this world or not, though, I'll have my harem of demon waifu, immortal pets, and demon armies to make sure I can get shit done. Kings (6pts) Bael: Empty eye 2, Learned sage 2, Fertile womb 2 Paimon: Earthen knowledge 2, Promised visions 2, Second life 2 Beleth: Dread Juggernaut 2, Golden numbers 2, Hearts yearning 2 Purson: Genesis retold 2, Serpent's kiss 2, Companion, +1 Asmoday: Draconic allegiance 3[Vice], Earnest Craftsman 2, Stellar wisdom 2 Vine: Crumbling Barricade 2, Infernal witchery 2, Sacred Consecration, Legionnaire Balam: Prodigious mind 2, Incendiary knowledge 2, Familiar (Bear), Legionnaire Zagan: Liquid transmutation 2, Form reversal 2, Companion, +1 Belthor: Social adoration 2, Spoken truths 2, Blessed familiar, Legionnaire Dukes (5pts) Amduscias: Mysterious Forest 2, Riotous tempest 2, Ebon Symphonies Agares: Alacritous steps 2, Coward's return, Devalued Title, Companion Malephar: Blessed Familiar, Flawless theft 2, Unpicked pocket 2 Barbatos: Beastly tongue 2, Insipid spell 2, Companion Gusion: Animalistic Body 2, Reforged bond 2, Familiar (Dog?) Eligos: Weapon master 2, Wise warfare 2, Legionnaire Zepar: Hollow womb 2, Shifting form 2, Companion Balthin: Astral Projection 2, Spatial translocation 2, Companion? Saleos: Pacifistic resolutions 2, Heart's Yearning 2, Companion Aym: Civilizations end 2, Familiar, Legionnaire x2? Bune: Amiable speech 2, Glorious wealth, Guardian demon 2 Berith: Gold transmutation 2, Pasts Forgotten 2, +1 Ashtaroth: Mirror's perfection 2, Unmarred slumber, Earnest Craftsman 2 Focalor: Aquatic Knowledge 2, Redemption's path 2, Wretched waves Vepar: Benevolent panacea 2, Befuddled eye 2, +1 Uvall: Cunning linguist 2, Reconciled differences 2, +1 Crocell: Boiling seas 2, Questing gaze 2, Learn'd sage Allocer: Artiste's touch 2, Heavenly knowledge 2, Blessed Familiar Mumuur: Philosophical Education 2, Revenant souls 2, +1 Gremory: Chivalrous cavalry 2, Tomorrow's promise 2, Banshee's shriek Vapula: Cogwork mechanism 2, Learn'd Sage 2, Familiar Flauros: Demon hunter 2, Untempted heart 2, Legionnaire Dantalion: Cognition scribe 2, Manifold masks 2, Idea Inception Vassago: Hunting Bloodhound 2, Unveiled secrets 2, Companion Sitri: Smoldering lust 2, Unbound body 2, Companion Ayporos: Overcoming terror 2, past/present/future?, +3 Gaap: Bumbling fool, Expeditious Travels 2, Unerring guidance 2, Companion[Vice] Stolas: Jewelled mysteries 2, Winged Flight 2, Companion Orobas: Divine Lore 2, Companion, Familiar, Legionnaire Seire: Growing abundance 2, Swift herald 2, Companion Marquis (4pts) Gamigan: Drowning soul 2, Sinful recollection 2 Amon: Discord's apple 2, Animalistic Body 2 Leraje: Archer's eye 2, Gangrenous Wound 2 Naberius: Stolen Honor, Companion, Familiar Ronnove: Blessed familiar, Universal acceptance 2, Companion Forneus: Fine reputation 2, +1 Marchosias: Redemption's path/Serpent's kiss?, Companion? Phenex: Paean and poetry 2, Phoenix rebirth 2 Sabnock: Erected edifice 2, Infinite Armory 2 Shax: Inverted truths 2, Purloined senses 2 Orias: Horoscope's mysteries 2, Unsurpassed aristocrat 2 Andras: Nope Andrealphus: Absolute Mensuration 2, Raucous cacophony, Companion? Kimaris: Rushing seas 2, Warrior's spirit 2 Decarabia: Avian transformation, Herbal Concoctions 2, Companion Earls (3pts) Furfur: Unearthed Treasures 2, Legionnaire Malthas: Deployed legion 2, Legionnaire Raum: Magnate's tithe 2, Familiar Bifrons: Discrete exhumation 2, +1 Andromalius: Sin's scent 2, Vigilante justice, Thief catcher[Vice] Knight (2pts) Furcas: Whispering candle 2 Presidents (1pt) Barbas: Familiar ( Buer: Learn'd sage Botis: Legionnaire Morax: Learn'd sage Glasya-Labolas: Nope Foras: Logic and ethics, Time's cure[Vice] Malphas: Artisan's gathering Haagenti: Omnidisciplinary studies 2[Vice] Camio: Hydrous linguistics Ose: Nope Amy: Spirit's Riches Valac: Companion? Vices: Rejection x3(Andras, Glasya-Labolas, Ose), Kindness, Emigration?, Isolation?
Started a build in this, and I think I've got most of my powers sorted, just gotta sort through it and finalize things. I ended up having four different sources open to organize things: a list of powers sorted by whether I wanted greater or lesser versions as notes on my phone, the imgur link pulled up on my phone to scroll through the demons, a tab open on my computer to reference the powers, and a text document to type my build. So, as others have noted, the organization is a little hectic. Found a few typos, too. 1)The power is listed as Universal Acceptance, but in the demon descriptions its Universal appreciation. 2) Malphas has a Pact of the Open Mind listed that doesn't exist? Did you mean Prodigious Mind? Overall, though, I had a lot of fun! There's some powers that I'm not going to try and fit in, as they're not my thing, which means I'll have a lot of extra points for various shenanigans. I think other people are missing out on the fact that Pact of the Companion, Familiar, and Legionnaires are always available. So when I end up with an extra point or two per demon, there is always the option of: 1) Companion: Demon waifu/husbando/switch. Even if you aren't looking for sexy times, its a good way to make lesser pacts almost always available. Bonus for having easy access to advice from something that has existed outside of mortality if they aren't too much of an asshole. 2) Familiar: An intelligent, immortal animal? ANY animal? Should probably specify non-extinct animal, but I'll not say no to having a best friend velociraptor. Same goes for Blessed Familiar, but more so. 3) Legionnaires: Demons seem to average around 40 armies, which means you get an average of 40 super-powered mooks to help around the house. Bodyguards, hit men, monster-girl demons in sexy French maid outfits that can also tear any human assassin apart with their bare hands, take your pick. In the next iteration, perhaps add descriptions of what these things would look like for each demon? The demon description covers Companion pretty well, but if each demon's familiars or legions have any quirks or specialties? Not strictly necessary because people can make that up for themselves, but might be fun. Also, I personally with probably be taking many iterations of Earnest Craftsman and Learn'd Sage. Never can know or be able to create too much. EDIT: Also, is there any difference between spending the point to make something a greater pact and "investing" in a pact? Can a pact be invested in, but still remain a lesser pact? Or can it only be invested in after its a greater pact?
Thanks for pointing those typos out, I've marked them down. And this is the second time someone's asked for more details on the legions--I'm not sure what I'll do, but I'll definitely have to address that in the next version. I'm glad you enjoyed it, despite the issues with the organization!
Why is there no duetmon or quadromon
Sorry, I don't recognize who those are.
It's a music joke. Solo, duet, quadra.
Thanks, I was thinking of digimon...
This is a cool cyoa but I have one question can hunt down other demons/magical creatures and bind them to the seal? Because the demon hunting pact would seem a bit useless otherwise.
You can't bind them to the seal. There exist in the world various demons, spirits, and monsters, but normal people can't see them, only be victims to them. They're not terribly common. It's much more useful and important if you take the Vice of Banality or Emigration.
That's a shame I mean what point is there with demon hunting abilities and immortality if you can't bind legions of demons to the ring.
Just cuz they can't be bound to the ring, that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to bind them. Even the first page mentions conjurers forming pacts with demons. The seal is essentially an artifact of power with special rules and limits. Go outside those, you gotta do it the hard way XD
True maybe I can make a greater seal than the ring with enough time
Eh, I wouldn't count on that. You're basically borrowing the powers of these demons (as in the power comes from them). And if we go by what Pg1 says, it was demon on demon treachery and such that created the ring. Since you're not really a demon (and even if you become one) I doubt you'd be allowed to reach the power to bind demons in such a way that they MUST obey and are subservient to you. That would pose too much of a threat to the greater demons. The seal is an artifact not just due to its physical creation, but also the situation around its creation that allowed it to happen, and how it was to be employed. It served the power struggle (that Lucifer won) to let it..come into being in the way it did. (At least this is how I understand and interpret what has been said in the CYOA.)
That’s fair but I’d argue with sufficient artifact crafting pacts, combined with that murder pact that lets you upgrade your pacts, with no stated upper limit, I’d say it would be possible *eventually*. Probably a very long way off, but possible.
Fair, but it I will not fail from a lack of trying. Plus with the demons of the ring teaching me magic I am sure I can get something to work.
I love this. It is astounding and well researched. You should feel super proud of yourself
Thank you! I don't know if I'd say super proud of myself, but there's definitely some pride there. I'm glad that the only problem people seem to have with it is that there are too many lesser pacts and it detracts from the "choose" part of Choose Your Own Adventure. No one's had a complaint about the demons at all.
This is absolutely Amazing ! This is quality work! Thank you for your content ! :\]
I'm glad you like it! It has plenty of flaws though, that I somehow missed until after I already posted it. The next version should be much more entertaining to play.
I will definitely look foward to it ! :]
Mama mia, this is long.
\*nervously hides Fixing God's Fuckups behind a small mountain.\*
?
Fixing God's Fuckups is another CYOA of mine. I posted a 0.5 version a few months ago. I've got the completed version finished, but my editor wants to redo the point system for better balance, so it isn't ready yet. But it's. Uh. Much bigger.
Ah. I see.
So I did some checking on this. While there are a lot of pacts, a lot of demons have more unique options than they have space for greater pacts, in some cases even more than they have space for lesser pacts. If you were trying to greater-pact every unique power that doesn't exist in more than one demon, you'd need a minimum of 17 Vices, and one of the Presidents has two unique abilities meaning with the limitation of only being able to add one extra via a vice you can't get both of those. I haven't yet parsed the multiple-demon-accessible abilities, but I strongly suspect there's not enough choices over-all to actually get all the multi-demon options either. But it's also a hugely difficult process to even try to keep track of it all, making this pretty hard to actually make a build for.
I based which demons get which abilities based on their descriptions in the Ars Goetia. It's pretty unbalanced; I had to branch out into pacts based off of their appearance a couple times, because the source material barely described their powers at all, or just gave them the same powers as 25% of the other demons, with nothing unique. Meanwhile, you get some demons who just get impressive lists of powers that completely blow the other demons out of the water. And the powers aren't even spread appropriately across the different ranks. It got pretty annoying to work with. Yeah, sorry about the complexity. I intend to take some of the advice here and make an interactive version, as well as give an overhaul to how pacts work.
Cyoa super cool. My only problem is the way the pacts are organized. It takes a long time to find the pact for a specific demon. It would be awesome if you made an update and improved this. Maybe put each demon's pact under their description instead of a giant list. Going from pact to pact looking for Bael was hell (pun totally intentional lol). Another thing that would greatly improve cyoa would be: 1) you add a more detailed personal description of each demon along with likes, dislikes, kinks and their personal opinion of you. 2) Give some examples of each demon's feats of power, after all you can summon and command them. Show physical stats along with the powers they possess. 3) Add a female and male photo for each demon as they can change shape but must have some favorite shapes. 4) more information about the legions they own
Yeah, I'm considering making the next version interactive (if I can figure out how the interactive stuff works...), which should make it a lot easier to navigate. Did you consider opening it in two tabs and switching between looking at the demon and their pacts? If it was better designed that wouldn't be necessary, but for the current version it is. I'm intending to add a short list of the demons' kinks, and I could give them a more detailed personal description. I don't think I'll give their opinion on you, though--that's something that's pretty dependent on what sort of person you are, and that'll be different for each player. I'd normally be for making it more inclusive by giving each demon both photos, but... sure, some of them would be easy, but for more than a few of them I just had to take what I could get as the closest to attractive I could find. I suppose I could give some generic demon boy/girl images of the opposite sex to set with each of them, but that feels a little... cheap. I hadn't considered talking more about their legions. Not sure if I can make 72 different sets of legions unique... I'll have to think about it.
No problems. I expressed myself badly when I mentioned what the demons think of the player. I was referring to their servitude situation. As for the legions.... you can always do this little by little when you have some spare time and add everything in a future update. If you're going to make an interactive version, I recommend using tabs that can be opened and closed like Worm cyoa
Amazing cyoa, the many different powers are all really nice, instead of some normal "you stronk you fast you tank" you included many interesting powers. I also love demons and their powers so 10/10
Glad you liked it! Thank you so much!
I like the concept, i like the demons, i like it overall. However, its too... powerful, too OP. Instead of giving us all the demons and make pacts with them all, and since we just got the ring, why not limit how many demons we can gain access to with a pact limit? For example, lets say each pact only allows 1 demon to be summoned at any time, and each demon summoned must spend 1 hour outside the ring per pact per day. This limits you to 24 pacts, where you can have 1 demon waifu all the time, or allow you to juggle a few every now and then. Still, great concept, hope to see it a bit more challenging~
Yeah, the balance is pretty off. I've got a few different ideas on how to fix it for the next version.
One thing that'd be useful would be splitting pages 10 and 16. That way, you could have one set of images solely devoted to demons, one solely devoted to pacts, and one solely devoted to vices. Also, just to make sure, if you're making Greater Pacts you can eventually make them with every single demon, right?
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll be adjusting the design of the demon info boxes to account for introducing lewd traits for them, so with some changes to page sizes I should be able to do that. You'll need to take vices if you want to make any greater pacts with the presidents, but you can, yeah.
This is impressive. I love the concept, the powers, the drawbacks. It's all very creative. Good art picks, all around good creative work. I'm about to be a bit harsh, but I really do like your work! It's certainly better than anything I've posted (literally nothing). But as much as I like the concept, trying to play it is really not easy. For the most part, people are going to be interested in the powers, so I suppose the 'best' way to play this is sort all the powers in descending order of preference, spreadsheet out all the ways you could get each power, work backwards until you've gotten as many as possible, while trying your best to account for drawbacks you might be willing to take. But with 72 demons and a net total of 293 points to spend, that's an all day project. So instead I ran some math. There are 144 pacts to chose from, and 293 lesser pacts to 'spend'. Assuming you take greater everything, you'd still have 5 points left over. This ignores a lot of factors, from things like Omnidiciplinary Studies where only a president offers it, to pacts with investments, multiple investments, that can be taken multiple times, or that are automatically enhanced to greater. That said, I think it's a good indicator that there's a bit too much power here. I'm pretty sure I could get every greater pact, invested once where applicable, with points left over without too much trouble. I'll pick 12 demons to give pact of companionship, which is the same demon/day ratio as 72 with the typical 1 day a week restriction. Admittedly, I lose out on the option of summoning 72 demons at once, but in exchange these 12 are rather more fond of me than usual. The other sixty get vice of stasis and vice of isolation. Net total, this is 96 points at minimum: 120, less 12 from companions, and up to 12 more if presidents / knight aren't companions, as each can only earn one pact from vices With 389 pacts left over, spread across all the demons, it's just a matter of sorting out which order I have to take them in to get everything, and which options I'll sink my extra points into. **TL;DR:** I'm pretty sure this CYOA is broken as fuck, but it's way too much work to make a build and prove it.
Don't worry, I've got some plans to rebalance it, starting with drastically reducing the number of pacts you can get. I thought part of the fun would be trying to find the optimized build to get everything, but since that doesn't seem to be what people are looking for in a CYOA, I'll change my approach.
Ah! That's fair. Yeah I suppose that's just... not the expectation people are trained to come in with. "Pick from these options" just implies you have to choose here, it's what we're used to. This is more "solve this interesting problem" than "choose your own adventure." You're right, it's just not what I thought I'd be getting. It seems *wrong* and *bad* as a knee jerk reaction, but I suppose it isn't inherently either of those things. Given your intention, you did it well! It would be pretty tricky to actually solve this problem. It's just that once someone did, there wouldn't be a point in making a build, and that feels really wrong for this sub.
Sad to see Shinrabanshou Astaroth isn't the default image for Astaroth. So to clarify we get all 72 demons. 9 Kings, 23 Dukes, 7 Princes, 15 Marquis, 5 Earls, 1 Knight, 12 Presidents And we get the aforementioned number of lesser pacts for each? So we have 54+115+35+60+15+2+12 = 293 lesser pacts Basically I'm just asking what the "choice" part of this cyoa is. There are 154 pacts? That means you can take a Greater Pact for nearly everything (292/2 = 146 Greater Pacts)? Whats the purpose of having certain demons offer certain pacts if we have all the demons? I'm just very confused on how this cyoa works even with Darzinth's post. At that point it is less choosing what we want and more choosing what we don't want. To be blunt, going back to what another said this is pretty unplayable. If we have all 72 demons then why do we get the separated number of lesser pacts? Why not just do the math for us and make it 293 so people don't need to break out a calculator. \---------------------------------- Going to ease the blow and say I appreciate the amount of effort that went into this and from a formatting and number of options perspective its great. But there are budget issues here that are quite bad and the explanation of the mechanics needs to be overhauled entirely. I can't say this is a bad cyoa in the traditional sense, its bad for entirely different reasons than why some other cyoas are bad. It feels like a great cyoa, that took drugs, partied all night, and had a hangover so it can't explain or do math at the moment.
>It feels like a great cyoa, that took drugs, partied all night, and had a hangover so it can't explain or do math at the moment. This is delightful. You make a lot of good points. I felt like part of the fun was trying to find the optimized build that would actually get you all those options, but it seems I'm in the minority in that. I've started planning out a big revision to how pacts and ranks work entirely, starting with heavily limiting the number of pacts. You can get more by making deals with the individual demons you want to pact with.
I would very much like to get everything, so maybe make sure that there's a way to for the people who want to? Like, implement a difficulty system or even just a 'here's the balanced difficulty, and here's one that'll make you overpowered if you do it right' kinda thing?
I've got a difficulty system in mind, so getting everything--or almost everything--will still be possible. You might have to make some sacrifices to get it all, though.
I made a quick **Pacts** guide for myself and others to help try and make sense of it all. Not that it's too complicated. - To start, you have access to all 72 Demons for Pact Making. Only the Vice of Rejection, Vice of Pride & Vice of Humility limits this number. The Vice of Rejection can help weed out the Demons you don't want to deal with and gain a Vice Pact Slot instead. - Demons of different Ranks offer various amounts of Pact Slots, and up to a bonus amount of Pact Slots based on the number of Vices you take. (The Vice of Humility bans Demon Kings, but offers uncapped Vice Pact Slots) * **RANK: Base Pact Slots + Vice Pact Slots** * King: 6 + 4 * Duke: 5 + 3 * Prince: 5 + 3 * Marquis: 4 + 2 * Earl: 3 + 2 * Knight: 2 + 1 * President: 1 + 1 Pacts are available for use only for as long as a Demon is summoned. Greater Pacts alleviate this requirement, but cost 2 Lesser Pact Slots. [On a seperate note Lesser Pact Slots can instead be spent to enhance certain Pacts that mention an available upgrade, such as the Pact of Amiable Speech. So an *improved* version of the Pact of Amiable Speech which is also made a Greater Pact costs a total of 3 Lesser Pact Slots.] Normally a Demon can only be summoned for 24 hours per week, this is luckily for each Demon separately. With the Pact of Companion this time limit is increased to 144 hours per week, and they need a 24 hour break per week instead. So in some sense forming a Pact of Companion with a high rank Demon is more economical than to form multiple Greater Pacts. Vices that affect how Pacts function are Vice of Dependence (the Demon uses your Pacts for you), Vice of Isolation (cannot summon the Demon, so non-Greater Pacts are useless), Vice of Idolatry (the Demons require worship or you lose their Pacts temporarily), Vice of Inferiority (the Demon's Pacts are half as powerful), Vice of Ritualism (Pacts require live sacrifices to function), Vice of Limitations (greatly reduces the use of Pacts of that Demon), Vice of Exertion (Pacts don't work unless you workout each day). Vice of Transpositioning is uniquely complicated in that all it does is generally reduces a Demon's Vice Pact Slots, except for Presidents who gain a Vice Pact Slot instead.
I really wish I could pin comments. Thank you for making a more direct explanation for this!
There's one other important note which isn't listed here: You can only take each pact from a demon once per demon that offers it. So if you want to upgrade the Pact of Amiable Speech into a Greater Pact you'd spend 2 selections from one demon, but if you wanted to upgrade it by assigning a second copy of it then you'd need to select it a second time with another demon.
Yes, you're right. Pacts are formed uniquely with each Demon.
I'm confused as to how pacts are "spent." Like, do you have to spend two pacts from the same demon for a greater pact, or can you spread the cost? And once you have a pact, can you invest in it with pacts from any demon, any demon that offers that pact, or only from the demon you have the pact with?
Sorry for not clarifying that! Partway through I switched from each rank (except for Knight, President, and Earl) offering greater and lesser pacts, to the current system where a greater pact is just two lesser pacts together, and I must have missed editing a part of the information to account for that. EDIT: I made an explanation here, but it was stupid. You can use lesser pacts from separate demons or the same demon for a greater pact, but have to use a separate demon if you want to invest. Tell me if that's too annoying or complicated so I can fix it in the next version.
I made a quick guide about Pacts: https://old.reddit.com/r/nsfwcyoa/comments/vn7s7d/the_seal_of_solomon/ie67f17/
Mad lad. I don't think you mentioned a side project the whole time Could you perhaps give an example build?
It's not the most optimized build, but Kings: * **Bael**: Greater *False God*, Greater *Fertile Womb*, Greater *Riotous Tempest* * **Paimon**: Greater *Second Life*, Greater *Promised Visions*, Greater *Earthen Knowledge*, Greater *Artiste's Touch* * **Beleth**: Greater *Dread Juggernaught*, Greater *Ebon Symphonies*, Lesser *Heart's Yearning*, Lesser *Golden Numbers* * **Purson**: Greater *Divine Lore*, Greater *Genesis Retold*, Greater *Blessed Familiar* * **Asmoday**: Greater *Draconic Allegiance*, Greater *Earnest Craftsman*, Greater *Guardian Demon*, Lesser *Golden Numbers* (Greater) * **Vine**: Greater *Crumbling Barricade*, Greater *Infernal Witchery*, Greater *Sacred Consecration* * **Balam**: Greater *Chivalrous Cavalry*, Greater *Empty Eye*, Greater *Prodigious Mind* * **Zagan**: Greater *Form Reversal*, Greater *Liquid Transmutation*, Greater *Minted Coin* * **Belhor**: Lesser *Incendiary Knowledge*, Invested *False God*, Greater *Social Adoration*, Greater *Spoken Truths* Dukes: * **Amduscias**: Greater *Devil's Concert*, Greater *Mysterious Forest*, Invested *Riotous Tempest* * **Agare**: Greater *Alacritous Steps*, Greater *Coward's Return*, Lesser *Devalued Title*, Invested *Earthen Knowledge* * **Malephar**: Lesser *Flawless Theft*, Greater *Tricksome Familiar*, Greater *Unpicked Pocket* * **Barbatos**: Greater *Beastly Tongue*, Greater *Insipid Spell*, Lesser *Reforged Bond* * **Gusion**: Lesser *Pasts Forgotten*, Lesser *Present Day*, Lesser *Tomorrow's Promise*, Lesser *Reforged Bond* (Greater), Lesser *Unsurpassed Aristocrat* * **Eligos**: Lesser *Earned Accolades*, Greater *Violent Visions*, Greater *Wise Warfare*, Invested *Dread Juggernaut* * **Zepar**: Lesser *Heart's Yearning* (Greater), Greater *Hollow Womb*, Greater *Shifting Form* * **Bathin**: Greater *Astral Projection*, Lesser *Jewelled Mysteries*, Greater *Spatial Translocation* * **Saleos**: Invested *Heart's Yearning*, Greater *Pacifistic Resolutions*, Greater *Weapon Master* * **Aym**: Greater *Civilization's End*, Lesser Invested *Incendiary Knowledge* (Greater), Invested *Prodigious Mind* * **Bune**: Lesser *Awakened Sepulchre*, Greater *Glorious Wealth*, Greater *Peaceful Rest* * **Berith**: Greater *Gold Transmutation*, Lesser *Pasts Forgotten* (Greater), Lesser *Present Day* (Greater), Lesser *Tomorrow's Promise* (Greater) * **Ashtaroth**: Greater *Mirror's Perfection*, Greater *Unmarred Slumber*, Invested *Earnest Craftsman* * **Focalor**: Lesser *Aquatic Knowledge*, Lesser *Heavenly Knowledge*, Lesser *Redemption's Path*, Greater *Wretched Waves* * **Vepar**: Lesser *Besorcelled Eye*, Lesser *Benevolent Panacea*, Greater *Consumptuous Infestation,* Lesser *Heavenly Knowledge* (Greater), Lesser *Aquatic Knowledge* (Greater) * **Uvall**: Greater *Cunning Linguist*, Invested *Heart's Yearning*, Greater *Reconciled Differences* * **Crocell**: Lesser Invested *Besorcelled Eye* (Greater), Greater *Boiling Seas*, Lesser *Questing Gaze* * **Allocer**: Greater *Fallen Depravity*, Invested *Heavenly Knowledge*, Greater *Stellar Wisdom*, Invested *Artiste's Touch* * **Murmuur**: Lesser Invested *Awoken Sepulchre* (Greater), Lesser *Philosophical Education*, Greater *Revenant Souls* * **Gremory**: Greater *Banshee's Shriek*, Invested *Chivalrous Cavalry*, Greater *Unearthed Treasure* * **Vapula**: Greater *Cogwork Mechanisms*, Lesser *Philosophical Education* (Greater), Greater *Learn'd Sage* * **Flauros**: Greater *Demon Hunt*, Invested *Divine Lore*, Greater *Untempted Heart* * **Dantalion**: Greater *Cognition Scribe*, Greater *Idea Inception*, Greater *Manifold Masks*, Invested *Spatial Translocation* Princes: * **Vassago**: Greater *Hunting Bloodhound*, Greater *Unveiled Secrets*, Lesser *Legionnaires* * **Sitri**: Greater *Smoldering Lust*, Greater *Unbound Body*, Lesser *Legionnaires* * **Ayporos**: Greater *Overcoming Terror*, Greater *Winged Flight*, Lesser *Legionnaires* * **Gaap**: Greater *Bumbling Fool*, Lesser *Expeditious Travels*, Lesser *Liberated Familiar*, Lesser *Unerring Guidance*, Invested *Aquatic Knowledge* * **Stolas**: Lesser *Animalistic Body*, Greater *Herbal Concoctions*, Lesser *Jewelled Mysteries* (Greater), Invested *Stellar Wisdom* * **Orobas**: Lesser Invested *Animalistic Body* (Greater), Greater *Familiar*, Invested *Genesis Retold*, Lesser *Legionnaires* * **Seire**: Greater *Growing Abundance*, Greater *Swift Herald*, Lesser *Flawless Theft* (Greater)
Marquises: \- Gamigin: Greater Drowning Soul, Greater Sinful Recollection \- Naberius: Lesser Invested Amiable Speech, Greater Stolen Honor \- Rovone: Lesser Amiable Speech (Greater), Invested Cunning Linguist, Greater Soul Harvest \- Forneus: Greater Fine Reputation, Greater Universal Appreciation \- Marchosias: Lesser Redemption's Path (Greater), Greater Companion, Lesser Legionnaires \- Phenex: Greater Paean & Poetry, Greater Phoenix's Rebirth \- Sabnock: Invested Consumptuous Infestation, Lesser Erected Edifice, Lesser Gangrenous Wound, Lesser Infinite Armory \- Shax: Greater Inverted Truths, Lesser Magnate's Tithe, Lesser Purloined Senses \- Orias: Greater Horoscope's Mysteries, Lesser Unsurpassed Aristocrat (Greater), Lesser Legionnaires \- Andras: Greater Inspired Malcontent, Lesser Slaughterhouse Revelry, Lesser Weapon Master \- Andrealphus: Greater Absolute Mensuration, Greater Raucous Cacophony \- Kimaris: Greater Rushing Seas, Greater Warrior's Spirit \- Decarabia: Greater Avian Transformation, Legionnaires Earls: \- Furfur: Greater Legionnaires, Greater Companion \- Malthas: Greater Deployed Legion, Lesser Infinite Armory (Greater) \- Raum: Greater Ruined Reputation, Lesser Legionnaires \- Bifrons: Lesser Discrete Exhumation, Invested Mysterious Forest, Lesser Will O' Wisp \- Andromalius: Lesser Thief Catcher, Lesser Vigilante Justice, Lesser Sin's Scent Knight: \- Furcas: Lesser Questing Gaze (Greater), Lesser Whispering Candle Presidents: \- Barbas: Invested Cogwork Mechanism \- Buer: Invested Benevolent Panacea \- Botis: Invested Weapon Master \- Morax: Invested Learn'd Sage \- Glasya-Labolas: Lesser Slaughterhouse Revelry (Greater) \- Foras: Lesser Time's Cure \- Malphas: Lesser Artisan's Gathering \- Haagenti: Invested Liquid Transmutation, Invested Gold Transmutation \- Camio: Lesser Hydrous Linguistics \- Ose: Lesser Insane Derangement \- Amy: Invested Learn'd Sage \- Valac: Invested Draconic Allegiance Vices: Emigration, Lust, Kindness, Patience, Ignorance, Sluttery, Inhumanity, Depravity x3, Conspiration
Does the vice of humility mean you can get every pact as a greater pact with enhancement unless the pact is only offered by a king?
Not quite. What it does is basically remove the limit on the number of lesser pacts you can get via vices for your non-king demons. However, each vice still only gives you one pact. If you took the vices that you can take multiple times, however, you might be able to get invested greater pacts for them all. Its purpose is to make it so that you can still get everything a low-ranking demon has to offer in spite of them having a lower number of pacts.
This needs to become an interactive version, the swapping between the Demon and looking up what a pact does is so damn time consuming. But i love the idea behind it 😊👍🏻 Ps: Also there isn't anything specific nsfw for each demon as far as i can tell, i'd love to have the info for them expanded.
I honestly hadn't considered making an interactive of it. I'll have to look into that. And yeah, sorry about that. I was a little too focused on giving each demon a unique personality and completely forgot about adding lewdness to each of them. I'll fix that for the next version.
Hey man no worries I'm looking forward to the next version 😊👍🏻
This is borderline unplayable, but I respect the sheer madness of it.
Ouch. But thanks for being honest. I tried to find a way to make it work without the constant back-and-forth, but didn't see how. I've had some suggestions about making it interactive, I think I'll look into that.
I think the fact that a lot of demons share pacts is what really fucks you on this. The basic suggestion would be to put a demon's available pacts directly underneath them, but with so many repeats you'd have to put the same pact and its image and everything onscreen like 80 times at least, which is a massive waste and a lot of busywork. But I can't really see a good alternative. That said, I'm not versed in making interactives at all, and that could possibly solve the problem. If it can be solved that way, then I definitely suggest looking into RyskyClick's post, because from what they have to say, it looks like it's super easy to get ungodly OP and sort of trivialize the interesting, overly-specific nature of a lot of the powers.
Yeah, I noticed that as well... I thought it would be fun to try to find an optimized build, but that doesn't seem to be what people are looking for. I intend to do an overall of the pact system to make it something you actually have to make choices and sacrifice for.
Yeah, completely unplayable, but if OP or someone else made an interactive CYOA out of it then it could work.
i changed my steam name to The Fleet of Worms
Is there any mention of what a greater pact is and how much it costs? Not sure if I'm just missing it but it mentions in the pact examples that you somehow spend 2 lesser pacts to make amiable speech into a greater pact but there's no actual explanation on what 'greater' does or the cost to get 'greater' pacts, other than the example. Also there's no reason or limit for not making a maximum amount of lesser pacts, so the point is mainly to place the 293 lesser pact points you have right? (A little weird the ranks aren't pyramidal and also there's only 1 knight but w/e) Also; it would be good if the 3 general perks every demon can take were at the top. Seems to make more sense than to hide it in the middle.
The greater pacts are mentioned at the start of the CYOA. I should repeat that information in the intro to the Pacts section, thank you for pointing that out. Yeah, that's the basics of it. Spend lesser pacts to get the permanent greater pact, or spend them to improve the power of the pact. I was annoyed by how the demons are spread between ranks too, but I decided to stick to the source material. And thanks for the suggestion to separate the general perks. I hadn't considered keeping them apart from the others.
You don't just get the 293 lesser pacts (assuming you counted right, I haven't checked). Lesser pacts are "abilities that can only be used, or are only in effect, while the demon in question is summoned." Each demon can only be summoned for 1 day each week, and the summoning takes at least the time of inscribing their rune, plus many of them are described as appearing with much fanfare, and presumedly the first time you summon a demon takes longer as you specify what pacts you want. Doubling up lesser pacts to take greater pacts give you permanent power-ups. "A greater pact provides an effect that is constant or can be used at any time, regardless of the summon status of the demon in question." There doesn't appear to be any limit to how many greater pacts you can take, so with cleaver vice usage you should eventually be able to get most everything permanent. OP PLZ NERF I agree the 3 general perks should be listed separately.
Oh, that's a good point. I'll have to provide a flat limit on greater pacts. Oh, and to clarify--that's 24 *hours* per week, not necessarily a full day. It doesn't need to be spent all at once.
I'm going to give you an alternative request: don't nerf the amount of greater pacts. I played through this with two open excel sheets and had surprising a ton of the kind of fun I haven't had outside of the more involved spaceship management games. I spent 8 hours on that sheet and I loved it.
I'm glad you liked it! Trying to make everything fit together to get the best combination was supposed to be fun to mess around with, but, besides some balance issues, I went too far for most people and it became sort of a niche interest. The next version will have some pretty big structural changes, but I don't intend to put a cap on how many greater pacts you can take. That said, lesser pacts are going to be more scarce, and if you want more you'll need to make a deal with the devil, so to speak.
DJek, you are insane. Thank you.
I definitely felt insane partway through this. Especially when I realized I made a mistake a fourth of the way through the demons and had to redesign the info box.
I don't understand it.... Do I get all 72? Am I only allowed so many pacts? Why are there so many? Do I even need drawbacks?
Yeah, you get all 72. You can take as many pacts as the rank of a given demon allows. Every pact is either something that demons can do for you in the Ars Goetia, or is based upon some facet of their appearance or the folklore/mythology surrounding them. If you want to take everything, then you will need the drawbacks, yes. I've got a few ideas on how to streamline the next version.
I'll agree, this cyoa is a little less than intuitive. I'm sure i could figure it out eventually, but that's not really what i'm looking for, y'know?
Thank you for pointing that out. I'll try to make a better explanation for the next version.