Cacofiend

This perilous spell summons a powerful fiend: a true tanar'ri, a greater baatezu, or a greater yugoloth. (Cacofiend isn't powerful enough to summon a unique fiend, and lesser sorts can't be summoned with this spell.)

If the caster is interrupted during the casting time, his spell fails. If an interruption occurs after the fiend appears, there is a lO% chance that the fiend can escape its boundaries and attack the wizard. This percentage chance is cumulative for each round of interruption. A fiend is entitled to a special saving throw against this spell: If the fiend rolls greater than the caster's level on 2dlO, the summoning fails. When this occurs, either the name used was not perfectly correct or the named fiend is already imprisoned or dead, so the caster must call another fiend.

In any event, the caster must know the true name of the creature he is summoning. A fiend so summoned is most angry and vilely disposed. The caster must be warded and protected by a protection from evil spell, and the fiend must be confined within a magical diagram if the wizard wants to avoid being slain or carried off bodily. The summoned fiend can be coerced to perform some deed in one of three ways, as follows:

1) By threatening to cast a spirit wrack spell, the wizard can force the monster to swear an oath to follow a certain course of action, freeing the fiend only when the creature completes the service. This method is extremely dangerous, for a fiend seizes on any minor error in such a bargain to spoil the desired outcome or to simply kill the summoner. Further, the fiend bears great hatred for the wizard after such forced obedience.

2) By offering tribute (blood and sacrifices), the summoner may convince the fiend to serve willingly. The caster is well advised to have ample protection and power to defend himself, for the fiend might decide the offer is insufficient and not accept the proffered bargain. Though the fiend must abide by a pledge, since its name is known, it must hold only to the exact word of the agreement, not the spirit. However, only highly evil mages are likely to attempt such a bargain, and a summoned fiend might be favorably disposed toward such a character.

3) The summoned fiend can be the target of a trap the soul spell. In this case, the wizard does not speak with the creature or bargain for its service, although the fiend might be eager to reach an agreement with the wizard before being forced into imprisonment. Attempting to trap the fiend is risky only if proper precautions are ignored, for failure means only that the fiend escapes to its home plane. If trapped, however, the fiend remains imprisoned until the owner of the confining object breaks it and frees the creature, at which time the wizard must ask the fiend to perform a service before it returns to the Lower Planes. If the person freeing the fiend fails to demand a service when the monster asks what is required of it, the fiend is under no constraint not to slay its liberator on the spot. If a service is required, however, the creature must first do its best to perform the task and then must return to its home.

The fiend serves only for a limited duration unless it serves willingly. Any action that is impossible or requires more than a week to perform is 50% likely to free the fiend from its obligations. A liberated fiend may seek revenge against the caster, for the creature can remain on the plane it was summoned to for up to two years. This spell is useless if cast on the home plane of the creature to be summoned.

The components of the spell include white wax, mandrake root, a bottle of red wine, a piece of parchment inscribed with the target's name, and an offering that would tempt a fiend.

Like spirit wrack, this spell originated on Acheron and was created to add to the armies of the conflicts there. Its use has spread throughout the planes, and is the bane of fiends that do not wish to be disturbed (which, obviously, is most of them).