Infernal Calling: The Devil May Care
Spell Level: 5
School: Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 90 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
Components: V, S, M (a ruby worth at least 999 gp)
Uttering a dark incantation, you summon a devil from the Nine Hells. You choose the devil’s type, which must be one of challenge rating 6 or lower, such as a barbed devil or a bearded devil. The devil appears in an unoccupied space that you can see within range. The devil disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends.
The devil is unfriendly toward you and your companions. Roll initiative for the devil, which has its own turns. It is under the Dungeon Master’s control and acts according to its nature on each of its turns, which might result in its attacking you if it thinks it can prevail, or trying to tempt you to undertake an evil act in exchange for limited service. The DM has the creature’s statistics.
On each of your turns, you can try to issue a verbal command to the devil (no action required by you). It obeys the command if the likely outcome is in accordance with its desires, especially if the result would draw you toward evil. Otherwise, you must make a Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion) check contested by its Wisdom (Insight) check. You make the check with advantage if you say the devil’s true name. If your check fails, the devil becomes immune to your verbal commands for the duration of the spell, though it can still carry out your commands if it chooses. If your check succeeds, the devil carries out your command— such as “attack my enemies,” “explore the room ahead," or “bear this message to the queen"—until it completes the activity, at which point it returns to you to report having done so.
If your concentration ends before the spell reaches its full duration, the devil doesn't disappear if it has become immune to your verbal commands. Instead, it acts in whatever manner it chooses for 3d6 minutes, and then it disappears.
If you possess an individual devil’s talisman, you can summon that devil if it is of the appropriate challenge rating plus 1, and it obeys all your commands, with no Charisma checks required.
At Higher Levels When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the challenge rating increases by 1 for each slot level above 5th.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
The conjuration magic added in the more recent books massively improved on a lot of the power balance issues the prior conjuration effects had. The rules are clearer, the fantasy is sold better, the player’s have more control over what they get, and the DM has to do way less work. Well, for most of the spells that’s the case at least. Infernal Calling is the devil version of Summon Lesser and Greater Demons; while I commend those spells for nailing the usability and fantasy in a glorious harmony, Infernal Calling steps just a bit too far into the fantasy of it and loses some of the broader uses it really needs.
Out the gate, being able to get exactly the kind of devil you want that’s CR 6 can be wildly busted if you can control the creature. Vrocks, for example, come with a giant AOE stun, 104 hit points, multiattack, area of effect poison, and a 60 ft. fly speed. Having control over a CR 6 monster like this can offer more raw power than some player characters can at 9th level. To balance it out, Infernal Calling only gives you the ability to command it after contested checks unless you have a magical talisman related to the specific devil you’ve summoned. Otherwise, you’re more or less guaranteed that it will in some way shape or form attempt to bring about you and all your party member’s doom.
With a duration of an hour and 3d6 minutes of chaotic devil mayhem after your concentration breaks, the odds of you getting more than a handful of commands successfully towards the devil is tiny. The spell basically requires you know its true name or have the talisman, neither of which are a given part of every single world these devils are going to be used in. Sometimes your DM doesn’t want to use the predetermined lore devils and demons have in the Forgotten Realms; baking the talisman and true name lore elements into requires the spell can never offer those benefits or the DM restructures some amount of the world to allow for these effects to exist.
Infernal Calling is still an excellent narrative spell. The fantasy of being a diabolist summoning devils who are hellbent on your destruction is iconic to D&D and its history. At tables focused around the existing fantasy devils and demons have, Infernal Calling could be an amazing tool at giving players abilities that directly interact with the plot and narrative. Outside of those tables, there’s a good chance this spell just never improves, and likely results in the diabolist accidentally killing themselves or some friends with an unleashed devil. That could be a cool experience with the right group. In others, not so much.
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