Exaction

With this spell, you can make a sacrifice to a creature caught within a magic circle spell in an effort to win its willing service. This power has no effect on creatures not caught in a magic circle spell, although it can be used to gain a service from a creature caught in a magic circle created by a different spellcaster. The effort to win the target’s service is handled by an opposed Charisma-based ability check determined by the DM. If you win the check, the creature’s service is granted willingly and to the full extent of your intentions, preventing the target creature from taking revenge later or trying to subvert the intent of its instructions. Additionally, completing the service does not free the target if it has agreed to multiple services as a result of multiple exaction spells (see below).

Each sacrifice grants a Charisma bonus on efforts made to compel the target’s service. Sacrifices can be negligible, minor, moderate, or major, each with increasingly higher costs and Charisma bonuses. The table below contains examples of sacrifices and their associated impacts. The costs of a sacrifice do not vary, cannot be resisted, and cannot be healed through the use of magic less powerful than a wish spell (for example, alignment changed by a moderate sacrifice cannot be restored through the use of atonement, while a loved one killed in a major sacrifice cannot be brought back to life by a raise dead or resurrection spell).

While negligible, minor, and moderate sacrifices are largely set (although DMs might wish to create alternatives), what connotes a major sacrifice varies from person to person. Major sacrifices always extol a great loss of significance to you and often others, as you betray information or perform acts that compromise your very being. Essentially, this means giving up part of your soul to the bound creature. Common examples of such offerings would be the sacrifice of a loved one, a major holy relic of a religious order you’re a part of, your entire library of magical texts, or your beloved ancestral home. Overall, you and the DM should agree upon whom or what constitutes an appropriate major sacrifice.

Sacrifice Examples

*The DM rolls for the forms of madness on the tables on pages 259-260 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide