Binding Contract

You place the palm of your hand on the palm of a creature that shares a language with you, envisioning the terms of a contract in your mind. It must contain two things: objectives for the target creature and/or yourself achievable within the next 5 days, and a punishment for each creature involved should they fail their objective (which need not be the same). There is no limit to the number of objectives for either creature, and the objectives can be anything you like, including a restriction on a creature’s actions for the duration. For example, you could have the target perform a dangerous task, while you must give them a precious item of yours, and have both agree to not intentionally be involved with any efforts to impede the objective of the other creature.

The target sees the terms of the contract in their mind and can then choose to accept or decline the contract. If the creature declines the contract, the spell fails to cast and the spell slot is not expended. The spell automatically fails if the target is already under the effects of a spell that controls their actions (such as suggestion or this spell).

If the creature accepts the contract, a runic mark is burned into their palm which lasts for the duration of the spell. Then, if either creature fails one of their objectives, that creature must succeed on a Charisma saving throw, which it makes with disadvantage, or be subjected to the punishment you chose.

The punishment(s) you choose can do one of two things: control a creature’s actions, or cause them to die. If the punishment you chose controls a creature’s actions, it can only do so for up to 1 hour. If the punishment you chose is death, the creature has a heart attack and instantly dies.

This spell is especially hard to dispel. If the dispel magic spell is cast to attempt to remove the effects of this spell, it must be cast using a spell slot at least two levels higher than the spell slot used to cast this spell (up to a maximum of 9th-level) in order to successfully end it.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, there is no maximum amount of days for the objectives—the spell lasts until all of the objectives are complete or until dispelled.