Might also use ambiguous language or just tack on a non-obvious drawback to whatever he grants the PC. A DM I played with once did that to the party's rogue. After she released him from his prison, he offered her a "reward" for what she had done. She wanted the Shadowdancer's shadow jump ability without taking levels in the Prestige, and so he gave it to her as though she were a level 10 shadowdancer. The part that he didn't tell her is that he altered the ability to actually take her through one of the evil planes every time she used it. What this meant was that every time she activated it, there was a chance she might get a hitchhiking demon/devil and bring them back with her into the Material Plane.
In her defense, she didn't actually know what she was making the deal with, but the rest of us agreed that nothing going to just give you something like that.
Please don't.
You are going to give one character cool powers in exchange for an evil act the demon could just as easily have done itself especially if it has SO much power it can grant powers (an evil demon god perhaps).
Aside from the fact that the other players are going to be upset, this has the hallmark of a poor decision all over it. Why? Because it makes no sense. It will make your games difficult to balance if one PC suddenly has powers. And even if you structure it such that it is fair and makes sense your other players will always think you are simply showering free powers on someone for whatever out of game reasons.
So in summary... you want to shower one PC with gifts so that it can become more difficult to balance encounters and leave resentment toward you from the others.
Last GM I have seen use this type of thing ruined his game. It ended badly in PvP one session later. And lost the trust of ALL his players. Yes even the one receiving the gifts had serious reservations about letting him GM again after that.
The favor could be as simple as doing nothing. No really, let me explain. During an event in-game, when the PC could easily swoop in and save the day, he must instead do nothing.
It doesn't break a law, it doesn't require "time," and it doesn't put him or his allies within harm's way.
Speaking of allies, either the devil would have to have included them in the deal (granting each powers, respectively), or they would have to be just as powerless as the PC in question during this scene.
Example: After the PCs have cleared a dungeon, the devil could show up and cast hold person on the lot of them (minus the contracted PC), and then proceed to nab some artifact they have just unearthed. Why might the devil have needed the PCs to do so? Well, perhaps a powerful abjuration or ward protected the area, but having carried the [uber item of power, which grants its wielder X abilities] caused the spell to fail, as the devil activated its anti-magic aura from afar (since he can scry upon it at will).
Bwhahahaha~
Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
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All right! I like this idea!
Here's something that can make this more of a plot twist than a one off.
Assume the imp is an agent of a BBEG in your campaign that your players will ultimately have to face off against.
The imp makes his offer, with the understanding that the PC inform the imp of his/her physical location at the end of each day for a year and a day, at which point the "gift" becomes permanent.
If the PC agrees, the imp will report the PC's whereabouts each day to the BBEG and, if the PC leaves an area for more than 1 day, the BBEG will send his agents to covertly kill a prominent NPC in the party's last known location.
Over time, it will look like the party contains a serial killer in their midst, as prominent people keep dying in towns they have recently visited, slowly making the party one of the most wanted troupes of adventurers in the region.
This will open up the campaign to some very interesting role-playing opportunities as the PCs attempt to defend themselves and try to "solve" the problem.
In addition, once the PCs discover the source, it will make the face off with the BBEG even more dramatic.
Now, at face value, there are some holes in this logic, but these can easily be fleshed out by the GM over the course of the campaign.
I actually quite like this idea, especially for a fiendish blooded sorcerer. Though I agree with Lightbulb on this point:
You need to be really careful with this. If its ambiguous you could expect argument.
"Break no mortal law" - the way I read this I couldn't do anything that breaks ANY mortal law anywhere - in all the planes. So basically that would be that I cannot do anything very much.
Jurisdiction is not something that's clear cut - its quite easy to argue with.
Gotta be careful there. Perhaps just "you won't be forced to break the law." Ambiguous enough and yet all encompassing. Hell, in certain lands aiding the slavers would be perfectly within the law.
The other concern I have though is what are the party alignments like? If the group has to aid him in stopping these slaves and they are a bunch of CGs you'd have trouble. To be fair, you seem to have a good handle on what your group is like. I'm more curious than anything, and it could help in setting up the perfect predicament.
*Edit: Also, Detect Magic's idea is pretty wicked!
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Having tempted my players over and over again I have only had one who fell though the rabbit hole. The awesome fun was watching him squirm when it came up.
The imp should offer his aid in turn for small favors, the first of which is release followed by a potion of prot evil to prove his ability to make a 'true' deal. He gives a device that will allow a bit of telepathy between them and when asked he provides the PC with aid (timely scrolls, potions, etc at first) asking for only a drop of blood or hair or something easy and relatively painless to give. As soon as he hooked and keeps asking for bigger things (ie higher level) the favors become harsher, boom baby!
Think of the PC as a possible junkie and the imp an up and coming dealer looking to claim his first real score. Long play on the devil is the key to this. Give the PC what he wants just make it a regretful deal for his soul in the end.
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Well, you know your Players and your game style; we don't -- but I'm gonna stronglyh agree with Lightbulb & Min.
Making deals with devils is one of those great, classic tropes that works brilliantly when you're writing the whole script but can do little more than rape your game if done wrong, and even if done well likely ain't gonna add anything to the roleplaying experience. It just doesn't transfer to gaming.
But...
If your group and your DMing style can flow with this I strongly suggest you make it a group deal -- not a boon for just one PC. If one PC gets to turn invisible or gets a free +2 DEX but the others get nothing, that sucks. It's unfair, bad. They should all get something like a +1 to an ability score or the use, 1/day of Invisibility or a +2 Initiative 1/day.
As for the deal, let the group haggle and make it come in steps. The first deal the PCs just have to kill a Demon or CE person -- something they'd do anyway.
A month or so later they make another minor deal where all they have to do is sing a song or something else completely bizare and has nothing to do with the game. Now they've made two deals, neither of which had any bad consequences.
Meanwhile, they can haggle that the Imp has to do something good, save some orphans or something, which it does, of course, though pretending to not like it (Bluff its "feeling" of losing the deal, getting outsmarted.)
Then they have to promise an hour of their time or something else seemingly innocuous. And maybe the first time the hour comes at a time when the PCs aren't doing anything important.... So next time they'll more readily agree.
And then the bomb drops.
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Once there, the fiend demands that the PC commit some abominable act... betraying a group of escaped slaves to the slave-catchers, say.
That's the catch? Having to do something awesome?
The favor could be as simple as doing nothing. No really, let me explain. During an event in-game, when the PC could easily swoop in and save the day, he must instead do nothing.
Again, something my PC would be perfectly fine with.