In short, I'm running an AP in its last stretch, and an imp NPC offered his services as familiar to a PC arcanist. The arcanist offered the imp a challenge which - if completed - would give him cause to at least consider the offer. The imp complied, and succeeded with great comedic and stylistic gusto, demonstrating impeccable timing.
When all was said and done, the arcanist used dismissal to send the imp on his merry way. Said imp vanished. The session ended shortly thereafter.
All of this is taking place in Korvosa, which is thick with imps. My question is: is there a Golarion-accurate circumstance wherein that imp is effectively home on the material plane, with Korvosa being its proper stomping grounds?
I would like to have the (exhausted) imp find the arcanist in the morning, and present itself once more for duty. It did not identify the spell, and would misinterpret it as teleport, complaining that it didn't work properly because the "boss" didn't manage to come along.
Thing is, having an extraplanar devil not be kicked off the material plane by dismissal (on a failed save) is an eyebrow-raising precedent I'm cautious about setting. So I ask.
Thank you all in advance.
Not that I know of.
Some thoughts: You could have the imp hitch a ride with a devil who had plane shift as a spell. Or it scuttled through a gate left open by some other wizard and then made its arduous way back home. Or it had many, many terrible adventures in a part of Hell where time doesn't exactly line up with the Material before being able to earn a trip back to Korvosa...
...or as GM you could be all mysterious about it. Like, the imp is just there, and you smile quietly whenever the players wonder how it got back to Korvosa so quickly.
Not everything needs an explanation. And sometimes players will speculate. And sometimes you can steal their speculations and say that's what happened. Other times, you can keep on quietly smiling...
Thanks for the input quibblemuch, unfortunately, it's canon or bust. The arcanist's player isn't going to appreciate DM fiat type explanations. If I can find legit back-doors that he won't have thought of, he'll be delighted. But "oh, there was a gate" is too pedestrian. Basically, he's the smartest guy at the table, so it's always a challenge (I enjoy) to stay one step ahead.
I like a challenge. How about this text from the dismissal description:
"...there is a 20% chance of actually sending the subject to a plane other than its own."
The imp was dismissed. The imp wound up on the Elemental Plane of Water. There, it met a marid genie. As everyone knows, marids are "capricious and unpredictable" and "love performance and art." The imp tap-danced its little heart out, and the marid used its plane shift ability to get the imp back to the Material Plane as a reward for such delightful capering. If that didn't work, the imp was prepared to use its suggestion ability.
The imp then had to somehow make its way between 5 and 500 miles overland to Korvosa...
Devils can "promote" Lemures into Imps. If that happened in Korvosa, wouldn't the Prime Material Plane then be the Imp's home Plane?
Are you at all familiar with the rules on infernal contracts? I can see one of those being written in such a way as to render the imp a native of the Material Plane for the duration of said contract... tho it would take some work and knowledge to find that hidden clause.
Possibility 1:
Maybe the imp annoyed his devil boss, and gets sent back every time until he succeeds in getting the Arcanist to make a demonic deal or something. Of course, the boss never returns him near where the imp was sent from. So it can take a few hours to a few days for the imp to locate the Arcanist.
Possibility 2:
Having performed the agreed upon quest to apply for the Familiar position, the cosmic forces keep bringing him to the arcanist's presence until he makes a decision.
Possibility 3:
As 2, but the Imp, as a devil in training, was able to twist the words from "consider" to "accept", and is now his familiar, like it or not. The Familiar bond then yanks him back like a yo-yo, but at some random time and place. That return also causes the loss of a spell slot when it happens, in order to power it. This loss, will alert the Arcanist that it happened, but not until he learns to associate it with the imp's return.
/cevah
There is a location in Magnimar in an AP where there is a permanent hole/gate to hell,but only low hd creatures (Imps, Zebubs were in the module) can come through. So it is RAW that such holes exist. Put one in Korvosa.
Many thanks to everyone who offered advice here.
Are you at all familiar with the rules on infernal contracts? I can see one of those being written in such a way as to render the imp a native of the Material Plane for the duration of said contract... tho it would take some work and knowledge to find that hidden clause.
This, I can run with. The imp in question was - until moments before it offered its services - the familiar of a rather high-level evil NPC. That NPC (of course) got wiped out by the PCs.
It is reasonable to envision a contract that assigned the imp to the NPC's service with any of a number of clauses. In the NPC's favor, the imp could have been "transplanted", so that the NPC couldn't be stripped of his companion while on the material plane. If enforced by a powerful enough signatory, that's not implausible. We're definitely at the level that wish and miracle and the likes are thrown around.
Said contract could have been written such that the "transplantation" clause ends "on the night the NPC dies", or indeed week, or month. The back-door intent from Hell being that the imp gets some time to wreak havoc on the material plane without being dismissable.
I can work with this.
Thank you. It's a minor gag and the imp is going to get whacked, but this player does appreciate unexpected consequences that make sense. We've all played this system for so many years that plot twists (but not rules twists) are appreciated.
Said contract could have been written such that the "transplantation" clause ends "on the night the NPC dies", or indeed week, or month. The back-door intent from Hell being that the imp gets some time to wreak havoc on the material plane without being dismissable.
My suggestion, minor as it is, would be to replace "the contract ends when..." with "The contract needs to be renewed every...".
If I made Infernal deals, I'd love to have an opt-out option. And it would be fitting for an Infernal deal to turn the opt-out option into an advantage...The dead NPC obviously can't renew the deal, but it still stays in effect until the need for renewal comes. With everything else that might entail.
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Removing the Extraplanar subtype from an Imp might be impossible. (Technically Wish might be able to do it.) I wouldn't use an infernal contract though. It's just not plausible for me.
A devil could travel to the material plane and create an Imp from a soul. It would be highly unlikely, but it would result in a non-extraplanar imp. So it might be somewhat plausible for an Imp to have the Material Plane as its home plane.
Now Imps aren't exactly dumb. With an intelligence and wisdom bonus of +1 and a +7 in Spellcraft they have a 40% chance of identifying Dismissal as it is being cast.
I'd say that the Arcanist decision to dismiss the Imp was premeditated and that they never had the intention to fulfill their promise. That would piss off the Imp, but unless the Arcanist signed anything it shouldn't have any consequences.
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I like a challenge. How about this text from the dismissal description:
"...there is a 20% chance of actually sending the subject to a plane other than its own."
The imp was dismissed. The imp wound up on the Elemental Plane of Water. There, it
...drowned. Poor Imp!
Removing the Extraplanar subtype from an Imp might be impossible. (Technically Wish might be able to do it.) I wouldn't use an infernal contract though. It's just not plausible for me.
I hear you, and don't necessarily disagree. It's just a matter of knowing my player.
A devil could travel to the material plane and create an Imp from a soul. It would be highly unlikely, but it would result in a non-extraplanar imp. So it might be somewhat plausible for an Imp to have the Material Plane as its home plane.
Only issue there is I'm not aware of any canonical method for a fiend to create a fiend. Summon, sure.
Now Imps aren't exactly dumb. With an intelligence and wisdom bonus of +1 and a +7 in Spellcraft they have a 40% chance of identifying Dismissal as it is being cast.
The roll was made at the table and I roll in the open. The imp definitely failed.
I'd say that the Arcanist decision to dismiss the Imp was premeditated and that they never had the intention to fulfill their promise. That would piss off the Imp, but unless the Arcanist signed anything it shouldn't have any consequences.
It won't have consequence, and yes, it was premeditated. The arcanist is non-violent, primarily relying on non-damage methods of subduing or bypassing foes. I'm not looking to change that, or nullify the arcanist's efforts. It's more a "you're going to have to work just a little harder to rid yourself of this crap-stain." We have a long history of fiends being persistent. Zero harm will come of this, and it'll likely be about 60 seconds at the table, purely roleplay.