Name Binding (4E)

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

This is a ritual description page for 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Name Binding

You make a creature put a mortgage on its spirit, allowing you to later summon it to serve you.

Level: 7	Component Cost: Variable
Category: Binding	Market Price: 250 gp
Time: 10 minutes	Key Skill: Arcana
Duration: Variable

You use this ritual on a helpless creature of the elemental, fey, immortal, and shadow origin. Usually it is cast on a defeated but live enemy you do not wish to kill. It creates a mystic link to the creature, that you can later use to summon and order it to serve you. This link takes the form of a small art object, often a statuette, ribbon, or a piece of paper with the creature’s name on it. This application of the ritual is instantaneous.

By performing the ritual again over such an object, you call the creature tied to that object to serve you. The duration of the service depends on the result of the Arcana check, and there is a penalty to this check equal to half the level of the creature. There is also limit on time and also a limit on the number of fights the creature will participate in; after the duration is up, the requisite number of fights have occurred, or the creature is reduced to zero hit points or below, it disappears. The creature always obeys direct orders, but making it act contrary to its nature requires a lot of attention. Instructing the creature to take a standard or move action is a minor action for you; it will take minor actions on its own and move actions to stay within 2 squares of you unless ordered otherwise. It always acts on your initiative.

Arcana Check Result	Duration of Service
9 or lower	1 hour (1 fight), link is lost
10-19	2 hours (1 fight)
20-29	4 hours (2 fights)
30-39	8 hours (3 fights)
40 or higher	24 hours (4 fights)

If a creature you call to serve is of a higher level than you or the result of the Arcana score is particularly bad, you lose the link. Otherwise, the link can be used again and again, and it can be given away or stolen like any magical object.

The casting cost is 10% of that of a magic item of the creature’s level.