Crossroads Demon Stats?

[Stirge]

Has anyone ever tried statting up a Crossroad Demon (ala Supernatural and other myths)? I feel like their deals would be somewhat of a GM Fiat nature but am curious how people have statted them up overall.

[Radijs]

If you stat it, the players can kill it. Just a warning.

I think that the things these demons can grant can't be accurately represented by giving them stats. They can grant boons like Hellfire, unique items of power and things like it. There's no stunt/power that represents it.

If the players are going to be intent on crossing swords with these things I think hellfire would be appropriate for them. Though the first thing I'd see these things do is throw up a veil and vanish in to the nevernever while perhaps letting a few more thuggish minions out to cover his retreat and/or tear the PC's a new one.

[Quantus]

I dont see any reason that they would have to be unusually powerful.  Essentially the Crossroads demons are just a Hell-themed Genie.  But its not like they have access to all that phenomenal cosmic power all the time, it can only be tapped in specific circumstances at the cost of a human soul.  I seem to recall in Supernatural the boys and Crowley needed information once, so he talked the old guy (Booby) into selling his soul for it with the assurance of "Ill give it right back".  That sounds like Sponsored Magic to me. 

So Id stat them like you would any other demon, human looking or otherwise, and just call the Wish-Granting a particular spell/ritual.  And there is no reason that all Crossroads Demons have to be equally powerful, and certainly not All-Powerful.  Id recommend a hierarchy of them, so for example if try to make a deal to learn the guitar Robert Johnson Style, any old Crossroads Demon could do it.  However, if they wanted to make a deal to say take over a country or gain access to lots of hellfire or something more world-changing, they would get kicked up the ladder to a more powerful demon, maybe all the way up to a Lord of Hell or an actual Fallen or some such.   That way the danger of fighting the demon is directly proportional to how big of a favor they want to ask for, and you can basically stat them like any other demon encounter if you think the Fight is a real possibility

[cold_breaker]

Pretty much whats been said above. As for the actual stats? Probably just true shapeshifting, supernatural toughness, and some big demon bodyguards that can be called in at a moments notice. Instead of shapeshifting, you could always go the possession route if you want to make them hard to kill...

Then again, DF likes to make demons big ugly beasts - so you could go that route. It really depends on what lore system you want to stick to. I personally like to differentiate between the Dresden verse and supernatural a little, but to each their own.

If you want a more Dresdeny crossroads demon, I'd go with a big ugly monster with some supernatural toughness and strength, and illusions or mist form so he can get around the mortal world unseen.

[PatchR]

In Ragnarok, one of the PCs is something similar to this (reluctantly) and we're treating it as a Sponsored Thaum Spell.

[Stirge]

Thanks for the replies everyone!  The reason I wanted to stat up a Crossroads Demon is because one will interact with a PC soon.  I wanted stats mainly so I could run a social encounter between the two.  I doubt the PC will want to strike a soul trading deal at first, but I'm sure a few NPCs will over the course of the campaign.

I figure if the PC somehow wins the conflict (which should be incredibly hard), they can get a decent deal from the Demon - information or a useful trinket at the cost of some debt but without their soul on the line.  That said, if I can semi-accurately model Crossroads Demons with DFRPG stats I'd be pretty stoked!  Here's my shot, after reading your advice, researching some, and a bit o' brainstorming:

Crossroads Demon
High Concept: Demonic Genie
Aspects: Devil with the Details / An Offer That Can’t Be Refused / Sweet Lies & Half-Truths / Crossroads Contract

Skills
Superb (+5): Deceit, Empathy
Great (+4): Presence, Rapport, Resources
Good (+3): Conviction, Intimidation, Lore
Fair (+2): Alertness, Athletics, Discipline
Average (+1): Endurance, Fists, Might

Stunts
Honest Lies (Deceit)
Paragon of Sin (Conviction), as per Tower of Faith
Read the Surface (Empathy)

Powers
Crossroads Contract (Item of Power) [-0]
Sponsor (The Crossroads)*
Sponsored Magic (The Crossroads) [-4]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
   The Catch [+3] - Holy Objects and the like. (+1 for Rarity/+2 because it's well known)
Swift Transition [-2]

Items
Focii: Varies - This may be a quill, ruby red lipstick or similar (+2 Control/+1 Complexity to Wish Granting spells).
1 Enchanted Item (Power 3, Ex: Love Potion that applies 'Lust' aspect to a target)

Refresh: 0 (10-10)

Stress
Physical OOO(OOOO), Armor 2 / Mental OOOO, Armor 1 / Social OOOO, Armor 1

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Sponsored Magic (the Crossroads):
In the Supernatural universe, the wish granting that Crossroads Demons do is a matter of spellcasting, instead of an innate ability, which limits what they can do**.  Crossroads Magic mainly centers around Thaumaturgy (Mostly Entropy and Wish Granting), sometimes done at Evocation speed.
Extra Benefits: See Below

Crossroads Contract (Item of Power) [-0]
It is What It Is [-0]: A metaphysical contract between a Crossroads Demon and the oathgiver.
Unbreakable [-0]: Only a Crossroads Demon or its boss can destroy a Contract.
One-Time Discount [+0]: Having no physical form to interact with, it offers no discount.
Sponsor (The Crossroads) [-0]: As per the power, but it may only be used to fulfill the bargain*

*http://dfrpg-resources.wikispaces.com/Sponsor
**http://supernatural.wikia.com/wiki/Crossroad_Demon

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With these stats, a Crossroads Demon has a variety of options to fulfill their client's needs.  For a client who wants money or an object, the Crossroads Demon can make a Resources roll (at +4, plus some additional aspect Tags via Sponsorship to get what they need).  If they want a task done, either acting on the client's behalf (murdering someone with magic) or providing an Enchanted Item (like a Potion of Love) might suffice.

For those who wants a little more, a Contract might be what they need - as it is an Item of Power the character is required to change/add an Aspect representing the deal which seems appropriate. For instance, if the client wanted to play Guitar better, they take the contract, add 'Bargain - Demonic Guitar Skills' and can now use their new Sponsor ship to take a debt and get a free tag on Performance rolls.  Suddenly, they're a whole step more talented - if they were at +2/+3 (journeyman or professional capacity) they're now +4/+5 (veteran or masterful capacity) or if sent above that, they're now skirting the boundaries of human capacity.

Now, if the client wants something fantastic, like powers - that can be done via Sponsored Magic.  As an Extra Benefit of the power, a Crossroads Demon can cast a spell akin to a Wizard's Deathcurse, using the willling client's life force to fuel the spell.  The client doesn't pay the usual price of death instantly, but exactly 1 year later at which point the Demon will come collecting.

Besides that, the Stunts are there to make social encounters with them tough, unfair even (with Paragon of Sin, I imagine they recite to themselves some sort of Infernal Salesman Creed instead of a prayer).  They should be able to have an idea of what their client wants and how desperately they want it (Read the Surface).  And any time they can a Crossroads Demon should fulfill their end of the bargain with as little heavy lifting as possible (Honest Lies).

Supernatural Toughness is just a standard demon power, but Swift Transition is especially useful for just avoiding combat altogether (as long as they're caught in a Devil's Trap or similar!)

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Well, that's my best shot for now!  Comments, critiques, and suggestions are welcome.  I'm sure a lot of fine-tuning can be done here :-)

[cold_breaker]

I would change one aspect to be 'nothing for free' - the idea is the demon would refuse to ever give anything without getting something in return. Otherwise it looks good.

[Troy]

I had put the deal-making, wish-granting power of demons within the purview of Hellfire Sponsored Magic because it revolves around the trucking in human souls. I figured that was within Hellfire's agenda.

[cold_breaker]

I'm not talking about the concept of bartering, I'm talking about the concept of obsession with it - That he cant do anything without asking 'what's in it for me'. Just getting a meeting with him should require some sort of payment. He wont give you information without a contract. Payment might not be 'your soul' for little things, but it should be something. He literally wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire unless you promised him something in return first. Even if it would be in his best interests ultimately.

Might even make a great trouble aspect, since he seems to be missing one.

[Quantus]

If you are calling the contract an Item of Power, is it embodied in a physical Object, something that could theoretically be stolen back and/or destroyed by force if the oathgiver wanted (Unbreakable non-withstanding, it would obviously take extraordinary circumstances).  An actual Paper Contract signed in blood,  a physical Chain symbolic of the binding, like there was in the Dresden TV show, maybe a Tattoo/Mark/Brand that they could quest to try and get removed?

Even if you dont want its destruction to be possible, I would highly recommend you give it some kind of tangible representation.

[bobjob]

Well, if we do it like the Supernatural TV show, I wouldn't even really stat them up much, except to say they've probably got a bit of toughness and they are vulnerable to holy objects. As for the wish granting, it should probably be modeled as some kind of aspect change or even a 1 refresh sponsored magic (one you say, yes. Because it's that easy) that allows you to get in way over your head with the catch that you've got a time limit and once that's done they're coming for with invisible hell hounds or entropy magic so that you have an "accident". The Crossroads Demon is just the facilitator, not necessarily your benefactor. That would be Hell as a whole which uses this as a way to get more souls. Nobody has really gotten out of a deal with a crossroads demon (unless it was Bobby, but that was an adventure all on it's own)

I used a similar concept for the second arc in my game. They were trying to protect a very influential figure from the choices he made in his past after he made a deal and has realized that the fine print is a pain and encompasses a lot more than just him.