Post originally by Gerry Saracco at 2003-11-21 08:17:42
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Dan Davenport wrote:
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However, that really wasn't how the rules read to me. To me, it sounded as though the "demon gets free reign" part was just a metaphysical fact of life, and that the demon would attempt to twist the wording of his part of the bargain in addition to tormenting the caster into fulfilling his part.
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It's not a defacto rule; everything in the Magic Box are optional rules, so they shouldn't be taken at face value.

In fact, the first sentance of the second paragraph of that section says it all: "A magical pact governs *most* demon-human relations".

Ergo, it's not the only way to deal with demons. Which made me realize (now that I'm fully awake) that I overlooked in my earlier statements:

Demon pacting isn't necessarily demon summoning.

The hellhounds that Tucker had could have been summoned. The ape-like demons that attacked Buffy when she was working for Xander could be considered "summoned".

A pact is more for when you want something (like power, a wish, etc), which is a follow up step to summoning a being with the power to grant you that power.

For the everyday summoning of demons to do simple tasks, there doesn't seem to be anything preventing people from doing that if they know how to summon it properly (and likely bind it).

So, my earlier comments were off base, and thus were incorrect. Oh well, that's what happens when you post comments without being fully concious :-)