What would you think of a reverse devil’s bargain (angel’s markup?), you get a guarantee that something beneficial…
What would you think of a reverse devil’s bargain (angel’s markup?), you get a guarantee that something beneficial will happen but you pay for it with reduced effect or -d.
Because people are more willing to lose dice when they already have decent pools, it will lead to situations that people who are competent fail but still get something out of it. Which would lead to a somewhat different fiction.
If both devil’s bargains and angel’s markups can be applied to the same roll then you could trade something bad happening for something good happening, which seems like it’d add a peculiar kind of certainty.