Post by Gaiyamato on Feb 2, 2015 1:19:08 GMT
Souls are the incarnate manifestation of living energy. The power contained in a single soul is virtually unmatched by any other known magical force. The souls of powerful entities even doubly so. They are sought after by every evil creature across all of the planes, they are defended by the good, and carefully shepherded by the Gods. In Faerun souls pool into the Fuge plan to either go and be protected for eternity in the realm of their chosen deity or be trapped forever in the Wailing Wall. Demons raid the wall and Devils are allowed to bargain with the souls for their freedom. Souls can be used to power great artifacts, craft the most foul magic items, empower spells or be made into new demons and devils.
Value of a Soul
The value of a soul depends upon the buyer and the uses of a soul itself. A Demon will value buying the soul of a powerful Lawful Good Paladin for use in a magic item or for corrupting into a servant of the abyss. However the soul of an evil sorcerer has far better uses for the Demon and is more likely to accept becoming a servant of the Demon itself. Values are fluid, as are uses.
A soul has a base value of 2000gp, or can be used as 100xp in powering a spell of crafting a magic item. The below modifers are added together (using real-world maths) to determine the final value of the soul.
Alignment Modifiers for Souls
These adjustments are only applied to the sale of a Soul, Omit these modifiers when calculating the value of a soul for use for any purpose.
Soul Power Modifier
Groups:
A: Most NPC/Monster classes
B: Fighter/Barbarian/Rogue/Scout etc.
C: Monk/Binder/Psion/Hag
D: Wizard/Sorcerer/Druid/non-good Cleric or Paladin/Ogre Mage/Beholder, anyone with Vile feats
E: Good Cleric/Good Paladin, all Dragons, Anyone with Exalted feats
Soul Willingness
Stolen forcefully via a spell, sacrifice or magic item or similar - Resistant
Stolen from the Fuge Plane - Unwilling
Tricked or Coorced - Uncertain
From a Pact - Neutral
Offered up willing by Cultist or similar, or anyone with Vile Feats - Willing
Soul Purity
To determine Soul purity start at Standard and then apply modifiers. Additional may be added by DMs during Character creation.
Levels:
Pure
Very High
High
Moderate
Standard
Low
Very Low
Corrupted
Modifiers:
Virgin +1
Exalted Feats +2
Celestial Template +2
Saint Template +2
Good Alignment +1
Evil Alignment -1
Corrupted, Fiendish or similar evil Template -2
Vile Feats -2
Unholy Scion -5
Any Taint score from any Taint system: -3
Willingness vs Purity Modifier
Example:
The soul of Szagg the black is sent to the Nine Hells as per a pact he made. He was a Lawful Evil level 15 Sorcerer with Vile feats.
His modifier is 2.75+2.75+3.75 = x9.25
His soul is then worth a base price of 185,000gp.
The soul of Bob the farmer, a Neutral Good level 3 commoner stolen by an evil mage as sold to the Demons of the Abyss.
His modifier is worth a base price of 1.5 + 0.25 -0.5 = x1.15
His soul is then worth a base price of 3000gp to the Demons.
When trading for souls on the market the soul is sold just as any item, so the base price is reduced by 50% in cost. (Feats and class abilities that raise this apply.)
When using a soul yourself for experience points calculate without adjustment for alignment to determine base value and divide it's base cost by 20 to determine it's XP value.
Souls as Power
Souls have several uses:
Incarnum Harvesting
Anyone one with an Essentia pool can harvest Incarnum from a soul. As a full round action you may concentrate on the soul and siphon some of it's value into Essentia. Each 5000gp siphoned provided 1 bonus Essentia that may be invested in any manner. This bonus Essentia only lasts for 24 hours. The value of the soul is permanently decreased. Doing this is an Evil act and will almost always shift your alignment to Evil.
Necrocarnates are not harvesting the actual souls from recently dead, but residual soul energy that remains in the dead body. They may use either of the powers.
Effects of Lingering Evil
Using souls or committing gravely evil acts can warp and alter the material place. These are felt as lingering evil in an area, an object or sometimes even a person. It has a variety of effects depending on how the evil became manifest that range from cosmetic to catastrophic.
<expanding and improving on the rules in the Book of Vile Darkness>
Finding a Dealer
<Rolelpaying currently.>
Harvesting Souls
In order to be used or traded souls must be stored. Almost all methods of storing souls require magic items or magic spells, and a receptacle for the soul. Dark Altars, Soul Gems etc. are the most common method of storing souls. Demons, Hags and Devils as well as some Undead all possess the ability to harvest and store souls naturally.
To determine the value of a soul you need only concentrate on the soul's vessel for 1 minute and pass a DC 20 Concentration check.
Faustian Pacts
<currently using rules from Fiendish Codex II, will need some adjustment however.>
What about Undead and Outsiders?
Undead still possess souls. Any creature that can be raised as an undead through usual means still has it's soul. Intelligent undead have had their soul re-bound to their body, as such destroying the body of the undead releases the soul back to the Fuge plane. Mindless undead are mere animated skin and bones. As such their souls are still released, however they are stuck on the Fuge plane until such time as their animated corpse is destroyed. It is possible then for a soul to be turned into a demon or devil or return via some other means and meat it's former corpse. If a soul has transcended the petitioner state then destroying it's old corpse no longer has any effect.
Outsiders have their soul not just bound to their form, but infused with it. Their form is made from their soul. When destroyed their soul is destroyed. Powerful outsiders develop ways around this and can bring themselves back from the dead. It is also possible for a truly powerful being to create undead outsiders, though this is almost always beyond the power of mortals. To capture the soul of an outsider means capturing all of the outsider, body and soul. Demons and Devils know how to extract the soul from that point.
Truly the worst fate an angelic being can suffer is to be caught alive by Demons or Devils.
Running a Business as a Soul Trader
<DMG II Running a Business rules for a soul trader>
Demon and Devil uses for Souls
Demons and Devils both use souls for the same purposes. 1 to create more Demons and Devils in the blood wars. 2 to purchase promotions. 3 for magic magic items - usually weapons, or casting powerful spells as part of the blood war.
Creating more Demons and Devils is a simple act by using their Larvae Craft ability (see below) to create a new Larvae that will grow to become a weak Demon or Devil.
Promotion is more complex and requires a purchase agreement from whoever if the next rank above. Once a Demon or Devil has been promoted it is no longer loyal to it's master, but must still petition for promotions from it's master unless it can gain power through some other method. Masters/high ranking Demons and Devils require large costs - always in souls - to earn a promotion. It is the one promise you can be sure will be kept (though they might use loopholes to escape from the agreement, in particular Devils) as it is the foundation that keeps the Nine Hells and the Abyss functioning enough to fight their wars.
To earn a promotion a Demon or Devil typically needs to ask for the required new Demon/Devil type they seek and pay a fee of 30,000gp worth of souls per HD+CR of the new form they wish to take. Do not count class levels that may be added on. As they surrender souls the debt is automatically reduced. Upon completion of the debt they are transferred to their Master's plane and become a Larvae. in 1D3+1 per HD of the new form days they transform in the new form, ready to go anew. During this transformation all spells cast upon them are dispelled and all damage of all types is healed.
War on Soul Trading, Organisations and Powerful Beings
NPCs who Harvest Souls for non-Evil purposes
Value of a Soul
The value of a soul depends upon the buyer and the uses of a soul itself. A Demon will value buying the soul of a powerful Lawful Good Paladin for use in a magic item or for corrupting into a servant of the abyss. However the soul of an evil sorcerer has far better uses for the Demon and is more likely to accept becoming a servant of the Demon itself. Values are fluid, as are uses.
A soul has a base value of 2000gp, or can be used as 100xp in powering a spell of crafting a magic item. The below modifers are added together (using real-world maths) to determine the final value of the soul.
Alignment Modifiers for Souls
These adjustments are only applied to the sale of a Soul, Omit these modifiers when calculating the value of a soul for use for any purpose.
Buyer Alignment | Soul Alignment | Lawful Good | Neutral Good | Chaotic Good | Lawful Neutral | Neutral | Chaotic Neutral | Lawful Evil | Neutral Evil | Chaotic Evil |
Lawful Evil | x1.75 | x1.5 | x2.75 | x1.25 | x1 | x0.75 | x0.25 | x1.5 | x1.25 |
Neutral Evil | x1.25 | x1.75 | x1.5 | x1.5 | x1.25 | x1.5 | x1.5 | x0.25 | x1.5 |
Chaotic Evil | x2.75 | x1.5 | x1.75 | x0.75 | x1 | x1.25 | x1.25 | x1.5 | x0.25 |
Soul Power Modifier
Groups:
A: Most NPC/Monster classes
B: Fighter/Barbarian/Rogue/Scout etc.
C: Monk/Binder/Psion/Hag
D: Wizard/Sorcerer/Druid/non-good Cleric or Paladin/Ogre Mage/Beholder, anyone with Vile feats
E: Good Cleric/Good Paladin, all Dragons, Anyone with Exalted feats
ECL/CR | Group | A | B | C | D | E |
1-3 | x0.25 | x0.5 | x0.75 | x1.25 | x1.75 |
4-6 | x0.5 | x0.75 | x1 | x1.5 | x2 |
7-9 | x0.75 | x1 | x1.25 | x1.75 | x2.25 |
10-12 | x1.25 | x1.5 | x1.75 | x2.25 | x2.75 |
13-15 | x1.75 | x2 | x2.25 | x2.75 | x3.25 |
16-18 | x2.5 | x2.75 | x3 | x3.5 | x4 |
19-20 | x3.5 | x3.75 | x4 | x4.5 | x5 |
21-25 | x5 | x5.25 | x5.5 | x6 | x6.5 |
26-30 | x7 | x7.25 | x7.5 | x8 | x8.5 |
Soul Willingness
Stolen forcefully via a spell, sacrifice or magic item or similar - Resistant
Stolen from the Fuge Plane - Unwilling
Tricked or Coorced - Uncertain
From a Pact - Neutral
Offered up willing by Cultist or similar, or anyone with Vile Feats - Willing
Soul Purity
To determine Soul purity start at Standard and then apply modifiers. Additional may be added by DMs during Character creation.
Levels:
Pure
Very High
High
Moderate
Standard
Low
Very Low
Corrupted
Modifiers:
Virgin +1
Exalted Feats +2
Celestial Template +2
Saint Template +2
Good Alignment +1
Evil Alignment -1
Corrupted, Fiendish or similar evil Template -2
Vile Feats -2
Unholy Scion -5
Any Taint score from any Taint system: -3
Willingness vs Purity Modifier
Purity | Willing | Resistant | Unwilling | Uncertain | Neutral | Willing |
Pure | x2 | x3.25 | x4.25 | x4.75 | x5 |
Very High | x1.5 | x2.75 | x3.75 | x4.25 | x4.5 |
High | x0.5 | x1.75 | x2.75 | x3.25 | x3.5 |
Moderate | -x0.5 | x0.75 | x1.75 | x2.25 | x2.5 |
Standard | -x.0.75 | x0.5 | x1.5 | x1.75 | x2 |
Low | -x0.25 | x0.1 | x0.75 | x1.25 | x1.5 |
Very Low | x0 | x1.25 | x2.25 | x2.75 | x3 |
Corrupted | x0.75 | x2.25 | x3.25 | x3.75 | x4 |
Example:
The soul of Szagg the black is sent to the Nine Hells as per a pact he made. He was a Lawful Evil level 15 Sorcerer with Vile feats.
His modifier is 2.75+2.75+3.75 = x9.25
His soul is then worth a base price of 185,000gp.
The soul of Bob the farmer, a Neutral Good level 3 commoner stolen by an evil mage as sold to the Demons of the Abyss.
His modifier is worth a base price of 1.5 + 0.25 -0.5 = x1.15
His soul is then worth a base price of 3000gp to the Demons.
When trading for souls on the market the soul is sold just as any item, so the base price is reduced by 50% in cost. (Feats and class abilities that raise this apply.)
When using a soul yourself for experience points calculate without adjustment for alignment to determine base value and divide it's base cost by 20 to determine it's XP value.
Souls as Power
Souls have several uses:
- They can be used to raise the CL of an evil spell being cast by 1 for each 10,000 (or part) of it's base value. There is a chance that casting such a spell leaves "lingering effects of evil" on the area or the caster.
- Can be used in crafting magic items, providing 1/20th of their base gp value in xp. Excess xp is wasted. The crafted Item is always Evil and has the "Lingering Effects of Evil" for items.
- Can be used to pay for xp costs in spells, providing 1/20th of their base gp value in xp. Excess xp is wasted. The resultant spell is always [EVIL] and there is a chance that casting such a spell leaves "lingering effects of evil" on the area or the caster.
- Can be used by various classes and prestige classes to power abilities.
- Can be used to charge up evil artifacts.
- Are a required component in the creation of some undead.
- Souls can be used as special spell components to generate effects. The resultant spell is always [EVIL] and there is a chance that casting such a spell leaves "lingering effects of evil" on the area or the caster.
Incarnum Harvesting
Anyone one with an Essentia pool can harvest Incarnum from a soul. As a full round action you may concentrate on the soul and siphon some of it's value into Essentia. Each 5000gp siphoned provided 1 bonus Essentia that may be invested in any manner. This bonus Essentia only lasts for 24 hours. The value of the soul is permanently decreased. Doing this is an Evil act and will almost always shift your alignment to Evil.
Necrocarnates are not harvesting the actual souls from recently dead, but residual soul energy that remains in the dead body. They may use either of the powers.
Effects of Lingering Evil
Using souls or committing gravely evil acts can warp and alter the material place. These are felt as lingering evil in an area, an object or sometimes even a person. It has a variety of effects depending on how the evil became manifest that range from cosmetic to catastrophic.
<expanding and improving on the rules in the Book of Vile Darkness>
Finding a Dealer
<Rolelpaying currently.>
Harvesting Souls
In order to be used or traded souls must be stored. Almost all methods of storing souls require magic items or magic spells, and a receptacle for the soul. Dark Altars, Soul Gems etc. are the most common method of storing souls. Demons, Hags and Devils as well as some Undead all possess the ability to harvest and store souls naturally.
To determine the value of a soul you need only concentrate on the soul's vessel for 1 minute and pass a DC 20 Concentration check.
Faustian Pacts
<currently using rules from Fiendish Codex II, will need some adjustment however.>
What about Undead and Outsiders?
Undead still possess souls. Any creature that can be raised as an undead through usual means still has it's soul. Intelligent undead have had their soul re-bound to their body, as such destroying the body of the undead releases the soul back to the Fuge plane. Mindless undead are mere animated skin and bones. As such their souls are still released, however they are stuck on the Fuge plane until such time as their animated corpse is destroyed. It is possible then for a soul to be turned into a demon or devil or return via some other means and meat it's former corpse. If a soul has transcended the petitioner state then destroying it's old corpse no longer has any effect.
Outsiders have their soul not just bound to their form, but infused with it. Their form is made from their soul. When destroyed their soul is destroyed. Powerful outsiders develop ways around this and can bring themselves back from the dead. It is also possible for a truly powerful being to create undead outsiders, though this is almost always beyond the power of mortals. To capture the soul of an outsider means capturing all of the outsider, body and soul. Demons and Devils know how to extract the soul from that point.
Truly the worst fate an angelic being can suffer is to be caught alive by Demons or Devils.
Running a Business as a Soul Trader
<DMG II Running a Business rules for a soul trader>
Demon and Devil uses for Souls
Demons and Devils both use souls for the same purposes. 1 to create more Demons and Devils in the blood wars. 2 to purchase promotions. 3 for magic magic items - usually weapons, or casting powerful spells as part of the blood war.
Creating more Demons and Devils is a simple act by using their Larvae Craft ability (see below) to create a new Larvae that will grow to become a weak Demon or Devil.
Promotion is more complex and requires a purchase agreement from whoever if the next rank above. Once a Demon or Devil has been promoted it is no longer loyal to it's master, but must still petition for promotions from it's master unless it can gain power through some other method. Masters/high ranking Demons and Devils require large costs - always in souls - to earn a promotion. It is the one promise you can be sure will be kept (though they might use loopholes to escape from the agreement, in particular Devils) as it is the foundation that keeps the Nine Hells and the Abyss functioning enough to fight their wars.
To earn a promotion a Demon or Devil typically needs to ask for the required new Demon/Devil type they seek and pay a fee of 30,000gp worth of souls per HD+CR of the new form they wish to take. Do not count class levels that may be added on. As they surrender souls the debt is automatically reduced. Upon completion of the debt they are transferred to their Master's plane and become a Larvae. in 1D3+1 per HD of the new form days they transform in the new form, ready to go anew. During this transformation all spells cast upon them are dispelled and all damage of all types is healed.
War on Soul Trading, Organisations and Powerful Beings
NPCs who Harvest Souls for non-Evil purposes