Soul - Lose it, get it back.

Adahn · Post by **Adahn** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 3:00 pm

How exactly does one do that anyway? If a sentient weapon such a sword has the capacity to remove the soul of whoever it cleaves, would that person die instantly without their soul? Or would the character in question continue to live? And if that character did live, how can he get his soul back? Is there any way to do that? I mean... is there like a spell which can return your immortal soul back to your body? I'm curious because I have a huge D&D session with my friends and we were talking about having one of their characters getting his soul sucked out by a sword. Kind of like Frostmourn in Warcraft III if anyone played it ^^() If anyone has any info on this I'd be very appreciative hehe.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 3:57 pm

I'd say that it depends on what happends to the soul.

IIRC there is a gem of some sort that can steal a opponents soul and store it in itself. The body becomes useless but alive, or in the case of this stone, the user takes possesion of the body and leaves his own useless untill the spell ends.

If the soul is destroyd, the person dies. Don't think they can be ressurected then.

In your case, I'd say that his friends would have to save him. Perhaps the sowrd holds the soul. Or, he could steal part of his soul leaving him as half a man with the quest to regain him full soul.

Kind of depends what you make of it as a DM. I haven't played Warcraft so I don't know what your take would be exactly.

Darfuria · Post by **Darfuria** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 4:26 pm

You could treat it as if the character was under the affect of a trap the soul spell. Players Hand Book. Wizard 8 or 9.. I forget... I believe it's 9th.

Or perhaps detail the sword more so that it collects souls, and for each certain number of souls (10, 30, 60, 100, 150.. for example) the weapon gains an extra modifier. The only way to release the souls and return them back to the body is to destroy the sword.

The Great Hairy · Post by **The Great Hairy** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 5:07 pm

Check out the Magic Jar spell as well. That works in a similar way.

Like Rob-hin said, it is dependant on what happens to the soul. Look at the 1st Ed Tomb of Horrors module, where the demi-lich sucks out the souls of the PCs and consumes them. Or the sword Blackrazor from White Plume Mountain - it also consumes the souls of those it hits on a natural 20 to hit roll.

Note that a Wish spell can bring someone back even if their soul is destroyed - it restores the soul.

Cheers,
TGHO

Adahn · Post by **Adahn** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:27 am

Well the story would basically be : PC1 has a soul stealing blade, which instantly removes the soul of any living creature it hits. Now since the blade was forged for PC1 he keeps his soul because he's the only one who can weild the blade. Problem is, PC2 finds the sword, and when he touches it, his soul is taken away. PC 1 & PC2 are friends, but PC1 dosn't acctually know how to release a soul from the blade, since the sword itself is a sentient being of terrible apetite. So how can he get the soul out? Would there be a confrontation with the blade itself? Would he need to destroy it? Or what? Because PC1 would very much like to keep the sword, since it grants a special modifier every 20 souls.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:53 am

It seems to me like you worked most of it ou yourself.
There are no rules covering this so I'd say that you can make up your own as they suit you.

This is d&d after all so creativity is important.

Some idea's might be:
- Seek out it's creator
- Make a deal with the sword
- PC 1 has to be absorbed into the sword somehow

You can create entire sub-quests based on it and let them find the sollution that way.

Darfuria · Post by **Darfuria** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:59 pm

Alternativly you could get a lot of character to plane travel to the plane where the characters souls are, whether at Hel's gate or whatever. The plane of their diety. Destory the planes guardian (Garm, Cerberus) whatever and get the souls back.

Evolving plots and character is always a great thing to do in D&D no matter what the situation, so just make it up, maybe as you go along and either way it will probably make the campaign all the more entertaining.

I still laugh at the fact that a whole party of mine (8 of them) got killed by Kobolds, even though I spent ages rolling and writing them all up. And all the various 1st level chrs that have fumbled and hit other characters causing critical hits and stuff. It's just things to laugh at!

Adahn · Post by **Adahn** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:35 pm

Alright, I got a what if, What if, the souls the sword takes aren't kept inside the sword, but sent to a small pocket plane in hell or the Abyss. Now, PC1 is a powerful pc, but he'd obviously need help in braving one of the many layers of the Abyss. Is that good? But then how exactly will the souls be freed? I mean, will there be a guardian or what should I do? Because I want to make it as hard as I possibly can, though well within the limit of fantasy-realism. Since after all, getting a soul back, isn't supposed to be a walk in the park.

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:59 pm

How about this:

The sword's "personality" is actually a powerful wizard/demon/something else nasty, that was sealed within the pocket realm and the only gateway is the sword. The bad guy has developed some way to harness the sword to take souls to be his slaves in his lttle realm. They could be building his castle, in the harems, whatever... so the PCs must find all of this out through sages or watever and then develop a way to enter that realm, Gate, wish, that sort of thing. Then defeat the bad guy and free all the souls. WHen the bad guy dies, all the souls go bad to the bodies if they are intact, or the afterlife if theay are not and any living creatures are dumped out where the sword was last.

Adahn · Post by **Adahn** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:24 pm

That's perfect ^.^ Thanks Jopperm I'll start working on the campaign right now ^-^ All of you thanks, if I have any more developments I'll post them here.

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:55 pm

No problem.. Let me know how it goes.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:56 pm

Side note:

You mentioned that they would like to keep the sword but killing that wizard would render it useless... or at least that specific ability.

I do like the conflict that bring up though!

The Great Hairy · Post by **The Great Hairy** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:36 pm

I'd definitely have the sword destroyed if the creature/wizard is slain. Maybe some negotiation on the PC's behalf could free his friends soul and keep the rest?

Note that this is technically a very evil sword, for it to be doing this... And I was going to suggest pretty much exactly what Rob-hin came up with. Good idea overall, I reckon!

Cheers,
TGHO

Adahn · Post by **Adahn** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:03 pm

See the problem in question is that PC1 - who's name is Aenur - is technically a Lawful Evil vilain, and PC2 is his wife, Aara - Chaotic Good. They're so madly in love that it's what makes them stay together despite having nothing in comon besides both being warriors, (and both having incredible sex drive hehe) Now that's just it, the sword in question is Aenur's, it's power comes from the souls it takes, so if the evil demon/wizard is killed, the sword becomes useless, but he saves the soul of the woman he loves.

What's more, I worked it in that he's going to go it alone, but the other members of the rping team will join up as he travels through the cold north to get to Cormyr, there he'll find a wizard who'll gate him to Sigil, and from Sigil to the 113th layer of the Abyss, to face off Demogorgon. I also put in a deadline, saying that Aara is so beautiful, that the demon would use her for his own personal pleasure, so this will drive Aenur mad and murderous enough where a confrontation will be inevitable.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:25 pm

[QUOTE=Adahn]See the problem in question is that PC1 - who's name is Aenur - is technically a Lawful Evil vilain, and PC2 is his wife, Aara - Chaotic Good. They're so madly in love that it's what makes them stay together despite having nothing in comon besides both being warriors, (and both having incredible sex drive hehe) Now that's just it, the sword in question is Aenur's, it's power comes from the souls it takes, so if the evil demon/wizard is killed, the sword becomes useless, but he saves the soul of the woman he loves.

What's more, I worked it in that he's going to go it alone, but the other members of the rping team will join up as he travels through the cold north to get to Cormyr, there he'll find a wizard who'll gate him to Sigil, and from Sigil to the 113th layer of the Abyss, to face off Demogorgon. I also put in a deadline, saying that Aara is so beautiful, that the demon would use her for his own personal pleasure, so this will drive Aenur mad and murderous enough where a confrontation will be inevitable.[/QUOTE]

Maybe Aenur can have Good-aligned tendencies, and visa-versa for his wife?

Adahn · Post by **Adahn** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:38 pm

Well, Aenur is a character who dosn't really believe in goodness, he's the "Anti-Paladin" so basically he still upholds honor, pride and a set of codes such as "No women, no children" or never killing someone in cold blood and such. That's about as good as he gets. And Aara, the worse she ever did was butcher her step father, but she had her reasons. Anyway, that's not really the point, what I meant was, that this is the grandest show of love Aenur will ever prove to all those who were witnesses, that his love is indeed, undying.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:38 pm

I was under the impression that it was a side quest but it's rather long.
Do all players get to play? You don't want anyone to sit around.

And who plays Aara, the DM or a player? You mentioned her being a player's character...

edit:
how about a forced choice between her and the sword.
If you don't want he to loose the sword and he picks Aara, then you can still let him retrieve his sword another way. Perhaps it alters the sword or the held wizard. Or something.

Adahn · Post by **Adahn** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:44 pm

Well my friend plays Aenur (Fey'Ri Blackguard) - though he's originally my creation. Another friend plays Aara (Wood Elf Ranger), then there's a couple of other characters, Reika (Halfing Shadow Thief) and Etheric (Human Fighter/Cleric). So yeah they all get to play ^^ Since the two others will join Aenur in his quest at the last minute, basically after he leaves for Sigil they'll join him before he enters the portal to the Abyss.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:46 pm

Adahn wrote:Well, Aenur is a character who dosn't really believe in goodness, he's the "Anti-Paladin" so basically he still upholds honor, pride and a set of codes such as "No women, no children" or never killing someone in cold blood and such. That's about as good as he gets. And Aara, the worse she ever did was butcher her step father, but she had her reasons.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about.

Anyway, that's not really the point, what I meant was, that this is the grandest show of love Aenur will ever prove to all those who were witnesses, that his love is indeed, undying.

Sounds like a plan to me.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:34 pm

[QUOTE=Adahn]Well my friend plays Aenur (Fey'Ri Blackguard) - though he's originally my creation. Another friend plays Aara (Wood Elf Ranger), then there's a couple of other characters, Reika (Halfing Shadow Thief) and Etheric (Human Fighter/Cleric). So yeah they all get to play ^^ Since the two others will join Aenur in his quest at the last minute, basically after he leaves for Sigil they'll join him before he enters the portal to the Abyss.[/QUOTE]

So the player will play Araa through the games soulless?