boomwolf
2009-07-10, 12:35 PM
Intro
Well, because the BOVD "Soul Eater" PrC is so disappointing, I decided to make a new one. this class is a "weak now, superweapon later" kind of class, also it erases the whole "Eat a soul-stronger for the day" concept of the soul eater, and replaces it in "eat more-grow stronger" concept, making the class a double-edged sword, while killing makes you stronger, you must kill alot just to stay alive. the first level is when more soul devourers die, when you got the hunger yet no powers, so the harvest is hard, later on your hunger gets worse-but you are capable to store many more souls, and use them in new, more destructive ways. a tenth level soul eater is expected to be a threat to entire cities by simply charging in and beginning to slaughter everyone on sight, careful planning might even make it an easy task.
Soul Devourer
"How does it feel when the souls of your allies are used to destroy you?"
-Karakin, the first Soul Devourer.
Bane of all who has a soul, they are the purest evil known to mortals, feeding on souls of others to fuel themselves, even the most vile of monsters consider the soul eater as an error who must be purged from exsistance. The more they kill the stronger they become-and the more they can kill, leading down a spiral of death and destruction, until they are killed, or until nothing is left around them to kill.
Becoming a Soul Devourer
The path to one's turning into such a monster is tricky to follow, some seek power in any means possible, others are tricked into it and then learn to love it, while most turn into this path unaware of its true nature, and then become dependent on it. (DM note-you might want to force it on level up as a soul devourer, and make "the hunger" do some "conversations" with the PC at hand, without telling him the whole truth, promising power or whatever the PC wants, and then let the PC choose if to go on this path, or go in a side-quest to remove his levels as soul devourer, letting him select new class levels.)
While it is rare, some purpose this path for the sole reason to take an especially cruel vengeance on civilization, these cases are the most dangerous ones because they tend to feed as much as possible, and not only as much as needed.
Requirements
Alignment: Any evil.
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Feats: Shinigami Eyes
Soul Devourer
Hit Dice: d10
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Soul Storage
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|The Hunger, The Harvest, Soul Claws|1
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Soul Slice|4
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Soulsense 30 ft.|9
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Soul Blast|16
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|Spirit Pressure, Soul Healing|25
6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+5|Soulsense 60 ft.|36
7th|
+7|
+5|
+52|
+5|Soul Barricade|49
8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+6|Claws of the Ripper|64
9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+6|Soulsense 90 ft.|81
10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+7|Mass Implosion|100[/table]
Class Skills (4+Int per level)
Balance, Bluff, Climb, Disguise, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight Of Hand, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble.
Soul Storage (Ex)
A Soul Eater can hold a limited number of souls, represented at his "Soul Storage" at the table above, the number represents the maximum number of souls he can store, but initially he holds none, and must fill the storage using "The Harvest", he can also use the souls in storage as raw materials for his other powers.
The Hunger (Ex)
Every Soul Devourer experiences the hunger, an inner power who forces them to forever continue the killing, even if they for some reason have a change of heart.
Each day a Soul Devourer must spend souls from his soul storage equal to his Soul Devourer level, or take that much Constitution damage that cannot be cured in any way until you spend the souls. (after that it heals normally)
The Harvest (Ex)
Whenever the Soul devourer makes a kill using natural weapons, bare hands or a Soul Devourer's class ability, if the killed creature had a soul or were a soul, then his soul storage fills in an amount equal to the HD of the killed creature, if a soul is harvested that way he cannot be returned to life unless a Wish or Miracle spell is used to restore to soul, and then he could be revived normally.
A Soul Devourer may also drain a Syrido SoulStone, discharging it and adding all charges to his own soul storage.
Soul Claws (Su)
A Soul Devourer has a claw-like attack with each hand that deals 1d4/20 x2 damage, but can only be used against creatures that has souls/are souls.
As the claws are an extension of a soul, a creature without "Eyes of the Shinigami" feat cannot see them, and unless he saw you attacking with them before he is flat footed.
Soul Slice (Su)
Whenever a 2nd level Soul Devourer makes a melee attack, before he rolls he attack he may spend a soul from his storage to gain a +1 soul bonus to attack and +1d6 soul damage. the soul bonuses only apply against creature who has a soul\are a soul.
The Soul devourer may spend more souls to increase the power of the attack, with each increase costing one soul more then the one before it(so +2/+2d6 costs 3 souls, +3/+3d6 costs 6 souls, +4/+4d6 costs 10 souls and +5/+5d6 costs 15 souls.), the power can never reach higher then +5/+5d6, and cannot suppress the level of the Soul Devourer.
Soulsense (Su)
A 3rd level Soul Devourer has the ability to sense the presence of souls within 30 ft. whether these are creature with souls or souls with no body. The Soul Devourer can tell how many souls are in range of his senses, but not their location. at level 6 it increases to 60 ft, and at level 9 to 90 ft.
If the Soul Devourer has Soulsense from another source, the range stacks. (see "soulless" in my sig)
Soul Blast (Su)
A 4th level Soul Devourer learns how to make souls implode from afar, as a standard action (no attack of opportunity) he may spend any number souls to cause soul damage to targets by the table below, this attack cannot miss, and overcomes any damage resistance. a will save (DC 10+Soul Devourer's class level+Cha modifier) will reduce the damage to half.
{table=head]Souls Spend|Damage|Range
1|1d6|10 ft.
3|2d6|20 ft.
6|3d6|30 ft.
10|4d6|40 ft.
15|5d6|50 ft.
21|6d6|60 ft.
28|7d6|70 ft.
36|8d6|80 ft.
45|9d6|90 ft.
55|10d6|100 ft.[/table]
Soul Healing (Su)
As their power grows, Soul Devourers learn how to use souls they harvest to heal themselves, a smart one in nearly impossible to kill off.
As a standard Action a 5th level Soul Devourer may spend any number of souls in order to heal 1d4+souls spent hitpoints.
Spirit Pressure (Su)
At fifth level, the power of a Soul Devourer grows that much, that every creature with a soul/who is a soul that is within the range of his soulsense ability suffers from 1 damage every round for every 2 levels of Soul Devourer he has. (2 of level 5, 3 on level 6, 4 at level 8, 5 at level 10.) this damage cannot be prevented, is not a subject to damage reduction and cannot be redirected in any way.
Furthermore, Every time such creature enters the range of the soulsense, he must make a will save (DC 10+Soul Devourer's class level+Cha modifier) or be shaken every time he enter the range, until he will save improves. a creature who makes the save needs not make it again until the DC increases.
A Soul Devourer may turn this ability off if he desires to, turning it on and off is a free action, he may also exclude certain creatures from the effect.
Soul Barricade (Su)
An 7th level Soul Devourer learns how to spend his souls to put up defensive barriers. as a free action he may spend a soul to gain +1 soul bonus to AC and all saves until end of the round. he may empower the barriers by spending additional souls, the cost doubles for each increase (2 for 2, 4 for 3, 8 for 4, 16 for 5 and so on.) the bonus can never suppress his Soul Devourer level.
Claws of the Ripper (Su)
At 8th level, the claws of the Soul Devourer grows much stronger, turning them into weapons that deal 1d6/19-20 x3 damage against creatures with souls/that are soul, critical strikes with "Claws of the Ripper" also double the damage from the "Soul Slice" ability if it is applied to the attack.
A creature without "Improved Eyes of the Shinigami" canno't tell between Claws of the Ripper to normal Soul Claws.
Mass Implosion (Su)
At tenth level a Soul Devourer reached full potential, as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity he may use his Soul Blast attack with a +2 bonus to DC against every legal target within range. The Soul Devourer may exclude any number of targets at the cost of 1 soul each.
This attack also allows spending even more souls then the Soul Blast
{table=head]Souls Spend|Damage|Range
66|11d6|110 ft.
78|12d6|120 ft.
91|13d6|130 ft.
105|14d6|140 ft.
120|15d6|150 ft.[/table]
Also, the costs for Soul Blast and Soul Slice are reduced to half. (rounded up)
Playing a Soul Devourer
You are a monster. period. and the worst kind too, you may enjoy the killing and you may not, but you still kill the in most horrible ways imaginable, you preform terrible acts of murder just to survive, and likely to do even worse to shake off the ones hunting you for feeding.
You are on a constant search for new sources of food, as they drain down quickly. and you are above all a predator, a killing machine that must feed at all costs, and while all have a similar goal, there are multiple paths to accomplish it, and a single Soul Devourer is likely to change his path of action often, not only to shake off the crusades against him, but also to gain access to new sources of food that are beyond reach with cretin methods, or to prevent a massive escape from you before you manage to feed.
Combat
While perfectly capable to stand up in hand-to-hand combat, you will rarely do so, you rather murder weaker foes who stand no chance while you are weak, and after your power grows you are capable to annihilate opposition without even making any apparent attack, or even out of range, or with no possible way to reach such as behind a stone wall. once spirit pressure becomes available you are likely to rather sap your opponent's strength from the shadows as long as you can, as it cannot be prevented and there is no defense against it it becomes especially terrifying to "squishy" yet destructive opponents.
Advancement
Your advancement is simple, find the best source of easy prey in large numbers, settle in until depleted and then repeat.
Once you reach the maximum power of a soul devourer you have two paths to walk in-stealthy hunter, or a ramping behemoth. both are viable, and you might even go into some sort of hybrid, but no matter what path you take you are likely to forever improve your spirit pressure in either reach, or intensity, as it allows you to automatically harvest souls without anyone ever being able to pinpoint who you are.
Resources
You can't expect any help from anyone, ever. even close friends and loyal minions might turn against you after a while, and strangers are likely to turn against you upon the slightest suspicion.
You work alone, with no help. irony is-everyone is a potential resource, if you can kill it-you can draw power from it. use your low-cost or free attacks to dispose of weak opponents, and use their souls as a concentrated weapon against more formidable foes.
Soul Devourers in the World
"Fifty-two dead corpses and you tell me you find no evidnce of what killed them?"
-Head of the city watch, investigating Karakin's work.
Although monsters that attract relitively mass attention when they are detected, it is likely one roams right next to you, and you have no idea.they often work in the shadows, and when they go out into public eyes, its often too late for anyone around to be a serious threat to their power.
One of the most horrifying opponents a hero might face, a one that kills the innocent not for fun, but for pure, immediate power surge to lash at the hero. but one might turn as a powerful ally, if you can turn him to fight whoever you see fit to face his horrid hunger.
Origination
The Soul Devourer walks a lonely road, even friends. allies and minions are likely to leave him, if not turn against him. and the few who stay with him face the possibility his hunger will overcome him, forcing him to slay his few friends.
Some, however take an entire different approach. knowing they fuel their powers with the very thing they need to survive a clever Soul Devourer tends to collect as many allies as possible, either by devoting his horrid powers to a noble purpose, gaining the aid of forces of good, or by recruiting others almost as evil as himself and work as a team to help each other to achieve his goals.
A truly clever Soul Devourer might realize some grater truth-not only creature with no soul cannot be used to feed the hunger and therefor has no natural fear of him except for him power, most of them also won't understand why devouring souls is so evil or might even find it amusing. this makes undead and constructs very powerful allies, and very likely to work with him, as what truly interests the Soul Devourer rarely interests them, and they rarely step on each others toes.
NPC Reaction
You better hope nobody finds out, because once somebody does its a short step until the strongest heroes of the land chase you. once the bodies start to pile its a short time until a Soul Devourer faces either death or slaying the investigators, gaining even more attention.
Rumers are always out there, but most ignore it. its the weapon of Soul Devourers that nobody believes anyone would actually do such things, but too many lifeless corpses with no visible wounds raises quite a few eyebrows and soon the legend of the Soul Devourer rises to the ears of the people, and fear strikes the streets. people do anything to insure they are not worth the trouble, and some manage quite well.
There is some other opssible reaction of course, an evil socity might offer sacrifices to appease the devourer and thous saving the rest and an evil individual in a good oriented society might offer help, or even to serve, in order to ensure his well-being.
Soul Devourer Lore
Characters with Knowledge (Religion) can research about Soul Devourers and attemt to figure out what they are, when a character succeed a check the following information is revelaed, including information form lower DC's
DC 10: Legends tell of creatures who eat souls to gain strength
DC 15:Legends are right, but these are not only monsters, these are usually normal people who took a very bad turn.
DC 20:A Soul Devourer not only eats souls, he uses them to lunch powerful attacks. once fueled up his mere presence becomes a danger.
DC 30:There are no more them 3 Soul Devourers at any given time, another may not rise until a former is slain. a new devourer is likely to rise within a month or so, but as new devourers are very weak he wont be a threat for a long time.
A character who succeed this level of check also learns about notable Soul Devoureres of the past, and rumors about the current devourers location, methods and power level.
While rumors are out there, its hard to find a Soul Devourer who hasn't come out publicly yet, but it is possible to trace the trail of lifeless bodies who seems perfectly healthy except being dead.
The best way to find a Soul Devourer is to make sure he knows you are after him, and hopes he shows up to attempt to kill you, or attempt to analyze his methods and assume where he will strike next.
Soul Devourers in the World
The next villain, a minor evil or an addition to the party are all possible and depends not only on what kind of party it is, but what kind of quests are they taking.
A combat-focused adventure might contain a Soul Devourer that isn't even evil, and a very vile party might take one in as a "feed-needy super-weapon"
As an antagonist it is likely the players will come across a few of his victim along the way, never realizing what they see, until a chain of such deaths hit their center of operations, they might turn to investigate, possibly running into the killer, or go on with their quests, only to find when they return that the devourer is now strong enough to openly fight pretty much everything the city has to throw at him and his killing rate has increased to a minimum of a couple of people every day.
Another option is to have him on the run, and the players follow the chain of bodies, hoping to find him as soon as possible, as each day means more victims.
Adaptation
Depending on the size of the setting you might want to have fewer devourers at any given time and make them take longer to rise, or make more of them if the setting is huge. an especially big setting also allows for entire organization of devourers, much like vampires.
You also might want to make the Soul Devourers the servants of a specific deity, making them feed souls to him and gain his favor in return as another fluff option.
FEATS
Shinigami Eyes
Prerequisite: May be taken only at first level, during character creation.
Benefit: You can "see" how much HD each creature you look it has. (but not what kind of dice, or how healthy is he.), also you can tell how much HD each creature you read with a "soulsense" ability has.
Improved Shinigami Eyes
Prerequisite: Shinigami Eyes
Benefit: Not only you can tell how much HD creatures have, you can tell what types of dice as well, furthermore you can see if a given creature is a Soul Devourer, and how many souls he has in his storage.
Increased Soul Storage
Prerequisite: Soul Storage
Benefit: You Soul Storage grows by a number equal to twice your Soul Devourer level.
Extended Soulsense
Prerequisite: Soulsense
Benefit: Your soulsense ability extends by 30 ft.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times, it's effect stack.
Empowered Spirit Pressure
Prerequisite: Spirit Sperruse
Benefit: The damage dealt by your Spirit Pressure ability is increased by 1.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times, it's effect stack.
Well, because the BOVD "Soul Eater" PrC is so disappointing, I decided to make a new one. this class is a "weak now, superweapon later" kind of class, also it erases the whole "Eat a soul-stronger for the day" concept of the soul eater, and replaces it in "eat more-grow stronger" concept, making the class a double-edged sword, while killing makes you stronger, you must kill alot just to stay alive. the first level is when more soul devourers die, when you got the hunger yet no powers, so the harvest is hard, later on your hunger gets worse-but you are capable to store many more souls, and use them in new, more destructive ways. a tenth level soul eater is expected to be a threat to entire cities by simply charging in and beginning to slaughter everyone on sight, careful planning might even make it an easy task.
Soul Devourer
"How does it feel when the souls of your allies are used to destroy you?"
-Karakin, the first Soul Devourer.
Bane of all who has a soul, they are the purest evil known to mortals, feeding on souls of others to fuel themselves, even the most vile of monsters consider the soul eater as an error who must be purged from exsistance. The more they kill the stronger they become-and the more they can kill, leading down a spiral of death and destruction, until they are killed, or until nothing is left around them to kill.
Becoming a Soul Devourer
The path to one's turning into such a monster is tricky to follow, some seek power in any means possible, others are tricked into it and then learn to love it, while most turn into this path unaware of its true nature, and then become dependent on it. (DM note-you might want to force it on level up as a soul devourer, and make "the hunger" do some "conversations" with the PC at hand, without telling him the whole truth, promising power or whatever the PC wants, and then let the PC choose if to go on this path, or go in a side-quest to remove his levels as soul devourer, letting him select new class levels.)
While it is rare, some purpose this path for the sole reason to take an especially cruel vengeance on civilization, these cases are the most dangerous ones because they tend to feed as much as possible, and not only as much as needed.
Requirements
Alignment: Any evil.
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Feats: Shinigami Eyes
Soul Devourer
Hit Dice: d10
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Soul Storage
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|The Hunger, The Harvest, Soul Claws|1
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Soul Slice|4
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Soulsense 30 ft.|9
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Soul Blast|16
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|Spirit Pressure, Soul Healing|25
6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+5|Soulsense 60 ft.|36
7th|
+7|
+5|
+52|
+5|Soul Barricade|49
8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+6|Claws of the Ripper|64
9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+6|Soulsense 90 ft.|81
10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+7|Mass Implosion|100[/table]
Class Skills (4+Int per level)
Balance, Bluff, Climb, Disguise, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight Of Hand, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble.
Soul Storage (Ex)
A Soul Eater can hold a limited number of souls, represented at his "Soul Storage" at the table above, the number represents the maximum number of souls he can store, but initially he holds none, and must fill the storage using "The Harvest", he can also use the souls in storage as raw materials for his other powers.
The Hunger (Ex)
Every Soul Devourer experiences the hunger, an inner power who forces them to forever continue the killing, even if they for some reason have a change of heart.
Each day a Soul Devourer must spend souls from his soul storage equal to his Soul Devourer level, or take that much Constitution damage that cannot be cured in any way until you spend the souls. (after that it heals normally)
The Harvest (Ex)
Whenever the Soul devourer makes a kill using natural weapons, bare hands or a Soul Devourer's class ability, if the killed creature had a soul or were a soul, then his soul storage fills in an amount equal to the HD of the killed creature, if a soul is harvested that way he cannot be returned to life unless a Wish or Miracle spell is used to restore to soul, and then he could be revived normally.
A Soul Devourer may also drain a Syrido SoulStone, discharging it and adding all charges to his own soul storage.
Soul Claws (Su)
A Soul Devourer has a claw-like attack with each hand that deals 1d4/20 x2 damage, but can only be used against creatures that has souls/are souls.
As the claws are an extension of a soul, a creature without "Eyes of the Shinigami" feat cannot see them, and unless he saw you attacking with them before he is flat footed.
Soul Slice (Su)
Whenever a 2nd level Soul Devourer makes a melee attack, before he rolls he attack he may spend a soul from his storage to gain a +1 soul bonus to attack and +1d6 soul damage. the soul bonuses only apply against creature who has a soul\are a soul.
The Soul devourer may spend more souls to increase the power of the attack, with each increase costing one soul more then the one before it(so +2/+2d6 costs 3 souls, +3/+3d6 costs 6 souls, +4/+4d6 costs 10 souls and +5/+5d6 costs 15 souls.), the power can never reach higher then +5/+5d6, and cannot suppress the level of the Soul Devourer.
Soulsense (Su)
A 3rd level Soul Devourer has the ability to sense the presence of souls within 30 ft. whether these are creature with souls or souls with no body. The Soul Devourer can tell how many souls are in range of his senses, but not their location. at level 6 it increases to 60 ft, and at level 9 to 90 ft.
If the Soul Devourer has Soulsense from another source, the range stacks. (see "soulless" in my sig)
Soul Blast (Su)
A 4th level Soul Devourer learns how to make souls implode from afar, as a standard action (no attack of opportunity) he may spend any number souls to cause soul damage to targets by the table below, this attack cannot miss, and overcomes any damage resistance. a will save (DC 10+Soul Devourer's class level+Cha modifier) will reduce the damage to half.
{table=head]Souls Spend|Damage|Range
1|1d6|10 ft.
3|2d6|20 ft.
6|3d6|30 ft.
10|4d6|40 ft.
15|5d6|50 ft.
21|6d6|60 ft.
28|7d6|70 ft.
36|8d6|80 ft.
45|9d6|90 ft.
55|10d6|100 ft.[/table]
Soul Healing (Su)
As their power grows, Soul Devourers learn how to use souls they harvest to heal themselves, a smart one in nearly impossible to kill off.
As a standard Action a 5th level Soul Devourer may spend any number of souls in order to heal 1d4+souls spent hitpoints.
Spirit Pressure (Su)
At fifth level, the power of a Soul Devourer grows that much, that every creature with a soul/who is a soul that is within the range of his soulsense ability suffers from 1 damage every round for every 2 levels of Soul Devourer he has. (2 of level 5, 3 on level 6, 4 at level 8, 5 at level 10.) this damage cannot be prevented, is not a subject to damage reduction and cannot be redirected in any way.
Furthermore, Every time such creature enters the range of the soulsense, he must make a will save (DC 10+Soul Devourer's class level+Cha modifier) or be shaken every time he enter the range, until he will save improves. a creature who makes the save needs not make it again until the DC increases.
A Soul Devourer may turn this ability off if he desires to, turning it on and off is a free action, he may also exclude certain creatures from the effect.
Soul Barricade (Su)
An 7th level Soul Devourer learns how to spend his souls to put up defensive barriers. as a free action he may spend a soul to gain +1 soul bonus to AC and all saves until end of the round. he may empower the barriers by spending additional souls, the cost doubles for each increase (2 for 2, 4 for 3, 8 for 4, 16 for 5 and so on.) the bonus can never suppress his Soul Devourer level.
Claws of the Ripper (Su)
At 8th level, the claws of the Soul Devourer grows much stronger, turning them into weapons that deal 1d6/19-20 x3 damage against creatures with souls/that are soul, critical strikes with "Claws of the Ripper" also double the damage from the "Soul Slice" ability if it is applied to the attack.
A creature without "Improved Eyes of the Shinigami" canno't tell between Claws of the Ripper to normal Soul Claws.
Mass Implosion (Su)
At tenth level a Soul Devourer reached full potential, as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity he may use his Soul Blast attack with a +2 bonus to DC against every legal target within range. The Soul Devourer may exclude any number of targets at the cost of 1 soul each.
This attack also allows spending even more souls then the Soul Blast
{table=head]Souls Spend|Damage|Range
66|11d6|110 ft.
78|12d6|120 ft.
91|13d6|130 ft.
105|14d6|140 ft.
120|15d6|150 ft.[/table]
Also, the costs for Soul Blast and Soul Slice are reduced to half. (rounded up)
Playing a Soul Devourer
You are a monster. period. and the worst kind too, you may enjoy the killing and you may not, but you still kill the in most horrible ways imaginable, you preform terrible acts of murder just to survive, and likely to do even worse to shake off the ones hunting you for feeding.
You are on a constant search for new sources of food, as they drain down quickly. and you are above all a predator, a killing machine that must feed at all costs, and while all have a similar goal, there are multiple paths to accomplish it, and a single Soul Devourer is likely to change his path of action often, not only to shake off the crusades against him, but also to gain access to new sources of food that are beyond reach with cretin methods, or to prevent a massive escape from you before you manage to feed.
Combat
While perfectly capable to stand up in hand-to-hand combat, you will rarely do so, you rather murder weaker foes who stand no chance while you are weak, and after your power grows you are capable to annihilate opposition without even making any apparent attack, or even out of range, or with no possible way to reach such as behind a stone wall. once spirit pressure becomes available you are likely to rather sap your opponent's strength from the shadows as long as you can, as it cannot be prevented and there is no defense against it it becomes especially terrifying to "squishy" yet destructive opponents.
Advancement
Your advancement is simple, find the best source of easy prey in large numbers, settle in until depleted and then repeat.
Once you reach the maximum power of a soul devourer you have two paths to walk in-stealthy hunter, or a ramping behemoth. both are viable, and you might even go into some sort of hybrid, but no matter what path you take you are likely to forever improve your spirit pressure in either reach, or intensity, as it allows you to automatically harvest souls without anyone ever being able to pinpoint who you are.
Resources
You can't expect any help from anyone, ever. even close friends and loyal minions might turn against you after a while, and strangers are likely to turn against you upon the slightest suspicion.
You work alone, with no help. irony is-everyone is a potential resource, if you can kill it-you can draw power from it. use your low-cost or free attacks to dispose of weak opponents, and use their souls as a concentrated weapon against more formidable foes.
Soul Devourers in the World
"Fifty-two dead corpses and you tell me you find no evidnce of what killed them?"
-Head of the city watch, investigating Karakin's work.
Although monsters that attract relitively mass attention when they are detected, it is likely one roams right next to you, and you have no idea.they often work in the shadows, and when they go out into public eyes, its often too late for anyone around to be a serious threat to their power.
One of the most horrifying opponents a hero might face, a one that kills the innocent not for fun, but for pure, immediate power surge to lash at the hero. but one might turn as a powerful ally, if you can turn him to fight whoever you see fit to face his horrid hunger.
Origination
The Soul Devourer walks a lonely road, even friends. allies and minions are likely to leave him, if not turn against him. and the few who stay with him face the possibility his hunger will overcome him, forcing him to slay his few friends.
Some, however take an entire different approach. knowing they fuel their powers with the very thing they need to survive a clever Soul Devourer tends to collect as many allies as possible, either by devoting his horrid powers to a noble purpose, gaining the aid of forces of good, or by recruiting others almost as evil as himself and work as a team to help each other to achieve his goals.
A truly clever Soul Devourer might realize some grater truth-not only creature with no soul cannot be used to feed the hunger and therefor has no natural fear of him except for him power, most of them also won't understand why devouring souls is so evil or might even find it amusing. this makes undead and constructs very powerful allies, and very likely to work with him, as what truly interests the Soul Devourer rarely interests them, and they rarely step on each others toes.
NPC Reaction
You better hope nobody finds out, because once somebody does its a short step until the strongest heroes of the land chase you. once the bodies start to pile its a short time until a Soul Devourer faces either death or slaying the investigators, gaining even more attention.
Rumers are always out there, but most ignore it. its the weapon of Soul Devourers that nobody believes anyone would actually do such things, but too many lifeless corpses with no visible wounds raises quite a few eyebrows and soon the legend of the Soul Devourer rises to the ears of the people, and fear strikes the streets. people do anything to insure they are not worth the trouble, and some manage quite well.
There is some other opssible reaction of course, an evil socity might offer sacrifices to appease the devourer and thous saving the rest and an evil individual in a good oriented society might offer help, or even to serve, in order to ensure his well-being.
Soul Devourer Lore
Characters with Knowledge (Religion) can research about Soul Devourers and attemt to figure out what they are, when a character succeed a check the following information is revelaed, including information form lower DC's
DC 10: Legends tell of creatures who eat souls to gain strength
DC 15:Legends are right, but these are not only monsters, these are usually normal people who took a very bad turn.
DC 20:A Soul Devourer not only eats souls, he uses them to lunch powerful attacks. once fueled up his mere presence becomes a danger.
DC 30:There are no more them 3 Soul Devourers at any given time, another may not rise until a former is slain. a new devourer is likely to rise within a month or so, but as new devourers are very weak he wont be a threat for a long time.
A character who succeed this level of check also learns about notable Soul Devoureres of the past, and rumors about the current devourers location, methods and power level.
While rumors are out there, its hard to find a Soul Devourer who hasn't come out publicly yet, but it is possible to trace the trail of lifeless bodies who seems perfectly healthy except being dead.
The best way to find a Soul Devourer is to make sure he knows you are after him, and hopes he shows up to attempt to kill you, or attempt to analyze his methods and assume where he will strike next.
Soul Devourers in the World
The next villain, a minor evil or an addition to the party are all possible and depends not only on what kind of party it is, but what kind of quests are they taking.
A combat-focused adventure might contain a Soul Devourer that isn't even evil, and a very vile party might take one in as a "feed-needy super-weapon"
As an antagonist it is likely the players will come across a few of his victim along the way, never realizing what they see, until a chain of such deaths hit their center of operations, they might turn to investigate, possibly running into the killer, or go on with their quests, only to find when they return that the devourer is now strong enough to openly fight pretty much everything the city has to throw at him and his killing rate has increased to a minimum of a couple of people every day.
Another option is to have him on the run, and the players follow the chain of bodies, hoping to find him as soon as possible, as each day means more victims.
Adaptation
Depending on the size of the setting you might want to have fewer devourers at any given time and make them take longer to rise, or make more of them if the setting is huge. an especially big setting also allows for entire organization of devourers, much like vampires.
You also might want to make the Soul Devourers the servants of a specific deity, making them feed souls to him and gain his favor in return as another fluff option.
FEATS
Shinigami Eyes
Prerequisite: May be taken only at first level, during character creation.
Benefit: You can "see" how much HD each creature you look it has. (but not what kind of dice, or how healthy is he.), also you can tell how much HD each creature you read with a "soulsense" ability has.
Improved Shinigami Eyes
Prerequisite: Shinigami Eyes
Benefit: Not only you can tell how much HD creatures have, you can tell what types of dice as well, furthermore you can see if a given creature is a Soul Devourer, and how many souls he has in his storage.
Increased Soul Storage
Prerequisite: Soul Storage
Benefit: You Soul Storage grows by a number equal to twice your Soul Devourer level.
Extended Soulsense
Prerequisite: Soulsense
Benefit: Your soulsense ability extends by 30 ft.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times, it's effect stack.
Empowered Spirit Pressure
Prerequisite: Spirit Sperruse
Benefit: The damage dealt by your Spirit Pressure ability is increased by 1.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times, it's effect stack.