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Lysander
2009-07-26, 10:39 PM
Legend tells of those who sought immortality by removing their soul and storing it for safe keeping in an egg. While the egg is intact they will never die, but if it ever breaks they perish instantly.

Soul in an Egg

Transfering a soul to an egg is a complex process that requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat. A magician can transfer their own soul, or transfer the soul of a willing participant. The participant must agree to the spell of their own volition without any mind controlling magic or blackmail, and must fully understand what the ritual will do.

The ritual requires 1,000xp from the caster and 4,000xp from the participant, as well as materials costing 50,000gp. The caster and subject must have respective caster and character levels of 10 or higher. It also requires an ordinary egg that becomes a magical item with a caster level equal to that of its creator.

Attributes
A Soul in an Egg retains all class abilities and physical characteristics they had previously, but gains the following traits:

Undying
A Soul in an Egg immediately stops aging. They suffer no further penalties and will never die of natural causes. They are still a living creature however, and retain all their old biological needs.

Unlimited Negative Health
Getting knocked below 0 health still knocks them unconscious but will not kill them, and they instantly stabilize at negative health. There is no limit to how much negative health a Soul in an Egg can reach without dying. Even if a Soul in an Egg is disintegrated to dust or chopped into tiny pieces they will not die, though they will be immobile and unconscious.

Natural healing is impossible if they have less than -9 hp, but magical healing can close horrendous wounds, restart still hearts, and merge pieces or powder of the person back together. If a large amount of their mass or an entire body part is missing it will take Regenerate to restore the missing portions. If their head is still intact that portion must be used to regenerate them.

Only an effect that destroys every molecule of a person's body like a Sphere of Annihilation can kill the body of someone with their soul in an egg. If they are killed this way the egg shatters.

Fast Healing
Whenever the person is at negative health they gain 1 hitpoint per minute. If their body parts are separated each individual part will heal on its own, and a severed head can reach 0hp and achieve consciousness and speak though it will not heal past that point. This healing will fail to work if they are disintegrated, cremated, or utterly destroyed in a similar way.

Remote Soul
Spells that revive the dead like Raise Dead, True Resurrection, or Reincarnate cannot work on the subject. They likewise cannot be turned into an undead creature or golem, have levels drained, nor can their soul be trapped with spells like Soul Bind.

The Egg

The egg that prevents them from dying is a major vulnerability. It has hardness 1 and 1 hitpoint, and can shatter even if dropped on stone from waist height. The egg never rots or hatches, and though as heavy and strong as a regular egg is actually hollow.

If the egg is ever cracked, even slightly, person instantly dies with no save. This also occurs is the egg is disjuncted. The egg cannot be a second type of magical item, nor can it be targeted with any spell other than divinations, so no magical way to make it stronger exists. Magic can be used to protect or house it however, and it is still vulnerable to area of effect spells.

The egg must also remain on the same plane as the person's body at all times or the person will enter a coma until the two share the same plane again. This does not apply to spells like Astral Projection that don't move the person's body.

Anyone holding the egg can read the person's mind, as Detect Thoughts, no matter where they are and with no will save. This can be used by careful allies or exploited by enemies.

If the egg is destroyed the target still can never be resurrected, though their soul is not destroyed and exists in the afterlife.

quick_comment
2009-07-26, 10:51 PM
Easy. You surround the egg with hardened adamantium and bury on a plane with the dead magic trait. Very few things can scratch hardened adamantium without any magic.

AstralFire
2009-07-26, 10:54 PM
Require it to be on the same plane of existence as the creator at all times, then?

Or make one of those silver cords appear out the back of their body if they're on another plane, easily targetable and breaks from a stiff wind, immediately killing them? (Make it a golden cord that looks like yolk?)

DracoDei
2009-07-26, 11:41 PM
Well, the block of Adamintine should be as easy to get off the plane as it was to get on it... how do you even travel to a plane with a dead magic trait anyway?

All in all, this seems to be better than Lich-dom in most respect.

arguskos
2009-07-27, 02:35 AM
All in all, this seems to be better than Lich-dom in most respect.
Not true, since a Soul in an Egg doesn't regenerate a new body if they get disintegrated, unlike a lich, which grows a new body if theirs is destroyed.

I do love it though.

Omegonthesane
2009-07-27, 04:45 AM
Not true, since a Soul in an Egg doesn't regenerate a new body if they get disintegrated, unlike a lich, which grows a new body if theirs is destroyed.

I do love it though.

Plus, Liches get a whole bunch of immunities, stat bonuses, and maybe a few superpowers too, whereas Soul in an Egg just becomes difficult to keep dead if you don't know where the egg is.

Mining monk
2009-07-27, 05:01 AM
Well, the block of Adamintine should be as easy to get off the plane as it was to get on it... how do you even travel to a plane with a dead magic trait anyway?

All in all, this seems to be better than Lich-dom in most respect.

Gate?

Private Demiplane that you can change the traits of?

Just my thoughts.

I like the Template though.

What happens if you serve the eggman egg salad?

Owrtho
2009-07-27, 08:26 AM
So, is the egg dead? Because if not it would be entertaining if it started to hatch.

Owrtho

The Dark Fiddler
2009-07-27, 08:34 AM
So, is the egg dead? Because if not it would be entertaining if it started to hatch.

Owrtho

In the same vein, does the egg rot?

Lysander
2009-07-27, 08:35 AM
Require it to be on the same plane of existence as the creator at all times, then?


Good idea. I added this to the limitations:

The egg must remain on the same plane as the person's body at all times or the person will enter a coma until the two share the same plane again. This does not apply to spells like Astral Projection that don't move the person's body.




All in all, this seems to be better than Lich-dom in most respect.

The main advantage of being a Soul in an Egg is that you are alive and unaging, as opposed to being an undead monstrosity. It's immortality instead of undeath. Pretty great if you live a peaceful life and just want to stay young forever. The other advantage is that you don't need to be a wizard to become one, you just need to know a magician willing to spend 1,000xp on your behalf.

Liches are definitely more powerful, and getting a new body is far better than the pieces of your body continuing to live (which can really be a fate worse than death in some cases). Especially if your allies can't find those pieces, since true resurrection won't work.

How to protect it is tricky. I mean, as tempting as encasing the egg in adamantium is - how do you get the adamantium on? The egg will shatter if you pour molten metal on it. And you probably want whatever it's in to have a lot of padding - doesn't help to encase it in something impervious if you can still bang it against a wall to break it. So maybe you could store it inside a padded magical adamantium chest, and then put the chest somewhere really safe. But there would still be an ordinary vulnerable egg inside all your defenses.

Lysander
2009-07-27, 08:50 AM
In the same vein, does the egg rot?

No, the egg doesn't hatch or rot mainly because past the egg shell there's no egg. Their soul is inside.

The Dark Fiddler
2009-07-27, 09:03 AM
Ah, that makes sense. Ok then.

So as long as you keep the Egg safe, you're immortal. Completely. But after the egg is gone, you die forever?

Seems like the type of thing someone would build a huge tomb for, construct traps... but you might not be able to employ monsters, as they might try to eat it (even if it's not an egg beyond the shell).

It does sound interesting though. Better hope there's no rats or earthquakes though. :smallamused:

Athaniar
2009-07-27, 09:03 AM
Based on Koschei the Deathless? Although I'd call him a regular lich with a weird taste in phylactery protection.

Owrtho
2009-07-27, 09:08 AM
That would be too risky. What you would really want to do is start collecting the equivalent of Fabergé egg for your would and hide it among them in your home. Then you could have all kinds of strong security and it wouldn't seem out of place. Though you would want to be careful about thieves taking it on accident.
Also, how do you get rid of the insides of the egg? I assume you start with an intact one, so is emptying it part of the ritual?

Owrtho

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-07-27, 10:05 AM
What you would really want to do is start collecting the equivalent of Fabergé egg for your would and hide it among them in your home.

Combine that with Russian dolls and you have a good protection suite, actually--even if they find your egg, the container looks just like another fake egg, and if every single egg they open has another 3 or 4 eggs inside, they'd either give up (you win!) or try to fireball the place (and area effects are easier to guard against).

Lysander
2009-07-27, 11:24 AM
Combine that with Russian dolls and you have a good protection suite, actually--even if they find your egg, the container looks just like another fake egg, and if every single egg they open has another 3 or 4 eggs inside, they'd either give up (you win!) or try to fireball the place (and area effects are easier to guard against).

You'd have to make sure whatever is around it is really not valuable at all. Personally, I'd put it in a heavily padded locked adamantium chest, bury the chest very deep, brick up the ground above, and put the midden heap on top. There would be no way for a casual thief to reach it, nor would they want to.

If I was really paranoid and thought a clever thief might realize this was a ruse, I might do all that but also bury a treasure chest a few feet above it. That way any thief that dug through the festering garbage, broke through the brick floor, and started digging would think they found what the midden heap was hiding.

Ideally the chest would also be encased in walls of force underground, but once you start using magic to guard the chest then Detect Magic might give away its position. It might actually be better to only use clever construction.

OOTS2ness
2009-07-27, 11:26 AM
any cheats?

jagadaishio
2009-07-27, 11:31 AM
I would wrap it in the softest material in the multiverse, cover that in a shell of obdurium, put it inside of a portable hole, put the folded-up portable hold inside of the secret hatch of a non-magical adamantium chest with no lock or hinge, fill it with a small fortune of gems (to throw them off of the paper-thin secret compartment in the base), shrink the chest, put it on a chain, and make it the weakest cursed necklace ever (the only curse being that it can't be removed). Then some sovereign glue, a force effect protecting it, a cheap intelligence and a command word greater-dispel that the intelligence is constantly readying an action to use as a counterspell if anyone targets the necklace with an effect. Oh, and alloy in some living metal in all of the metal parts of this shebangbang. That's how I would protect the egg.

It would be much less safe if you included a no-extradimensional (but same plane) spaces. You may want to do this if you want to keep the egg vulnerable.

Lysander
2009-07-27, 11:42 AM
I would wrap it in the softest material in the multiverse, cover that in a shell of obdurium, put it inside of a portable hole, put the folded-up portable hold inside of the secret hatch of a non-magical adamantium chest with no lock or hinge, fill it with a small fortune of gems (to throw them off of the paper-thin secret compartment in the base), shrink the chest, put it on a chain, and make it the weakest cursed necklace ever (the only curse being that it can't be removed). Then some sovereign glue, a force effect protecting it, a cheap intelligence and a command word greater-dispel that the intelligence is constantly readying an action to use as a counterspell if anyone targets the necklace with an effect. Oh, and alloy in some living metal in all of the metal parts of this shebangbang. That's how I would protect the egg.

It would be much less safe if you included a no-extradimensional (but same plane) spaces. You may want to do this if you want to keep the egg vulnerable.

The egg has to remain on the same plane or the person enters a coma. Since a portable hole or a bag of holding is extradimensional space putting the egg in one would knock out the person for as long as its inside. Otherwise its a good plan.

But not everyone who undergoes the ritual is a magician. So non-casters might not have that many magical resources to protect it.

jagadaishio
2009-07-27, 12:54 PM
The egg has to remain on the same plane or the person enters a coma. Since a portable hole or a bag of holding is extradimensional space putting the egg in one would knock out the person for as long as its inside. Otherwise its a good plan.

But not everyone who undergoes the ritual is a magician. So non-casters might not have that many magical resources to protect it.

Actually, isn't an extradimensional space not its own demiplane but, rather, a warped pocket space existing as an extension of a given plane?

As for a person not having those kinds of resources, that's silly nonsense. If they have 50,000 gold to spend on the ritual and a spellcaster friend both powerful enough and willing to spend 1,000 of their own hard-earned experience points, they most certainly have access to all manner of amazing equipment and spells; whether those spells are cast by them, a friend, or from a magic item doesn't really matter. Don't neglect the fact that the person undergoing this ritual must be at least fifth level and one of the wealthiest people in society.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-07-27, 12:57 PM
Actually, isn't an extradimensional space not its own demiplane but, rather, a warped pocket space existing as an extension of a given plane?

It isn't its own demiplane per se, but it is explicitly apart from other planes, hence being extra-dimensional. Effects that rely on being on the same plane don't count extradimensional spaces as part of the same plane.

dethkruzer
2009-07-27, 01:07 PM
Here's what i would do:

Take a small padded adamantine box, put the egg inside it, close it up with a length of adamantine chain and a dozen locksm, surrond the bulk of chain and locks with a permanent barrier of force (epic magic if necesary).

After this the bulk is put into another box of adamantine, which is then dipped into molten adamantine to more or less permanently seal it.

After this the layering of force and adamantine are repeated several times.

Once you either get bored or see that the egg is protected well enough, create a permanent vacuum field around the adamantine and force.

Now the container should basicly be almost indestructable and completely immune to change in temeprature, once all this is done use an epic teleport spell to transport the egg and all the junk surronding it into the core of the sun.

quick_comment
2009-07-27, 01:31 PM
If you are going to use epic spells, you might as well just make an epic polymorph spells that transforms it into a speck of ultrahardened obdurium.

Owrtho
2009-07-27, 01:37 PM
It says in first post that the egg can't be the target of non-divination spells.

Owrtho

quick_comment
2009-07-27, 01:42 PM
It says in first post that the egg can't be the target of non-divination spells.

Owrtho

You can get around that really, really easily with epic spells.

Not only can you make an epic divination spell that has polymorphing effects, you can also make an epic transmutation spell that explicitly ignore the egg's immunity.

Thrawn183
2009-07-27, 02:16 PM
What about spells that affect your soul like...Trap the Soul? Are you immune?

Lysander
2009-07-27, 03:26 PM
You can get around that really, really easily with epic spells.

Not only can you make an epic divination spell that has polymorphing effects, you can also make an epic transmutation spell that explicitly ignore the egg's immunity.

But once you do that it's no longer an egg, and the person dies. Molecular rearrangement is a sort of minuscule cracking on a mass scale.

@Thrawn183

No, the person's soul can't be trapped. It's already in the egg.

quick_comment
2009-07-27, 03:48 PM
But once you do that it's no longer an egg, and the person dies. Molecular rearrangement is a sort of minuscule cracking on a mass scale.

@Thrawn183

No, the person's soul can't be trapped. It's already in the egg.

You can make an epic spell that turns it into a hardened obdurium egg. Its still an egg.

AstralFire
2009-07-27, 03:51 PM
It's clear the OP's intent here, and easy enough to add a caveat that if it is somehow directly affected by epic magic (which has to touch it to directly effect it), then the egg shatters anyway. Or something similar.

It's very hard to RAW-OP something like this when the creator's right on the thread. :D

Mewtarthio
2009-07-27, 03:52 PM
Yeah, that definitely makes this template overpowered. Seriously, epic magic is carefully balanced to avoid becoming too strong, and the soul-inna-egg is the first thing I've ever seen that disrupts that balance. :smalltongue:

Kiren
2009-07-27, 10:29 PM
Couldn't you turn your phylactery into a speck of ultra hardened obdurium too? If so then epic magic has already been disrupted from being balanced, while your at it drop the speck in the hottest desert in your setting.

Edit: Or was the carefully balanced epic magic sarcastic?

Lysander
2009-07-27, 11:52 PM
Maybe I need to word this better. The idea is that no matter what you do, the egg remains an egg and is easily broken. You can guard the egg, lock it in a chest, build a fortress to protect it, hide it in a deep crypt, encase it in a magic diamond mountain guarded by cyborg dragons, whatever, but its impossible to change the egg to make it tougher.

Any ideas how to achieve this affect?

AstralFire
2009-07-27, 11:57 PM
Maybe I need to word this better. The idea is that no matter what you do, the egg remains an egg and is easily broken. You can guard the egg, lock it in a chest, build a fortress to protect it, hide it in a deep crypt, encase it in a magic diamond mountain guarded by cyborg dragons, whatever, but its impossible to change the egg to make it tougher.

Any ideas how to achieve this affect?

Epic magic is broken and is the only way to circumvent it. Everyone I respect who plays at Epic levels has highly specially developed homerules to make sense of it (eg Belial). I wouldn't worry about it.

Mining monk
2009-07-28, 05:44 AM
So, is the egg dead? Because if not it would be entertaining if it started to hatch.

Owrtho

That gives me ideas anew.

Egg hatches as you "die" and you are reborn in a different body from the egg at -10XP per level or something. Totally different to this guys ideas, but.

Eggs of reincarnation?