Optimized use of Trapped Souls

[The Overlord]

Greetings.

I am currently playing an evil wizard (Caster Level 13) who is about to start a war against fiends.
Being also the leader of an Artificer Guild I plan to craft tattoo on my body that triggers the following:

A possesion attempt on the character triggers the spell from BoVD:
Impotent Possesor (Spell lvl 06) with quite a high DC because of my character.
That spell make it so the possesor cannot do anything in Me exept leave my body, however a succesful casting of this spell triggers the spell:

Imprison Possesor (Spell lvl 05, BoVD) with still a very high DC.
That spell make it so the possesor cannot leave my body, but can do anything else. But of course being affected by Impotent Possesor before that: The poor Fiend that tried to possess Me is now trapped inside of Me without being able to act or leave!

That counts has a fuel source when using Soul, but a mere 10 XP or 200 gp for consuming the "soul" of a Pit Fiend has a source of power is just ridiculous.

Any suggestion on how to make the most efficient use of trapped fiends has "fuel" ? Freeing my pissed-off foes ain't something this character would do.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I think you can use souls to pay XP cost for item creation and maybe for other stuff such as spells, probably that rule is somewhere in the BoVD so that is an option.

Another one is to take levels in a class from ToM that binds fiends to you, I can't recall the name but it is in the Truename part of the book.

[Flickerdart]

Another one is to take levels in a class from ToM that binds fiends to you, I can't recall the name but it is in the Truename part of the book.
Fiendbinder is worse than the Planar Binding line of spells, without some serious cheese.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Really? well I am not familiar with the class and I thought it would be appropriate for my understanding of the the OP's character.

[Ayedi_Star]

The ToM binder class requires a skill check to get the bound fiend to do -anything- so it is strictly worse without using something such as a domination spell or a mother cyst's necrotic spells to make them willing to be easily directed.

bound fiends in this instance do not seem to be good candiates for pets, given the character description - seems more like a case for binding them to items and equipment, spell fodder, or some other use.

It's a pity that you're evil, otherwise an awesome idea would be to Sanctify them via one of the BoED spells - it shifts the demon / devil in question to the side of good. How likely is it that you can get something or someone to do this for you instead?

Takes a year per fiend, sadly, but you can have more than one "cooking" at a time.

[Calanon]

The smartest thing a player would be able to do with a soul is either destroy it or use it for xp fodder for crafting... but now we have to think about what happens to the body left over? does it simply wither away? or does it remain a lifeless husk of its former self... try using Magic Jar on the body to figure it out...

[The Overlord]

Re-read my post guys. BoVD already stated rules for soul-using.

You bind the soul of a Powerful Archfiend to your body. The very fabric of Hell is shaken by the shift in power! You decide to consume the soul to feed your powerful arcane abilities.

Congradulations! You gained TEN xp for item crafting .... Or 200 gp.

I'm kinda looking for more useful (power-wise) uses for these fiend-essences.
But I might just suggess a house-made system that I came up with if no one can find something good.

EDIT: "Soul has Power" is on page 33 of the Book of Vile Darkness.

[Boci]

Re-read my post guys. BoVD already stated rules for soul-using.

You bind the soul of a Powerful Archfiend to your body. The very fabric of Hell is shaken by the shift in power! You decide to consume the soul to feed your powerful arcane abilities.

Congradulations! You gained TEN xp for item crafting .... Or 200 gp.

I'm kinda looking for more useful (power-wise) uses for these fiend-essences.
But I might just suggess a house-made system that I came up with if no one can find something good.

EDIT: "Soul has Power" is on page 33 of the Book of Vile Darkness.

That's assuming the DM doesn't grant extra power for the souls of fiends (and outsiders technically do not have souls but anyway*), have you asked them on this?

*Also, you might want to clarify with the DM whether doing this gives you access to a soul as well.

[Analytica]

This is a really cool idea. You've just invented Jinchuriki within RAW. :smallsmile:

[faceroll]

Fiends, like all outsiders, lack souls, don't they?

[Dictum Mortuum]

Fiends, like all outsiders, lack souls, don't they?

I think it's more like their body is their soul incarnate. That is if I recall correctly.

[faceroll]

I think it's more like their body is their soul incarnate. That is if I recall correctly.

Ah, so it is:

"Unlike most other living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature—its soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. "

Would that mean trapping an outsider technically counts as trapping a soul?

[Quietus]

Re-read my post guys. BoVD already stated rules for soul-using.

You bind the soul of a Powerful Archfiend to your body. The very fabric of Hell is shaken by the shift in power! You decide to consume the soul to feed your powerful arcane abilities.

Congradulations! You gained TEN xp for item crafting .... Or 200 gp.

I'm kinda looking for more useful (power-wise) uses for these fiend-essences.
But I might just suggess a house-made system that I came up with if no one can find something good.

EDIT: "Soul has Power" is on page 33 of the Book of Vile Darkness.

See, to me, I'd find that perfectly acceptable. As an evil character, being willing to consume them to gain just slightly more power than you'd need for a second-level scroll.. that's a fantastic insult, and shows how little you think of even the greatest fiends.

Party member : "Dude, that pit fiend just tried to own you!"
Evil Wizard : "And he failed. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to turn him into a Rope Trick."

[The Overlord]

Boci, faceroll ; Check out the Spell "Trap the Soul"; it says that it works on Outsiders. So logically, so does anything else relating trapped souls.

Quietus; Spiteful perharps, but I'll stick to slaughtering thousands upon thousands of commoners then. Far less risky then charging Pit Fiend Lords in their domain.

Here is the ideas I had:

1- Use the soul to fuel your SpellCaster: You can recharge a spell-slot per HD of the creature until it is fully destroyed.

2- Consume the soul and gain Dark XP or Dark Gold (x5). The amount = The creature's (HD x Int) + (HD X Wis) + (HD X Cha).
For a Pit Fiend that would be: (18 X 26) + (18 X 26) + ( 18 X 26) = 1,404 XP OR 7,020 gp. Not bad, but not too powerful either.
This XP/gold can now be used for material component & XP cost of spells and it can be used to craft magical items too.

3- The most ambitious proposition: Slowly absorb the soul with your own. Make a race-class of the fiend using the rules in Savage Species. Once We have that You must PAY the amount of XP the soul would have given You using process #2. That starts the process of absorbing it's essence and gives You the first race-level has a GESTALT of your own HD. Then You must simply pay the normal XP cost to gain a level (from first the second, second to third, etc) to have more of your HD gestalt with the race-class of the fiend.
This process cannot go beyong your how HD and, of course, it stops once the race-class of the fiend is finish. (For a Pit Fiend You would need to pay the cost, and have enough HD, for about 30 levels!)
To avoid obvious abuse: You cannot use this process on the same type of fiend twice (unless it's a unique arch-fiend or something, maybe even then this only increases the highest lvl achievable.)

Everybody clear on all points?

What do You think of it? Balanced? Let's not forget the risk & difficulty involved in trapped powerful outsider into yourself followed by the massive XP cost !

[The Overlord]

*BUMP*
I want opinions of DMs & Players on this.

[PotatoNinja]

Find a way to use a soul to craft a wand of magic missle.
Craft Said wand
Use the soul of the fiends to blast more fiends.
Profit.

[Sydonai]

Blackmail, "Serve me for a year and a day, or I'll turn you into a Scroll of Rope Trick. "

[Fishy]

There's the Wrest Possession feat from Faiths of Eberron- resist three consecutive attempts to control your body, and win all of the fiend's (Ex), (Su), and (Sp) abilities for a few rounds.

There are restrictions, and it probably won't work with Impotent Possessor, but it's there.

[Flickerdart]

I suppose you could take inspiration from the Body Leech PrC, which drains physical stats from her victims for 2 PP/3 points drained. You could do a similar thing with the mental stats of captive fiends to recharge an equivalent level spell slot (1 point to all = 2nd level slot, 2 points = 3rd level slot, 3 points = 5th level slot, 4 points = 6th level slot, 5 points = 8th level slot, 6 points = 9th level slot).