[3.5] Best Soul Stealing Weapons

[Thurbane]

So, just wondering: what are some good soul stealing weapons in 3.5?

I mean, I'm aware of Thinaun, and things like a Nine Lives Stealer.

But what I'm looking for ideally is a weapon that sucks out an enemies soul (preventing Raise Dead etc), and actually does something with it. Whether it's storing the soul and allowing it to be questioned like a Speak With dead, or even converting the soul into temp HP.

What options do I have? Will be for a high level evil PC (or NPC), so cost shouldn't matter too much.

Cheers - T

[Venger]

So, just wondering: what are some good soul stealing weapons in 3.5?

I mean, I'm aware of Thinaun, and things like a Nine Lives Stealer.

But what I'm looking for ideally is a weapon that sucks out an enemies soul (preventing Raise Dead etc), and actually does something with it. Whether it's storing the soul and allowing it to be questioned like a Speak With dead, or even converting the soul into temp HP.

What options do I have? Will be for a high level evil PC (or NPC), so cost shouldn't matter too much.

Cheers - T

do you want it gotten rid of forever, or just a comprehensive list of stuff to do to it?

if level isn't in question, just have him PAO a normal sword into thinaun and then kill his target. let it revert back through mundane means and then the target can never be rezed. destroy the original weapon for good measure.

aside from using the spell as a material component as per the bovd rule, the only other interesting thing I know of doing with it is the bind to hell spell which freezes the target's soul in a block of ice in stygia forever. the pcs can go there, kill a bunch of devils and rescue the target if they want to, so it's a great built-in adventure hook.

[Thurbane]

What I'm looking for is a re-usable weapon that can steal souls, and let the wielder do something useful with them.

[Vogie]

I'm thinking it sounds like you're going for Katana's blade from Suicide Squad.

Alas, I haven't looked at 3.5 in a while. The only Pathfinder soul-stealing objects I could find were Jorngarl's Harm (http://archivesofnethys.com/MagicWeaponsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Jorngarl's Harm), Spirit Caller (http://archivesofnethys.com/MagicWeaponsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Spirit Caller), and the Soultheft Glass (http://archivesofnethys.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Soultheft Glass) as templates.

[Gildedragon]

Thiannium is your best bet. Then look into the BoVD for things one can do with souls. Item crafting iirc is an option.

[ATHATH]

Take a look at the Soul Reaper Wizard variant.

[Jowgen]

A&E has the Balor sword of Soulstealing (or somesuch). It's sadly pretty lackluster compared to thinaun, but it is the only source that even alludes to the means to transfer souls between receptacles.

As for what to do with the souls, other than the BoVD stuff... maybe you can work out something with a Devil, as detailed in FCII. They mainly care about LE souls specifically though...

[Mr Adventurer]

Taking a clue from Elder Scrolls, the weapon could cast Soul Bind on hit (or immediate activation), with a number of fittings into which gems of different value can be placed. The gems can be removed when full, and replaced with new gems.

Though actually, I don't think there's anything preventing the same gem holding multiple souls?!

[Jowgen]

Though actually, I don't think there's anything preventing the same gem holding multiple souls?!

There is one thing, though whether it extends to other similar effects is DM-dependent


the sword draws forth the soul of the victim and imprisons it in the black sapphire, as the soul bind spell. The victim receives a Will save (DC 23) to avoid the soul bind effect. If the weapon severs the head of a creature with more than 30 Hit Dice, the sapphire shatters without imprisoning the soul, and it must be replaced. The sapphire can contain only one soul at a time [...]

[Thurbane]

Looks like homebrew might be my best option.


I'm thinking it sounds like you're going for Katana's blade from Suicide Squad.

Haven't seen SS yet, was more inspired by Stormbringer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormbringer). But that would obviously be artifact level, so something scaled down...

[jmax]

It's not a weapon, per se, but there are a few things you can do with shapechange to achieve this.

Most interesting is the Devourer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/devourer.htm), which traps the life force of a target and uses it to fuel spell-like abilities. RAW you don't get the spell-likes from shapechange, but since they're actually powered by a supernatural ability, I think you can make a case for it here.

A barghest can consume humanoids, rendering them unraisable except with true resurrection, wish, or miracle - and even those only have a 50% chance of working. The consumed life essence makes the barghest stronger.

A sword archon's Discorporating Dive utterly destroys an evil target's body (if it fails the save) and sends the soul to a special prison on a celestial plane. The soul is imprisoned there forever unless it does a penance sufficient to counter all of the evil things it has done.

There are probably more in the later monster manuals and splatbooks, but I've only gone through MM1 and things that appear on summon lists for my shapechange handbook (shameless plug, linked from signature).