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View Full Version : Souls of mortals native to the Planes in Eberron Cosmology



Clistenes
2017-07-08, 12:38 PM
By Word of Keith Baker, we know that immortal Outsiders like Archons, Angels, Succubi, Pit Fiends, Mariliths...etc., can't breed, are reborn as a lesser form of their species when they are killed (for example, Archons would be reborn as Lantern Archons) and another Outsider of lesser rank would be promoted to fill the vacancy in the hierarchy left by its death... Also, they can't gain xp and use it to gain HD or class levels, they can become more powerful only by promotion...

But, what about those "mortal" Outsiders who can breed, die of old age and gain xp and class levels, like Eladrin, Jann and Formians? What happens when they die? Do their souls get to reincarnate as young menbers of their species? Or do they go to Dolurrth?

What about non-Outsiders native to the Planes, like Fey from Thelanis or Axiomatic creatures from Daanvi? Do they go to Dolurrth? The Planes always looked very self-contained and disconnected from each other to me... It would feel weird to have any of their native inhabitants shackled to a different plane after they die...

By the way, in game stats, what do the souls assimilated by Dolurrth become? Shades? Shadows? Ghosts? Spectres? Wraiths? And before they are assimilated, what are they? Ghosts?

Gildedragon
2017-07-08, 02:25 PM
Re souls in the D-realm
They're souls. The best "template" is probably Petitioners
Except there's no one to petition to

Clistenes
2017-07-09, 05:30 AM
I dunno... nothing in the fluff suggests that Eberronian dead souls lose their hit dice and/or class levels before becoming fully assimilated by Dolurrth...

If a petitioner where to keep his hit dice and class level, the only real change would be the Outsider type... wouldn't it?

Afgncaap5
2017-07-09, 04:30 PM
Petitioner wouldn't be bad necessarily... though ghosts or haunts might also work as appropriate. I really think it depends on the nature of the story in play.

It's worth noting that The Keeper apparently tries to intercept souls to act as servants before going to Dolurrh, according to some legends. I think I'd hold off on the petitioner template for something like that; it might not really jive with what "petitioners" are in most other D&D cosmologies, but I think the template works nicely for a deceased servant of The Keeper.

Why, hello there, Garrow. Vol not payin' your bills anymore?

Gildedragon
2017-07-10, 10:27 PM
The reasons I suggest the Petitioner template are that a) eberron has the same limits on rez magic as other realms, it implies the souls' "life cycle" is akin to that in other material planes.
Second: Doluruh's planar effect is v similar to Hades's and Elysium's... And those turn those trapped in the realm into petitioners.