Trap the Soul vs Soul Bind

[Celestia]

Trap the Soul (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trapTheSoul.htm) is an 8th level conjuration spell that allows you to permanently imprison the soul of a living target in a gem with a will save to negate (+2 DC if you say their name). You can also forgo the save by passing a Bluff check.

Soul Bind (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/soulBind.htm) is a 9th level necromancy spell that allows you to permanently imprison the soul of a dead target in a gem with a will save to negate.

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just simply better despite being lower level?

[pabelfly]

Different targets. The latter looks like it would prevent resurrection without a Wish spell.

[Thurbane]

Maybe a stupid question, but would the gem for either of these spells detect as magical while it was holding a soul? Would a detect evil reveal the presence of an evil soul?

[Piggy Knowles]

Different targets. The latter looks like it would prevent resurrection without a Wish spell.

It even explicitly blocks resurrection WITH a wish spell. Being wish/miracle-proof is the real selling point of soul bind.

[Jack_Simth]

Maybe a stupid question, but would the gem for either of these spells detect as magical while it was holding a soul? Would a detect evil reveal the presence of an evil soul?

Both are Permanent, so yes to detecting as Magical.
Despite the name, Trap the Soul takes the body, too, and the subject remains alive. So yes, it would keep aby alignment aura it had.
Soul Bind is less clear in that regard.

The big draw of Soul Bind is that it explicitly stops Wish and Miracle, as Piggy Knowles noted. You use it on particularly troublesome opponents, or as a DM plot device.

The big draws of Trap The Soul are:
It's a viable combat spell.
With some skill checks and research, you can bypass the save and SR.
Shades can duplicate the spell to bypass the component costs.

[Crake]

It even explicitly blocks resurrection WITH a wish spell. Being wish/miracle-proof is the real selling point of soul bind.

Except it's not, because you can instead just wish for the soul bind gem, smash it, and resurrect as normal. That said, the exact same could be said about trap the soul, because, in essence, the creature in question isn't dead, so they can't be resurrected.

That's also not to mention that a similar effect to soul binding can be achieved with the use of... uhh... that one metal from complete warrior that holds the soul of any creature in contact with it when they die. I mean, that stuff's not cheap, but it's also not a 9th level spell.

[Jack_Simth]

Except it's not, because you can instead just wish for the soul bind gem, smash it, and resurrect as normal. That said, the exact same could be said about trap the soul, because, in essence, the creature in question isn't dead, so they can't be resurrected.
Vs. Trap the Soul:
You can definitely do that. Transport Travelers clause. Still a creature, and the spell makes no mention of Wish.

Vs. Soul Bind:
This one is iffy. The wording is "The soul, once trapped in the gem, cannot be returned through clone, raise dead, reincarnation, resurrection, true resurrection, or even a miracle or a wish" (emphasis added). It's not too terribly hard to argue that the intent is that Wishing in such a way shouldn't work. It's also not too terribly hard to argue that "returned", in context, is referring just to resurrection magic, and so shouldn't interfere with other uses of Wish. It's very much in "DM call" territory.



That's also not to mention that a similar effect to soul binding can be achieved with the use of... uhh... that one metal from complete warrior that holds the soul of any creature in contact with it when they die. I mean, that stuff's not cheap, but it's also not a 9th level spell.

It's called Thinaun. Only works if the target is in contact with it at the moment of death. Which, you know, is mostly OK for a weapon, except for that pesky little issue that the wielder is in contact with it at all times....

Also reduces Resurrection costs if you have the trapped soul.