Creatures and items which devour souls

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Just curious how many different ways there are of destroying a soul in 5e. Thanks to another thread and memory a few come to mind. We have:

Barghests

Vargouilles

Black Razor (oops, some NPC's destroyed that in exchange for resurrecting a PC).

What else is out there?

[Millstone85]

I will add one:

Nabassus

[kaervaak]

The Soul Monger

[MarkVIIIMarc]

The Soul Monger


Does soul thirst consume the soul like it seems like it should?

[Millstone85]

The Soul Monger

Does soul thirst consume the soul like it seems like it should?
I believe one is an artifact and the other is a creature. They just share the same name.

[kaervaak]

Does soul thirst consume the soul like it seems like it should?



Heh, didn't realize that the Soulmonger and Soul Monger were different. The Soulmonger is an arcane artifact that is the source of the death curse in ToA. It collects souls then feeds them to the Atropal, which destroys them. A Soul Monger is some sort of elf.

[Sigreid]

Not really destroyed, but made unavailable for resurrection, the Hellforged Iron from Avernus instantly turns the soul of the slain target into a Lemur and this beyond ressurection.

[Unoriginal]

Just curious how many different ways there are of destroying a soul in 5e. Thanks to another thread and memory a few come to mind. We have:

Barghests

Vargouilles

Black Razor (oops, some NPC's destroyed that in exchange for resurrecting a PC).

What else is out there?

Liches and Archliches eat souls, in 5e.

Throwing a soul in the Styx pretty much destroy who the person was, and a few weapons do that.

[dafrca]

I have always thought of soul destruction as "worse" than death.

Isn't there a demon who puts your soul in a "soul forge" to make something out of it or am I mixing up RPG on this one?

[Melphizard]

Adding onto the River of Styx there's the Hellfire Weapons from BGDIA that make any humanoid killed by the weapon have their soul sent to the River to be immediately revived as a Lemure.

Nightwalkers have an ability called Life Eater which states: "A creature reduced to 0 hit points from damage dealt by the nightwalker dies and can't be revived by any means short of a wish spell." and that's fairly close to soul destruction if they can't really come back by any means exception by near-godlike power such as Wish.

Speaking of which, Wish could maybe be used to destroy a soul or at least condemn it to somewhere that is basically eternal banishment if you will.

Second to Wish, you could always used a Cleric's Divine Intervention and ask God to make sure that soul goes far away. For most Cleric's there's a chance their deity will listen but for level 20 Clerics, your deity will likely comply in making sure whichever target you chose does not have their soul come back after their death, be it through destruction or other means.

The whole nature of soul destruction is somewhat funky in Forgotten Realms since from what books I've read lore-wise it was said to be impossible to destroy a soul; but, you could do some nasty stuff to it that would be basically eternal. Destroying seems out of the picture though for the most part.


Hope this helps in your conquest to eradicate that one Long Death Monk who refuses to die regardless of what other means you employ.

[kingcheesepants]

Not exactly the same question but I made a thread on a similar topic (killing clone users) which you may find helpful https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?636793-Monsters-who-can-permakill-clone-users

[Millstone85]

I have always thought of soul destruction as "worse" than death.I think death can be a mercy, if prolonging life means prolonging inhumane suffering. And that would apply tenfold to "afterdeath" against a sufficiently horrible afterlife.

[Angelalex242]

In general, it is better to cease existing then it is to suffer through eternal torment. So, if you really want that soul to suffer, trade him to Asmodeus for a magic item or something. Alternatively, Grazz't or one of the other demon lords. Most of the fiend lords will gleefully trade you magic items in exchange for souls.

Just make sure to put a great big E next to your alignment.

[Mastikator]

In general, it is better to cease existing then it is to suffer through eternal torment. So, if you really want that soul to suffer, trade him to Asmodeus for a magic item or something. Alternatively, Grazz't or one of the other demon lords. Most of the fiend lords will gleefully trade you magic items in exchange for souls.

Just make sure to put a great big E next to your alignment.

If you sell your soul you are likely to get a better evil afterlife than if you just do evil stuff and then die.
If you make a deal with zariel and die as level 17 or higher you are instantly promoted to pit fiend working directly for the big man himself, that's a pretty sweet deal actually if you're evil anyways. IMO The evil after lives aren't really punishment, rather just a consequence of how you made your bed in your life. Some evil just goes unpunished.

Anyway- Astral Dreadnought will kind of eat your soul, it'll eat your whole body but your soul is not able to escape it's stomach.

[Unoriginal]

If you sell your soul you are likely to get a better evil afterlife than if you just do evil stuff and then die.

Well, it depends on the deal you made.



that's a pretty sweet deal actually if you're evil anyways. IMO


With the caveat that no one is happy in the Nine Hells save from the big boss. But living like a lord in Hell beats living like a grunt in Hell, if you're evil anyway.


The evil after lives aren't really punishment, rather just a consequence of how you made your bed in your life.

100% true. You end up in the afterlife that is the most like your soul. Ending up in the place filled with awful entities who abuse those who are weaker than them is just a consequence of being an awful person who abuses those weaker than you, not a punishment.

[Dungeon-noob]

Both the mechanics and the lore of the Devourer (Volo's guide to monsters) strongly imply but don't outright state that they destroy the soul of the victim, even though they explicitely turn them into a lesser undead.

A Molydeus (Mordenkainen's tome of foes) can transform its victims into manes, which can count.

Nabassu (MToF) eat souls, and the effect can only be undone with a Wish.

Sibrilex (MToF) also can transform victims into fiends, Abbysal wretches in their case.

Narzugon (MToF) Hellfire lances turn slain victims into Lemures.