Regarding Souls

[dragonfan6490]

I'm designing a campaign right now and I have a hall protected by a powerful spirit. In the Hall are items of any and every type, sort of a Ware House of magic items. Anywho, I'm going to allow each character to take one item, at a cost varying to a gold piece value for something that is marginally useful to them to a portion of their soul for something that is so useful it would increase their power-say a spellcaster getting a Vest of the Archmagi would have to trade a portion of their soul.

What I'm wondering is what sort of mechanical effects would trading a portion of your soul have?

Note: I'm stealing this from my old DM and the campaign didn't last long enough to know what the mechanical effects would be for selling one's soul.

[Hat-Trick]

XP payment, probably. Or it could be something like holding the soul if the person ever dies, postponing the resurrection or something.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Perhaps if they died it would be harder to resurrect them, and maybe resurrection would carry more penalties? With part of their spiritual being gone, I'd imagine they'd be easier to corrupt and such, taking a Will Save penalty. Depending on specifically who takes the soul, they might be targeted for collection of the rest of it. Maybe they'd find that their soul was used to create a nearly-indentical clone.

All I can think of off the top of my head.

[Omegonthesane]

Mechanically being able to give up only part of your soul probably breaks with D&D tradition. However, I'd say it takes a piece out of your personality, and impose a Flaw or three to represent what emotional capacities you've lost. Or they use it for subtle mind control to turn you into their mostly-willing servant, like Koren in Seiken Densetsu 3.

[Kylarra]

Well one school of thought is the generic "What do you give up of yourself?" and based on the answer apply a mechanical penalty. Or offer them a chance to roleplay each encounter and let them choose roleplaying drawbacks (but make sure they actually roleplay them or something bad happens).

Alternatively, don't tell them what happens and instead at random times apply penalties to rolls or somesuch.

Another idea is have the souls taken/bought/otherwise bartered away into company that they don't want to have it and plothook them into something that way.

possibilities are endless!

[thegurullamen]

Another idea is have the souls taken/bought/otherwise bartered away into company that they don't want to have it and plothook them into something that way.

I like that idea. Or you could have the powerful spirit protecting the warehouse use it to keep a permanent link to the individual(s) and ask for favors (or force them to do it favors every so often.)

Mechanics-wise, I think an XP penalty is too plain. It's over and done with without any real long-lasting effects besides a slightly slower leveling. You might want to go with intermittent negative modifiers for things associated with the character's past. For example, mages can still cast their spells normally (because gimping class abilities is too much of a trade off for a single item, no matter what), but being around the school where they were trained or somewhere similar is disorienting. Say a -4 to everything. The same goes for fighters and fighters colleges or druids and naturists' cabals, or what have you. If a character were raised in or around a tavern, then being in or around a bar would give them a -4 penalty to all rolls.

There's also the Mechanus angle to think about. I doubt the inevitables or their overlords would be too pleased with soul-splitting houses existing in the multiverse, or people that make use of them. Expect a visit from the Demoman and Soul Stapler, respectively.

[Riffington]

I think the big one is that the current holder of the soulshard has power over you. Maybe -1 to all your saves vs that holder for every percent of your soul they own.

The second is (as mentioned by Fiddler) a concern regarding resurrection. The most fun answer to that is probably to only allow you to resurrect if all soul-owners agree (hopefully all = you and one holder) - during the resurrection process you will have to negotiate with the holder of your soulshard and offer them something to agree.

I would prefer not to have any other drawbacks - if the soulshard owner turns out to be trustworthy, you have no penalties whatsoever. Of course, nobody who buys and sells souls is trustworthy.

[Froogleyboy]

Okay, the XP loss is good. . . for a start. Since they lose a portion of they're soul they should not level up as fast. So . . . every time they earn XP they should only get a portion of it.

[dragonfan6490]

Thanks for the input, this is all great stuff, keep it coming.

XP payment, probably. Or it could be something like holding the soul if the person ever dies, postponing the resurrection or something

The problem is, I don't like XP penalties, payments or loss, even when it comes to casting spells or crafting items, so I'm trying to cut as much of it out as I can.

Or they use it for subtle mind control to turn you into their mostly-willing servant, like Koren in Seiken Densetsu 3.

That could make for a nasty surprise for the party. <insert evil laugh>

I think the big one is that the current holder of the soulshard has power over you. Maybe -1 to all your saves vs that holder for every percent of your soul they own.

The second is (as mentioned by Fiddler) a concern regarding resurrection. The most fun answer to that is probably to only allow you to resurrect if all soul-owners agree (hopefully all = you and one holder) - during the resurrection process you will have to negotiate with the holder of your soulshard and offer them something to agree.

Having penalties when it comes to saving throws and possibly other actions against the holder seems like a good idea to me, and concerning ressurection, I think having some sort of ressurection penalty/difficulty seems like it would make sense. Plus, I laughed at the second paragraph.

[bosssmiley]

What I'm wondering is what sort of mechanical effects would trading a portion of your soul have?

Level loss. Not drain or damage (that's negative energy sapping your life force), loss.

[Michaelos]

From the resurrection angle, when a Barghest kills you, It's implied to have an ability to eat some of your soul. This makes your next Rez have a 50% chance of being impossible, with only Divine Intervention as a fix.