Thread title.Like there always a fuckload of evil people in 3.5 and Pathfinder who keep wanting souls for some reason, but they never actually seem profitable or something the PCs can engage in. Is there something your average character can viably use them for, as loot?
>>98138027In Christianity, they don't "want" souls per se IIRC, they just want humans to be damned out of spite to mankind and God. You'd need to double-check that with a priest though. In most western fantasy, souls (usually defined as a person's life-force rather than what gives free will and responsibility like in Christianity, and again double-check that with a priest) is seen as having potent spiritual power that can be twisted and manipulated to the demon's own ends.
>>98138027power source? food? cosmic identity theft? fiat currency?
>>98138027Aren't new demons, and outsiders in general, made out of souls of mortals one way or another? Getting more souls to Abyss strengthens demons and to an extent weakens their foes and rivals.
>>98138041And since I forgot to specify this in my post: I'm talking about DnD and Pathfinder, since those are the games OP mentioned. If no game was specified, this'd be a "depends on the setting" kind of question.
>>98138027Iirc its the standard currency in the hells, at least in 5e. A soul coin is about $300 gold or a day of car fuel, but its hard to find anyone in hell willing to trade souls they cant get for gold they cant use. If you know you're from the hells or know you're going to them eventually you might be wise to plan some seed money
>>98138027They use them as money.
>>98138200That makes sense, since souls are unique and you can't print more of a specific soul without weird magic. They're kind of like NFTs with a personality component, so it makes sense they're popular among ontologically evil abominations.
>>98138027Depends on the setting
>>98138203>Can't print moreOh god this sounds like lead into a hentai plot about human cattle farms... which actually is a thing that shows up in vampire fiction quite a bit, so ehhh...
>>98139585>demon bankers are all sex traffickersPoints for verisimilitude, if nothing else.
>>98138027Because traditional games.
>>98138027Traditional games?
>>98138027On top of what >>98138041 mentions about souls and quintessence, souls in Pathfinder are literally profitable, they have prices and everything. An ooze is basically worthless, while some king or great wyrm soul sells for a ton more. https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Soul has an exception page that just lists all the ways to blend or pulp or floss with someone's soul in the outer planes. If your average character can't make coins off this they are either Good or dumb.
>>98138037>he doesn't know about the soul laundering mafia
>>98139911>>98140062What do you actually want souls for?
>>98142008... you know, this would actually sound like a good premise for a game
>>98138027Taking souls away from the other cosmically aligned forces is how they amass power which they intend to use to destroy the other forces that control the other aspects of the planes and various realities.
>>98138041>>98138048>I'm talking about DnD and PathfinderAn issue here is that Pathfinder has different nitty-gritty, in-the-weeds metaphysics than any edition of D&D. (They are similar in the broad, broad strokes, but "What do fiends do with souls?" is a nitty-gritty, in-the-weeds matter.)Even then, Pathfinder 1e has different nitty-gritty, in-the-weeds metaphysics than Pathfinder 2e; and AD&D 2e, D&D 3.X, D&D 4e, and D&D 5e all have different nitty-gritty, in-the-weeds metaphysics from one another.This is to say nothing of different published settings for D&D.So it depends on the edition and setting, ultimately.
>>98138027They want souls to provide a gameplay mechanic the players can interact with. Stop being a storyshitter.
>>98138027Loophole.Devils are cursed to be cut off from the divine and are consequentially quite magically impotent, especially when compared to their pre-fall selves.Each human soul contains a miniscule mote of divine potential.The rub is that the devils cannot simply tear the divine spark out of the soul, as their curse would cause it to wither and evaporate in their grasp.So they have to do things by proxy, collecting souls and binding them with ownership contracts allows for the divine sparks to be exploited indirectly - the soul draws upon the power at the Devil's behestThis is not a great solution, as even bound in this manner, the souls tend to strain and chafe slight against the Devil's will.Not a huge problem when you only have one or two souls, but when that number balloons into the thousands trying to exert precise control can be intensely exhausting.
Am I the only one who thinks that looks like Destroyah from Godzilla?
>>98144445Maybe vaguely? I wouldn’t have seen it if you hadn’t mentioned it first.
>>98138027>>98138027In palladium souls are a source of PPE, which is basically mana by another name. They also can be used to infuse objects to become animated. Keep in mind the average human souls is like 12 ppe at the moment of death so you are going to have to slaughter tons of people for enough of a charge. Conversely, a mages soul has a ton of ppe. Although it should be noted that demons feed on malice and suffering. Their interest in souls is less for the power and more on the horror that is afflicted on people on the way to get that soul. They are also assholes that like corrupting souls just for fun.
>>98144445Yeah, I can see it. Its not as bottom heavy nor does it have the crystal horn.
>>98138037fpbp
>>98138027In my setting, souls are used by demons to establish a contractual hierarchy among their ranks. When a person goes to hell, they are nothing - a common Sinner. Demons are the ones who are natively born in Hell (think Dante's Inferno imagery, but full of debauchery on every level), they have no innate souls of their own and are essentially slaves. When Sinners, against all odds and adversity from conservative locals, collect enough souls, they can liberate themselves into a status of Overlords. Everyone in Hell hoards souls for leverage and status, not wealth, they are not traded, just accumulated.Above the lowest castes is Ars Goetia, essentially the equivalent of nobility in my world, and above those are the Seven Deadly Sins, which are the cops, lawmakers, judges, and executioners. And on the top of the chain is Lucifer himself.The main struggle of Hell comes from the idea that Sinners - those who still have a soul and aren't yet absorbed into the caste system fully, can be rehabilitated and absolved. Demons - the locals - want their souls to make it impossible. Angels want Sinners to fail also, to maintain the oppressive status quo.There you go, solved it for you OP. Feel free to use this for your own worldbuilding.
If they collect 5 souls with stars on them they can turn them in to Satan for 1 free tootsie pop.
>>98138027Demons collect them to be used as minitures in demon wargames
>>98143749No. Just no. Evil souls go to wherever version of Hell they belong to. Souls don't enhance magic.
>>98138027Pretty sure super evil souls become soul larvae or something. You can use them for making more evil fiends if you are one. I figure it's like smashing a bunch of cells together to form whatever fiend you want depending on if you have enough souls. You can also use them for currency/barter. I think hags can make a perfume out of them.Not sure if Pathfinder has soul larvae, but I think it has something similar that is basically the same thing.
>>98150240Pathfinder has supplicants with different forms for each plane (as and actual CR1 creature) and the Abyss ones are larvae.
