Soulless [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Soulless [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Jaime_Wolf
04-13-06, 02:28 AM I've been trying to come up with an interesting and workable character concept for a while now for a game that will start fairly soon. My latest idea, that I put before you all, is that of a character without a soul.

First, this would give ample opportunity to roleplay, despite what it may seem like. My plan is to have a fragmented, sparse memory, difficulty keeping track of the passage of time, and few moral qualms (sometimes a bit of hesitation perhaps, but not many reservations). If anyone's ever seen Fullmetal Alchemist, the idea is basically the same as a homunculus without all of the physics oddness and the weaknesses and such things. However, the character will not be mindless nor stupid, so drop those d12's and put the barbarian away.

Second, the character would easily satisfy the dungeon master with hooks.

My request then is critique, suggestions, advice, and character abilities (classes, feats, prestige classes, skills and such). I've greatly considered a psionic character with the advent of Complete Psionic, and I'm leaning perhaps towards a soulbow (the character would have no idea why he has any special aptitude of course). Any thoughts?

Oh yes, and mechanically I was thinking -2 charisma because people sense the character's behaviour, mannerisms, and thoughts don't seem quite right. Any bonuses anyone can think of to offset that?
Fithero
04-13-06, 08:59 AM What about a hexblade?

I once had a hexblade who explained his curse ability by the fact that he had no soul. The curse was actually his hollow...ness manifested, which kinda drained the souls of other people slightly. (its a bend of the hexblade class story... but it still works)

Other than that... dunno... and of the martial classes... a character with no faith whatso ever... refuses to accept that the gods exist even while being healed.

One point though... if he has no soul, how will he be raised?

Later
Morka
04-13-06, 11:20 AM You should speak with a monotone voice, as it's impossible to have you being excited about something. You should do like the Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Carabean: carry an apple with you, for the moment when you'll get your soul back, you want to taste it. You could perhaps discuss with your DM to give you immunity or a bonus against mind-affecting spells and effects. You could also have a faint aura when someone cast Detect Undead beside you; you're not exactly an undead, but because you're soulless, the spell identify you as such.

Any idea why your character has no soul? Perhaps a curse given by a powerful sorcerer or outsider to punish yourself or your parents? Any chance your character might get his soul back in some Epic Quest (or by fighting with your friend Milas, like Bart Simpson...), or will you remain a soulless character all the game?
aleshandre
04-13-06, 06:03 PM I would suggest a +2 circumstance bonus to will saves and knowledge checks, because with no soul and few if any emotions, there will be no emotion or moral issues that distract from the extraction of raw facts.
JulesCARV
04-13-06, 06:41 PM Hmm... sounds a little like the Nameless One from Planescape: Torment. (probably the most predictable comment on this thread).

So, why is it necessary for him to have -2 to charisma? Why not just give him low charisma for his race? If you need a -2 charisma penalty, though, have you looked into Elans? They look like normal humans, basically, but they're aberrations, and there's something just terribly wrong about them. Resilience and resistance could represent a certain melancholy endurance and resignation from being soulless. Repletion doesn't make much sense, but you don't really need to use it.

Hexblade seems like it's too charisma-dependent if you want to play a low-charisma character.

I agree with you on barbarian seeming like a bad idea. Barbarians are definitely a "soulful" class -- relying on emotion and feeling in battle.

So... this soulless fellow: does he know what's missing? Does he want it back?

Another possibility would be to make him somehow less susceptible to divine magic, whether cure light wounds or slay living. Also, he would find divine magic rather inaccessible (i.e., don't take any levels in cleric, favored soul, etc., though archivist or ur-priest might be an interesting concept).
Lyinginbedmon
04-13-06, 07:57 PM I realise this'll probably be my answer to almost everything for the next half a year but, perhaps an anarchist-type character like V?

Think about it, this guy is missing his own soul, his memory is constantly tripping over itself, people capable of noticing his abnormalities aren't treating him quite right, and every Cleric, Paladin, and Aristocrat is looking down on him or cursing him to the Abyss. If this doesn't scream 'rage against the machine' what else does? And consider this, he knows that there's something wrong with him, he's knows that something isn't quite right, maybe after hearing what everything is like from someone else, he, having presumedly no emotions, suddenly notices something in this described world that isn't quite right.

An emotionless anarchist-terrorist would truly be someone to fear
kelvinaw273
04-13-06, 10:51 PM There is a feat in one of the Ravenloft Supplements called "Hollow" which is basically just this. It does confer some advantages: level drain and enervation attacks do not work on you, you are unaffected by Trap the Soul and similar effects etc. and non-intelligent undead may well ignore you. On the other hand, you cannot have a Good alignment, you are never inspired by anything and if you die, no amount of raise dead or True Resurection spells can bring you back - even Reincarnation fails. Great for shady goths and vampire-wannabes everywhere!
Jaime_Wolf
04-14-06, 12:54 AM Are you calling me a shady goth or a vampire wannabe? ;)

That sounds good though, I'll have to take a look at it assuming I can find it. The only problem I see though is a logical one. That feat suggests that a soul is needed for ressurection. To be ressurected is to be made alive once again, so it implies that you need a soul to be alive in the first place. Ressurection returns the sould to the body and reanimates the body with the soul in it, but if you don't need a soul it seems ressurections would be EASIER not more difficult.

Mm, but all the other suggestions and questions have truly helped me out. Yes, he does know that something's missing, though he doesn't think about it much. And yes, he does want to understand what the broken memories and such mean. I somewhat like the idea of the V-like character though as that was actually a previous idea I had for a character (I don't have the link, but I was trying to create a character known as the Composer which would have been similar).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jaime_Wolf 04-13-06, 02:28 AM	I've been trying to come up with an interesting and workable character concept for a while now for a game that will start fairly soon. My latest idea, that I put before you all, is that of a character without a soul. First, this would give ample opportunity to roleplay, despite what it may seem like. My plan is to have a fragmented, sparse memory, difficulty keeping track of the passage of time, and few moral qualms (sometimes a bit of hesitation perhaps, but not many reservations). If anyone's ever seen Fullmetal Alchemist, the idea is basically the same as a homunculus without all of the physics oddness and the weaknesses and such things. However, the character will not be mindless nor stupid, so drop those d12's and put the barbarian away. Second, the character would easily satisfy the dungeon master with hooks. My request then is critique, suggestions, advice, and character abilities (classes, feats, prestige classes, skills and such). I've greatly considered a psionic character with the advent of Complete Psionic, and I'm leaning perhaps towards a soulbow (the character would have no idea why he has any special aptitude of course). Any thoughts? Oh yes, and mechanically I was thinking -2 charisma because people sense the character's behaviour, mannerisms, and thoughts don't seem quite right. Any bonuses anyone can think of to offset that?
Fithero 04-13-06, 08:59 AM	What about a hexblade? I once had a hexblade who explained his curse ability by the fact that he had no soul. The curse was actually his hollow...ness manifested, which kinda drained the souls of other people slightly. (its a bend of the hexblade class story... but it still works) Other than that... dunno... and of the martial classes... a character with no faith whatso ever... refuses to accept that the gods exist even while being healed. One point though... if he has no soul, how will he be raised? Later
Morka 04-13-06, 11:20 AM	You should speak with a monotone voice, as it's impossible to have you being excited about something. You should do like the Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Carabean: carry an apple with you, for the moment when you'll get your soul back, you want to taste it. You could perhaps discuss with your DM to give you immunity or a bonus against mind-affecting spells and effects. You could also have a faint aura when someone cast Detect Undead beside you; you're not exactly an undead, but because you're soulless, the spell identify you as such. Any idea why your character has no soul? Perhaps a curse given by a powerful sorcerer or outsider to punish yourself or your parents? Any chance your character might get his soul back in some Epic Quest (or by fighting with your friend Milas, like Bart Simpson...), or will you remain a soulless character all the game?
aleshandre 04-13-06, 06:03 PM	I would suggest a +2 circumstance bonus to will saves and knowledge checks, because with no soul and few if any emotions, there will be no emotion or moral issues that distract from the extraction of raw facts.
JulesCARV 04-13-06, 06:41 PM	Hmm... sounds a little like the Nameless One from Planescape: Torment. (probably the most predictable comment on this thread). So, why is it necessary for him to have -2 to charisma? Why not just give him low charisma for his race? If you need a -2 charisma penalty, though, have you looked into Elans? They look like normal humans, basically, but they're aberrations, and there's something just terribly wrong about them. Resilience and resistance could represent a certain melancholy endurance and resignation from being soulless. Repletion doesn't make much sense, but you don't really need to use it. Hexblade seems like it's too charisma-dependent if you want to play a low-charisma character. I agree with you on barbarian seeming like a bad idea. Barbarians are definitely a "soulful" class -- relying on emotion and feeling in battle. So... this soulless fellow: does he know what's missing? Does he want it back? Another possibility would be to make him somehow less susceptible to divine magic, whether cure light wounds or slay living. Also, he would find divine magic rather inaccessible (i.e., don't take any levels in cleric, favored soul, etc., though archivist or ur-priest might be an interesting concept).
Lyinginbedmon 04-13-06, 07:57 PM	I realise this'll probably be my answer to almost everything for the next half a year but, perhaps an anarchist-type character like V? Think about it, this guy is missing his own soul, his memory is constantly tripping over itself, people capable of noticing his abnormalities aren't treating him quite right, and every Cleric, Paladin, and Aristocrat is looking down on him or cursing him to the Abyss. If this doesn't scream 'rage against the machine' what else does? And consider this, he knows that there's something wrong with him, he's knows that something isn't quite right, maybe after hearing what everything is like from someone else, he, having presumedly no emotions, suddenly notices something in this described world that isn't quite right. An emotionless anarchist-terrorist would truly be someone to fear
kelvinaw273 04-13-06, 10:51 PM	There is a feat in one of the Ravenloft Supplements called "Hollow" which is basically just this. It does confer some advantages: level drain and enervation attacks do not work on you, you are unaffected by Trap the Soul and similar effects etc. and non-intelligent undead may well ignore you. On the other hand, you cannot have a Good alignment, you are never inspired by anything and if you die, no amount of raise dead or True Resurection spells can bring you back - even Reincarnation fails. Great for shady goths and vampire-wannabes everywhere!
Jaime_Wolf 04-14-06, 12:54 AM	Are you calling me a shady goth or a vampire wannabe? ;) That sounds good though, I'll have to take a look at it assuming I can find it. The only problem I see though is a logical one. That feat suggests that a soul is needed for ressurection. To be ressurected is to be made alive once again, so it implies that you need a soul to be alive in the first place. Ressurection returns the sould to the body and reanimates the body with the soul in it, but if you don't need a soul it seems ressurections would be EASIER not more difficult. Mm, but all the other suggestions and questions have truly helped me out. Yes, he does know that something's missing, though he doesn't think about it much. And yes, he does want to understand what the broken memories and such mean. I somewhat like the idea of the V-like character though as that was actually a previous idea I had for a character (I don't have the link, but I was trying to create a character known as the Composer which would have been similar).