Questions tagged [soul]
For questions primarily about creatures' souls, and game mechanics involving souls.
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Can Contingency be triggered by the presence of an item with a soul-affecting domain of effects? [duplicate]
I want to know if I can prepare a Contingency with Dimension Door to teleport me away if an item that may affect a creature's soul is within 125 feet of me.
More specifically, I would like to be able ...
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Is there a way to bring a Specter back to life?
The Wraith has this ability:
Create Specter. The wraith targets a humanoid within 10 feet of it that has been dead for no longer than 1 minute and died violently. The target's spirit rises as a ...
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What is the native plane of a larva or lemure?
When a creature dies, and it has a soul, their soul departs to the plane of their deity or their alignment. In case of evil creatures, they may end up in the lower planes.
For Hades, the DMG (p. 63) ...
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Where do souls go upon death and when are they free to be raised?
Where do souls go when they die in 5e? Is it still an outer plane matching their alignment like in earlier editions? Are the souls of evil creatures going to the lower planes?
The spells that can ...
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Is a Clone created in a Demiplane native to it?
For this question, I'll pose it in the form of an example since it gets confusing otherwise
Say I am playing a level 17-20 wizard who wants to use the Clone spell to become immortal, but want a safe ...
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Could both an alive and an undead version of a creature exist?
Say Bob the fighter dies heroically while fighting some cultists. His companions realise they are outmatched and decide to run. But first, they quickly cut off one of Bob's fingers and take it with ...
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How do summons interact with soul-affecting effects?
For reasons of my own, I need a trapped soul for at least a couple of hours. The exact type of soul doesn't matter: so long as I have a soul in a "jar" for, say, 8 hours, I'm good.
I'm a ...
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Can a cloned Order of Scribes wizard use their subclass features for replacing their spellbook?
I'm waffling on some interpretations regarding the Order of Scribes wizard subclass in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and would really appreciate some second opinions. Most of the features seem ...
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Can the soul of a creature get swept up by a Psychic Wind while going through the astral plane after dying?
I heard that in the "standard" setting for D&D, when your character dies, their soul goes travelling through the Astral Plane until they eventually end up in the outer plane they belong ...
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What happens if magic jar ends and the caster's body is undead?
Suppose I cast magic jar and possess a body, then I kill my old body and cast animate dead on it, and after that I break the magic jar.
What happens when the soul returns to the zombified body?
For ...
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How can the agent of a devil "capture" a soul?
Devils always want more souls for the Blood War. Mostly, they get those from lawful evil mortals. But as various lore - and this question What groups of souls go to the Nine Hells according to lore? - ...
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Does Soulseeker work on undead?
Soulseeker can lead you to the location of a soul, and fails if the target soul is still alive or has been destroyed. But what if the soul belongs to an undead creature, such as a vampire, or, of ...
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When a necromancer raises a zombie, is it animated by the dead creature's soul, or by magic?
I am interested in what precisely "moves" the undead body, in the Forgotten Realms and Eberron.
Is it the magic of the spell?
Is the creature's soul rebound to the body?
Is a "false ...
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Where do dragon souls go after their deaths?
As far as I know, mortal souls go to the plane Fugue and after 100 years Kelemvor sends them to their gods' planes to serve.
But where do dragon souls go? Do Chromatic and Metallic dragon souls go to ...
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How is a soul different from the living creature that it came from?
Short Version
If someone who can cast a spell like Plane Shift or Gate dies, what prevents their soul from simply casting the spell and returning to the Material Plane?
Explanation
From what I can ...
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Is a soul or spirit a creature?
The new Unearthed Arcana gives a new option for warlock's patron: The Undead. One of its class feature is Spirit Projection:
Your body is now simply a vessel for your spirit. As an action, you can ...
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Does the Awaken spell give or create a soul?
The Awaken spell adds sentience - granting 'intelligence' of 10 to either one beast or plant target (one that starts with an int score of 3 or less). It also adds mobility, ambulatory function, ...
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Can one capture the 'soul' or 'spirit' of a dying Illithid/mind flayer with a 'Ring of Mind Shielding'?
Do illithids or 'mind flayers' have a spirit &/or soul to be captured in a Ring of Mind Sheilding? This is related to a previous question regarding the mind flayer return to a (previous/humanoid) ...
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What is the lore behind why soul coins have the symbol of Bhaal on them?
I am struggling to find an image of both sides of a Soul Coin (Baator’s currency), but everywhere I've looked, I've only found only one side bearing a letter and the other side depicting a skull with ...
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What happens when a player violates two devils' contracts?
I'm currently preparing a session in my campaign where one of my players is going to consider signing a contract with a devil. While writing the contract, I noticed something that seems like a ...
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What groups of souls go to the Nine Hells according to lore?
The Nine Hells (or Baator) is the Lawful Evil outer plane, and the home plane of devils. It is a plane of eternal punishment for the wicked.
Which souls go there in the afterlife?
I can think that ...
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What is a creature's "animating spirit"?
The spell speak with dead says:
You grant the semblance of life and intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer the questions you pose. [...]
[...] The corpse knows ...
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What is the complete lifecycle of souls in the Nine Hells?
The Descent into Avernus adventure provides more information about what happens to souls in the Nine Hells/Baator than was previously available (soul coins and their uses, in particular).
It's also ...
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What happens to a lich's soul when it dies with a Ring of Mind Shielding?
What happens to a lich's soul when it dies with a Ring of Mind Shielding? Normally, a lich's soul goes to the phylactery. But the Ring of Mind Shielding also takes a soul. Does the lich choose where ...
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Can you force out a soul that is occupying a Ring of Mind Shielding?
Per the description:
If you die while wearing the ring, your soul enters it, unless it already houses a soul. You can remain in the ring or depart for the afterlife. As long as your soul is in the ...
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When a Hexblade warlock uses the Accursed Specter feature on a slain creature but another character casts Soul Cage, which takes priority?
The Hexblade warlock's Accursed Specter feature does not have an action timing specified, and merely says (XGtE, p. 56; emphasis mine):
When you slay a humanoid, you can cause its spirit to rise ...
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Does a soul being resurrected know what spell is being used?
Specifically, would a soul know that the body they're being invited into was created via Reincarnate? After all, for some souls, changing species might be a big deal, possibly of the 'rather stay dead'...
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Party Paladin sold his soul to an evil goddess. Does he get a new character template now? (ie: deathknight, blackguard, etc.)
A PC died, and in an attempt to have his life spared, my group's paladin decided to offer his soul after he had a talk with the spiritual form of Lolth. Lolth decided to bargain for a trade of his ...
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Where is a warlock's soul?
In a campaign that I am running, we came upon an interesting question. Where is a warlock's soul? This came about when my players were trying to sneak into a restricted area.
In my world, there is a ...
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How does Clone interact with lichdom?
Assume we have a high level wizard named Recnamorcen.
Recnamorcen casts Clone on himself, then undergoes the process to become a lich before the Clone matures. Now if he dies his soul will not go ...
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Can a victim of diablerie's soul be retained within the diablerist?
My latest campaign has reached a rather tragic point, heaved on by diablerie happening more often than it should.
A character's blood bound wife, diablerising that character's childe, was lost to the ...
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Do non-elven gods become more powerful over time?
As far as I understand, gods in the Forgotten Realms become more powerful if they get more souls of their worshippers in the afterlife.
According to Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (p. 37, under "...
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Do all creatures have souls?
The term "soul", despite being widely used, isn't well defined in 5e. Do all living creatures have souls, or having a soul is a characteristic of specific types of creatures?
The only hint I've found ...
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Where does an unaligned creature's soul go after death?
In the DMG section on "Bringing Back the Dead" (chapter 1, p. 24), it describes what happens when a creature dies:
When a creature dies, its soul departs its body, leaves the Material Plane, ...
user37158
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Can the True Resurrection spell resurrect a creature that was originally created by True Polymorph from an object?
If you true polymorph an object into a creature, and concentrate until the effect is indefinite, does the pseudo-creature become a valid target for true resurrection?
As I understand, it would be a ...
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What happens if a petitioner is brought back to the Material Plane?
A petitioner is, essentially, the soul of a deceased character that has found its way to the plane to which it belongs. However, as far as I am aware, it does retain its level and abilities - at least ...
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How many souls does a multiheaded creature have? [closed]
How many souls does a multiheaded creature have?
Ettins have multiple heads. Does one resurrection spell revive both heads of the Ettin? What happens if one head is willing to be revived and the ...
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Could a soul from the Soulmonger be restored in the ToA campaign after this event?
Assume some soul was sucked into the Soulmonger.
This event could happen with this soul, when it is inside:
Is it possible to resurrect a soul after this event happens? Maybe with a Wish spell or ...
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Can a soul inside a Ring of Mind Shielding be brought back to life?
One of the traits of the Ring of Mind Shielding is:
If you die while wearing the ring, your soul enters it, unless it already houses a soul. You can remain in the ring or depart for the afterlife. As ...
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Can a Vampire Soul be trapped in a Magic Jar-type spell, and what happens if it's released?
Can a Vampire Soul be trapped in a Magic Jar-type spell, and what happens if it's released?
I'm going through this right now in my current adventure. One of my PCs got an amulet that acts as a magic ...
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Do warforged have souls?
The 5e Unearthed Arcana: Eberron (v1.1) says:
Although they are constructs, they have much in common with living creatures, including emotions and social bonds, and perhaps even souls.
This last ...
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Could a Lich have a Clone spell prepared as insurance for getting its phylactery destroyed?
I'm thinking of using the following setup for a long-term villain in a campaign I'm planning:
A Lich, for whatever reason, has a prepared Clone spell hanging around (maybe paranoia, maybe a forgotten ...
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Does destroying a Lich's phylactery destroy the soul within it?
The MM entry for a Lich mentions destroying a phylactery is a difficult endeavor but the only way to prevent a Lich from rising again and again.
Does destroying the phylactery destroy the soul within? ...
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Would the Soul Cage spell prevent a soul from transferring to a Clone?
The wording on soul cage states:
This spell snatches the soul of a humanoid as it dies
And after that we know that the soul exists in a gem for 8 hours or until the interactions are used.
The ...
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Would becoming a ghoul be a viable option to prevent a devil from getting your soul upon death?
My character promised a devil her soul upon her death. She was young and stupid, don’t judge her. I talked to my GM and we came to the conclusion that resurrection, true resurrection and raise dead ...
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How can I persuade an unwilling soul to become willing?
This question is inspired by this question. In that question, one of the answer explains that you can predict if the soul is willing or not by means of some divination spells. It, however, doesn't ...
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Does an intelligent undead have a soul in 5e D&D?
Does an intelligent undead, such as a vampire, mummy, etc, have a soul? Is it the original soul of the person they were before?
There was already a question exactly like this specifically for 3.5e ...
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A dragon's soul trapped in a ring of mind shielding wants a new body; what magic could enable her to do so?
In my D&D 5e campaign, the characters fought and defeated a young dragon of mixed white and silver lineage, and found a ring of mind shielding on her body. Her original body was destroyed. ...
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When does the soul leave the body after death?
In D&D (Forgotten Realms) lore, is there any kind of answer for how long it takes the soul to leave the body after death? If not, is there any answer implied by other rules or effects (such as ...
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Do you remember the name of characters who attempted to revive you?
On DMG page 24, under "Bringing Back the Dead", it states:
A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and might refuse to return on that ...
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