For the purpose of using the spell Trap the Soul, do devils have souls? Will this spell work on a devil? I cannot find anything that says devils don't have souls.
They do have souls. In fact, their soul is that part you keep stabbing with your sword when you fight them. They are outsiders which gives them this trait:
Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature—soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don't work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider with the native subtype can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be.
So when you kill I devil, you actually destroy its soul. And if you trap its soul, you trap its body as well.
To my understanding, it does. From the spell description,
Trap the soul forces a creature's life force (and its material body) into a gem. The gem holds the trapped entity indefinitely or until the gem is broken and the life force is released, which allows the material body to reform. If the trapped creature is a powerful creature from another plane, it can be required to perform a service immediately upon being freed. Otherwise, the creature can go free once the gem imprisoning it is broken.
Additionally, there's no indication in the devil subtype that they might have any special immunity to the spell.
It's more a "life force/essence" thing (Trap the Life Force just doesn't sound as pretty, lol). Even if from a fluff perspective they didn't have souls, the spell would probably trap the body anyways.
Trap away.
edit - G'ah! ninja'd by a mind flayer!
Devils are souls, as are all Outsiders (except those with the Native subtype).
From the Outsider type:
Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature—its soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don't work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider with the native subtype can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be.
So yes, Trap the Soul works. And it works well.
After all, there are many tales of powerful spirits trapped in a gem or some other object.
They do have souls. In fact, their soul is that part you keep stabbing with your sword when you fight them. They are outsiders which gives them this trait:
Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature—soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don't work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider with the native subtype can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be.
So when you kill I devil, you actually destroy its soul. And if you trap its soul, you trap its body as well.
Thank you. The part that was making me question the ruling is where the devil's body and soul are one. I wasn't sure how trapping it's soul would work, if it worked at all, since there is no separation of the two.
Good thread!
They do have souls. In fact, their soul is that part you keep stabbing with your sword when you fight them. They are outsiders which gives them this trait:
Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature—soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don't work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider with the native subtype can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be.
So when you kill I devil, you actually destroy its soul. And if you trap its soul, you trap its body as well.
Unless you kill it on it's native plane... in which case it IS a native outsider lol. At least that's how it should work from my reasoning.
No, the native subtype means "native to the material plane." This is important because the material plane plays by different rules. Namely that creatures there have dual nature.
Incidentally, when a creature leaves its home plane, it gains the extraplaner subtype.
No, the native subtype means "native to the material plane." This is important because the material plane plays by different rules. Namely that creatures there have dual nature.
Incidentally, when a creature leaves its home plane, it gains the extraplaner subtype.
Ahh... That makes sense I suppose. Its never really come up thankfully in any game I have been a part of.
I think the "native" term adds a certain amount of confusion to what the subtype really is, but they've named it so, and so it is given to us for use.
Oh, huh. I didn't notice that limited wish could raise outsiders. I thought it took the big one.