I am thinking primarily along the lines of the speak with dead spell.
I am wondering if someone who was killed with a sihedron mark has their soul actually consumed. If that is the case then speak with dead presumably won't work and one could not cast that to find out who the killer was.
Is that correct? Also this would mean that these people could not be raised or resurrected as well.
I think this will make the crimes seem a bit more chilling if my players investigate this avenue.
Peet
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They tear off a piece of the soul but the majority of the soul progresses to Pharasma's court as normal. Although the pain to the soul is intense causes psychological and spiritual damage to the soul in question.
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By the as-written AP, The NPC is correct.
In my campaign, I had it rip out the entire soul, and it did indeed have the desired bone-chilling effect. Neither Speak with Dead nor Blood Biography worked on those "properly sacrificed". I am really glad I did it.
But beware! If you kill a PC who's marked with the Sihedron, you're barring the player from ever bringing that PC back.
Kind of turns it into "don't be an idiot" hardball.
(The moment my PCs learned that Sihedron markings = no soul they wouldn't wear or carry anything with a sihedron on it, medallions included.)
EDIT: It's also nice because it makes the bad guys seem so much more evil. Not only are they carrying out their nefarious plots, but they're using eternal souls for power! In a world where resurrection is rather commonplace and everyone knows there's life after death, using souls for power is just downright vile. Gives the PCs some extra motivation, or at least for mine that was the big, "These people need to be stopped and killed" moment.
By the as-written AP, The NPC is correct.
In my campaign, I had it rip out the entire soul...
Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Makes the whole campaign much more scary.
However, it also seems like the minor runewell under Sandpoint doesn't need the Sihedron symbol to accumulate a soul. But I'm thinking the minor runewell has less of an impact than the greater one Karzoug is using. Did you have the minor runewell do this as well? It would explain why it took so long to catch the Chopper, though I think the "late unpleasantness" would have a much more fearsome tone if that was the case.
For the record, does wearing the sihedron medallion at the time of death also have this effect? Or does it need to be an actual tattoo?
Peet
I would disrtinguish 'life energy' from 'soul'. The Runewells etc absorb the life energy of the sinful. Souls are much harder to get hold of (eg a diabolical pact), but without the life energy you can't be Raised, and AIR it's what animates a Speak with Dead spell, so the ideas above would still work.
I think you have to have the Tatto. Thassilon and its mages were basically blood mages from Dragon Age, in that their culture and their magic is focused around sacrifices to cause effect. Obviously they arn't making that sacrifice, so their slaves got branded / tattoo'd and their souls /blood/life energy/whatever used.
The above is correct. You need the tattoo to have the spiritual cheese grater taken to your soul.
Thatnks for the answers.
What about the minor runewells like the one under Sandpoint?
Thatnks for the answers.
What about the minor runewells like the one under Sandpoint?
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Just following up since you asked directly -- I agree with the others here: It would make no sense to give your favored followers amulets that destroyed their souls.
So it was always the tattoos/carved markings.
And the runewells consume "residual energy" from non-marked souls when people die in close proximity (10 miles or so?), but don't put them through nearly as much of a ringer. That explains the charging of the wells in key locations that charge without marked souls.
As I said, at least that's how I played it.