
Zachary W Anderson |
So I was running an adventure where the baddies demand human(oid) sacrifice. Much to my surprise (because DMs really should expect the unexpected by now), one of the heroes volunteered as tribute. A Samsaran Druid, in this case.
I'm not sure off-the-top if there's any published material about sacrifice specifics (probably for the best), but my impression was that demons get to keep the souls sacrificed to them. Or maybe they just delight in the act of murder?
I'm still planning to let the druid come back, since I feel like it would be punishing a very interesting choice, both narratively and tactically. But I think some kind of DOOM is going to follow the character for the rest of the campaign.
References? Suggestions? Thoughts?

Claxon |

Yeah....the demon probably isn't going to let the soul go.
And the Samsaran should probably be aware of that.
The demon is likely to either eat the soul (I think that's their thing) or to store it in a soul gem (souls are valuable). Either way it's unlikely that they'd simply murder someone like a PC (high level/powerful) and let their soul get away.
Honestly, I can't see a real possibility that the demons wouldn't destroy or trap the soul, which would stop the cycle of rebirth that the Samsaran character may be expecting.

SheepishEidolon |

Does he play a reincarnated druid? Starting at level 5, they reincarnate automatically, unless killed by a death effect - or within a week of the last such reincarnation. Maybe that's why he thinks he is on the safe side.
Knowledge (religion) could reveal the dangers and limits of such a sacrifice. Most demons can't simply take a soul, usually it needs at least a balor lord with the right power. Either way, demons can develop long-lasting grudges, which fits well to the intended shadow of doom over the druid...

![]() |

I would agree that just because you're sacrificing something to demons doesn't necessarily mean that the soul goes right to the abyss. I know that there are many specific effects in Pathfinder that would cover this sort of thing. The Cacodaemon's Soul Lock, for example, resembles the effect that Xenocrat mentioned:
Once per day as a full-round action, a cacodaemon can ingest the spirit of any sentient creature that has died within the last minute. This causes a soul gem to grow inside of the cacodaemon’s gut, which it can regurgitate as a standard action. A soul gem is a fine-sized object with 1 hit point and hardness 2. Destroying a soul gem frees the soul within, though it does not return the deceased creature to life. This is a death effect. Any attempt to resurrect a body whose soul is trapped in a soul gem requires a DC 12 caster level check. Failure results in the spell having no effect, while success shatters the victim’s soul gem and returns the creature to life as normal. If the soul gem rests in an unholy location, such as that created by the spell unhallow, the DC of this caster level check increases by +2. The caster level check DC is Charisma-based.
Any evil outsider can, as a standard action, ingest a soul gem. Doing so frees the soul within, but condemns it to one of the lower planes (though the soul can be returned to life as normal). The outsider gains fast healing 2 for a number of rounds equal to its Hit Dice.
So at minimum the character should probably be able to make some kind of caster level check in order to successfully return from the dead. And it's entirely possible that the sacrifice is just a "murder is fun" kind of party.
That said, I agree that for narrative reasons this should have some sort of effect. The simplest and least intrusive way to handle it would be to have any demons the party encounters in the future recognize the druid has "the smell of the abyss" on him and act more aggressively towards the character as a result. If the party is, or gets to be high enough level to attract extraplanar attention, then some threatening but not overwhelming force of demons might try to claim what's "theirs." Or the character could pick up an oracle curse as a result of their brush with the Abyss - Demonic, Abyssal, or Wrecker have appropriate flavour. Just make sure it's roughly balanced for the specific character - don't give Wrecker to a character that relies on weapons and armour. Or if this is a Reincarnate effect, maybe the character comes back as a Tiefling. Or a combination.