Hello dears! I need some help.
The general question is 'what happens to the outsider when she dies'?
Let's take azata for example. Is it appropriate to say that azata is the very soul embodied in the form of this outsider? Or she has no soul at all and she is something else? Is there any energy in her that returns to the Elysium after her death? Or is she just dissolves and death is the end of her existence?
Now for a more specific question (rather grim).
My players are on a mission in the Abyss. After battle with one slaver guy they captured Broken Soul azata (alive). Azata is mad and CE. In one moment of clear mind she asked to kill her... Now my players are thinking, what's next (especially our paladin). Players don't have easy options to move between the planes nor they have any spells or powers like wish etc. What will happen with this azata after death? Will she 'fill' the power of the Abyss with her some essence, given her current alignment and in what place she is right now?
And the last question - they also captured broken soul couatl (CE) too. Couatl is a native outsider. Does his 'nativeness' to material plane changes something in comparison with azata above?
Even though the Book of the Damned is my hardcover handbook, I suddenly don't have a solid answers to this questions...
Thanks in advance!
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I’ve always thought that outsiders kinda just go back to their plane as their primordial essence, if you will, until enough time passes for them to assume the lowest form for their plane.
ie a killed devil would go to hell and take let’s say a few decades for it to basically respawn as a lemure or something at the bottom of the totem pole.
It's always been pretty vague about this both in Pathfinder and DND. I like friendly sauce's answer though.
I think friendly sauce is correct. Outsiders are made of Quintessence, which is the same stuff the planes are made from. I figure it is like decomposition for the soul, similar to the body decomposing in the dirt.
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Outsiders are soul-and-body in one, whereas mortals are bodies inhabited by a soul.
Kill a mortal, and their soul moves on. They could inhabit a new body, or be captured as "currency", or become some sort of undead, or coalesce into an outsider (like a particularly evil soul becoming a demon).
Kill an outsider, and they're entirely destroyed.
Outsiders who are *summoned* return back to their home when killed. Outsiders who are *called* don't.
In DND at least they were kind of inconsistent. I THINK one book said something about if devils get killed off-plane at least, they come back as the lowest rank of devil and have to work their way back up. If they die while in Hell they die for real. It didn't say if it works this way for all outsiders though.
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 while they can be brought back to life by some magic, whether they basically just stop existing until someone brings them back is still kind of an open question.
Creative Director
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Check out the "River of Souls" section on page 64–69 of Planar Adventures for specific details on what happens when an outsider dies To answer the OP's specific question...
My players are on a mission in the Abyss. After battle with one slaver guy they captured Broken Soul azata (alive). Azata is mad and CE. In one moment of clear mind she asked to kill her... Now my players are thinking, what's next (especially our paladin). Players don't have easy options to move between the planes nor they have any spells or powers like wish etc. What will happen with this azata after death? Will she 'fill' the power of the Abyss with her some essence, given her current alignment and in what place she is right now?
And the last question - they also captured broken soul couatl (CE) too. Couatl is a native outsider. Does his 'nativeness' to material plane changes something in comparison with azata above? !
In this case, I'd say that the broken soul's moment of clarity gives them a chance at redemption. If the PCs kill the broken soul as a mercy in such a case, I'd say that the broken soul's body would collapse on death and decay as any other living creature's body would decay and merge with the Abyss while its spirit would return to Elysium—in effect, it would split its quintessence between two planes. Normally a slain outsider's quintessence (the combination of its body and spirit) would recycle fully to its associated plane.
A native outsider's home plane is the Material Plane. If this were to happen on the Abyss with a broken soul couatl, its body's quintessence would recycle into the Abyss and it's spiritual quintessence would cycle back into the Mateiral Plane.
In this case, I'd say that the broken soul's moment of clarity gives them a chance at redemption. If the PCs kill the broken soul as a mercy in such a case, I'd say that the broken soul's body would collapse on death and decay as any other living creature's body would decay and merge with the Abyss while its spirit would return to Elysium—in effect, it would split its quintessence between two planes. Normally a slain outsider's quintessence (the combination of its body and spirit) would recycle fully to its associated plane.
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Could the players then go to Elysium, use one of the spells above to bring back the azata, and have it come back as a normal (non broken) azata?
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Creative Director
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Could the players then go to Elysium, use one of the spells above to bring back the azata, and have it come back as a normal (non broken) azata?
In this case, I'd say that the broken soul's moment of clarity gives them a chance at redemption. If the PCs kill the broken soul as a mercy in such a case, I'd say that the broken soul's body would collapse on death and decay as any other living creature's body would decay and merge with the Abyss while its spirit would return to Elysium—in effect, it would split its quintessence between two planes. Normally a slain outsider's quintessence (the combination of its body and spirit) would recycle fully to its associated plane.
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Sounds like a fun, classic, and intriguing adventure plotline to me! :-)
Thank you so much! It helps a lot. The idea of splitting the essence between the plans was absolutely not obvious to me :)
Also I read these pages in Planar Adventures, and the second discovery for me is that there is a certain quintessence on the Material Plane too.
It's a little off topic, but how does it work? The quintessence of the Material Plane have no opportunity to become a petitioner once, merged with the soul? Or that's how some of native outsiders are created?
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Creative Director
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Thank you so much! It helps a lot. The idea of splitting the essence between the plans was absolutely not obvious to me :)
Also I read these pages in Planar Adventures, and the second discovery for me is that there is a certain quintessence on the Material Plane too.
It's a little off topic, but how does it work? The quintessence of the Material Plane have no opportunity to become a petitioner once, merged with the soul? Or that's how some of native outsiders are created?
The Material Plane is made up of the four elements, whereas the outer planes are made of quintessence—which is a combination of all the elements and souls into one thing. Quintessence that cycles back into the Material Plane after a native outsider or Material Plane petitioner dies splits as well, reverting back to the four elements and life energy that seeps back to the Positive Plane.
Thanks a lot! The cosmology of this universe has always seemed very interesting to me and I learned something new and useful :)