The Power of Souls

The Power of Souls is a D&D 5E Group hosted on the RP Repository. It features adult language, violence, and sexual situations, and may not be suitable for all audiences.

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The Power of Souls

Generations ago, a God War devastated the world. Mountains were rent in two, oceans ran red with divine blood, storms of magical rage scourged across the world, warping man and beast alike. The very fabric of reality tore, allowing demons, elementals, and less definable creatures into the world. Over the course of 15 minutes, everything changed.

Gods died, including the God of Death.

That didn't, however, end the concept of death. Creatures still died, but the cycle of death was disrupted. Wild undead became much more common, but more importantly, instead of the creature's soul energy merging back into the universe, it merged with nearby creatures, strengthening them. It didn't take long for the world to realize that murder equals power.

Experimentation, much of it ghastly, determined that the more soul energy a creature accumulates, the more powerful they become, but the soul energy needed to improve increases exponentially, so to continue growing more powerful, one needs to seek out more and more powerful souls. One can only murder so many peasants or goblins before it doesn't seem to give any benefit.

That truth has shaped the world. An experienced soldier, veteran of a 100 different campaigns, can legitimately take a ballista bolt to the chest and walk away. Adventurers are viewed with suspicion, but are largely considered a necessary evil. The walking demigods are required to ward off powerful creatures that no normal mortal can hope to tangle with.

Murder isn't the only way to gain power, it's just the most well known and dramatic. An individual can also cultivate and nuture their soul energy in other ways, largely by increasing their own reputation and fame and demonstrating mastery of a skill. There are reclusive hermits that swear one can grow soul energy through meditation, exercise, and diet. But for the most part, people know that murder equals power.

What does all this mean?

The Power of Souls is a D&D setting that takes the premise of experience and Hit Points, and makes them explicit natural laws. A high level fighter can literally take more physical punishment than a bear. Hit Point Damage represents literal wounds, and sometimes horrible wounds. It's just the excess of soul energy allows a character to survive wounds that should kill any mortal. Your character can take an orcish axe to the face, and so long as you still have hit points, you'll survive and recover.

Now, you'd think with a premise like Murder Equals Power, that this is a game to engage in all your serial killer fantasies. No, I'm still looking for characters that are willing to fight the good fight. Antiheroes are fine. Villains are not.

A D&D 5E Group with Adult Themes