Looking into developing a new school of magic revolving around the study of the soul and not the body. Necromancy focused on the body which is different.The name of the school of magic I'm currently going with is "Pneumaus" derived from the Greek word "Pneuma" which means "thevitalspirit;thesoul". I'll be posting my rough draft of spells and related feats here before finalize them in the homebrew spells and feats lists. Some of these feats are connected to the Soul Coin concept that has been talked about in upcoming content.
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" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
Sounds interesting... You could go with the "the School of Pneumation" which would sum up to be "the action or process of the vital spirit or soul" of that strikes your fancy. Looking forward to see what you come up with man.
The idea came form working on my Shadow Monarch, I already have two feats I'm working on for it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
Soul Conversion Pre- Shadow Monarch Subclass, 10th Level ------ During your studies with your new found powers over souls and shadows you have learn how to convert souls into a new racial or monster template when you combine it with your Soul Rival. ------ Make an Arcana check to see if you can turn the soul you have gained into a different person or monster than what it came from. If it was a person then you can give it a new class in levels that does not exceed your limit with Soul Revival. With monsters the Soul Revival monster template is stacked onto the base monster(keeping the better stats). The combined CR rating can not exceed your Soul Revival limit.
You may store these monsters and persons within a soul coin. ( the breakdown limit is 3 Huge Monsters worth of souls, 1 Huge monster equals 2 Large, 1 Large equals 2 Medium, and 1 Medium equals 2 tiny.) ------
"Surrender the heraldry of your platonic bond by tying your soul to mine craft, the heavens wane into a blush umbrage visage."
" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
Soul Coin Minting ----------------- Mammon had made many weaker versions of his infamous Soul Coin mint press and sent them to high ranking members of his cult on the material plane. However several of these were stolen. One of these infernal contraptions has made its way into your possession. -------- * Please note that operating the mint press and creating a Soul Coin is an evil act. Using a Soul Coin in any way other than to free the trapped soul is also an evil act.
Materials needed to create a Soul Coin: One Containment Gem. (As per the Spell Imprisonment) Blood from a hanged man. (2 vials) Iron from rusted slave shackles (1 set of shackles per coin.)
-----
"Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage."Richard Lovelace
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" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
Here's an interesting cantrip idea I just had and its a twist on a spell from another system but nerfed.
Cantrip - Pneopsis- Concentration Within your normal range of vision you can see the souls of everything and everyone around. There are several colors that separate the souls from one another. This spell lasts a number of rounds equal to your spellcasting modifier.
Red- Monster Blue- non-monster humanoid Yellow- beast or magical beast green- plant based monster ( I can't see this color so I'm assuming I choose correctly.) Purple - Undead Orange - Constructs (Warforged and Soul Coin enabled.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
This doesn't really suit my tastes but it's well thought out and you've done a good job putting a lot of work into this, well done.
I would consider this a sub-set of necromancy though because Necromancy is a school of magic specifically involving life, death and souls. Anything that manipulates the soul is already considered Necromancy, like the Soul Cage spell that lets you capture souls.
However, the schools are just a system wizards invented so it's perfectly acceptable to create different variants and new schools. I only point out about Necromancy because you specifically said it was about the body and it isn't.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Soul Conversion Pre- Shadow Monarch Subclass, 10th Level ------ During your studies with your new found powers over souls and shadows you have learn how to convert souls into a new racial or monster template when you combine it with your Soul Rival. ------ Make an Arcana check to see if you can turn the soul you have gained into a different person or monster than what it came from. If it was a person then you can give it a new class in levels that does not exceed your limit with Soul Revival. With monsters the Soul Revival monster template is stacked onto the base monster(keeping the better stats). The combined CR rating can not exceed your Soul Revival limit.
You may store these monsters and persons within a soul coin. ( the breakdown limit is 3 Huge Monsters worth of souls, 1 Huge monster equals 2 Large, 1 Large equals 2 Medium, and 1 Medium equals 2 tiny.) ------
"Surrender the heraldry of your platonic bond by tying your soul to mine craft, the heavens wane into a blush umbrage visage."
I really shouldn't but I caught sight of this and followed the links back to your Shadow Monarch.
If this is meant for an incredibly high-powered game, I perhaps could see it working as a feat, but this is high powered in the extreme. Before I get into that though, point of mechanics, you should list the DC for this Arcana check. Right now, I don't know how difficult a task this is meant to be.
Prereq's are that you are a Shadow Monarch, and at least a level 10 character. So, let us think pure shadow monarch at level 12. Now, I think this is based off of the Soul Rival ability, which mid-feat you changed to Soul Revival. knowing how that ability works is key to understanding how this feat works. I'm working off what you have posted here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/201270-shadow-monarch since that is the only version I can find.
This level 2 ability allows you to turn someone you kill into a Shadow. By level 12, it is a Shadow, Spectre, Poltergeist, or Ghost. This is a non-action, using this feat seems to be a non-action, and the undead created are yours for eternity, unless they are killed or you decide to destroy them. You can command an amount of undead CR that is equal to your class level + Intelligence mod.
It is not unreasonable to assume that a 12th level wizard has an 18 int, so the amount of CR the person who takes this feat can control is likely 16. So, let us see what happens here. The wizard is traveling through the countryside and fights a Hill Giant. A CR 5 monster, no real threat to a level 12 wizard, and you kill it. You succeed on the roll, and decide to turn this monster into a type of Poltergeist. Very first thing that jumps out at me from the Poltergeist entry in the monster manual it has permanent invisibility. It is listed as a trait, not an action, so this creature will be forever invisible, meaning anything attacking it without true sight has disadvantage to hit it, and it always has advantage to strike.
I take whatever is better from the poltergeist, Hp stays the same, it now has a 50ft flight speed, Dex increases to +2, giving it a 15 AC. And it's intelligence, charisma and wisdom all increase to average levels. Resistance to non-magic damage, as well as resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, and thunder with immunity to poison and necrotic. It also has all those fun status immunities, and now has darkvision. Incorporeal movement and sunlight sensitivity might matter, but the real beauty is I don't know if you keep the club and rocks, or if you use the Telekinietic thrust and foreceful slam. You take the better though, so I'm going to go with the hill giant attack suite.
Now, looking at the DMG, this invisible Hill Giant with multiple resistances to damage, is about a CR 6. Even if you might count it as a CR 7 for the purposes of your feat (just adding the two monster CRs together) you could still easily have two of these things at any time.
The worst possible thing though, is if your enemies are human. Because then you just break all sorts of rules. Let us say your wizard was walking through the woods, and was ambushed by a group of bandits. Easily destroyed via a fireball. You then decide to turn all of them into specters with 3 levels of rogue, making them swashbucklers. Now, no matter how you slice it, whether you count level as CR or use the guidelines, you are only getting about a CR 2 or 3 creature out of this, but it is a creature that can, while no in sunlight, fly in, attack with sneak attack for 5d6 and reduce an opponents max hp, fly away with no attack of opportunity, and then hide as a bonus action. They also have about 32 hp, a ton of resistances, can triple move for 150 flight speed through solid objects, and a bunch of other tricks. Oh, and at the high end of CR 3, you can have six of them. Which is a single turn damage output of 30d6 or nearly a 9th level spell, before your wizard even stops reading his "How to become an Overlord in three Easy steps" book.
And that is hoping that creatures that can't speak (which is everything below a ghost) can't become spellcasters. But, if you made a ghost into a wizard, let us say a Shadow Monarch...
Well, I'm sure I don't need to explain how broken that chain is going to become.
Pneopsis is certainly interesting. This might be presumptuous but I assume the cantrip can’t pierce illusions like Arcanist’s magic aura.
By Monster do you mean monstrosity? What humanoids would you consider monstrous? (If it’s goblins and orcs, isn’t that more of an opinion formed by “civilized” races to further ostracize their enemies? Wouldn’t magic make no distinction between the two?)
What examples do you have of magic beasts?
Anyways, I’m surprised fiends, fey, and celestials aren’t specified. Perhaps as creatures without souls in the traditional sense they don’t show up?
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Soul Conversion Pre- Shadow Monarch Subclass, 10th Level ------ During your studies with your new found powers over souls and shadows you have learn how to convert souls into a new racial or monster template when you combine it with your Soul Rival. ------ Make an Arcana check to see if you can turn the soul you have gained into a different person or monster than what it came from. If it was a person then you can give it a new class in levels that does not exceed your limit with Soul Revival. With monsters the Soul Revival monster template is stacked onto the base monster(keeping the better stats). The combined CR rating can not exceed your Soul Revival limit.
You may store these monsters and persons within a soul coin. ( the breakdown limit is 3 Huge Monsters worth of souls, 1 Huge monster equals 2 Large, 1 Large equals 2 Medium, and 1 Medium equals 2 tiny.) ------
"Surrender the heraldry of your platonic bond by tying your soul to mine craft, the heavens wane into a blush umbrage visage."
I really shouldn't but I caught sight of this and followed the links back to your Shadow Monarch.
If this is meant for an incredibly high-powered game, I perhaps could see it working as a feat, but this is high powered in the extreme. Before I get into that though, point of mechanics, you should list the DC for this Arcana check. Right now, I don't know how difficult a task this is meant to be.
Prereq's are that you are a Shadow Monarch, and at least a level 10 character. So, let us think pure shadow monarch at level 12. Now, I think this is based off of the Soul Rival ability, which mid-feat you changed to Soul Revival. knowing how that ability works is key to understanding how this feat works. I'm working off what you have posted here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/201270-shadow-monarch since that is the only version I can find.
This level 2 ability allows you to turn someone you kill into a Shadow. By level 12, it is a Shadow, Spectre, Poltergeist, or Ghost. This is a non-action, using this feat seems to be a non-action, and the undead created are yours for eternity, unless they are killed or you decide to destroy them. You can command an amount of undead CR that is equal to your class level + Intelligence mod.
It is not unreasonable to assume that a 12th level wizard has an 18 int, so the amount of CR the person who takes this feat can control is likely 16. So, let us see what happens here. The wizard is traveling through the countryside and fights a Hill Giant. A CR 5 monster, no real threat to a level 12 wizard, and you kill it. You succeed on the roll, and decide to turn this monster into a type of Poltergeist. Very first thing that jumps out at me from the Poltergeist entry in the monster manual it has permanent invisibility. It is listed as a trait, not an action, so this creature will be forever invisible, meaning anything attacking it without true sight has disadvantage to hit it, and it always has advantage to strike.
I take whatever is better from the poltergeist, Hp stays the same, it now has a 50ft flight speed, Dex increases to +2, giving it a 15 AC. And it's intelligence, charisma and wisdom all increase to average levels. Resistance to non-magic damage, as well as resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, and thunder with immunity to poison and necrotic. It also has all those fun status immunities, and now has darkvision. Incorporeal movement and sunlight sensitivity might matter, but the real beauty is I don't know if you keep the club and rocks, or if you use the Telekinietic thrust and foreceful slam. You take the better though, so I'm going to go with the hill giant attack suite.
Now, looking at the DMG, this invisible Hill Giant with multiple resistances to damage, is about a CR 6. Even if you might count it as a CR 7 for the purposes of your feat (just adding the two monster CRs together) you could still easily have two of these things at any time.
The worst possible thing though, is if your enemies are human. Because then you just break all sorts of rules. Let us say your wizard was walking through the woods, and was ambushed by a group of bandits. Easily destroyed via a fireball. You then decide to turn all of them into specters with 3 levels of rogue, making them swashbucklers. Now, no matter how you slice it, whether you count level as CR or use the guidelines, you are only getting about a CR 2 or 3 creature out of this, but it is a creature that can, while no in sunlight, fly in, attack with sneak attack for 5d6 and reduce an opponents max hp, fly away with no attack of opportunity, and then hide as a bonus action. They also have about 32 hp, a ton of resistances, can triple move for 150 flight speed through solid objects, and a bunch of other tricks. Oh, and at the high end of CR 3, you can have six of them. Which is a single turn damage output of 30d6 or nearly a 9th level spell, before your wizard even stops reading his "How to become an Overlord in three Easy steps" book.
And that is hoping that creatures that can't speak (which is everything below a ghost) can't become spellcasters. But, if you made a ghost into a wizard, let us say a Shadow Monarch...
Well, I'm sure I don't need to explain how broken that chain is going to become.
Think of the soul revival choices as templates. You keep alot of the base scores, abilities, and gear the creature/mortal/other had and then the template just stacks the best from it on top. I really suggest googling the manga/manhua series "Only I level Up" its what sparked the whole idea behind this subclass. Yes these members of the undead army and the class in general subclass are meant for a campaign system that goes to level 100.
Pneopsis is certainly interesting. This might be presumptuous but I assume the cantrip can’t pierce illusions like Arcanist’s magic aura.
By Monster do you mean monstrosity? What humanoids would you consider monstrous? (If it’s goblins and orcs, isn’t that more of an opinion formed by “civilized” races to further ostracize their enemies? Wouldn’t magic make no distinction between the two?)
What examples do you have of magic beasts?
Anyways, I’m surprised fiends, fey, and celestials aren’t specified. Perhaps as creatures without souls in the traditional sense they don’t show up?
Monster/monstrosity yes, a magical beast would be like the Phoenix, as for the cantrip seeing past illusions to identify a soul type, Arcanist’s magic aura doesn't work as the soul in this case isn't magical.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
This doesn't really suit my tastes but it's well thought out and you've done a good job putting a lot of work into this, well done.
I would consider this a sub-set of necromancy though because Necromancy is a school of magic specifically involving life, death and souls. Anything that manipulates the soul is already considered Necromancy, like the Soul Cage spell that lets you capture souls.
However, the schools are just a system wizards invented so it's perfectly acceptable to create different variants and new schools. I only point out about Necromancy because you specifically said it was about the body and it isn't.
"This spell snatches the soul of a humanoid..." Imprisonment does it to anything and leaves only a gem behind. Its basically a D&D version of a pokeball. and by using a living creature within the gem in the Soul Coin Minting process its like adding another layer or clause to a devil contract.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
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Looking into developing a new school of magic revolving around the study of the soul and not the body. Necromancy focused on the body which is different.The name of the school of magic I'm currently going with is "Pneumaus" derived from the Greek word "Pneuma" which means "the vital spirit; the soul". I'll be posting my rough draft of spells and related feats here before finalize them in the homebrew spells and feats lists. Some of these feats are connected to the Soul Coin concept that has been talked about in upcoming content.
Sounds interesting... You could go with the "the School of Pneumation" which would sum up to be "the action or process of the vital spirit or soul" of that strikes your fancy. Looking forward to see what you come up with man.
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To see my more recent homebrew creations, please check out my content on Hombrewery.
The idea came form working on my Shadow Monarch, I already have two feats I'm working on for it.
Soul Conversion
Pre- Shadow Monarch Subclass, 10th Level
------
During your studies with your new found powers over souls and shadows you have learn how to convert souls into a new racial or monster template when you combine it with your Soul Rival.
------
Make an Arcana check to see if you can turn the soul you have gained into a different person or monster than what it came from. If it was a person then you can give it a new class in levels that does not exceed your limit with Soul Revival. With monsters the Soul Revival monster template is stacked onto the base monster(keeping the better stats). The combined CR rating can not exceed your Soul Revival limit.
You may store these monsters and persons within a soul coin. ( the breakdown limit is 3 Huge Monsters worth of souls, 1 Huge monster equals 2 Large, 1 Large equals 2 Medium, and 1 Medium equals 2 tiny.)
------
Soul Coin Minting
-----------------
Mammon had made many weaker versions of his infamous Soul Coin mint press and sent them to high ranking members of his cult on the material plane. However several of these were stolen. One of these infernal contraptions has made its way into your possession.
--------
* Please note that operating the mint press and creating a Soul Coin is an evil act. Using a Soul Coin in any way other than to free the trapped soul is also an evil act.
Materials needed to create a Soul Coin:
One Containment Gem. (As per the Spell Imprisonment)
Blood from a hanged man. (2 vials)
Iron from rusted slave shackles (1 set of shackles per coin.)
-----
Here's an interesting cantrip idea I just had and its a twist on a spell from another system but nerfed.
Cantrip - Pneopsis- Concentration
Within your normal range of vision you can see the souls of everything and everyone around. There are several colors that separate the souls from one another. This spell lasts a number of rounds equal to your spellcasting modifier.
Red- Monster
Blue- non-monster humanoid
Yellow- beast or magical beast
green- plant based monster (
I can't see this color so I'm assuming I choose correctly.)Purple - Undead
Orange - Constructs (Warforged and Soul Coin enabled.)
This doesn't really suit my tastes but it's well thought out and you've done a good job putting a lot of work into this, well done.
I would consider this a sub-set of necromancy though because Necromancy is a school of magic specifically involving life, death and souls. Anything that manipulates the soul is already considered Necromancy, like the Soul Cage spell that lets you capture souls.
However, the schools are just a system wizards invented so it's perfectly acceptable to create different variants and new schools. I only point out about Necromancy because you specifically said it was about the body and it isn't.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
I really shouldn't but I caught sight of this and followed the links back to your Shadow Monarch.
If this is meant for an incredibly high-powered game, I perhaps could see it working as a feat, but this is high powered in the extreme. Before I get into that though, point of mechanics, you should list the DC for this Arcana check. Right now, I don't know how difficult a task this is meant to be.
Prereq's are that you are a Shadow Monarch, and at least a level 10 character. So, let us think pure shadow monarch at level 12. Now, I think this is based off of the Soul Rival ability, which mid-feat you changed to Soul Revival. knowing how that ability works is key to understanding how this feat works. I'm working off what you have posted here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/201270-shadow-monarch since that is the only version I can find.
This level 2 ability allows you to turn someone you kill into a Shadow. By level 12, it is a Shadow, Spectre, Poltergeist, or Ghost. This is a non-action, using this feat seems to be a non-action, and the undead created are yours for eternity, unless they are killed or you decide to destroy them. You can command an amount of undead CR that is equal to your class level + Intelligence mod.
It is not unreasonable to assume that a 12th level wizard has an 18 int, so the amount of CR the person who takes this feat can control is likely 16. So, let us see what happens here. The wizard is traveling through the countryside and fights a Hill Giant. A CR 5 monster, no real threat to a level 12 wizard, and you kill it. You succeed on the roll, and decide to turn this monster into a type of Poltergeist. Very first thing that jumps out at me from the Poltergeist entry in the monster manual it has permanent invisibility. It is listed as a trait, not an action, so this creature will be forever invisible, meaning anything attacking it without true sight has disadvantage to hit it, and it always has advantage to strike.
I take whatever is better from the poltergeist, Hp stays the same, it now has a 50ft flight speed, Dex increases to +2, giving it a 15 AC. And it's intelligence, charisma and wisdom all increase to average levels. Resistance to non-magic damage, as well as resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, and thunder with immunity to poison and necrotic. It also has all those fun status immunities, and now has darkvision. Incorporeal movement and sunlight sensitivity might matter, but the real beauty is I don't know if you keep the club and rocks, or if you use the Telekinietic thrust and foreceful slam. You take the better though, so I'm going to go with the hill giant attack suite.
Now, looking at the DMG, this invisible Hill Giant with multiple resistances to damage, is about a CR 6. Even if you might count it as a CR 7 for the purposes of your feat (just adding the two monster CRs together) you could still easily have two of these things at any time.
The worst possible thing though, is if your enemies are human. Because then you just break all sorts of rules. Let us say your wizard was walking through the woods, and was ambushed by a group of bandits. Easily destroyed via a fireball. You then decide to turn all of them into specters with 3 levels of rogue, making them swashbucklers. Now, no matter how you slice it, whether you count level as CR or use the guidelines, you are only getting about a CR 2 or 3 creature out of this, but it is a creature that can, while no in sunlight, fly in, attack with sneak attack for 5d6 and reduce an opponents max hp, fly away with no attack of opportunity, and then hide as a bonus action. They also have about 32 hp, a ton of resistances, can triple move for 150 flight speed through solid objects, and a bunch of other tricks. Oh, and at the high end of CR 3, you can have six of them. Which is a single turn damage output of 30d6 or nearly a 9th level spell, before your wizard even stops reading his "How to become an Overlord in three Easy steps" book.
And that is hoping that creatures that can't speak (which is everything below a ghost) can't become spellcasters. But, if you made a ghost into a wizard, let us say a Shadow Monarch...
Well, I'm sure I don't need to explain how broken that chain is going to become.
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Pneopsis is certainly interesting. This might be presumptuous but I assume the cantrip can’t pierce illusions like Arcanist’s magic aura.
By Monster do you mean monstrosity? What humanoids would you consider monstrous? (If it’s goblins and orcs, isn’t that more of an opinion formed by “civilized” races to further ostracize their enemies? Wouldn’t magic make no distinction between the two?)
What examples do you have of magic beasts?
Anyways, I’m surprised fiends, fey, and celestials aren’t specified. Perhaps as creatures without souls in the traditional sense they don’t show up?
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Think of the soul revival choices as templates. You keep alot of the base scores, abilities, and gear the creature/mortal/other had and then the template just stacks the best from it on top. I really suggest googling the manga/manhua series "Only I level Up" its what sparked the whole idea behind this subclass. Yes these members of the undead army and the class in general subclass are meant for a campaign system that goes to level 100.
Monster/monstrosity yes, a magical beast would be like the Phoenix, as for the cantrip seeing past illusions to identify a soul type, Arcanist’s magic aura doesn't work as the soul in this case isn't magical.
"This spell snatches the soul of a humanoid..." Imprisonment does it to anything and leaves only a gem behind. Its basically a D&D version of a pokeball. and by using a living creature within the gem in the Soul Coin Minting process its like adding another layer or clause to a devil contract.