If a creature dies, their soul goes to the afterlife: one of the outer planes. Is this planar travel? Would it be prevented in an area warded against planar travel? What happens?
Edit: Additional question: If the creature is being resurrected, is the soul performing planar travel?
If a creature dies, their soul goes to the afterlife: one of the outer planes. Is this planar travel? Would it be prevented in an area warded against planar travel? What happens?
I am not aware of an official answer, though in my current CoS game dying doesn't get you out of Barovia...
The passage of souls after death in general is setting-defined. In the FR, it appears that the souls of the dead travel to the Fugue plane for judgment, though some subset actually wind up in the Shadowfell at the Fortress of Memories instead, and this process can take a while (it's possible the 10 day limit on raise dead is related). I would be tempted to make the City of Judgment and its surrounding areas a subsection of the Shadowfell to cut down on unnecessary multiplicity of planes, but it doesn't terribly matter.
Depends. Souls are not creatures (ghosts, etc are not just souls), so spells and wards that prevent creatures from planeswalking wouldn't effect them. There few official examples that specifically mention trapping souls a) specifically mentions trapping souls and b) basically involve divine intervention.
It's not just specific planes that are naturally warded against planar travel. Players have ways to prevent planar travel, too. Mordenkainen’s private sanctum can block planar travel in the area, and imprisonment can seal the target in a sphere/demiplane/gemstone warded against planar travel. I'm thinking some creatures might commit suicide so they can be revived outside the prison with clone or true resurrection. Would this be possible, or would the soul still be trapped in such a prison?
I believe in Barovia, and maybe all the Domains of Dread, souls of the dead aren't allowed to escape, and Barovia has this eerie reincarnation cycle. I think with the right guidance through the mists it's _possible_ under the right conditions for living beings to leave the domains, but it's not a walk in the park.
How the economy of souls works in 5e beyond that is pretty fast and loose. Stuff that's "canon" include that many hell and abyss bound souls arrive in the Abyss where they are turned into Lemures and Manes respectively, or soul coins for the infernal.
As far as conventional blocks of planar travel applied to disembodied souls, or specifically dead or destroyed body souls, I dunno. I'd say it's up to you. In my game, the courses souls take through the prime material and other planes has a sort of physics that can be influenced by outer planar powers, and to a lesser extent mortals. Other games, divine laws of the outer planes may trump any arcanist doings. Think about soul cages, and liche preparations, and now apply that in a "field" way to unspecified targets or any soul within a zone or region ... that's some serious mojo (or maybe it doesn't have to be).
Basically in your game, if there's a reason for the congress of souls to be thwarted, the license is there with the license to worldbuild.
For example, one of my parties is in Avernus, actually technically the TMZ (Tiamat Martialed Zone, ceded by the Archdevils to Tiamat so she'd back off the rest of the layers getting shaken from her recent in game unleashing). If/when any of them are killed their, a hand of Mephistopheles reaches through the planes and pulls that soul to Cania for an audience with the multiverse's preeminent authority on Hellfire because story needs.
As far as resurrection spells failing in these shielded environments, I'd need more detail before I'd say that's advisable or not. Like did the anti-soul migration curtain happen after the soul in question left this plane so it can't come back because of this mechanism? That's probably something the PCs with access to resurrection magic should become aware of pretty quick before burning resurrection resources ... or it's put in a place in a way so that players can figure out how to stop it (see Tomb of Annihilation for example). If the anti-soul migration was always in place, then the soul never left the plane or even the zone of that plane in the first place so the spell should work and the returned soul will have a very humdrum "the afterlife is like this, you just can't do much" tale of the world beyond.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
If a creature dies, their soul goes to the afterlife: one of the outer planes. Is this planar travel? Would it be prevented in an area warded against planar travel? What happens?
Edit: Additional question: If the creature is being resurrected, is the soul performing planar travel?
I am not aware of an official answer, though in my current CoS game dying doesn't get you out of Barovia...
The passage of souls after death in general is setting-defined. In the FR, it appears that the souls of the dead travel to the Fugue plane for judgment, though some subset actually wind up in the Shadowfell at the Fortress of Memories instead, and this process can take a while (it's possible the 10 day limit on raise dead is related). I would be tempted to make the City of Judgment and its surrounding areas a subsection of the Shadowfell to cut down on unnecessary multiplicity of planes, but it doesn't terribly matter.
Depends. Souls are not creatures (ghosts, etc are not just souls), so spells and wards that prevent creatures from planeswalking wouldn't effect them. There few official examples that specifically mention trapping souls a) specifically mentions trapping souls and b) basically involve divine intervention.
It's not just specific planes that are naturally warded against planar travel. Players have ways to prevent planar travel, too. Mordenkainen’s private sanctum can block planar travel in the area, and imprisonment can seal the target in a sphere/demiplane/gemstone warded against planar travel. I'm thinking some creatures might commit suicide so they can be revived outside the prison with clone or true resurrection. Would this be possible, or would the soul still be trapped in such a prison?
The ring of mind shielding will trap a soul, as will Black Razor, and the spells Magic Jar and Soul Cage.
Those spells and items do not have any rules about not working in areas that block planar travel.
Right, I should ask another question while I'm at it. Editing original post.
I believe in Barovia, and maybe all the Domains of Dread, souls of the dead aren't allowed to escape, and Barovia has this eerie reincarnation cycle. I think with the right guidance through the mists it's _possible_ under the right conditions for living beings to leave the domains, but it's not a walk in the park.
How the economy of souls works in 5e beyond that is pretty fast and loose. Stuff that's "canon" include that many hell and abyss bound souls arrive in the Abyss where they are turned into Lemures and Manes respectively, or soul coins for the infernal.
As far as conventional blocks of planar travel applied to disembodied souls, or specifically dead or destroyed body souls, I dunno. I'd say it's up to you. In my game, the courses souls take through the prime material and other planes has a sort of physics that can be influenced by outer planar powers, and to a lesser extent mortals. Other games, divine laws of the outer planes may trump any arcanist doings. Think about soul cages, and liche preparations, and now apply that in a "field" way to unspecified targets or any soul within a zone or region ... that's some serious mojo (or maybe it doesn't have to be).
Basically in your game, if there's a reason for the congress of souls to be thwarted, the license is there with the license to worldbuild.
For example, one of my parties is in Avernus, actually technically the TMZ (Tiamat Martialed Zone, ceded by the Archdevils to Tiamat so she'd back off the rest of the layers getting shaken from her recent in game unleashing). If/when any of them are killed their, a hand of Mephistopheles reaches through the planes and pulls that soul to Cania for an audience with the multiverse's preeminent authority on Hellfire because story needs.
As far as resurrection spells failing in these shielded environments, I'd need more detail before I'd say that's advisable or not. Like did the anti-soul migration curtain happen after the soul in question left this plane so it can't come back because of this mechanism? That's probably something the PCs with access to resurrection magic should become aware of pretty quick before burning resurrection resources ... or it's put in a place in a way so that players can figure out how to stop it (see Tomb of Annihilation for example). If the anti-soul migration was always in place, then the soul never left the plane or even the zone of that plane in the first place so the spell should work and the returned soul will have a very humdrum "the afterlife is like this, you just can't do much" tale of the world beyond.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.