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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Secrets of Magic / Book of Unlimited Magic / Soulforged Armaments

Soul Path

Source Secrets of Magic pg. 232 1.1
When you take Soulforger Dedication, you must choose a soul path—a motivation, cause, or goal that compels you to act, prompts you to undertake substantial risk, and drives you to face significant danger. Such a motivation can be limited or grand in scope but must be actionable enough to be easily linked to gameplay. For example, if your village was destroyed by the greed of wealthy nobles, you might select a soul path to protect the poor by undermining the rich, which might drive you to protect an innocent from the blade of a wealthy noble or break into a bank vault containing coins stolen from destitute villagers. Other sample soulbonds might include liberating the oppressed from the tyranny of slavery, punishing those who threaten nature or hunting and killing malevolent undead. Work with the GM to choose a soul path that fits in well with the themes of your campaign and group dynamic so that you can pursue your soul path in an interesting fashion.

Corruption

Source Secrets of Magic pg. 234 1.1
Though the supernatural link with a specific armament created by a soulbond is powerful, the sensitive nature of will—with its potential for dramatic ebb and flow— poses a threat to those who harness this power. Once you're bound to a soulforged armament, you begin to test your true devotion to your soul path.

If you behave or act in a way that directly opposes or hinders the motivation, goal, or cause declared in your soul path (regardless of whether the act involves your soulforged armaments), your spirit begins to tarnish. It's anathema for you to commit acts opposed to your soul path or to even go a long time without taking action to pursue the path. You and your GM determine when you've performed an anathematic act. In the example of protecting the poor by undermining the rich, working for a wealthy noble or directly in their interest could be anathema, as could spending a month on a distant plane far from the struggles of the oppressed. In both examples, you could find an approach to remain true and avoid the anathema. In the first case, you might use your leverage to force the noble to anonymously divest a substantial amount of their funds to feed and house the poor—or do so yourself. In the second, you might seek a similar dynamic of wealth and want among the cultures of the distant plane and work against it.

Anathematic acts trigger a curse known as soulforged corruption that degrades and perverts the energies within your soulforged armament. This curse brings out a flaw inextricably tied to the armament's true essence. The corruption flaw applies to you even when your armament isn't manifested. The rules for the flaw appear in the essence power. As normal for a curse, this affliction can be removed only by effects that specifically target curses, including the methods listed in the Removing Corruption section below.

Soulforged Corruption (curse, divine, enchantment) A successful remove curse spell, rather than ending this curse, reduces its stage by 1 (to a minimum of stage 1). Level your level; Saving Throw Will save against a very hard DC of the curse's level; Stage 1 You suffer the effects of your armament's corruption flaw. If you try to manifest the armament's essence form, you must attempt a DC 5 flat check. If you fail, only the normal form manifests, and you can't try to manifest that armament's essence form again that day (1 day); Stage 2 You suffer the effects of your armament's corruption flaw, and any attempt to activate the armament's essence form fails (1 day); Stage 3 You permanently destroy your soulforged armament. You can't have a new soulforged armament until you remove the curse entirely with the purify soul path ritual (1 day).

Removing Corruption

Source Secrets of Magic pg. 234 1.1
The effects of soulforged corruption can be staved off with the Cleanse Soul Path exploration activity or cured with the purify soul path ritual.