Soul Shards

Soul Shards are a unit of measuring Anima, or the essence contained within souls. One soul shard does not equal one human soul--its a far smaller quantity, and in any case, not all souls have the same amount of Anima. The Shard is a useful atomic unit, the smallest significant portion of Anima that can be put to use.

When living creatures perish, their souls detach from their bodies. With the relatively rare exception of those with powerful faith, who receive divine protection, most souls are vulnerable in those first few moments after death. One of the dark proclivities of the Warlock is to harvest those souls for their own nefarious purposes.

Souls require a vessel to be contained, less they become wandering spirits, useless to you and bound to eventually be swept up by some psycopomp or devolve into an undead monster. You can store them in your own mortal body, although having unwilling passengers in your mind can be distracting, to say the least. Most warlocks prefer a cleaner alternative: soul gems.

All crystals are naturally suited to channeling magical energy, but they are more like filters or conduits as nature produces them. A soul gem is a specially prepared gemstone, which can admit spiritual energy into it, but prevents it from flowing outward, trapping the energy within. Soul gems need not be limited to a single soul; while multiple souls in one vessel can drive each other mad and eventually merge into a bizarre, hybrid form, that may or may not be a disadvantage depending on your purposes.

Soul gems are meant to be broken at some point, releasing the energy within, presumably for some purpose. A common purpose is to pay off Corruption, although a similar use is to provide energy for a power in the moment, skipping the need for Corruption altogether.

Corruption

As a warlock, you are always welcome to draw upon extra power from the outer planes--at a cost. While normal powers can be used without ill effect, these extra uses infuse you with so much planar power that your body and soul begin to warp, reflecting the nature of the planes you draw from. When you gain Corruption, it takes the form of a quantity, expressed in the power's description, such as "for 2 Corruption, you can...". Corruption begins at 0 and increases without limit, but can decrease, even back down to 0.

There are several ways to decrease Corruption: the easiest, and the one most preferred by your planar patrons, is to spread the Corruption to others. Through temptation, you invite others to partake of that planar bounty you can provide, passing the cost on to them. Other methods include fulfilling contracts with a planar patron, performing rituals to cleanse yourself, or making sacrifices that appease the planar forces you draw from.

Corruption Effects

Corruption is measured as a number, where 0 is "pure", and 6 is the threshold when you begin to lose control.

Indulgence

At rank 2, you gain Indulgence: the ability to handle a certain amount of Corruption without issue. It begins at 1 and increases by 1 per rank thereafter. Each long rest, you can subtract your Indulgence from your Corruption total.

Purification

Ways to reduce Corruption:

Spreading Corruption

Much as your own planar patrons do, you yourself can tempt other mortals with power, gifts, and the like; if they accept of their own informed will, they take on a portion of your Corruption, reducing your own burden. The exact amount transferred depends on the nature of the temptation and the strength of the target's will.

The Infernal Plane favors the 7 Deadly Sins, any significant indulgence in these vices by your targets can make it easier to spread Corruption to them. The guidelines are:

• If they were perfectly willing to do something before you tempted them, it doesn't count
• A mortal sin is worth 5 points; others are worth 1-4 points depending on severity
• A sin without consequence is worthless

Fulfilling Contracts

Any patron of your planar source has the power to cleanse your Corruption, but will only do so in exchange for at least equal (likely greater) boons for themselves or the plane at large. Through any ordinary means (such as Invocation rituals), you can contact planar patrons and propose contracts to cleanse your Corruption.

Guidelines:

• 5 points is the equivalent of a capital crime--an act that can permanently change your life. Lesser acts are perforce measured less.
• The act will be something the planar entity cannot achieve on its own (typically changes to the mortal world)
• Almost anything can potentially be of use to planar patrons, given their perspective; it need not be obviously deleterious to the warlock, or even all that difficult. But it will ultimately serve the needs of the plane, which are generally anathema to the mortal world.
• Infernal patrons tend to favor acts that decrease the strength of faith or lead to the desperation that would make mortals seek their power.
• Fey patrons tend to favor acts that disrupt the natural order, create chaos in mortal affairs, or bring about whimsical and unpredictable outcomes.
• Shadow patrons favor entropy, dissolution, and despondency.
• All patrons seek to convince mortals to freely give up their will in exchange for some boon they can easily grant.

Rituals

Through Ritual Casting, it is possible to perform cleansing rituals that remove Corruption. The seed is known only to those who practice Faith magic--it is not available by default to Warlocks.

Each ritual reduces Corruption by a certain amount, and requires an act of contrition appropriate to the severity of the corruption being cleansed. Crucially, the ritual only works if the Warlock sincerely believes they were wrong, and desires forgiveness and redemption. Merely transactional rituals will not work.

It is even possible, using this ritual, to remove one's debt to a planar patron entirely. While obviously requiring substantial energy and difficulty, the most important component is the warlock's committment to permanently giving up the power they've been granted--often the most difficult prerequisite of all.

Sacrifice

The outer planes love nothing more than mortal will: souls, wishes, whatever form it may take. While living mortals can only give away their will with informed consent, the dead are not so lucky. All souls freed from mortal shells are inherently in danger. Those with powerful faith are shielded by their divine patron, but a far greater number are left vulnerable to the machinations of extraplanar entities.

As a warlock, you are in a prime position to harvest these souls. Unless you are in the habit of reaving through flocks of monks and priests, most of your foes fall into the questionably faithful category, making them ideal subjects. Sadly, most Warlocks rely on this method for the lion's share of their Corruption reduction needs, happily trading souls taken unwilling for the privilege of practicing powerful magic which in turn helps them take more such lives...and the cycle continues.

In development

• Vergence: impose planar traits on a location. (TBD)

In development

• Shadow Play (Shadow): create illusory shadow silhouettes.