Conversion Rate for Souls

>>52627460
'bout tree fiddy

>>52627460
literally 2spooky

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Well, what would they be using it for? Currency?magic?shits and giggles?

>>52627746
If you've ever played Dark Souls, it's a bit like what a soul is vs. humanity. So a soul is pretty much raw power, while this 'mortal energy' has some other fun stuff. It can animate things by giving them willpower, and it is also the only way divine energy (which is what gods use instead of souls) can be destroyed completely.

>>52627460
Reading this makes me consider the idea of reincarnation, which is even a process that can often be recreated in DnD or similar. So lets say that demons and angels are bound to their singular body which is why they're built to last, but if they die that's it. The advantage of the mortal, material soul would be that they can be separated from their body. Now if we're going to apply buddhist-esque rules to this then the strongest and most tenacious ones get your intelligent bodies while those that either haven't found peace or are weak-willed end up having a go in an animal body. Right away that sets up an economy. If fiends needed a soul for casting they'd get way more out of the ones with more strength in them, but then slaughtering a forest might be faster and easier if they want to avoid a real confrontation. The stronger souls of humankind allow them to use magic and can make them surprisingly hard to kill when cornered.

Now rather than casting, the more obvious connection is using their strength against them. Mortal souls can swap bodies to preserve their own lire, so by absorbing the souls of a mortal you could prolong or eventually replace your own. The oldest fiends may have completely run out their own essence long ago, now held together entirely by trapped and squirming souls. This provides a setting where mortals and immortals are technically balanced in powers, but from a mortal's perspective it's a pretty shit deal indeed. Take it how you will, but the idea of fiends trying to cheat a system like this certainly makes sense.

>>52627460
Depends entirely on what you plan to do with souls. If it's a one-off deal like selling your soul to a demon, one's soul must be valuable enough to push a normal person to at least consider the trade. Not someone with an intense, life-long hatred for a specific being, I mean the average person with no deep resentments.

If you're going with the power-o-meter variant, or "my soul has about 3500 soul units to spend" kind, you're free to set completely arbitrary points, so it probably scales with level and has a maximum amount per person. So, a person is born with, let's say, 700 Souldollars, and when she comes of age she gets to 1500. Each level after the first would add about 500 Souldollars, less than a child's worth. That way you can spend your Souldollars on stuff like casting or deals with the devil, and it recharges over long periods of time.

>>52627831
That sounds pretty awesome. I'm liking the idea of balanced immortals and mortals. Demons feeding off the souls for longevity and personal power, while the angels (emphasis on the L in LG) have replaced their 'power source', which is usually either mortal or deific energy, with a chunk of the "divine machine". Though the 'mortal energy' is related to consciousness and will, so maybe that's a better reason why mortal souls are valuable; they're currently the only ones with the significant concentrations of willpower.(?)

>>52627873
Sounds pretty good, that would also add some actual downsides to something like becoming a lich (which would involve replacing mortal energy (which would be the souldollars) with a spell), as then you would be broke. I think that souldollars could be kept from inflation from both constant spending and the fact that these energies disperse/degrade with time (which is why mortals die in the first place)

>>52627873
Sounds Dark Souls to me.

Take this dude's soul and you get 3500 arbitrary units of soul. This dude's soul, meanwhile, is pretty shit and is only worth 500 arbitrary units of soul, because he never took the time to git gud.

Like, you need a system in place to stop people just cloning worthless hobos to generate free souls.

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>>52627460
I think the only real way to go about it is 1=1 as in all living beings souls are equal otherwise there is going to be fuckery afoot. As for how much "money" a soul is worth I think however much an assassination on a civilian would cost is a good going rate.

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>>52629031
Really? A mouse has the same value of souls as a man such as Conan or Jack Sparrow?

Whay is Jack Sparrow's soul worth one hundred other souls?

>>52629468
He wasn't worth 100 at all, jones was having a giggle m8

>>52627460
>How much should the average mortal soul be worth

How much does the average mortal ask in return for their soul? That sort of sets a minimum floor on the price of souls because if you're getting less than that, you're losing money on your con-mortals-out-of-souls business.

>>52629468
>mouse has the same value of souls as a man such as Conan or Jack Sparrow?

More possibly. After all, consider how much more work it is to first learn the tongue of mice than it is to just roll up on Sparrow while he's drunk and saying "I dare you to sell me your sould mate."

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>>52627460
Read the Book of Vile Darkness you cunt. Why the fuck are you still here? Fucking read it.

>>52627873
Souls should also have an exchange, so a soul freely given is much more valuable than one taken.

So as to prevent fiends from just killing you instead of bargaining.

Those mortals who have given up their souls might also turn into monsters or fiends themselves, given time and seek other mortal souls to prolong their cursed existence as well.

>>52630462
It's a barter system, the soul is as valuable as the market demands.

Some go for kingdoms others may go for a cow. Losing your soul is just so obviously bad that the exchange isn't worth it but depending on what the fiend offers and how despairate you are, you may change your mind.

As long as what >>52633809 says is true. A freely offered soul is just so much more powerful than one that is stolen.
The most powerful fiends make the most deals and glut themselves on mortal energy, meaning they also have more to offer in exchange and get "richer" while weaker finds struggle for scraps.

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I've always thought it works best when demons aren't solely motivated by sustenance in their quest for souls. It makes sense that human souls, vitae, spinal fluid, or whatever would be required in the production or maintenance of demons and demonic magic. Apart from the upkeep required to maintain their general level of mana, purloined karma, being-ness - whatever - demons should still be evil. Power-hungry, capricious, often working against their own kind, there are plenty of reasons for them to become gluttonous hoarders of souls.
What I mean is even if a human life is a pittance, demonic beings can just be pouring blood by the barrel into abyssal conflicts or pointless debauchery. There are lots of ways to involve mortals in a spiritual ecosystem.
In Planescape: Torment I remember one guy going on about being a mercenary is some lawful demon vs chaotic demon conflict (thought the game was a bit of a snooze at times) and I liked the detail he added about how the acts committed by humans contracted by demons for pecuniary gain often ended up committing acts which bought them an eternity in the darker planes - double bang for the demon dollar.

>>52629468
that is how many he saved from slavery.