Soul matter is the end result of processing a soul and refining it's energy into usable pieces. It can be a versatile and powerful replacement for many costly material components or crafting reagents. The value provided by any given unit of soul matter is quantified using the Soul Value chart below. This chart is a baseline and is subject to case-by-case alterations as the circumstances require it, but this should give you a basic understanding of their value. The usable value of soul matter from any creature depends on two things: it's sapience and it's power.
A creature's sapience is measured by its Intelligence score. If a creature has greater than 5 Intelligence and knows at least one language, it is considered sapient. If soul matter was harvested from a sapient creature, it's value increases by one stage (if possible) on the Soul Value chart below.
A creature's power is determined by its CR. A player's power is measured by dividing their level by 4 and rounding to the nearest charted value. A creature's CR is the basis for ranking it's value on the Soul Value chart below.
Soul Value Chart
| Value Provided |
CR Value |
Common Uses |
Component Value Provided |
Reagent Value Provided |
Soul Shaping DC |
| Scrap |
1/4 or lower |
Combining into greater value coins or mixtures |
Up to 5 GP |
Common |
10 |
| Minimal |
1/2 to 2 |
Replacing tedious spell components, Combining into greater value coins or mixtures, most common minted coin in Hell |
Up to 25 GP |
Common |
12 |
| Moderate |
3 to 5 |
Replacing tedious spell components, Creating common or uncommon magical items, creating Warforged |
Up to 50 GP |
Uncommon |
14 |
| Greater |
6 to 10 |
Replacing greater spell components, Creating rare magical items |
Up to 200 GP |
Rare |
17 |
| Grand |
11 to 15 |
Replacing costly spell components, Creating powerful magical items, Casting unique spells or performing unique rituals |
Up to 2000 GP |
Very Rare |
20 |
| Legendary |
16 or higher |
Replacing costly spell components, Creating powerful magical items, Casting unique spells or performing unique rituals |
Up to 5000 GP |
Legendary |
25 |
The Component Value column defines how much material cost soul matter can replace. This counts for any costly material component that you usually have to find or buy the resources for. In order to use soul matter in place of any gold value, you must have enough soul matter to fully replace the component; I'm not offering any soul discounts on a component because you killed enough squirrels and grinded them up.
The Reagent value covers the baseline conversion between any soul and an equivalent reagent, but on rare occasions a powerful soul may also be interchangeable with Essence. This will be added on a case-by-case basis to any soul-matter loot you may acquire.
Obtaining Soul Matter
Most times, you all will find pre-processed soul matter in the form of Soul Coins. Soul Coins have their value stamped on them as a part of their manufacturing. Otherwise, you might find soul matter in the jars of a hag's lair, you may visit a warforged manufacturing facility in Heaven, or you may learn how to process souls yourselves.
Processing Soul Matter
Processing souls requires you to have proficiency in Soul Shaping; this is a Wisdom skill by default and not a skill you can obtain normally. You must either have a significant backstory reason to have this skill or you must learn it during the campaign. Attempting to process a soul without this skill results in wasting the required crafting time, an automatic failure against the DC, and rendering the unfiltered soul unusable.
You must also have the appropriate Soul Shaping Tools to craft with and appropriate space to store the soul matter. These tools can be a number of things: a hag might use bone-crafted needles to weave the soul like twine, a processing plant in Hell might used mechanized gadgetry to force soul matter into coins, and a warforged manufacturing facility in Heaven may use delicate beakers and tuners for filtering and minute adjustments to the material.
Appropriate space is also vague, you simply need a vessel to house the soul matter. This vessel must be no smaller 8oz per unit of soul matter, but can be any size larger as long as it is a container of some kind. Massive vats are used in larger facilities for mass processing, for example.
If you have proficiency in Soul Shaping and access to the necessary materials to process and house the soul matter, you may attempt to process a soul yourself. This, like any crafting endeavor, will take time and require you to make a check to successfully craft. Unlike other crafting, however, the value of the soul does not change how long it takes to process. No matter the quality, any soul will take 2 hours to process. You make a single check at the end of this two hours to determine your success; the DC to process a soul can be found on the Soul Value Chart. On a success, you create a single unit of soul matter of the appropriate value. On a failure, you do not immediately lose the unfiltered soul; you may attempt to filter a soul up to three times before the unfiltered material is rendered unusable and is destroyed.
Combining Soul Matter
You can combine lesser soul matter in order to create better material. In order to do so, you must have proficiency in Soul Shaping and access to the necessary materials to process and house the soul matter.
You can combine any amount of soul matter together provided you have the appropriate space and tools to do so. To create soul matter using lesser value soul matter, the total Component Value of the souls used for crafting must equal the Component Value of the soul matter you are attempting to create. For example, in order to create one unit of Grand soul matter, you would need to combine ten units of Greater soul matter OR five units of Greater soul matter and twenty units of Moderate soul matter.
This process takes a number of hours equal to the units you are combining, and requires a Soul Shaping check every two hours; therefore, combining several Scrap souls will take much longer than combining Minimal souls, and so on. The DC to process a combine soul matter is equal to the Soul Shaping DC of the soul you are attempting to create.
You can stop and resume this process after every two hours without losing progress.
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