Soul Magic

So, You found my book! Hopefully you aren't some meat-head barbarian and are instead a clever boy or girl (or anything else) that knows a thing or two about magic. In this tome I present a few spells of my own creation that fall in my field of arcane speciality: Souls. If you can manage to make it out of the Tomb you found this in, I encourage you to practice and flaunt your new special skill. What's the catch of accepting a gift from an evil Archlich you ask? Nothing! All I ask of you is to tell whoever asks where you found this tresure, and to encourage them to delve into my Tomb. If they are clever like you, they too will make it out alive with mighty treasure. If they aren't so clever, their souls would make an eccelent breakfast for myself.

—Acererak The Eternal

Soul Devour 9th-level necromancy Casting Time: 1 action

1 action Range: 5 feet

5 feet Components: V, S

V, S Duration: Instantaneous

Instantaneous Class: Warlock, Wizard You attempt to consume a creature’s soul to empower yourself. Target creature within range must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or take 100 necrotic damage, taking half as much on a success. If this damage reduces the target’s hit points to 0 and the creature failed the saving throw, you consume the target’s soul, and the target instantly dies. If you consume the creature's soul in this way, you gain temporary hit points equal half the target creature's hit point maximum. While you have these temporary hit points, you have advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. A creature whose soul has been consumed in this way cannot be restored to life by any means short of a wish spell. Creatures that do not have souls, (such as most constructs and zombies) and creatures whose souls are in another location than their body (such as liches) are immune to this spell. Undead that have the Incorporeal Movement trait have disadvantage on the Charisma saving throw.

Soul Ejection 8th-level necromancy Casting Time: 1 action

1 action Range: 30 feet

30 feet Components: V, S

V, S Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Concentration, up to 1 minute Class: Warlock, Wizard You attempt to thrust a creature's soul out from its body. Target creature within range must make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 5d12 force damage, and its soul is ejected from its body, causing it to immediately fall unconscious as its soul is stuck in the border ethereal plane for the duration. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage, and the spell ends. What has a soul? The DM should use their best judgement to decide if any given creature has a soul or not. These spells break the precedent for 5E for similar abilities that affect souls (such as the soul-eating sentient magic item Blackrazor), as those give a loose definition of affecting all creatures that are not undead or constructs. These spells give a more nuanced definition that includes incorporeal undead (such as ghosts) as they are literally souls that do not have bodies. The decision of what creatures have souls is one that should be made with the lore of the DM's world in mind. For example, classical vampire lore states that they are soulless monsters, however in the DM's setting they might in fact be undead that still retain their souls. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Charisma saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target. When the spell ends, the creature's soul safely returns to its body, unless the body has died during the spell’s duration. Creatures that do not have souls (such as most constructs and zombies), creatures whose souls are in another location than their body (such as liches), and creatures that have souls but not corporeal bodies (such as ghosts) are immune to this spell.