Sage Advice 3/21/16 Exploding druids and antimagic field vs zombies and cure wounds

The answer to the druid and metal armor is excellent. Not so much the ruling itself, but the clear way it explains that classes have both story and game elements, and some classes have more story elements than others.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Magic. Magic is how dragons breathe fire. "Wonky physics" is called magic.

And yet, Superman or Goku could fly through an Anti-Magic Field with no problems. Nor would it stop Cyclops from shooting concussive force from his eyes.

It might be easier to think of an Anti-Magic Field as only stopping one specific kind of magic; and, like Dispel Magic, it is just poorly named.

 

[AverageCitizen]

I am specifically rejecting the idea of skeletons etc. not being sustained by magic. The rest of the stuff you guys mentioned is take it or leave it, but also beside the point. Cure wounds is a terrible analog because it magically restores the target to an equilibrium it is naturally able to maintain. Equilibrium for a skeleton is rotting on the ground. They aren't dragons. They aren't Pegasi. They are an unholy abomination animated by MAGIC into a pale semblance of life. There is nothing self-sustaining about them. There is no ecosystem, fantastic or otherwise, that could produce them. That isn't trivia, it is the whole point of the creature. You can't remove it without doing significant violence to the idea. Just like wild spells should die when they go into an anti magic field, so should skeletons. Maybe not zombies, and probably not a lot of other types of undead, but definitely skeletons.

 

[TwoSix]

I am specifically rejecting the idea of skeletons etc. not being sustained by magic.

And that's perfectly fine. (Heck, I just mentioned it as a narration that a lot of people would expect!) But it's in house rule territory, that's all.

 

[AverageCitizen]

And that's perfectly fine. (Heck, I just mentioned it as a narration that a lot of people would expect!) But it's in house rule territory, that's all.

Yeah, you are right about that. The instant duration cinched that.

 

[AverageCitizen]

I guess you could say that the spell summons a spirit and binds it to the remains and then it makes sense.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

The comparison is decent, but not strong enough for me. A druid's feelings toward metal armor and shields is more like the Jewish or Muslim aversion for unclean meat and pork. Much more serious consequences there than just a vegetarian eating meat.

Eh, its more like it the Jewish guy decides he likes bacon and sausage, but not pork chops. Druids can use metal items and tools, belt buckles, etc, which makes the metal armor aversion kind of silly IMO.

I've always been cool with them replacing whatever metal armor the have proficiency in with an organic counterpart (ankheg chitin breastplate). Its a fluff issue, not a balance issue.

 

[TwoSix]

I guess you could say that the spell summons a spirit and binds it to the remains and then it makes sense.

You can just change the duration of animate dead to permanent and fluff however you would like. Much like the druid armor, it's a pretty trivial change.

After all, if you really need a 3rd level skeleton elimination spell, there's always fireball.

 

[barasawa]

Really?!

I'm gonna guess that, while that is a pretty good analogy, that a multinational corporation is going to avoid anything to do with a loaded subject like religion so as to not raise the ire of paying customers that adheres to either of those faiths or competing ones as well as those that reject faith outright. Religion and Politics. In professional (technical, marketing, development) writing you are trained to avoid both.

Vegetarians? Pffft. They don't count - and they tend to have a decent sense of humor.

Really? You haven't met a lot of the vegetarians and vegans around here!
Sure there are ones that are still normal people, and that includes several friends of mine. Unfortunately there are way too many of the others. The pushy condescending whiners that look down on everyone that isn't one of them. Those types don't seem to have the slightest sense of humor, and try to demand everything adapt to them whenever they get a chance to voice their opinion. Or even if they don't get a chance to say something, they'll put up signs or hold protests or whatever. I guess it's one of the persistent issues with living in a University city that's traditionally been very tolerant of anything that doesn't hurt other people.

 

[ChrisCarlson]

[MENTION=57845]AverageCitizen[/MENTION]:

Maybe that's a good reason why animate dead is considered such a vile, despicable spell in most cultures. More so than any other "necromancy" spell even. Because it doesn't just make automatons from once living bodies. It steals back the basest, primal essence of the deceased's soul, trapping it in the undead form, and binding it to obey the caster. And since enough of the deceased's essence becomes bound on the material plane, they remain unable to move on to any afterlife. Even if the now animated body was dead a while, its former soul long since moved on, it might even pull their spirit back from wherever, disrupting its eternal place in the heavens. Which is potentially quite harsh.

 

[Troy Benton]

Anti-magic field also wins. And we could debate the Druid Metal armor thing of Story Vs. Balance forever. The example of a vegetarian eating meat works perfectly. And if it doesn't, that's honestly in the realm of a personal DM and their player.
+1 to Crawford for a fine article!