D&D 5E The horror of petrification in D&D

Quartz

Hero

• Feb 26, 2019

• #1

Has anyone else thought through Petrification in D&D? ISTM that most people play it that someone who has been petrified comes back to life when de-petrified, be it one round or a thousand years. But think about the implications: the creature's soul is forever denied the afterlife until their statue is de-petrified. Which may never happen.

ISTM that what should happen is that a petrified PC dies. It is the equivalent of a 6th level spell, after all. If the party want her back they can cast Stone to Flesh, Greater Restoration, or similar, followed by Raise Dead or just cast greater magics like Resurrection or True Resurrection. Just casting Stone to Flesh results in a dead body - which can then be the target of further magic.

How say you?

 

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TaranTheWanderer

Legend

• Feb 26, 2019

• #2

I think it’s cooler to have someone not age. You are now immortal. Sadly, you are also a statue for all to look at. But yeah, I don’t think any of those other spells are necessary. Also, it’s a great way to dispose of high level villains that might have allies that can Rez them.

Here are some other implications: after a millennia of erosion on the statue, what happens when they get reverted back? Or if that gorgon only ate half of you before you could get get tuned back. Messy. In which case you may need a restoration or resurrection.

And here is food for thought:does becoming stone activate your clone spell?

 

Quartz

Hero

• Feb 26, 2019

• #3

TaranTheWanderer said:

And here is food for thought:does becoming stone activate your clone spell?

Click to expand...

My suggestion makes that simple: yes.

 

D

Dausuul

Legend

• Feb 26, 2019

• #4

Souls in D&D can be annihilated in a variety of ways, or condemned to torment in the Lower Planes. It's a universe in which really awful stuff happens to a lot of people. I don't see why being a rock, unaware and unfeeling, is so bad. If you're evil, it's about the best fate you could hope for.

Anyway, nothing is forever. Eventually your statue will be destroyed, by geological forces if nothing else. If it takes a million years, you won't care; all that time will pass in an eyeblink* for you.

*Unless the DM rules that you still experience the passage of time despite being "unaware of your surroundings." In that case, petrification is indeed a horrific fate; but that's on the DM, not the rules.

 

Last edited: Jan 28, 2023

TaranTheWanderer

Legend

• Feb 26, 2019

• #5

Quartz said:

My suggestion makes that simple: yes.

Click to expand...

I suppose it’s up to the dm. If the soul is trapped in the stone then there’s nothing to inhabit the clone. And if the clone does come alive, what happens when the statue reverts?

Is there two of you?
Does the clone die as the soul goes back to your original body?
Does the original body just die?

And if clone works then, logically, shouldn’t resurrection or reincarnate? Those spells don’t need a body, only a willing soul.

I don’t think there’s a correct answer here. It depends on how the dm wants their world to work. There’s lots of potential for good stories regardless of how you do it.

 

TaranTheWanderer

Legend

• Feb 26, 2019

• #6

Double post. I think it would be cool if the clone worked but now then if the body gets reverted back from stone, it becomes a soulless husk - a vegetable just ripe for something to inhabit.

You now have an evil twin.

 

TwoSix

Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer

• Feb 26, 2019

• #7

Doing bad stuff to souls is kind of a staple in the high fantasy genre.

 

TheSword

Legend

• Feb 26, 2019

• #8

Petrified is a condition and in the description of the condition makes it clear that you are still alive with various resistances and immunities, just unaware of your surroundings and the passage of time.

Petrification is like stasis. It definitely isn’t just another form of dying.

It’s pretty cool magic.

 

L

lowkey13

Guest

• Feb 26, 2019

• #9

*Deleted by user*

 

Quartz

Hero

• Feb 26, 2019

• #10

TheSword said:

Petrified is a condition and in the description of the condition makes it clear that you are still alive with various resistances and immunities, just unaware of your surroundings and the passage of time.

Click to expand...

Well yes, and isn't that horrifying?