Are stoned characters dead?

[JRRNeiklot]

I always assumed they were in a sort of suspended animation, but I think I'm gonna take a cue from Warehouse 13's bronzing and have them aware, but helpless. Perhaps after a few years they'd go insane.

 

[JDragon]

The first DM I played under had a different way of looking at petrification: that the victim was still fully conscious, and even able to still see and hear normally, just totally helpless as a consciousness trapped in an inanimate statue.

I would think if a person was stuck like this to long it could result in some level of insanity, which would be fun to deal with when they were released.

JD

 

[jefgorbach]

The Flesh to Stone spell (SRD) states "The subject, along with all its carried gear, turns into a mindless, inert statue. ... The creature is not dead, but it does not seem to be alive either when viewed with spells such as deathwatch."

Therefore the victim's soul remains trapped within the statue and likewise is unaware of its fate/surroundings for the duration - so while it would emerge sane/unchanged mentally, would retain traces of any significant damage incurred during its transformation; which might inflict its own emotional/mental trauma, esp if drastic alterations occurred while stoned.

Which raises an interesting side-question: is there a way to undo the victim's mindless state while leaving its physical-form as-is?? Such would make an interesting punishment (ala the Darkover series)

 

[DragonLancer]

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

[MarkB]

The first DM I played under had a different way of looking at petrification: that the victim was still fully conscious, and even able to still see and hear normally, just totally helpless as a consciousness trapped in an inanimate statue.

That reminds me of the golem Shale from Dragon Age: Origins, which spent several years locked in place, fully conscious, in a village square before being found by the PCs. The primary after-effect of this was to leave Shale with an abiding hatred of all birds.

 

[haakon1]

I'd treat them as being in a kind of stasis, the soul is still on the Material Plane, but it's tied to the petrified body.

When the petrified body becomes so damaged, by wear or trauma, that it would be fatal to restore them, I'd say the spirit moves on.

Precisely how I do it.

Note that I once used this as a way for a new player's character to enter the party, mid-adventure. I gave them a Scroll of Stone to Flesh in a treasure, and then later on they found "statues" in the lair of a basilisk, only one of which was still intact. So they read the Scroll, rescued the new PC, and said "you seem trustworthy" and were off on their merry way.

That mattered in my campaign because I don't do the PC's adding and subtracting based on players showing up or not thing -- if a PC was in the party when the expedition started, and the player doesn't show up for the next session in mid-adventure, someone else covers for the player and the PC is still there and active. And if a player wants to start mid-adventure, we need an explanation for why they are wherever the adventure is taking place. Works for us.

 

[Stormonu]

Well, in previous editions, you had to roll a System Shock to see if you survived the transformation back, so that seems to imply the stoned individual was still alive. (Just expect them to have the munchies when they get change back)

And saying that a stoned individual can still sense the world around them is very much in keeping in tune with the Statue spell, which is a sort of willful self-petrification. (with expanded consiousness?)

Personally, this thread has given me an idea for encounter in which the petrified individual has become a ghost, haunting their petrified form and seeking a way to be returned back to flesh (or perhaps, experience the living world once again).

 

[Corathon]

In my Pathfinder game last week one of the characters stumbled upon a Basilisk lair and was promptly turned to stone. Thankfully, the party had an oil of stone to flesh found in a prior adventure and the character was restored after the combat.

However, it made me ponder something that I hadn't though of in all my years DMing D&D. Is a petrified character actually dead? Does their soul depart the stone body and head off towards the afterlife or is it stuck inside the stone form?

I think its up to the DM, and varies by system.
I run 1E. In that system, there was a chance that being petrified killed you, and a chance that being changed back did. IMO, if you failed that first roll you're dead, and your soul is off to the afterlife. Otherwise your soul is still there, but helpless and unaware.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That reminds me of the golem Shale from Dragon Age: Origins, which spent several years locked in place, fully conscious, in a village square before being found by the PCs. The primary after-effect of this was to leave Shale with an abiding hatred of all birds.

Seeing Shale randomly kill a bird in DAO would always make me laugh, despite being kind of a softy in re: animals in real life.