Do any conditions persist while/after dying?

[chitzk0i]

It lasts for five minutes (which is true of all dailies that don't specify when they end).

If a power actually has no duration for an effect, the effect ends instantaneously (PH 278). The last power I recall that was printed without a duration was that Channel Divinity that grants enemies vulnerable radiant damage. There aren't too many powers that have that mistake.

 

[Aulirophile]

If a power actually has no duration for an effect, the effect ends instantaneously (PH 278). The last power I recall that was printed without a duration was that Channel Divinity that grants enemies vulnerable radiant damage. There aren't too many powers that have that mistake.

Yeah, except for all the specific rules where stances, zones, and etc., have their own rule stating they last five minutes. Since all of the powers labeled as such are dailies, it is both accurate and easier for people not familiar with the rules to tell them "dailies last five minutes unless the power specifies otherwise."

 

[Jhaelen]

My take is that when dead, you are an object, and not a legal target for most powers that induce conditions. This would end them.

Mhm, I don't know. That's a 3e rule. IIRC, the current recommendation is to generally allow powers to affect objects as well (i.e. DM's call). Ongoing damage is definitely something that should NOT stop when someone's dead, imho.

 

[Taed]

I asked WotC Customer support and got an answer. I was hoping for an actual rule stating that they do, but without a rule stating that that they don't, they do.

Technically, ongoing effects continue after going unconscious. However, you also continue to make saves while unconscious. The rules don't make any differentiation between damage saves or immobilized saves in this particular case, but your Dungeon Master is welcome to handle this sort of thing however he would like.

 

[Tuft]

My take is that when dead, you are an object, and not a legal target for most powers that induce conditions. This would end them.

Well, if you talk about what you expect to happen, then it kind of depends on how the status was induced, doesn't it?

For example, if you were immobilized due to being ensnared in a goblin's net, well, then you don't expect the body to be untangled "simply" by bleeding out, while you if you were dazed and blinded by a flash of light, then those conditions would pretty much be superseded by your new status...


Compare with forced movement - if the forced movement was induced by simply pushing, throwing or netting an unconscious person, a dead body, or a physical object - then you'd expect the forced movement to work, while if the movement was caused by compulsion or trickery, then you would not.

(Imagine if you will an encounter that played out as a forced movement tug-of-war, both sides trying to carry off some kind of McGuffin object... )


The problem is that this kind of separation on how an effect is applied isn't supported by the rules - there are no keywords or effect lines that relate to this. Thus, it all ends up to the usual RPG fallback - the DM decides.

So, the answer to what applies to a dead body when it comes to conditions, forced movement and other effects is "it depends", I'd say.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I don't think this was clear even in 3.5e: specifically the "when you become an invalid target, effects drop off" bit provoked interesting arguments involving the spell shillelagh, which required a non-magical club as a target and promptly made it magical...

I think now, as then, you really need to leave it up to DM fiat on a case-by-case basis.

After all, if you can get rid of really high level diseases and curses just by dying, that ruins a lot of plotlines.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yeah, this was a question that vexed me when I was looking at the "Cure Affliction" ritual - a low Healing roll as part of the ritual would kill the PC, and then the PC could be raised from the dead (no roll required)... would the PC still be deseased? What if the PC died from reaching the end of the desease track and was raised?

Depending on the situation (and the desease), a ruling either way could make sense.