Do fiends reform after killed?

[Carceri]

What is the current flavor rule for fiends as far as killing them is concerned? Is death only temporary for fiends as it was in the old rules? Do they reform and return?

The reason I am asking is because one of our players is currently wielding a Balor Vorpal sword that survived the afterblast. In the old editions prior to 3.x, the premiss was that fiends spirits returned to their plane and reformed so they could later return and recover their weapons. Is it still the same in 3.x? Or are fiends permanently destroyed when slain?

 

[Darklone]

Depends if they were summoned or gated in. Summoned monsters are not killed, monsters who translated to the prime vanish forever.

 

[Li Shenron]

What is the current flavor rule for fiends as far as killing them is concerned? Is death only temporary for fiends as it was in the old rules? Do they reform and return?

The reason I am asking is because one of our players is currently wielding a Balor Vorpal sword that survived the afterblast. In the old editions prior to 3.x, the premiss was that fiends spirits returned to their plane and reformed so they could later return and recover their weapons. Is it still the same in 3.x? Or are fiends permanently destroyed when slain?

Outsiders who are killed cannot be resurrected by resurrections spells, but can be brought back to life by Miracle or Wish.

Summoned creatures who are dropped in combat are not effectively killed, but are unsummoned and reform later in their place of origin.

My advice is in any case that you decide this kind of things for your own campaign without bothering too much for the official rules; just choose a consistent rule that doesn't change every now and then, and take some little time to figure out if it could bring unwanted consequence to your game.

 

[SimonMoon5]

Is there a spell that lets you "summon" a balor? I think if you're going to get something that powerful to the prime material plane, you'd have to use a "calling" spell, such as Gate, Planar Ally, or Planar Binding. A called outsider dies like anybody else; a summoned outsider goes back home alive when he "dies", like any other summoned creature.

 

[Dakkareth]

there's an epic summoning seed, but none for calling ...

 

[Celtavian]

re

This guy is our DM. We killed the Balor in battle in Sigil. We weren't sure if fiends stilled reformed back on their home planes. I guess now we know. The player gets to keep her nifty Balor vorpal sword until some demon sees her and decides she shouldn't have it. Now she will just have to spend some time enhancing it.

 

[WattsHumphrey]

From the SRD:
Death Throes (Ex):When killed, a balor explodes in a blinding flash of light that deals 100 points of damage to anything within 100 feet (Reflex DC 30 half ). This explosion automatically destroys any weapons the balor is holding. The save DC is Constitution-based.

I don't know how it worked under 3.0, but under 3.5, the above passage should prevent PCs from ever getting their hands on such weapons.

 

[Darkness]

Is there a spell that lets you "summon" a balor?

Spell-like ability, yes. Non-epic spell, no.

 

[Celtavian]

From the SRD:
Death Throes (Ex):When killed, a balor explodes in a blinding flash of light that deals 100 points of damage to anything within 100 feet (Reflex DC 30 half ). This explosion automatically destroys any weapons the balor is holding. The save DC is Constitution-based.

I don't know how it worked under 3.0, but under 3.5, the above passage should prevent PCs from ever getting their hands on such weapons.

We fought this Balor under the 3.0 rules where the weapon is not destroyed. What the heck, we'll let her keep it.

 

[Ace32]

Or maybe you could just have the weapon 'realize' that it was supposed to be exploded . Not like it would be the biggest change in a 3.0-3.5 conversion . No just kidding - but yeah, in my games, all outsiders are technically immortal, as they respawn after a millenia or so.. unless destroyed by heavy amounts of opposed energies or something.