D&D 5E RAW: Using Purify Food and Drink to cure a party member?

[Clint_L]

I thought this was a fun concept and worthy of discussion, if only for the entertainment, so I plucked it out of a Phandelver thread:

From @MerricB:

Interaction of the Session:
Yuan-Ti player: "So, if I see live humanoids as food..."
DM: "Yes..."
Yuan-Ti player: "Can I cast purify food and drink on my fellow PCs to remove poison?"
DM: "..."

Okay, so I laughed...but then I thought about it. RAW, the player might have a valid argument. Here is the very short description of purify food and drink: "All nonmagical food and drink within a 5-foot-radius sphere centered on a point of your choice within range is purified and rendered free of poison and disease."

Thoughts, my fellow rules lawyers? I would probably overrule it as being unintended and overpowered (and one more reason why Yuan-Ti are an overpowered character species)...but at the same time I would be tempted to reward the ingenuity. Also, it poses an interesting ontological dilemma.

 

[Reynard]

Yes, your party member is now safe to eat.

 

[Lanefan]

Yes, your party member is now safe to eat.

If you're a Yuan-Ti.

Doesn't mean said party member isn't still going to die of poisoning though...now it's just a poison that doesn't affect Yuan-Ti.

 

[mamba]

Only if the Yuan-Ti then eats them

 

[W'rkncacnter]

i would argue food is an object, and creatures aren't objects until they're dead, so if you wanted to try it you'd need to kill the party member first.

 

[aco175]

This is kind of one of the reasons I do not have PCs being snake people that view the others as food in my games.

I can see the argument, but I would rule no.

 

[prabe]

Would you allow a non-yuan-ti character to use it to cure, say, a steer that had been bitten by a rattlesnake?

 

[aco175]

Would you allow a non-yuan-ti character to use it to cure, say, a steer that had been bitten by a rattlesnake?

I guess if the cow had died I would, but then it would not be cured it would be purified.

I guess I would allow it if a person and a cow were bitten and died and then each chopped up and served on a plater to the PCs and one PC cast the spell on all the meat.

 

[prabe]

I guess if the cow had died I would, but then it would not be cured it would be purified.

I guess I would allow it if a person and a cow were bitten and died and then each chopped up and served on a plater to the PCs and one PC cast the spell on all the meat.

That seems to be pretty much the gist.

 

[iserith]

I thought this was a fun concept and worthy of discussion, if only for the entertainment, so I plucked it out of a Phandelver thread:

From @MerricB:



Okay, so I laughed...but then I thought about it. RAW, the player might have a valid argument. Here is the very short description of purify food and drink: "All nonmagical food and drink within a 5-foot-radius sphere centered on a point of your choice within range is purified and rendered free of poison and disease."

DM: I think all your characters are absolutely magical, so unfortunately it doesn't work.