Scrying the Dead

[Skarp Hedin]

Does Scrying work on dead people? My players are looking to scry on the author of a letter.. but he's dead. From reading the PH, I'd guess that it's intended only to work on the living, but hey, figured I'd ask.

Thanks

 

[AuraSeer]

I think a recent Sage Advice column in Dragon is relevant to this.

The question was about disguised creatures. Say your friend has been killed, and replaced by a doppelganger. You don't know this, and you attempt to Scry on your friend. What do you see? The Sage's response, IIRC, was that you see the friend's corpse.

That clearly implies that scrying is not limited to live creatures. 'Course, some people don't consider the Sage's rulings to be "official," so YMMV.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

Well hey, I hadn't thought of that.. finding out the fellow was dead would be fine, actually.. thanks

 

[Hypersmurf]

As an example, Speak With Dead has a target of "one dead creature"... which implies that a corpse is still a creature, despite being dead

Regenerate has a target of "living creature touched", so it wouldn't work on a corpse. Likewise Charm Monster... but interestingly, Dominate Monster says "one creature", so you can in theory Dominate someone who's dead.

-Hyp.

 

[Li Shenron]

A follow-up question:

if the target of scrying is dead and later raised as a ghost, spectre or other incorporeal undead, do you see his old corpse or the new form?

 

[AuraSeer]

Hmm. I don't think the rules explicitly cover that case, but here's how I would handle it.

If the undead creature retains the original personality and abilities, like a ghost does, I'd have you find the undead. For most intents and purposes, the ghost actually is the person; he's just not wearing his body at the moment. (If you were actually looking for the corpse, I'd let you find that instead.)

When a person has been turned into a "generic" undead, like a spectre or a wraith, it's not really the character you knew anymore. In that case, scrying for the person would find an image of the body. However, if you know or suspect that he has become undead, you could scry for the undead creature separately. I'd give that a Scry DC no lower than 15, but you could get a +10 on your check if you used the corpse as a focus.

 

[officeronin]

One of my PCs scryed on a missing adventuring buddy, and found that his soul was now a chit being traded for adult favors in layer 457 of the abyss.

OfficeRonin

 

[Velenne]

My group has determined that corpses are objects and thus can't be found by Scrying. They can, however, be found with spells that locate objects.

 

[kreynolds]

Regenerate has a target of "living creature touched", so it wouldn't work on a corpse.

Actually, the real reason it has a target of "living creature touched" is because regeneration on a skeleton = unstoppable skeleton.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Actually, the real reason it has a target of "living creature touched" is because regeneration on a skeleton = unstoppable skeleton.

Regenerate is a PHB spell, which is unlikely to make a skeleton unstoppable. Read it again...

-Hyp.