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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 1732208" data-attributes="member: 18280">If you examine the spell descriptions of animate dead, speak with dead, and resurrection, as I did much earlier in this thread, you'll notice that, within the rules, the terms &quot;corpse&quot; and &quot;skeleton&quot; are not synonomous.&nbsp; It is quite clear that a &quot;corpse&quot; includes soft tissue.&nbsp; Within the animate dead spell description, a corpse can be animated to become a skeleton, but it has to slough off its flesh to do so.&nbsp; Conversely, a skeleton cannot be animated to become a zombie.At this point, it becomes a question of semantics.I don't think that there is any confusion within the rules themselves, as written.&nbsp; I would be more than happy for a more complete answer from WotC.&nbsp; Perhaps over the course of examining the rules human error does creep in, but I don't think &quot;ask them the same question 5 different times and you'll get 5 different interpretations&quot; is either fair or accurate.You are, of course, perfectly correct in houseruling anything you think is fair.&nbsp; No problem with that whatsoever.Otherwise, so far as I can see, there are a number of possible arguments here:(1)&nbsp; Argue by authority:&nbsp; Someone wrote the rules, and should therefore presumably be an authority as to what they mean.Response:&nbsp; Sorry, I only accept that argument when it upholds my position.(2)&nbsp; Argue by what physics suggests is possible:&nbsp; No mouth (or tongue or whatever), therefore no talking.Response:&nbsp; Dead guy, therefore no talking.(3)&nbsp; Argue by what the spell description says the spell does:&nbsp; Not an intact corpse, therefore no talking.Responses:

A.&nbsp; But magic can do anything, so this spell should do what I want it to.
Good luck finding a DM who'll agree with this argument.

B.&nbsp; What do you mean it isn't a corpse?&nbsp; It's a skeleton, isn't it?
(1)&nbsp; The rules clearly demonstrate a difference between skeletons and corpses.

(2)&nbsp; By connotation, if not by denotation, the term &quot;corpse&quot; implies flesh.

C.&nbsp; Who are you to say what is a corpse or isn't?
(1)&nbsp; The definitions are implied in the rules.&nbsp; See animate dead and resurection for example.&nbsp; So, this isn't really simply my decision, but even if it were, 

(2)&nbsp; Refer to Rule 0 in your Player's Handbook.
Is there any part of this argument that I've missed?Is there any response to the points I've raised, apart from what amounts to essentially &quot;but that's not the way I want it to work&quot;?RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 1732208, member: 18280"] If you examine the spell descriptions of [I]animate dead[/I], [I]speak with dead[/I], and [I]resurrection[/I], as I did much earlier in this thread, you'll notice that, within the rules, the terms "corpse" and "skeleton" are not synonomous. It is quite clear that a "corpse" includes soft tissue. Within the [I]animate dead[/I] spell description, a corpse can be animated to become a skeleton, but it has to slough off its flesh to do so. Conversely, a skeleton cannot be animated to become a zombie. At this point, it becomes a question of semantics. I don't think that there is any confusion within the rules themselves, as written. I would be more than happy for a more complete answer from WotC. Perhaps over the course of examining the rules human error does creep in, but I don't think "ask them the same question 5 different times and you'll get 5 different interpretations" is either fair or accurate. You are, of course, perfectly correct in houseruling anything you think is fair. No problem with that whatsoever. Otherwise, so far as I can see, there are a number of possible arguments here: [B](1) Argue by authority: Someone wrote the rules, and should therefore presumably be an authority as to what they mean.[/B] [INDENT]Response: Sorry, I only accept that argument when it upholds my position.[/INDENT] [B](2) Argue by what physics suggests is possible: No mouth (or tongue or whatever), therefore no talking.[/B] [INDENT]Response: Dead guy, therefore no talking.[/INDENT] [B](3) Argue by what the spell description says the spell does: Not an intact corpse, therefore no talking.[/B] [INDENT]Responses: A. But magic can do anything, so this spell should do what I want it to. [INDENT]Good luck finding a DM who'll agree with this argument.[/INDENT] B. What do you mean it isn't a corpse? It's a skeleton, isn't it? [INDENT](1) The rules clearly demonstrate a difference between skeletons and corpses. (2) By connotation, if not by denotation, the term "corpse" implies flesh.[/INDENT] C. Who are you to say what is a corpse or isn't? [INDENT](1) The definitions are implied in the rules. See [I]animate dead[/I] and [I]resurection[/I] for example. So, this isn't really simply [B]my[/B] decision, but even if it were, (2) Refer to Rule 0 in your [I]Player's Handbook[/I].[/INDENT][/INDENT] Is there any part of this argument that I've missed? Is there any response to the points I've raised, apart from what amounts to essentially "but that's not the way I want it to work"? RC [/QUOTE]

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