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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2236706" data-attributes="member: 18280">I do not argue that a spell cannot make a skeleton speak; I only argue that the wording of this spell in particular makes it reasonable for a DM to assume otherwise.&nbsp; You are correct in saying that the spell does not make clear what a &quot;corpse&quot; or a &quot;mouth&quot; specifically are.&nbsp; Other spells in D&amp;D 3.5, though, (such as animate dead) do specify a difference between a &quot;corpse&quot; or a &quot;skeleton.&quot;&nbsp; This certainly lends some legitimacy to DM-Rocco's ruling.Whether or not age is damage, in D&amp;D terms, is an interesting question.&nbsp; Once the corpse is a corpse, it has hardness and hp as an object.&nbsp; Does a body lose hp as it decomposes?&nbsp; Does a wooden door?&nbsp; If not, then one could claim, despite the condition of the body, that it was &quot;undamaged&quot; even if it was now actually mostly part of the lawn.My alternative to speak with dead was provided to allow DMs to make use of the classic spell, btw, and avoid the semantics.RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 2236706, member: 18280"] I do not argue that a spell cannot make a skeleton speak; I only argue that the wording of this spell in particular makes it reasonable for a DM to assume otherwise. You are correct in saying that the spell does not make clear what a "corpse" or a "mouth" specifically are. Other spells in D&D 3.5, though, (such as [I]animate dead[/I]) do specify a difference between a "corpse" or a "skeleton." This certainly lends some legitimacy to DM-Rocco's ruling. Whether or not age is damage, in D&D terms, is an interesting question. Once the corpse is a corpse, it has hardness and hp as an object. Does a body lose hp as it decomposes? Does a wooden door? If not, then one could claim, despite the condition of the body, that it was "undamaged" even if it was now actually mostly part of the lawn. My alternative to [I]speak with dead[/I] was provided to allow DMs to make use of the classic spell, btw, and avoid the semantics. RC [/QUOTE]

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