Stone Body "Physiology" rule.

[King-Panda]

Curse Wizards and their vague term usage.

I don't know If posting the spell Stone Body (Spell Compendium, pg. 207) is legal or not, so I won't. In a nutshell though, it makes you immune to things that "affect your physiology or respiration", besides giving some other immunities. Figuring out what affects your respiration is easy, but physiology is a much broader term; it covers the physical and chemical actions of your body, as well as the state and operation of your organs and cells. Things like sneak attack obviously wouldn't work; you can't critically hit (and therefore sneak attack) something made of stone. I just can't help thinking, however, that the wording of this spell would cause a lot of headaches in game.

I guess what I'm asking is if anyone else has similar views on this spell, and how they have dealt with the problem.

I'd also appreciate no one telling me "Don't use it if you don't like it/understand it/hate it/think it's overpowered". I'm not whining; merely interested if anyone else had the same feelings about the spell, and how they use it in their game.

 

[Torack]

I'd be inclined to read that as saying: You gain the immunities of a construct-type creature.

 

[eamon]

I think Torack's idea is the right one, except that Constructs also have non-body-related immunities (such as to mind-affecting effects), which shouldn't apply.

Looking at the construct type, I'd say:

Immune to Poison, Disease, Paralysis, Stunning, Healing, critical hits, nonlethal damage, (physical) ability damage, (physical) ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion.

I'd probably grant "Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless)", unless it's a necromancy or energy drain or similar effect - i.e. targeting no specific part of your body but rather your "essence" or whatever as a whole. I'd grant immunity to Implosion and Temporal Stasis, but not Finger of Death.

It's vague, but it's not really problematic to adjudicate I think, as long as you've thought it through beforehand.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I'd be inclined to read that as saying: You gain the immunities of a construct-type creature.

Echo'd, altho I would use the Living Construct type.

 

[eamon]

Echo'd, altho I would use the Living Construct type.

Well, a living construct is vulnerable to ability damage and blinding/deafness, both of which the spell explicitly also renders you immune to. It's somewhere in between, I guess...

 

[King-Panda]

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I will take your advice Eamon, sounds pretty fair.