Undead, Polymorph, and Beheadings

[Atavar]

I ran a pretty interesting encounter recently in which my players' 19th-level characters encountered a couple of nightwalkers. One of the nightwalkers snatched the cleric's powerful primary weapon out of his hands during an attack of opportunity, and was planning on crushing it on its next turn. Desperately trying to prevent this, the wizard cast a Polymorph Any Object on the nightwalker.

Then the question came up: Of what Kingdom (Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral) is the nightwalker and undead in general? This question wasn't very important at the time since the party was just out to destroy them anyway, but we still debated the question. One player argued that undead should be considered Mineral since they are not living animals or plants. I can sort of see his point, but in my view the living, unliving, or dead status of a substance does not determine its kingdom. I ruled that corporeal undead are typically composed of once-living Animal (in the Kingdom sense) flesh and, therefore, are considered to be of the Animal kingdom for purposes of the Polymorph Any Object spell. Also, as a rule of thumb, I try to go by which Kingdom a substance most "seems" to be like. To me, dead or undead flesh is certainly not a Vegetable, and seems more Animal-like than Mineral-like.

So, do you think I ruled correctly on this?

Secondly, the polymorph worked and the nightwalker became a kobold. The hasted wizard then cast another spell and stunned it (since it was no longer undead at the moment, I ruled it could be stunned). Then, while it was stunned, the fighter, using his vorpal axe, scored a critical hit and cut off the nightwalker/kobold's head.

So, now I had to make a decision. As I see it, I could have ruled one of two ways. One, the kobold didn't lose enough hit points to die, but kobolds can't live without heads, so the kobold died. Upon death, it reverted to its original form of the nightwalker. Being undead again, and not having lost all its hit points, the nightwalker is not dead because, typically, undead can still keep going even if their heads are chopped off. Also, since it is now back to being undead, the nightwalker is no longer stunned.

Two, the kobold didn't lose enough hit points to die, but kobolds can't live without heads, so the kobold died. Upon death, it was immediately reduced to -10 hit points. Then it reverted to its original form of the nightwalker. Still having -10 hit points, the nightwalker remained dead, essentially dying from a beheading allowed through a convenient (for the party) loophole.

I ended up choosing the second scenario for my ruling. I'm pretty sure I am right, but I wasn't sure about the "-10 hit points upon death" thing.

So, do you think I ruled correctly on this?

Thanks,

Atavar

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"Oota goota Solo?" -- Greedo

 

[Gaiden]

IDHMBWM so this post could be moot, but I know with polymorph that the errata'ed version does not change the creatures actual type. I doubt polymorph any object would be different.

 

[AuraSeer]

What he said. Polymorph does not change a creature's type.

When the Nightwalker was changed into a kobold, it was still of the Undead type, and therefore retained all its undead immunities. It should not have been stunnable, and removing its head should not have killed it.

I suppose you could retcon a house rule that fits your decision, but I wouldn't bother. Let the combat stand as it happened, tell the PCs how similar situations will work in the future, and just go on with the game.

 

[Maitre Du Donjon]

I'd just like to add to AuraSeer's post that since it kept its creature type, the Nightwalker-turned-kobold should not have been subject to a beheading, since its immuned to critical hits.

Maitre D.

 

[Atavar]

Sigh.... I hate it when I make such an obvious ruling mistake like that. Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

Any thoughts, though, on the question about whether undead are Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral for purposes of the Polymorph Any Object spell?

Thanks,

Atavar

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"Klytus, I'm bored! What plaything do you have for me today?" -- Ming the Merciless

 

[Hypersmurf]

Any thoughts, though, on the question about whether undead are Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral for purposes of the Polymorph Any Object spell?

Animal. Like a leather jacket.

-Hyp.

 

[Darkness]

Some material that might be helpful.