Weird Questions about Stone to Flesh

[Hypersmurf]

Thanks AuraSeer, I don't have the description in front of me right now...

Why not?

-Hyp.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Technically, no. People don't play that way because the spell description specifically says otherwise. The first sentence states that it "restores life and goods."

i am teh suk

As pennance for my wrong answer I shall read a chapter of Synnabar ... a punishment that more than makes up for the evil I have done.

 

[Impeesa]

Better question - what happens if you flesh-to-stone someone, stone shape them, and stone-to-flesh back? Use your imagination.

--Impeesa--

 

[frankthedm]

Better question - what happens if you flesh-to-stone someone, stone shape them, and stone-to-flesh back? Use your imagination.

--Impeesa--

Fleshcrafting- Vampire the masquerade had this power for one of the more wicked vampire clans.

I would say death upon depetrification. from twisted guts.

 

[HellHound]

As a footnote...

I asked Customer Support a question regarding this once (and of course I disagree with the answer).

The question goes as follows: If a player casts stone to flesh on a statue that was never a living being before, but is a piece of art made from carved stone, can a character then cast animate dead on the resulting corpse to create a skeleton from the remains?

The answer was a firm affirmative.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The answer was a firm affirmative.

I agree, though there is room for you to contest it.

A Stone-to-Fleshed statue becomes a corpse. This is explicit in the spell text.

What it is not is a "dead creature".

Raise Dead targets a dead creature; it is not a dead creature, so it is an invalid target for Raise Dead.

Animate Dead targets one or more corpses. Create Undead targets a corpse. It is a corpse, therefore it is a valid target for these spells.

The wiggle room is that the first sentence of flavour text for Animate Dead states that it turns the bodies of dead creatures into skeletons or zombies. If you claim that this is an exclusive rules provision, then it allows you to animate that dead orc over there (both a corpse, and the body of a dead creature), but not this transmuted statue (a corpse, but not the body of a dead creature).

And since Create Undead is explicitly a more powerful version of Animate Dead, you can argue that the same provision applies.

Now, I personally think that Create Undead is unambiguously useable with a transmuted statue. But there's further room for denial with Animate Dead - to create a skeleton, the corpse must have bones, and Stone to Flesh creates a corpse, but doesn't mention bones. To create a zombie, you must have the corpse of a creature with an anatomy, and the transmuted statue is not the corpse of a creature at all, but rather the corpse of a representation of a creature.

So you can argue against Customer Service's reply if you disagree with it

-Hyp.

 

[HellHound]

The bones argument is what I was arguing.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The bones argument is what I was arguing.

It lends itself to interesting ponderings, though.

One of the messier uses for Stone to Flesh is as a poor man's Passwall. Fleshify your cylinder through a wall, and then hack it out with sharp instruments.

But what if you're in the middle of Skull Mountain, a mountain that resembles a human skull? Might not, then, the cylinder of stone that you transmute become a ten-foot thickness of cranial bone?

-Hyp.

 

[Rel]

It does work on plain statues, and other kinds of stone too. If you cast it on stone other than a petrified creature, you can affect a cylinder up to 3' across and up to 10' long. This is in the spell description. (Or am I somehow reading a different description than everyone else?)

My existence as a gamer will be complete the day that the party Barbarian says, "I'm hungry and we're out of rations!" and the party Wizard responds, "Voila! Cylinder of Meat: It's what's for dinner!"

 

[Hypersmurf]

My existence as a gamer will be complete the day that the party Barbarian says, "I'm hungry and we're out of rations!" and the party Wizard responds, "Voila! Cylinder of Meat: It's what's for dinner!"

It tastes better if you get the Druid to Stone Shape it into a cow first.

Cow statue --- StF ---> steak dinner.
Slab of rock --- StF ---> ten foot lump of spam.

-Hyp.