Would it be cannibalism to eat a polymorphed chicken?

[The Lost Muse]

I'd argue that it is cannibalism in the situation that the person eating the chicken is aware that the chicken is a polymorphed creature. Physically, the chicken would be a typical chicken, so the standard consumer wouldn't know that the chicken was in fact Tordek the dwarven fighter.

Edit: I should really finish my thoughts before posting... Without being conscious about eating Tordek, any dwarf would simply be eating a chicken. It is their intention, along with a physical member of the same species that makes it cannibalism. When a dwarf is simply eating another dwarf, the intent does not matter. When they are intending to eat a dwarf, the form may matter (but only in a world where mages are capable of changing a creature from one type i.e. humanoid (dwarf) into another i.e. animal).

 

[Relique du Madde]

I'd contact the nearest cleric of my character's faith and ask him/her to cast commune for me.. If the deity doesn't answer at all then I'll take that as a no, after all, if the diety doesn't care then it probably wouldn't matter. No matter what, the answer to the question really depend on the teachings of the character's deity and their own moral/ethical pov..

 

[I'm A Banana]

Definately not cannibalism. You'd have to be eating your own species for that, and, even magically morphed, a chicken is a chicken, not a person.

You gain the intelligence of the creature you're turned into, right? So it's not even murder, if it's not murder to a chicken.

The only difference between a polymophed human as a chicken and a born chicken as a chicken is that you cast a different high-level spell to make the polymorphed human into a human than you do to make the chicken into a human.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Only if someone casts dispel magic.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Depends. You have to answer the question "Is what was formerly A now B?" If the polymorph is a conversion of the person's essential nature and substance, apart from mere physical form, then it's not cannibalism. If the polymorph is merely the change of the physical form, and the person remains a person in his essential nature, then it would be cannibalism.

1. He's a person in the form of a chicken (mutatio) == cannibalism.
2. What once was a person is no longer a person in any sense, only a chicken (conversio substantialis) == not cannibalism.

If it's possible to dispel or "reverse" the polymorph, that argues that the essential nature/substance of the person is not affected by the polymorph. The name and description of the spell also suggests that the essential nature of the target/victim doesn't change. Ultimately, that's up to the DM (and how much Plato and Aquinas he's read).

 

[Kunimatyu]

Is there Cajun seasoning involved?

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Is there Cajun seasoning involved?

Hopefully. Those injector doo-dads work wonders, too.

 

[Umbran]

Definately not cannibalism. You'd have to be eating your own species for that, and, even magically morphed, a chicken is a chicken, not a person.

Under Baleful Polymorph, it retains it's alignment, continues to understand language, and if it could work out some "chicken scratch", it could even write!

Seems to me that ain't no normal chicken. Sounds a whole lot more like a person in a really, really good chicken suit.

It seems to me that the issues we have with cannibalism are not very much about the genetics of the critter, but on it's spiritual and mental status. That person under baleful polymorph is still sentient enough to have language. It retains it's alignment - that seems to me a way of saying it keeps it's mind and soul, and is thus still a person.

At least until it fails that Will save. Then... we'd have to talk again. Given the fact that the end of the effect returns the character to normal, I'd ten dot say the person is just submerged, rather than obliterated - so, there's still a perosn in that chicken.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

This is a great thread.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

I would site the precedent that a dragon polymorphed into a human, that then mates with a human, can produce a half dragon. This says to me that the fundamental creature stays the same despite it's new form and diminished mental capacity. So, yes, it would be cannibalism.