Flesh to Stone question.

[Aasimar]

I was wondering about how you guys would handle the following situation.

1. Big burly warrior gets hit by a Flesh to Stone spell, fails his save and becomes a statue.
2. Statue sits around until at some point, a master sculptor comes along and decides to use the statue in lieu of a proper block of stone, and carves out something smaller, say, a statue of a petite elf maiden.
3. Years later, someone comes along who happens to detect a faint magical aura on the statue of the elf maiden, figures there might be a classic flesh to stone effect going on, and being a high level wizard, he prepares and casts Stone to Flesh the following day.

Which of the following happens:

4a) The warrior comes back to life, only now he is stuck looking like an elf maiden until someone casts a polymorph of some sort at him, or he gets to use a wish or miracle to restore himself.

4b) The statue turns into a grotesque, dead, statue of flesh that looks like it was carved from someones innards, which might be restored as the original fighter if a resurrection spell were cast on it, or perhaps not actually die if regeneration were cast on it in the same round as the stone to flesh is cast.

[Kantolin]

I believe, by RAW, the result would be a dead was-a-warrior. Being carved into a smaller shape certainly results in damages to me.

However, 'how would I rule this'? I'd go for the 'now you're an petite elven maiden' angle, as that's exceptionally more interesting. It then means you can use flesh to stone to essentially polymorph someone, but given polymorph itself is 4th level, baleful is 5th, flesh to stone is 6th, and flesh to stone essentially kills the person to begin wtih... that's probably not destroying worlds.

Now, granted, this ruling can be abused, but I'd simply ask my players not to. :P We're fun people.

[Aasimar]

I believe, by RAW, the result would be a dead was-a-warrior. Being carved into a smaller shape certainly results in damages to me.

However, 'how would I rule this'? I'd go for the 'now you're an petite elven maiden' angle, as that's exceptionally more interesting. It then means you can use flesh to stone to essentially polymorph someone, but given polymorph itself is 4th level, baleful is 5th, flesh to stone is 6th, and flesh to stone essentially kills the person to begin wtih... that's probably not destroying worlds.

Now, granted, this ruling can be abused, but I'd simply ask my players not to. :P We're fun people.

Yeah, that's sortof my thought as well. One answer may be technically correct, but the other is way more fun.

[Person_Man]

I basically agree with Kantolin. By RAW, "If the statue resulting from this spell is broken or damaged, the subject (if ever returned to its original state) has similar damage or deformities." You can't get much clearer then that.

But the Rule of Cool lends itself towards the latter interpretation. Although if magic is common in your game world, then it would quickly become the basis for a plastic surgery industry taken up to 11 (weight loss, cosmetic changes, sex changes, racial changes, etc).

The process for doing so would be pretty hilarious as well - if you're going from smaller to bigger, you'd have to "fatten up" so that the sculptor had more material to work with.

[Daftendirekt]

I basically agree with Kantolin. By RAW, "If the statue resulting from this spell is broken or damaged, the subject (if ever returned to its original state) has similar damage or deformities." You can't get much clearer then that.

But the Rule of Cool lends itself towards the latter interpretation. Although if magic is common in your game world, then it would quickly become the basis for a plastic surgery industry taken up to 11 (weight loss, cosmetic changes, sex changes, racial changes, etc).

The process for doing so would be pretty hilarious as well - if you're going from smaller to bigger, you'd have to "fatten up" so that the sculptor had more material to work with.

I think you just discovered a new aspect of the tippyverse :P

[Namfuak]

There are a lot of inherent problems with this spell when you consider it. What if someone were turned to stone, then their arm was broke off, then they were turned back. Would the stone that was originally their arm turn into a separated arm? If it's shattered, would it just be various bits of flesh and bone? Would the person come back with massive bleeding where their arm used to be, or would it be covered by skin (like an amputee)? If it's the former, could you stop it by tying a tourniquet on the statue before you turn him back? If the entire statue was broken apart and the stone used in various stoneworks around the world, would casting stone to flesh turn every piece around the world back into whatever it was, or just the piece affected?

Also, what about armor? In theory, you could use this to give someone better armor (if they wear light armor, they could put on some heavy armor, get petrified, and the sculptor could give them really nice light armor).

As for your original question, I would probably just houserule it that if the creature is turned back into flesh, their soul has the choice of whether he/she wants to inhabit the way their body is when it is turned back (IE, the warrior would get a choice if he wants to be an elf maiden). If he decides not to, the stone just turns into a dead elf chick who can't be resurrected. If he decides to, then he comes back in armor and equipment that is considered of equal or lesser value to the value of armor and equipment he was originally wearing.

[Rubik]

However, 'how would I rule this'? I'd go for the 'now you're an petite elven maiden' angle, as that's exceptionally more interesting.What, you don't think the potential for meat trees is interesting?

[Aasimar]

Also like, I cast enlarge person on someone. Then Flesh to stone.

The duration of enlarge person runs out, does the statue shrink?

[Metahuman1]

One day I'm going to use this to do some awesome stuff.

[Jack_Simth]

Also like, I cast enlarge person on someone. Then Flesh to stone.

The duration of enlarge person runs out, does the statue shrink?

By RAW, yes - the statue is still the creature, so when the Enlarge Person runs out, the creature assumes the original size.

[candycorn]

Hm. Here's one.

Cast PaO (CL 15) on someone. Turn them into a tree.
Boost your CL to 25. Cast Flesh to Stone on them.

Have your CL 20 friend cast a Dispel, using a feat to take 10 on the check, dispelling all CL 19 or less spells.

Does the stone tree turn into a stone person? Does it turn into a flesh person?

[Jack_Simth]

Hm. Here's one.

Cast PaO (CL 15) on someone. Turn them into a tree.
Boost your CL to 25. Cast Flesh to Stone on them.

By RAW, a normal plant, such as a tree, is a living object (this is spelled out under the plant type), and is thus not a valid target for Flesh to Stone. This step fails.

Amusingly, by that exact same token, you can't Disintegrate a living tree (it has certain effects on creatures, and certain effects on nonliving objects, but has no defined behavior for a living object).


Have your CL 20 friend cast a Dispel, using a feat to take 10 on the check, dispelling all CL 19 or less spells.

Does the stone tree turn into a stone person? Does it turn into a flesh person?

Ignoring the above (and that Flesh to Stone is Instant, and so Dispel won't get rid of it, so you're going through a few unnecessary steps, here), then if the plant had the "Petrified" condition, then so would the depolymorphed end result.