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View Full Version : What would happen if you cast stone to flesh on a golem or stone elemental?



Poiuytrewq
2018-03-31, 09:19 AM
This spell always sounded kind of useless to me, but now I'm wondering what would happen if you cast stone to flesh on a golem or stone elemental?

PersonMan
2018-03-31, 09:52 AM
It probably depends on what game you're playing. :smalltongue:

The question implies you're talking about D&D, but which edition? You may want to PM a mod to ask them to move this thread into the proper subforum, to let people know which set of rules apply.

The Glyphstone
2018-03-31, 10:44 AM
As far as D&D 3.5:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/golem.htm#stoneGolem

"A stone to flesh spell does not actually change the golem’s structure but negates its damage reduction and immunity to magic for 1 full round. "

goto124
2018-03-31, 12:55 PM
I suspect OP wants creative fluff-based answers, not a rule clarifications.

The resulting flesh golem would look really weird, if only proportions that look fine on an animated statue would not fare so well on something that's trying to resemble a humanoid.

Bohandas
2018-03-31, 01:08 PM
I'm not sure what it would do to an earth elemental. Possibly it would turn into a corpse or a slab of meat until somebody cast Flesh to Stone on it to bring it back to life (equivalent to casting Flesh to stone on a fleshy creature and rendering it inert until someone brings it back to life with stone to flesh)

or possibly since it's a primal creature of earth it would instantly fossilize and go back to normal or instantly rot into dirt and continue on as a slightly smaller and softer earth elememtal

Goaty14
2018-04-01, 12:56 AM
3.5: Stone elementals do not exist. Casting it on a wall of stone has the somewhat-humorous interpretation that it becomes a wall of bacon, for your eating pleasure.

Bohandas
2018-04-01, 01:07 AM
3.5: Stone elementals do not exist.

It's pretty clear he meant an earth elemental

Goaty14
2018-04-01, 07:25 AM
It's pretty clear he meant an earth elemental

Either way, it has no effect, given that earth elementals are made of dirt, earth, and stones. At best, he might make a single steak out of the casting, and not much else.

goto124
2018-04-01, 12:01 PM
A steak covered in dirt and earth, no less.

LibraryOgre
2018-04-02, 11:03 AM
So, Palladium Fantasy actually has an answer and a set of spells designed around this.



Special note: The right combination of spells can make the creature more formidable. Combining a clay to stone and a breath of life will create a stone golem-like creature with double the S.D.C., melee attacks, damage and bonuses. A similar combination will create an iron golem-like creature with triple the S.D.C., melee attacks, damage and bonuses. Or a clay to stone, stone to flesh, and a breath of life will create a living zombie-like creature with the same stats as the clay creature plus one melee attack (but can be used to create a living double/imposter).

Malimar
2018-04-02, 07:12 PM
As far as D&D 3.5:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/golem.htm#stoneGolem

"A stone to flesh spell does not actually change the golem’s structure but negates its damage reduction and immunity to magic for 1 full round. "

Which is actually contradicted by text under the spell itself (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/stoneToFlesh.htm), which says "this spell would turn a stone golem into a flesh golem". It's not clear which line is correct, as they're equally specific. A dysfunction. A possible interpretation is that one casting lowers the golem's immunity to magic and a second casting (while the immunity is down) turns it into a flesh golem, but that interpretation is not well-supported by the rules.


3.5: Stone elementals do not exist.
In 3.5 and PF, at least (not familiar enough with other editions to say), there are creatures of the elemental type that are made of stone. Stone Spikes from Monster Manual II, for example. And it's not clear what would happen to such creatures when struck by Stone To Flesh (I would probably apply something like the Incarnate Construct template, but that's just me, not the rules).

bc56
2018-04-02, 08:49 PM
In 5e, golems have a trait called Immutable Form, which makes them immune to effects which would change their form, including Stone to Flesh and vice versa.

Although I don't think Stone to Flesh exists in 5e, but I've never checked.

RazorChain
2018-04-02, 09:14 PM
Stone golem would become a boneless bag of flesh and fall to the ground...probably

ross
2018-08-28, 01:03 PM
I suspect OP wants creative fluff-based answers, not a rule clarifications.

The resulting flesh golem would look really weird, if only proportions that look fine on an animated statue would not fare so well on something that's trying to resemble a humanoid.

Wouldn't an animated statue already resemble a humanoid? I suppose you could make a panther golem or something.

kieza
2018-08-28, 04:45 PM
I've got this adventure written, that I've never actually had a chance to run, featuring a wizard/artist who's found a niche sculpting exquisitely detailed statues and then transmuting them into flesh to supply "ethical necromancers" and other people who want to do something questionable to a dead body, but don't want to kill someone.

So, I'd say that a stone elemental turns into a quivering mound of undifferentiated flesh, as does a typical golem, but a golem crafted with sufficient anatomical detail turns into an artificial humanoid of some sort. Maybe call it a Galatean, based on the myth of Pygmalion?

Bohandas
2018-08-29, 11:45 AM
I've got this adventure written, that I've never actually had a chance to run, featuring a wizard/artist who's found a niche sculpting exquisitely detailed statues and then transmuting them into flesh to supply "ethical necromancers" and other people who want to do something questionable to a dead body, but don't want to kill someone.

Why don't they just use a cow or something?

Lord Torath
2018-08-29, 01:54 PM
I'd say this varies by game and edition. In 2E, for example, Stone to Flesh on a Stone Golem leaves it vulnerable to non-magical weapons and damaging spells for one round, but has no other effect.1 I'd probably permit a similar effect on earth elementals.

1. According to the Monster description. The spell description, however, says it turns into a Flesh Golem.

Mystral
2018-08-29, 04:18 PM
This spell always sounded kind of useless to me, but now I'm wondering what would happen if you cast stone to flesh on a golem or stone elemental?

There are no stone elementals, but if a DM rules that it also works on earth elementals, they would turn into fleshy masses animated by a (propably very confused and angry) elemental spirit of earth.

Concerning stone golems, the D&D 3.5 rules are unclear. In the spell description, it says that the spell would turn a stone golem into a flesh golem, but in the stone golem entry, it says that stone to flesh doesn't change the structure of the golem, but surpresses its DR and magic immunity for a minute. Personally I'd go with the second version, it makes for easier play.

The main uses of stone to flesh is the reversal of a petrification (although break enchantment can do this too), a way to quickly get through stone walls without preparing passwall and a handy way of creating huge amounts of meat for food. You can also use shape stone before hand to create obscene statues of flesh and freak out people. If you get really creative, you might even force a sanity check or two.

Bohandas
2018-08-30, 10:26 AM
This spell always sounded kind of useless to me

It mostly exists to reverse flesh to stone

You can also make steaks with it if you have some stone slabs.

Malimar
2018-08-30, 11:55 AM
I've got this adventure written, that I've never actually had a chance to run, featuring a wizard/artist who's found a niche sculpting exquisitely detailed statues and then transmuting them into flesh to supply "ethical necromancers" and other people who want to do something questionable to a dead body, but don't want to kill someone.
Why don't they just use a cow or something?
Doing "something questionable" to a cow is a whole separate kink from doing it to a dead (or animated but mindless) human body.

Maelynn
2018-08-30, 04:33 PM
I've got this adventure written, that I've never actually had a chance to run, featuring a wizard/artist who's found a niche sculpting exquisitely detailed statues and then transmuting them into flesh to supply "ethical necromancers" and other people who want to do something questionable to a dead body, but don't want to kill someone.

That's quite a disturbing and morbid idea. Just think about all the implications. All the horrible things that could happen. I like it.

Nightcanon
2018-09-02, 07:21 AM
I've got this adventure written, that I've never actually had a chance to run, featuring a wizard/artist who's found a niche sculpting exquisitely detailed statues and then transmuting them into flesh to supply "ethical necromancers" and other people who want to do something questionable to a dead body, but don't want to kill someone.

Seems to me there are plenty of ways in a D&D-type world to get hold of dead bodies to do questionable things with, without actually being the one to kill them.