Can animate dead be dispelled?

[Joe dirt]

Can u use dispell magic to destroy animate dead or animated skeletons, objects, or summoned monsters?

[MaxWilson]

Can u use dispell magic to destroy animate dead or animated skeletons, objects, or summoned monsters?

No. You can't dispel a spell which has already ended. Instantaneous spells like Cure Wounds and Animate Dead cannot be dispelled. They simply create permanent effects (and sometimes some temporary effects) and then end.

You can dispel Conjure Fey though, and Planar Binding, which could result in e.g. a summoned monster going uncontrolled or disappearing.

[Arceus]

A spell like Animate Dead cannot be dispelled as it has an Instantaneous duration. The spell animates the corpses, but it does not keep them animated. There's no spell on the target to end.

A spell like Conjure Animals can be dispelled, as it as a longer duration- the spell summons the animals and keeps them there.

[Dalebert]

This also means undead and familiars don't blink out in an antimagic field. However magic related to them wouldn't function, e.g. your telepathy with or ability to command said creatures.

[MaxWilson]

This also means undead and familiars don't blink out in an antimagic field. However magic related to them wouldn't function, e.g. your telepathy with or ability to command said creatures.

The telepathy is also an instantaneous effect, strange as that is to contemplate. That telepathy is exactly as magical as the ability of a pile of bones to remain intact and to move around and act. Either both effects should be suspended, or neither should be.

[Maelynn]

The telepathy is also an instantaneous effect, strange as that is to contemplate. That telepathy is exactly as magical as the ability of a pile of bones to remain intact and to move around and act. Either both effects should be suspended, or neither should be.

Telepathy isn't instantaneous, it is an ongoing bond between minds. That's why it's severed when oppressed by something like an anti-magicfield.

[MrStabby]

Animated objects can be dispelled. Things like the animated armour in the MM go dormant (I think) if subjected to dispell magic.

[Kadesh]

Animated objects can be dispelled. Things like the animated armour in the MM go dormant (I think) if subjected to dispell magic.

Creatures with specific effects have specific effects. It is not a standardised thing. Anikate Dead does not give an Undead Skeleton or Zombie the 'Antimagic Susceptability' trait.

[MrStabby]

Creatures with specific effects have specific effects. It is not a standardised thing. Anikate Dead does not give an Undead Skeleton or Zombie the 'Antimagic Susceptability' trait.

Yes, I agree - I was just trying to ensure the set of answers was as comprehensive as we could make it. Animated Armour being an "animated object" by name if not by spell. OP was asking about these other cases as well.

[MaxWilson]

Telepathy isn't instantaneous, it is an ongoing bond between minds. That's why it's severed when oppressed by something like an anti-magicfield.

The spell has already ended at the point when you start using your telepathy. It is the spell, not the telepathy, which is instantaneous.

The telepathy and the ability for a pile of bones to remain in human shape despite the lack of connective tissue and to walk around (in what amounts to telekinesis) are equivalently-magical effects, both of which are created by an instantneous spell and last, for some reason, long after the spell has ended. They should be treated equivalently by DMs, in my opinion.

[Maelynn]

The spell has already ended at the point when you start using your telepathy. It is the spell, not the telepathy, which is instantaneous.

The telepathy and the ability for a pile of bones to remain in human shape despite the lack of connective tissue and to walk around (in what amounts to telekinesis) are equivalently-magical effects, both of which are created by an instantneous spell and last, for some reason, long after the spell has ended. They should be treated equivalently by DMs, in my opinion.

And they are. Dalebert is incorrect when he states that undead 'don't blink out' in an anti-magicfield, because they do (as listed under creatures and objects in the description of the spell Antimagic Field). However, he mentioned the anti-magicfield, whereas your response to him suggests you're still talking about the spell Dispel Magic. That's 2 very different things with 2 very different effects.

[MaxWilson]

And they are. Dalebert is incorrect when he states that undead 'don't blink out' in an anti-magicfield, because they do (as listed under creatures and objects in the description of the spell Antimagic Field). However, he mentioned the anti-magicfield, whereas your response to him suggests you're still talking about the spell Dispel Magic. That's 2 very different things with 2 very different effects.

I was not discussing Dispel Magic. I was responding to a post about Antimagic Field, and so I was also referring to Antimagic Field in my response. I said nothing about Dispel Magic.

I don't see how you could possibly construe comments about what types of magic are "suspended" to be a reference to Dispel Magic, which dispels magic instead of suspending it. But in any case no, I wasn't talking about Dispel Magic.

[Maelynn]

I was not discussing Dispel Magic. I was responding to a post about Antimagic Field, and so I was also referring to Antimagic Field in my response. I said nothing about Dispel Magic.

I don't see how you could possibly construe comments about what types of magic are "suspended" to be a reference to Dispel Magic, which dispels magic instead of suspending it. But in any case no, I wasn't talking about Dispel Magic.

If that's the case, then your original response to my comment makes no sense. For an anti-magicfield, it doesn't matter whether a spell was originally instantaneous or not. Inside the field, spell effects are suspended, so telepathic bonds are broken for as long as either of the connected creatures is inside the field.

[KorvinStarmast]

If that's the case, then your original response to my comment makes no sense. For an anti-magicfield, it doesn't matter whether a spell was originally instantaneous or not. Inside the field, spell effects are suspended, so telepathic bonds are broken for as long as either of the connected creatures is inside the field. That's an intriguing position to take. Can you walk me through the logic, with rules support at each step, where you arrived at that conclusion? I am referring to the telepathic bonds in particular.

[chokfull]

That's an intriguing position to take. Can you walk me through the logic, with rules support at each step, where you arrived at that conclusion? I am referring to the telepathic bonds in particular.

That's not really difficult, AMF suppresses all magical effects on creatures or objects. A DM could rule otherwise, but to follow RAW you'd have to somehow argue that a telepathic link is not a magical effect.

"Spells: Any active spell or other magical effect on a creature or an object in the Sphere is suppressed while the creature or object is in it."

[Asmotherion]

No. Animate Dead is an Instantaneus magical effect.

What you might be able to dispell is the casters control over his undead however, in witch case, they may start attacking both parties indiscriminatlly. They are after all controled by magic that needs to be renewed every 24 hours. However what animates the dead body/bones is a Shadowfell (Negative Energy) Spirit that has been summoned and bound to the dead body permanently until said dead body is destroyed. It is not magic per say, or to be more exact, it is a case of "backround" magic, like the Monk's Ki or a Dragon's Breath Weapon.

I emphasise might, as there is no direct hint that the control is not, itself, also an Instantaneus Magical Effect, despite needing a renewal every 24 hours. In that case, if the DM judges so, nothing in the spell is Dispellable.

In Danse Macabre's Case you can indeed Dispell the spell, in witch case the undead will simply fall as dead bodies or bones; they are animated by the spell, and when the duration finishes, they stop being undead.

[Maelynn]

That's an intriguing position to take. Can you walk me through the logic, with rules support at each step, where you arrived at that conclusion? I am referring to the telepathic bonds in particular.

you'd have to somehow argue that a telepathic link is not a magical effect

The Monster Manual is quite clear about it:

"Telepathy is a magical ability that allows a monster to communicate mentally with another creatures within a specified range" - MM 9

If you have a good reason to argue that telepathy isn't in any way a magical effect, then please do post it. I'd be very interested to hear it - especially because I'm researching this exact thing for my current campaign.

(I have a huge antimagic field and a guy with a Homunculus and need to figure out their respective effects on eachother for my plot to make sense. After all, I have to get my story to be solid with the bloody LN Inquisitive Rogue scrutinising every inconsistency. :p)