Stone Cursed: soul remnants, undead, and other question marks

[Maelynn]

For my current campaign (for clarity: I'm the DM) I'm researching the Stone Cursed, because they will feature in the BBEG's villainous plot. For the sake of the story and congruity, I want to be able to understand and explain this monster's aspects and origin. After all, Stone Cursed are a beautifully horrifying destiny for an NPC they became familiar with, or even a loved one. But then I do need to get the story straight about what Stone Cursed are and what happens when one is created. So far I've found hardly anything other than what's in MToF, which leaves me with a lot of questions.

So. They're technically considered to be a construct (not debating monster type), but they're made of an actual person who's been petrified. Now, petrification is a status that can be reversed, so that means the person isn't dead. They're merely, uhm, "in a temporarily suspended state of their life", so to say. Does that mean that turning a petrified person into a Stone Cursed will 'kill' them as a result of the ritual? And if that's the case, then would their transformation into a Stone Cursed, in a way, turn them into some kind of undead?

This leads me to the question where the soul of the person goes. Normally, an undead is created from a dead body, whose soul has already passed on to whatever afterlife is appropriate. But if the person was petrified and hasn't died, what happens to its soul after the ritual? I doubt it remains inside the monster, as the description says that inside is a 'dim echo of the victim's spirit'. So should it be akin to the process of turning it into an undead, where the ritual will first kill the person (allowing the soul to move on to the afterlife), then a remnant of the spirit/memories is copied and stored into the obsidian skull, after which the husk is animated to become a walking oozing statue?

As for the 'dim echo of a spirit' that ends up in the obsidian skull, what does this even entail? Seeing as how the Stone Cursed is loyal to its creator and has a drive to slay the living, does this dim echo have any influence on the monster's behaviour? Or is it merely the motoric skills that are powered by this spirit, nothing more?

[bid]

Does that mean that turning a petrified person into a Stone Cursed will 'kill' them as a result of the ritual? And if that's the case, then would their transformation into a Stone Cursed, in a way, turn them into some kind of undead?
More evil: they're still alive, undoing the curse kills them.

Most evil: lock-in syndrome, with pleading eyes.

[Maelynn]

More evil: they're still alive, undoing the curse kills them.

Most evil: lock-in syndrome, with pleading eyes.

Heheh, I can keep that in mind if I really wanted to make it hard on my players.

For now though, I'm trying to figure out the explanations that make the most sense. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[DrKerosene]

I prefer to say that Petrified creatures have their souls trapped in a limbo where True Resurrection will not work (like types of Undead). Being un-Petrified will revert them to their living state (despite how much time has passed normally being a limit for Raise Dead spells). For the sake of simplicity, I would rule a sufficiently damaged (Petrified) statue counts as destroyed or dead and the spirit can move on at that point.

3.5e had a prestige class called Greenstar Adept, where you slowly turned yourself into a living statue, perhaps there could be a link to that process, saying Stonecursed are a product of an intentionally corrupted ritual.

I would say the alchemical ritual is similar enough to making a Golem (trapped elemental spirit), or a Living Zombie (a template from 3.5e), or some other effect like being Soul Trapped by a Carrionette creature, in that there is a trapped soul somewhere that is waiting to go to the afterlife, and the Stonecursed cannot be “saved” without some kind of powerful Raise Dead spell being used.

[Unoriginal]

Petrified creatures' souls do indeed remain trapped in their now-stone bodies. Thankfulky they are unaware of anything and unconcious.

I'd say the whole thing with the Stone Cursed is to manipulate the soul inside the stone, like a Golem is moved by an elemental trapped inside.

[Maelynn]

The idea of the soul remaining trapped in the Stone Cursed body seems to be prevalent here. I didn't want to assume as much, because of the description stating that the obsidian skull holds merely the 'dim echo' of a spirit - suggesting there isn't more than that. The fact that everyone seems to agree that a petrified person still definitely has a soul would make it logical that people come up with the idea of it being trapped.


and the Stonecursed cannot be “saved” without some kind of powerful Raise Dead spell being used.

This suggests that the ritual to create a Stone Cursed from a petrified person keeps the soul intact, rather than sending it into the afterlife. Since there doesn't seem to be any evidence for or against it, I could take some liberty here. Would also make one hell of a sidequest when it turns out that one of them is a loved one they dearly want to save.



Based on all your replies and my own theory, I've come up with a few statements. Let's call it option a and option b.

option a:
- a petrified person still contains a soul, which has been placed in a stasis until either restored or shattered
- when creating a Stone Cursed, the ritual severs the bond between the statue/body and the soul - thus allowing it to move on to the afterlife
- the soul imprints a dim echo onto an obsidian skull during this ritual, acting as a means of animation (soulless)
- killing (shattering) a Stone Cursed will expose the obsidian skull, but has no effect on the soul because that is long gone

option b:
- a petrified person still contains a soul, which has been placed in a stasis until either restored or shattered
- when creating a Stone Cursed, the ritual traps the soul into the construct where it serves as a means of animation (not soulless)
- killing (shattering) a Stone Cursed will destroy the soul, leaving only a dim echo in the exposed obsidian skull
- the soul might be freed by means of a powerful spell (tbd), but needs to be cast on a living Stone Cursed

I get the feeling that option a is how the Stone Cursed was intended to be when they created it. However, personally I feel more drawn towards option b, because it gives the monster some depth, the ritual a morbid touch (and the whole act more evil), and allows for possible restoration of an important person. Which option would you choose?

[NRSASD]

Personally, I prefer option B. So long as there is a plot relevant method for reversing the process in a way that keeps the person alive, I see absolutely nothing wrong with forcing the PCs to fight their acquaintances.