Doctor Despair
2020-05-30, 11:31 PM
I was parsing spells for benefits referencing undead creatures when I noticed some spells and effects remove parts of the body. For example, Flaying Tendrils allows you to remove a target's brain, Decapitating Scarf allows you to remove a target's head, and Heart Ripper allows you to remove a target's heart. Now, while Heart Ripper has a clause that, although probably not intended that way, seems to preclude the spell being used on undead...
Creatures that don't depend on their hearts for survival (such as undead and constructs) and creatures with no anatomy (such as oozes) are unaffected by the spell.
... the other two specifically call out that the spells work on undead, but are not fatal.
Constructs and most undead (except vampires) are not immediately killed by decapitation, and take only 6d4 points of damage whether they make their save or not.
Extracting the brain does nothing to constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, or undead, and is not instantly fatal to creatures with multiple heads.
I was wondering: what do you think would happen to an undead whose brain and head were removed, but who was not killed? The text has no provisions for this in the spell, although perhaps there is other material that would help us parse this situation. Take, for example, a Wight, who are intelligent and capable of speech. Would the undead retain control of its body, its brain, its head, all three, or some combination of two of the three? The text of these spells seems to imply that it is no large issue for the undead, but not why it is no issue for the undead creature. What do you think? Is anyone familiar with any rules that would clear up this situation? If not -- how would you personally handle that situation?
Creatures that don't depend on their hearts for survival (such as undead and constructs) and creatures with no anatomy (such as oozes) are unaffected by the spell.
... the other two specifically call out that the spells work on undead, but are not fatal.
Constructs and most undead (except vampires) are not immediately killed by decapitation, and take only 6d4 points of damage whether they make their save or not.
Extracting the brain does nothing to constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, or undead, and is not instantly fatal to creatures with multiple heads.
I was wondering: what do you think would happen to an undead whose brain and head were removed, but who was not killed? The text has no provisions for this in the spell, although perhaps there is other material that would help us parse this situation. Take, for example, a Wight, who are intelligent and capable of speech. Would the undead retain control of its body, its brain, its head, all three, or some combination of two of the three? The text of these spells seems to imply that it is no large issue for the undead, but not why it is no issue for the undead creature. What do you think? Is anyone familiar with any rules that would clear up this situation? If not -- how would you personally handle that situation?