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View Full Version : Brain in a Flamescull jar


Noxangelo
2020-09-21, 08:23 AM
This is for a fun little side project i work on from time to time and not one i actually intend to play, it for the fun of building.

Do you guys think it is possible to create a brain in a jar using a scull as a jar then animate the scull as a flamescull or something similar?


Bonus questions:
What would happen if you make the brain an intelligent magic item first?
how would you animate the brain with something like animate objects/minor servitor before making it a brain in a jar?
(extra question: casting minor servitor gives an item intelligence, what happens if the item is already intelligent?
Toliudar
2020-09-21, 11:21 AM
If you're talking about doing any and all of these shenanigans as a DM...sure. Flameskull and Brain in a Jar are two different undead creatures, but it wouldn't be that hard to envision a creature that is some sort of (literally) unholy amalgam of the two.

But if you're a player, you're taking the raw materials for one undead creature (the brain), and the raw materials for another undead creature (the skull) and attempting to turn them into one creature. Maybe look at rules for the symbiote template as a jumping off place to start that extremely customized, only-with-DM-approval kind of process.

If you want to enchant the brain or brain case first, I'd suggest just pricing it as a spotless magic item that is then controlled by the resulting creature. If it's an intelligent magic item, I would suggest that the brain or other object becomes a construct, and not eligible to be made into undead.

Minor servitor specifies that you're starting with inanimate, non-magical material, so explicitly you can't start with a magic item.
Noxangelo
2020-09-21, 05:28 PM
If you want to enchant the brain or brain case first, I'd suggest just pricing it as a spotless magic item that is then controlled by the resulting creature. If it's an intelligent magic item, I would suggest that the brain or other object becomes a construct, and not eligible to be made into undead.

Minor servitor specifies that you're starting with inanimate, non-magical material, so explicitly you can't start with a magic item.

dispel magic can suppresses a magic item's magical properties and for 1d4 rounds it is nonmagical.
Toliudar
2020-09-22, 10:59 AM
Minor Servitor has a casting time of one day. Dispel Magic is not going to help.

But I suppose that if you find a way to suppress the magic item's intelligence and properties during the casting, I'd rule that, once the magic item's properties come back online, you have two mutually exclusive sets of enchantments - and two intelligences - on the same object. Maybe an opposed caster level check to see which survives?
enderlord99
2020-09-23, 04:01 PM
It took me a while to realize what you were actually asking.

"Skull" has a K in it.
Toliudar
2020-09-23, 09:59 PM
On the other hand, it would be pretty great to have flaming sculls.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Croker_Sculling_Oars.jpg

Imagine - you dip them in the water, creating little gouts of steam. Then you pull them out of the water and they re-ignite. Badass!
Noxangelo
2020-09-25, 07:07 AM
It took me a while to realize what you were actually asking.

"Skull" has a K in it.

lol, oops, I'm dyslexic (which is itself frustratingly hard to spell)

speaking of spells, solved the problem of keeping the magic brain mundane for the day it takes to cast minor servitor. a spell turret set to do a targeted dispel, dispel dispel, repeating dispel (since an unlucky roll is bound to happen at least once over the course of the day.

now I just need to figure out a way to suppress undeath.
Toliudar
2020-09-25, 01:34 PM
If I can ask: what's the point of trying to activate two different intelligences in the same object? Or two different creatures/types? Is this just a thought experiment, or is there a goal?
Noxangelo
2020-09-25, 05:45 PM
If I can ask: what's the point of trying to activate two different intelligences in the same object? Or two different creatures/types? Is this just a thought experiment, or is there a goal?

thought experiment mainly, I'm trying to see how many i can cram into a single character. I've gotten a high enough head count in his mouth for it to count as a village.

highly unlikely but the goal is a walking metropolis