Doctor Despair
2021-01-21, 10:36 PM
Hello, friends. At level 5, Dirgesingers gain the following Dirgesong ability:
At 5th level, a dirgesinger can animate the recently slain corpse of a creature within 30 feet. This requires the dirgesinger to make a Perform check (DC 10 + target creature's HD). The slain creature can have no more Hit Dice than the dirgesinger's character level. If the attempt fails, the dirgesinger can try again in a later round. The corpse to be awakened must have been dead for no more than 1 hour.
The awakened creature's type becomes undead, and it retains any subtypes it had. The creature retains all class features, as well as any supernatural or spell-like (but not extraordinary) abilities it possessed in life (though any spells cast or daily uses expended before the creature's death count against its normal limits). The awakened creature is completely loyal to the dirgesinger and obeys any commands given it (if no commands are given, it simply attacks the dirgesinger's foes). The creature remains animate as long as the dirgesinger continues to perform.
A dirgesinger can animate no more than one awakened corpse at a time. If he awakens a second one while the first is still active, the first one falls dead as if the dirgesinger had ceased to perform.
I've never used Dirgesinger in a build, so somehow I've overlooked this until now, but... how exactly does this work?I'm aware that if your bard doesn't need to eat, drink, or sleep, you can technically perform indefinitely to keep this minion up forever; that optimization is not the source my confusion. The ability itself seems to be missing key information that, with its notable absence, make this seem a lot more powerful than they probably intended. Let's take it step by step.
Using the ability consumes a charge of bardic music; upon successfully making a relatively easy perform check, you animate a corpse.
The creature's type becomes undead, and it retains its subtypes, class features, SLAs, and Su abilities.
The creature is completely loyal to the bard and obeys all commands given.
Animating a corpse confers no templates, and doesn't create any named undead creature so presumably it must use the ability scores and statistics the creature had before death. This seems to be in line with the RAI retaining class features and whatnot.
Does it retain the memories and personality of the creature? The ability is silent. It retains class features, which are often the result of extensive training or research, and it retains memorized/prepared spells, so that's a point in favor of retaining memories and whatnot. On the other hand, if not given a command, it attacks "foes" as if it were a mindless automaton. This doesn't necessarily mean it is mindless, as it could just be a function of that absolute loyalty, but it is a point against it. I think the implication is that it should retain the creature's memories and personality, as there is precedent for a corpse retaining those through the Speak With Dead spell, but it's a little bit up to DM fiat.
The ability does not restore HP nor confer a new HP value, and does not mimic any spell that does such; game rules would imply the creature dies immediately upon animating (as it would be at -10hp, or destroyed in the case of undead at 0 or less HP), but as specific trumps general, the line "The creature remains animate as long as the dirgesinger continues to perform" seems to allow it to stay up. Later in the spell, it tells us that the creature falls dead if another corpse is awakened simultaneously, suggesting again that the creature is not dead by default. As such, it seems that a creature raised with this ability is, by RAW, immune to death or destruction by HP damage, almost as if permanently under the effects of a Delay Death spell.
If the creature cannot be destroyed by HP damage, we also have a unique situation where an undead creature can be rendered disabled and dying (from 0hp and -1 through -9hp respectively), but then would wake up at -10hp when the dying condition expires.
It's not the only, the first, or even the strongest way to become or have a creature become immune to HP damage, but it does seem interesting that it only appears to occur due to the writers' oversight in how they wrote the ability. I suppose my questions to the Playground are twofold:
1.) Do I seem to have parsed the ability correctly by a strict RAW reading?
2.) How would you rewrite the ability to remove this oversight (provided you agree the oversight is there)?
With regard to #2, the easiest/most elegant fix would probably be to have the creature rise at full HP (a minor buff), and add a clause that the ability ends immediately if the undead creature is reduced to 0hp or less, right?
At 5th level, a dirgesinger can animate the recently slain corpse of a creature within 30 feet. This requires the dirgesinger to make a Perform check (DC 10 + target creature's HD). The slain creature can have no more Hit Dice than the dirgesinger's character level. If the attempt fails, the dirgesinger can try again in a later round. The corpse to be awakened must have been dead for no more than 1 hour.
The awakened creature's type becomes undead, and it retains any subtypes it had. The creature retains all class features, as well as any supernatural or spell-like (but not extraordinary) abilities it possessed in life (though any spells cast or daily uses expended before the creature's death count against its normal limits). The awakened creature is completely loyal to the dirgesinger and obeys any commands given it (if no commands are given, it simply attacks the dirgesinger's foes). The creature remains animate as long as the dirgesinger continues to perform.
A dirgesinger can animate no more than one awakened corpse at a time. If he awakens a second one while the first is still active, the first one falls dead as if the dirgesinger had ceased to perform.
I've never used Dirgesinger in a build, so somehow I've overlooked this until now, but... how exactly does this work?I'm aware that if your bard doesn't need to eat, drink, or sleep, you can technically perform indefinitely to keep this minion up forever; that optimization is not the source my confusion. The ability itself seems to be missing key information that, with its notable absence, make this seem a lot more powerful than they probably intended. Let's take it step by step.
Using the ability consumes a charge of bardic music; upon successfully making a relatively easy perform check, you animate a corpse.
The creature's type becomes undead, and it retains its subtypes, class features, SLAs, and Su abilities.
The creature is completely loyal to the bard and obeys all commands given.
Animating a corpse confers no templates, and doesn't create any named undead creature so presumably it must use the ability scores and statistics the creature had before death. This seems to be in line with the RAI retaining class features and whatnot.
Does it retain the memories and personality of the creature? The ability is silent. It retains class features, which are often the result of extensive training or research, and it retains memorized/prepared spells, so that's a point in favor of retaining memories and whatnot. On the other hand, if not given a command, it attacks "foes" as if it were a mindless automaton. This doesn't necessarily mean it is mindless, as it could just be a function of that absolute loyalty, but it is a point against it. I think the implication is that it should retain the creature's memories and personality, as there is precedent for a corpse retaining those through the Speak With Dead spell, but it's a little bit up to DM fiat.
The ability does not restore HP nor confer a new HP value, and does not mimic any spell that does such; game rules would imply the creature dies immediately upon animating (as it would be at -10hp, or destroyed in the case of undead at 0 or less HP), but as specific trumps general, the line "The creature remains animate as long as the dirgesinger continues to perform" seems to allow it to stay up. Later in the spell, it tells us that the creature falls dead if another corpse is awakened simultaneously, suggesting again that the creature is not dead by default. As such, it seems that a creature raised with this ability is, by RAW, immune to death or destruction by HP damage, almost as if permanently under the effects of a Delay Death spell.
If the creature cannot be destroyed by HP damage, we also have a unique situation where an undead creature can be rendered disabled and dying (from 0hp and -1 through -9hp respectively), but then would wake up at -10hp when the dying condition expires.
It's not the only, the first, or even the strongest way to become or have a creature become immune to HP damage, but it does seem interesting that it only appears to occur due to the writers' oversight in how they wrote the ability. I suppose my questions to the Playground are twofold:
1.) Do I seem to have parsed the ability correctly by a strict RAW reading?
2.) How would you rewrite the ability to remove this oversight (provided you agree the oversight is there)?
With regard to #2, the easiest/most elegant fix would probably be to have the creature rise at full HP (a minor buff), and add a clause that the ability ends immediately if the undead creature is reduced to 0hp or less, right?