1000 things to do when you're petrified

[Kaleph]

Are there any (especially appropriate for low-level characters) remedies vs the "petrified" condition, beside stone salve and a scroll of stone-to-flesh?

Thank you for the help!

[Telonius]

Let me guess, run-in with a Cockatrice? Yeah, it's a pretty terrible condition for a low-level party. There's really not much to be done but bring your new statue back to the temple and ask the head Cleric for help. Scrolls of Stone to Flesh are prohibitively expensive at that level. The "Spellcasting Services" table's prices are a lot lower than getting a scroll, so if they're friendly, that's probably your best option.

[Troacctid]

Resurgence can work if it's not instantaneous. Break enchantment can fix it as well.

[Falontani]

Craft Stoneworking the statue into an art piece and sell it for hopefully more than you could have sold the corpse for to a necromancer or the still living adventurer to a Neogi?

Honestly that just sucks at low levels

[Kaleph]

Let me guess, run-in with a Cockatrice? Yeah, it's a pretty terrible condition for a low-level party. There's really not much to be done but bring your new statue back to the temple and ask the head Cleric for help. Scrolls of Stone to Flesh are prohibitively expensive at that level. The "Spellcasting Services" table's prices are a lot lower than getting a scroll, so if they're friendly, that's probably your best option.

It was a basilisk, and fortunately no PC was turned to stone, because everyone was closing its eyes and creating astral constructs or casting AOE blasts in the general direction of the beast.


Resurgence can work if it's not instantaneous. Break enchantment can fix it as well.

Yep, resurgence is great. Break enchantment always confuses me wrt the effectivity and the applicability.

BTW an NPC had a stone salve at hand, but I was wondering, what is the cheapest way to undo the condition.

[RNightstalker]

but I was wondering, what is the cheapest way to undo the condition.

Wait until the party spellcaster reaches 11th to cast stone to flesh.

[Nifft]

what is the cheapest way to undo the condition.

Create a new character, identical to the previous character.

[rrwoods]

The granted power from the Travel domain would let you move despite being petrified (the effect "occurs automatically"). For bonus points, this lets you use Iron Heart Surge to remove the petrified condition completely.

[Vaern]

The granted power from the Travel domain would let you move despite being petrified (the effect "occurs automatically"). For bonus points, this lets you use Iron Heart Surge to remove the petrified condition completely.
Travel domain/freedom of movement wouldn't help against being petrified. Even if you could move despite being turned to stone, the petrified condition also makes you unconscious meaning that you couldn't spend an action to move. It's also arguable whether being petrified is a condition that inhibits movement, as nothing in the description of the condition indicates that you are slowed or immobilized by any means - only that you are unconscious.

Whether iron heart surge would work at all is situational and/or debatable, even if it could be used while petrified.
The cockatrice's petrification says the subject is petrified instantaneously. Flesh to stone has a duration of instantaneous. Both of these effects are instantaneous; neither has a duration of 1 or more rounds.
The basilisk's and medusa's petrifying gaze says that the subject is petrified permanently. Iron heart surge says it can remove any effect or condition "currently affecting you and with a duration of 1 or more rounds." One might argue based on the text of the ability that it can only remove effects with a duration measured in rounds. Any effect whose duration is not measured in rounds (ie minutes, hours, days, or permanent) is not a valid target and can't be removed.

[Kaleph]

Create a new character, identical to the previous character.

The way l've played the game when I have been the DM, and in general they way I like it, is that the player who starts a new PC takes a 1-level penalty at character creation, as for a resurrected character.

[Gavinfoxx]

The way l've played the game when I have been the DM, and in general they way I like it, is that the player who starts a new PC takes a 1-level penalty at character creation, as for a resurrected character.

Ick. That, and deleveling characters in general, doesn't particularly work well in a game predicated on all the player characters having roughly equal capabilities.

[Nifft]

Ick. That, and deleveling characters in general, doesn't particularly work well in a game predicated on all the player characters having roughly equal capabilities.

Yeah.

In ye olde editions, it wasn't so bad to have divergent levels because of the expectation that every PC would either die or retire and get replaced by a new level 1 PC -- everyone would have a turn playing the low-level carry.

In newer editions, the expectation is that you'll keep your character for a longer duration (often an entire campaign), and there aren't many ways to out-pace your companions, so becoming lower-level than your companions is a permanent debuff.

[Particle_Man]

Reincarnation is fairly cheap at 1000 gp, relatively speaking, if there is a 7th level Druid in the party (a bit more if you need to hire the Druid).

[Kaleph]

Ick. That, and deleveling characters in general, doesn't particularly work well in a game predicated on all the player characters having roughly equal capabilities.


Yeah.

In ye olde editions, it wasn't so bad to have divergent levels because of the expectation that every PC would either die or retire and get replaced by a new level 1 PC -- everyone would have a turn playing the low-level carry.

In newer editions, the expectation is that you'll keep your character for a longer duration (often an entire campaign), and there aren't many ways to out-pace your companions, so becoming lower-level than your companions is a permanent debuff.


Experience is a river, and that's the reason why losing a level ain't really that bad. The equipment is (e.g. if you die or are permanently level-drained) still equivalent to that of the other party members, and in ca. 2-3 level you fully recover the gap. Also, people don't die that often, so I don't see how it can be a serious handycap. On the other hand, it's still enough a liability that you do care that your PC won't die. And it's definitely a much better perspective than seeing player who don't care if they die because they can just "insert coin" and be back on the saddle with no consequence.

[Vaern]

Reincarnation is fairly cheap at 1000 gp, relatively speaking, if there is a 7th level Druid in the party (a bit more if you need to hire the Druid).

You can't reincarnate or resurrect a petrified creature. It's not dead. The creature is only unconscious. Presumably, even if you were to completely demolish the statue the creature itself would not take any of that damage until it is returned to flesh, at which point it would become a most-certainly-dead pile of giblets. If the destroyed statue were repaired before being turned back to flesh, though, the creature would be fully restored, alive and well as though nothing had happened to the statue at all.
There was a whole thing a while back about flesh to stone-ing someone, transmuting rock to mud to turn the statue into a puddle, diluting the mud in a barrel of water, then using purify water to erase the statue-mud from existence and dumping the water into the ocean. The affected creature is effectively erased from existence, but is not dead and can't be resurrected. It is also still petrified (unconscious) and can not act or communicate in any way, and does not detect as either alive or dead if someone were to search for its disembodied soul.

[Feldar]

The granted power from the Travel domain would let you move despite being petrified (the effect "occurs automatically"). For bonus points, this lets you use Iron Heart Surge to remove the petrified condition completely.

If one of my players tried this, I would say that it doesn't impede movement -- it just changes your speed to 0.


Even if you could move despite being turned to stone, the petrified condition also makes you unconscious meaning that you couldn't spend an action to move.

My question is whether or not petrification counts as non-lethal damage. I have this odd vision in my head of a party sleeping in a bunch of statues, they are attacked, and the druid casts Dawn...

[Nifft]

Experience is a river, and that's the reason why losing a level ain't really that bad. The equipment is (e.g. if you die or are permanently level-drained) still equivalent to that of the other party members, and in ca. 2-3 level you fully recover the gap.

Hmm, I thought the math didn't allow you to "recover the gap".

Could you lead me through an example where it worked out for you?

[Remuko]

There was a whole thing a while back about flesh to stone-ing someone, transmuting rock to mud to turn the statue into a puddle, diluting the mud in a barrel of water, then using purify water to erase the statue-mud from existence and dumping the water into the ocean. The affected creature is effectively erased from existence, but is not dead and can't be resurrected. It is also still petrified (unconscious) and can not act or communicate in any way, and does not detect as either alive or dead if someone were to search for its disembodied soul.

Well thats terrifying! lol

[Particle_Man]

Eh, I think if you smash the statue to pieces with a hammer it is dead. See what your dm thinks before trying it, OP.

[rediridesence]

break enchantment can also reverse some petrifaction effects iirc as long as its based off a transmutation. cheaper to purchase a casting of that over flesh to stone earlier on.

[Kaleph]

Hmm, I thought the math didn't allow you to "recover the gap".

Could you lead me through an example where it worked out for you?

Of course. Let's make an example with "easy" numbers. A party of 4 characters just reached level 6, but one player wants to change PC; I'm an ass and therefore I give him 5,000 XP penalty. The other PC's have therefore ca. 15,000 XP, the penalized PC has only 10,000.

To reach level 7 the party will need to get through 13,3xCR 6 encounters, for a total of 13,3x1,800/4 = 6,000 XP.
The penalized PC receives more XP, because it is level 5, so he would theoretically get 13,3x2,250/4 = 7,500 XP. But actually he would level up (and catch up with the rest of the party) after only 8,9 encounters: 8,9x2,250/4 = 5,000 XP. After 8,9 encounters the rest of the party has gained only 8,9x1,800/4 = 4,000 XP.

So after less than 9 encounters the penalized PC has recovered 1,000 XP. In this phase, it has 1 level penalty only for 2/3 of the time. Then, of course, it goes only better, until the few XP of distance from the rest of the party don't really make a difference anymore.

[PrismCat21]

There was a whole thing a while back about flesh to stone-ing someone, transmuting rock to mud to turn the statue into a puddle, diluting the mud in a barrel of water, then using purify water to erase the statue-mud from existence and dumping the water into the ocean. The affected creature is effectively erased from existence, but is not dead and can't be resurrected. It is also still petrified (unconscious) and can not act or communicate in any way, and does not detect as either alive or dead if someone were to search for its disembodied soul.

I'd say you found a decent way to create new Vestiges :)

[Firebug]

The Pathfinder version of Basilisk (https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Basilisk) allows you to use it's blood to remove the petrification.

[Kaleph]

There was a whole thing a while back about flesh to stone-ing someone, transmuting rock to mud to turn the statue into a puddle, diluting the mud in a barrel of water, then using purify water to erase the statue-mud from existence and dumping the water into the ocean. The affected creature is effectively erased from existence, but is not dead and can't be resurrected. It is also still petrified (unconscious) and can not act or communicate in any way, and does not detect as either alive or dead if someone were to search for its disembodied soul.

Actually what you've posted here has the same principle that we wanted to exploit in a campaign where I was a player, and the bosses of one of the organizations we were facing found the way to create multiple clones of themselves without multiple level losses or other problems. So they basically had 100 "lives" each. The problem was that, when we were challenging them after preparing a lot of flesh-to-stone and similar, they had a kamikaze reaction, sacrificed themselves and almost TPK'd us...