Does a Homunculus Servant need to breathe?

[Silpharon]

The artificer Homunculus Servant is a construct built by the player, and the player chooses its appearance (e.g. from the description: "winged vials or miniature, animate cauldron"). I'm particularly curious if it would suffocate if I put it inside a Bag of Holding (which only affects "breathing creatures"). Thoughts?

[Sigreid]

I would rule that as a construct it does not breathe, eat or drink.

[JoeJ]

I don't have the book where that appears, but in general, if a creature doesn't need to eat, drink, sleep, or breath it will say so in the rules.

[Silpharon]

I would rule that as a construct it does not breathe, eat or drink.


I don't have the book where that appears, but in general, if a creature doesn't need to eat, drink, sleep, or breath it will say so in the rules.

This seems to be the crux of the issue. Constructs do not breathe, eat, drink, or sleep. But in some stat blocks this is explicitly stated, which makes one think it must not be true of the other constructs... But if that was the case then the following need to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep:

Tiny servants
Dancing Item
Animated Object
Stone Golem
Rug of Smothering
Flying Sword

That's silly, and it seems there is other evidence that all constructs do not need to breathe. ERLW page 203 supposedly says this when discussing Homunculi, but I don't have the book to confirm. Found here:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Homunculus

[Sigreid]

This seems to be the crux of the issue. Constructs do not breathe, eat, drink, or sleep. But in some stat blocks this is explicitly stated, which makes one think it must not be true of the other constructs... But if that was the case then the following need to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep:

Tiny servants
Dancing Item
Animated Object
Stone Golem
Rug of Smothering
Flying Sword

That's silly, and it seems there is other evidence that all constructs do not need to breathe. ERLW page 203 supposedly says this when discussing Homunculi, but I don't have the book to confirm. Found here:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Homunculus

Yes because if there's one thing WoTC is known for it's consistency through all of its released books.

[JoeJ]

That's silly, and it seems there is other evidence that all constructs do not need to breathe. ERLW page 203 supposedly says this when discussing Homunculi, but I don't have the book to confirm. Found here:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Homunculus

I don't know about Eberron, but the homunculus in the MM does not say anything about not needing to breathe, etc., and the picture shows it having nostrils and looking like a creature of living flesh and blood (even if it is magically crafted).

Edit:

This seems to be the crux of the issue. Constructs do not breathe, eat, drink, or sleep. But in some stat blocks this is explicitly stated, which makes one think it must not be true of the other constructs... But if that was the case then the following need to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep:

Tiny servants
Dancing Item
Animated Object
Stone Golem
Rug of Smothering
Flying Sword

Animated objects and golems are called out in the MM as not needing air, food, drink, or sleep.

[Greywander]

By default, all creatures require air, food, drink, and sleep, unless otherwise stated. Nothing in the description of the infusion nor the stat block says they don't require these things, so by RAW they do. That said, I would assume that this is an oversight. These sorts of details don't seem like they would matter 99% of the time, so it would be easy to forget to mention them.

[Silpharon]

Animated objects and golems are called out in the MM as not needing air, food, drink, or sleep.
Ok, this confirms that the stat block doesn't always contain all the traits.

By default, all creatures require air, food, drink, and sleep, unless otherwise stated. Nothing in the description of the infusion nor the stat block says they don't require these things, so by RAW they do. That said, I would assume that this is an oversight. These sorts of details don't seem like they would matter 99% of the time, so it would be easy to forget to mention them.
Yeah I think it's just oversight. Here's a sage advice set of tweets where JC implies constructs don't need oxygen (through distinction from warforged):
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2018/10/12/warforged-my-palyer-insists-that-because-he-is-not-biological-in-nature-poison-lack-of-oxygen-drowning-etc-doesnt-affect-him-is-this-true/amp/

I know sage advice isn't perfect, but this combined with the other evidence persuades me of intention. I'm convinced I can stuff my Homunculus Servant in my bag of holding. :)

[JoeJ]

I'm convinced I can stuff my Homunculus Servant in my bag of holding. :)

Which raises the immediate question, is your DM convinced?

[Silpharon]

Which raises the immediate question, is your DM convinced?

Clearly a DM would have to be convinced. Everything is subject to the DM. I like to figure out the mechanics, so that (a) I can approach the DM informed as a player, and (b) I can have a researched opinion if I'm DMing and this comes up.

[stoutstien]

As a DM I would just ask what the nature of the homunclus design is and go from there.

One of the reasons it's not just reskined familiar is the fact it could be a floating ball of flesh and wires or a mobile french press.

[Silpharon]

As a DM I would just ask what the nature of the homunclus design is and go from there.

One of the reasons it's not just reskined familiar is the fact it could be a floating ball of flesh and wires or a mobile french press.

Yep, that makes sense. A winged vial vs a the Kool-aid man cauldron they added as a picture. :)

[JoeJ]

As a DM I would just ask what the nature of the homunclus design is and go from there.

I would do the same. Just calling it a construct isn't enough information; it could be fantasy mechanical engineering, or it could be fantasy bioengineering.

[Greywander]

It's worth mentioning that 5e doesn't have any traits intrinsically attached to creature types anymore, so while it's a general trend that constructs don't require air, food, drink, or sleep, it's not actually a rule specific to constructs, so it needs to be stated in the description or stat block (usually the description) of each individual creature. This does leave open the possibility of a construct that does require air, food, drink, or sleep.

One idea I was playing with recently, for example, is what is basically a sentient bag of holding/devouring. In keeping with the "devouring" aspect, they would eat anything and everything, though to survive they would really only need the equivalent of a meal's worth of cloth, leather scraps, maybe a few bits of metal, and they would use these to build themselves bigger, all the way from a pouchling to an elder hoard (or something). As for drinking, I was leaning toward needing to consume a small amount of oil (so they don't dry out), perhaps something like a flask of oil every week.

Anyway, that's an example of a construct that might need food or drink. Constructs can also vary pretty widely; something like the flesh golem is still a construct, but you could easily see a similar type of creature needing normal food and drink.