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[wefoij123]

Don't need this answered anymore so deleted.

[InvisibleBison]

Incorporeal creatures not only do not need to eat, drink or breathe but are unable to do so. So I'd say that while incorporeal, a creature feels no need to do any of those things, even if they did at the moment they became incorporeal. When/if they became corporeal again, their body would be in the same state as it was when they became incorporeal (unless the ability that made them in/corporeal said otherwise, and unless you interpret HP damage as having physical effects), including their hunger/thirst/need to breathe.

As for sleep, I don't see anything in the incorporeality rules that would affect the need for or ability to sleep, so an incorporeal human would need to sleep, an incorporeal elf would need to trance, etc.

[Doctor Despair]

Lets say a humanoid can turn into an incorporeal humanoid and back at-will. I'm not gonna specify the method. The literal only thing that changes is the incorporeality. No type changes, race changes, etc. This is a permanent duration Supernatural ability.

How is hunger and sleep handled? Incorporeal creatures have no physical body so they don't need to eat. In humanoid form however, he needs to eat.

Is hunger paused while incorporeal?
Is hunger not paused and the guy could starve to death immediately after returning to human form?

How about sleep. Does this incorporeal humanoid need to sleep?

I don't believe it's covered in RAW, but it would make sense to pause the clock on food consumption in this instance for verisimilitude purposes. However, to be fair, the penalties for starving after being incorporeal for extended periods of times (days without becoming corporeal to eat or drink) would be... two fortitude saves to avoid 2d6 nonlethal damage and fatigue. That's not exactly punishing, so either reading is fairly low-stakes for your players. It's very hard to starve to death in 3.5.

If they want an easier way to avoid some of the checks, and you rule that they need to make them upon becoming corporeal, just have them take the Ghostly Grasp feat. They can touch corporeal objects, and having picked them up, they become incorporeal, allowing food consumption. I think you're still precluded from drinking, however, as you never really hold the liquid, so I don't think it could become incorporeal -- and besides, iirc there's a specific RAW clause precluding incorporeal creatures from drinking. Maybe under potions?



As for sleep, I don't see anything in the incorporeality rules that would affect the need for or ability to sleep, so an incorporeal human would need to sleep, an incorporeal elf would need to trance, etc.

Technically, even corporeal creatures don't need to sleep unless they want to recover HP or need to sleep to refresh a resource. Absent an Elder Evil apocalypse symptom, there's no mechanical penalty to going years without sleeping for a martial character with fast healing.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Technically, even corporeal creatures don't need to sleep unless they want to recover HP or need to sleep to refresh a resource. Absent an Elder Evil apocalypse symptom, there's no mechanical penalty to going years without sleeping for a martial character with fast healing.

While that's true "trying to stay awake longer than usual" is one of the example situations in the DMG for things you should houserule if they come up.