[3.5] Of homunculi and petrified wizards

[Thurbane]

Consider the following scenario: a wizard wants to put himself in stasis, to be revived at some distant point in the future. To this end, he arranges to have himself turned into stone. He has his homunculus watch over him, initially applying unguent of timelessness to the statue. He has a scroll of stone to flesh placed nearby for his eventual awakening.

My questions are these: could you see any reason this would not work? Also, would there be an easier way for the wizard to put himself in stasis to revivify at some point in the distant future.

Petrified: A petrified character has been turned to stone and is considered unconscious. If a petrified character cracks or breaks, but the broken pieces are joined with the body as he returns to flesh, he is unharmed. If the character’s petrified body is incomplete when it returns to flesh, the body is likewise incomplete and there is some amount of permanent hit point loss and/or debilitation.

If the creature’s master is slain, the homunculus also dies, and its body swiftly melts away into a pool of ichor.

Unguent of Timelessness: When applied to any matter that was once alive this ointment allows that substance to resist the passage of time. Each year of actual time affects the substance as if only a day had passed. The coated object gains a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws. The unguent never wears off, although it can be magically removed (by dispelling the effect, for instance). One flask contains enough material to coat eight Medium or smaller objects. A Large object counts as two Medium objects, and a Huge object counts as two Large objects.

[Fuzzypaws]

It's an NPC. It can do whatever you want, regardless of the rules, especially in a storyline noncombat situation.

But yes, this does seem fine by the rules. Not sure why you need the oil of timelessness, though - assuming it's in a safe place indoors or underground, the statue of the wizard is not going to be subject to erosion or other aging and weathering processes. I mean, it is made of stone.

[Winged One]

Looks like it works by the rules, but if you go with the Unguent of Timelessness the wizard will probably be unable to react to what the homunculus reports very quickly. So the homunculus will probably have to use it's own mental abilities to make some decisions.

[Thurbane]

On second thought, I'd swap the scroll of flesh to stone with stone salve.

[Emperor Tippy]

Temporal Stasis

RAW you can be thrown into the sun and spend the next 5 billion years perfectly fine, then spend another billion floating through space after riding the super nova's blast front before finally crashing on another world and being awakened by the locals.

That could actually be a pretty fun/funny campaign.

[Ravens_cry]

It's an NPC. It can do whatever you want, regardless of the rules, especially in a storyline noncombat situation.

But yes, this does seem fine by the rules. Not sure why you need the oil of timelessness, though - assuming it's in a safe place indoors or underground, the statue of the wizard is not going to be subject to erosion or other aging and weathering processes. I mean, it is made of stone.

Depends on how FAR into the future your want to go.

[Johel]

Man, I just wanted to thank you for posting this thread. Your idea is just great. I'll probably try to put it into play.

Create a Homunoculus (1.050 gp)
Buy a flesh to stone scroll (1.650 gp)
Buy a stone to flesh scroll (1.650 gp)
Buy unguent of timelessness (150 gp)
Total : 4.450 gp
Let's say 5.000 gp to be sure.

Now, for the question.

• You are ok for the rules but, if your Wizard know somebody who can sell him both a Temporal Stasis and a Freedom scroll, he'll be safer. The Homunoculus can wait in a nearby hole with the Freedom scroll, on which he has poored the unguent, and will only go out when the time comes and that somebody comes by.
• The Homunoculus will be fine. It is both intelligent and wise enough to take care of himself. It doesn't need to feed, breath or sleep so that's the perfect guardian for a low-level wizard.
• The statue can still break but beside that, ok. Time will have no effect on the stone and even if removed/dispel, there is enough in the bottle for 8 statues like yours so the Homunoculi can do it again.