I'm trying to figure out how this Level 1 Cleric Ritual spell would work on ghosts in a situation where their corpses are known. It's a 1-hour ritual so it's not something that could be done in combat, but if you do it the bodies are not supposed to be able to become undead for 7 days by any means short of a wish spell if you perform it on a not-already-undead corpse.
...So what happens if they already are? Obviously this isn't going to work on a lot of undead creatures ex. zombies because they aren't going to sit still for an hour, but if you had a vampire that was sleeping or a ghost's former body if the ghost was not in a combat situation? I can't think of any other undead that leave their bodies around in non-mobile corpse form, but them too.
My guess is that the ghost would cross over to the afterlife and the vampire might be prevented from awakening for a week (maybe use DC checks). But one could also argue that the undead are already undead, so the spirit is already out of the flesh bag!
All things considered, in 5th edition, a corpse is not a creature, and an undead creature isn't a corpse, however much it resembles one. So, a zombie, for example, is never a valid target.
Similarly, a vampire isn't a corpse, even if it's now "sleeping", and thus resembling one a lot. :p
You could theoretically cast it on the body of a former person that is now dead and a ghost - the ghost is an undead creature that isn't tied to its former body, and the former body is a corpse. It doesn't affect the ghost, but it will prevent the corpse from raising as a zombie or other necromantic niceties.
The spell's most obvious intention is to prevent bodies of comrades from being used in unwarranted necromantic rituals until you return to the city for a higher-level cleric to Raise them, or preventing unlucky, departed villagers from rising as zombies with the next crescent moon due to the curse placed upon their village by El-Gulach, the gnome mummy whose sand garden was disturbed.
A DM _might_ allow, involve, or even require, more intricate uses of the spell, although I'd expect he'd also provide clues or hints to the need of a specific spell to resolve a specific situation.
I'm trying to figure out how this Level 1 Cleric Ritual spell would work on ghosts in a situation where their corpses are known. It's a 1-hour ritual so it's not something that could be done in combat, but if you do it the bodies are not supposed to be able to become undead for 7 days by any means short of a wish spell if you perform it on a not-already-undead corpse.
...So what happens if they already are? Obviously this isn't going to work on a lot of undead creatures ex. zombies because they aren't going to sit still for an hour, but if you had a vampire that was sleeping or a ghost's former body if the ghost was not in a combat situation? I can't think of any other undead that leave their bodies around in non-mobile corpse form, but them too.
My guess is that the ghost would cross over to the afterlife and the vampire might be prevented from awakening for a week (maybe use DC checks). But one could also argue that the undead are already undead, so the spirit is already out of the flesh bag!
All things considered, in 5th edition, a corpse is not a creature, and an undead creature isn't a corpse, however much it resembles one. So, a zombie, for example, is never a valid target.
Similarly, a vampire isn't a corpse, even if it's now "sleeping", and thus resembling one a lot. :p
You could theoretically cast it on the body of a former person that is now dead and a ghost - the ghost is an undead creature that isn't tied to its former body, and the former body is a corpse. It doesn't affect the ghost, but it will prevent the corpse from raising as a zombie or other necromantic niceties.
The spell's most obvious intention is to prevent bodies of comrades from being used in unwarranted necromantic rituals until you return to the city for a higher-level cleric to Raise them, or preventing unlucky, departed villagers from rising as zombies with the next crescent moon due to the curse placed upon their village by El-Gulach, the gnome mummy whose sand garden was disturbed.
A DM _might_ allow, involve, or even require, more intricate uses of the spell, although I'd expect he'd also provide clues or hints to the need of a specific spell to resolve a specific situation.
Works for me. Thanks!