Technically, does an undead, which was a humanoid whilst alive, STILL qualify as a humanoid when undead? Still unable to clarify in RAW as of yet. For example does the spell Hold Person work on an undead humanoid? As written, it strikes me that it does, The word humanoid simply refers to a being's appearance, regardless of what they may actually be in greater detail. Again for example, orc, elf, dwarf, etc etc all qualify as humanoid.
So unfortunately, going to an "outside" source, namely Mirriam-Webster, the common definition of the word "humanoid" would tend to support my position. "noun. plural humanoids. : a humanoid being : a nonhuman creature or being with characteristics (such as the ability to walk upright) resembling those of a human."
But this IS DND so we all know that the connection between DND and reality is tenuous at best.
If we are talking about players, then as reborn, they are humanoid. For Hollow One from EGTW, they are humanoid but also count as undead for spells and magical effects that detect undead.
If you mean monsters, they are undead. Undead is a creature type, as is humanoid and unless the monster stat block has both creature types, Hold Person would not apply to them any longer.
So, for example, let's take Vampire Spawn. "Medium Undead, Neutral Evil" Since the specific descriptor "humanoid" is missing, Hold Person, and similar with the "humanoid" requirement, would not work. Cool. It does seem to follow RAW, and I had considered that, but it just didn't strike me being clear cut. Thanx! 😀
Basically any given creature can only be classified as a single supertype: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, or Undead. In the case of transitions like undeath, the new type overwrites the old one: Dracoliches are Undead not Undead Dragons, for example.
The introduction in the monster manual contains the definition of creature types for 5e.
"Type
A monster’s type speaks to its fundamental nature. Certain spells, magic items, class features, and other effects in the game interact in special ways with creatures of a particular type. For example, an arrow of dragon slaying deals extra damage not only to dragons but also other creatures of the dragon type, such as dragon turtles and wyverns.
The game includes the following monster types, which have no rules of their own."
In the list of creature types you will find (among others):
"Humanoids are the main peoples of the D&D world, both civilized and savage, including humans and a tremendous variety of other species. They have language and culture, few if any innate magical abilities (though most humanoids can learn spellcasting), and a bipedal form. The most common humanoid races are the ones most suitable as player characters: humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings. Almost as numerous, are the races of goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears), orcs, gnolls, lizardfolk, and kobolds.
A variety of humanoids appear throughout this book, but the races detailed in the Player’s Handbook — with the exception of drow — are dealt with in appendix B. That appendix gives you a number of stat blocks that you can use to make various members of those races."
"Undead are once-living creatures brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse. Undead include walking corpses, such as vampires and zombies, as well as bodiless spirits, such as ghosts and specters."
In 5e, the humanoid creature type refers to this specific list, not to a creature that happens to have a humanoid shape. Giants have a humanoid shape, some undead (zombies, skeletons, vampires etc) have a humanoid shape, some fey creatures have a humanoid shape (assuming you define "humanoid" as something like two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet, a torso and one head).
However, a spell that targets humanoids refers to the humanoid creature type from the monster manual and not to any creature with a roughly humanoid shape. They may appear to look like a humanoid but their dominant creature characteristics are not those of the humanoid type.
Technically, does an undead, which was a humanoid whilst alive, STILL qualify as a humanoid when undead? Still unable to clarify in RAW as of yet. For example does the spell Hold Person work on an undead humanoid? As written, it strikes me that it does, The word humanoid simply refers to a being's appearance, regardless of what they may actually be in greater detail. Again for example, orc, elf, dwarf, etc etc all qualify as humanoid.
So unfortunately, going to an "outside" source, namely Mirriam-Webster, the common definition of the word "humanoid" would tend to support my position. "noun. plural humanoids. : a humanoid being : a nonhuman creature or being with characteristics (such as the ability to walk upright) resembling those of a human."
But this IS DND so we all know that the connection between DND and reality is tenuous at best.
Ain't semantics just grand?!?!?!?! 🤪
If we are talking about players, then as reborn, they are humanoid. For Hollow One from EGTW, they are humanoid but also count as undead for spells and magical effects that detect undead.
If you mean monsters, they are undead. Undead is a creature type, as is humanoid and unless the monster stat block has both creature types, Hold Person would not apply to them any longer.
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So, for example, let's take Vampire Spawn. "Medium Undead, Neutral Evil" Since the specific descriptor "humanoid" is missing, Hold Person, and similar with the "humanoid" requirement, would not work. Cool. It does seem to follow RAW, and I had considered that, but it just didn't strike me being clear cut. Thanx! 😀
Basically any given creature can only be classified as a single supertype: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, or Undead. In the case of transitions like undeath, the new type overwrites the old one: Dracoliches are Undead not Undead Dragons, for example.
👍
The introduction in the monster manual contains the definition of creature types for 5e.
"Type
A monster’s type speaks to its fundamental nature. Certain spells, magic items, class features, and other effects in the game interact in special ways with creatures of a particular type. For example, an arrow of dragon slaying deals extra damage not only to dragons but also other creatures of the dragon type, such as dragon turtles and wyverns.
The game includes the following monster types, which have no rules of their own."
In the list of creature types you will find (among others):
"Humanoids are the main peoples of the D&D world, both civilized and savage, including humans and a tremendous variety of other species. They have language and culture, few if any innate magical abilities (though most humanoids can learn spellcasting), and a bipedal form. The most common humanoid races are the ones most suitable as player characters: humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings. Almost as numerous, are the races of goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears), orcs, gnolls, lizardfolk, and kobolds.
A variety of humanoids appear throughout this book, but the races detailed in the Player’s Handbook — with the exception of drow — are dealt with in appendix B. That appendix gives you a number of stat blocks that you can use to make various members of those races."
"Undead are once-living creatures brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse. Undead include walking corpses, such as vampires and zombies, as well as bodiless spirits, such as ghosts and specters."
In 5e, the humanoid creature type refers to this specific list, not to a creature that happens to have a humanoid shape. Giants have a humanoid shape, some undead (zombies, skeletons, vampires etc) have a humanoid shape, some fey creatures have a humanoid shape (assuming you define "humanoid" as something like two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet, a torso and one head).
However, a spell that targets humanoids refers to the humanoid creature type from the monster manual and not to any creature with a roughly humanoid shape. They may appear to look like a humanoid but their dominant creature characteristics are not those of the humanoid type.
A creature typically has only one creature type.