The Optional rules in Xanathar's Guide to Everything forRelaxation during downtime activity restore one of your reduced ability score back to normal value, not 1 point / week:
Resources. Relaxation requires one week. A character needs to maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing to gain the benefit of the activity.
Resolution. Characters who maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing gain several benefits. While relaxing, a character gains advantage on saving throws to recover from long-acting diseases and poisons. In addition, at the end of the week, a character can end one effect that keeps the character from regaining hit points, or can restore one ability score that has been reduced to less than its normal value. This benefit cannot be used if the harmful effect was caused by a spell or some other magical effect with an ongoing duration.
The Optional rules in Xanathar's Guide to Everything forRelaxation during downtime activity restore one of your reduced ability score back to normal value, not 1 point / week:
Resources. Relaxation requires one week. A character needs to maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing to gain the benefit of the activity.
Resolution. Characters who maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing gain several benefits. While relaxing, a character gains advantage on saving throws to recover from long-acting diseases and poisons. In addition, at the end of the week, a character can end one effect that keeps the character from regaining hit points, or can restore one ability score that has been reduced to less than its normal value. This benefit cannot be used if the harmful effect was caused by a spell or some other magical effect with an ongoing duration.
Recently my cha. was hit by an Intellect Devourer, with an intelligence of 11 and an unsuccessful save my intelligence was sapped to 0. I'm currently stunned. DM says it takes about a week in game to regain one point of intelligence. We don't have any party members with access to greater restoration, and aren't really able to find someone either in the current predicament.
My question is if I go to 0 hp, unconscious, and am brought back, will I come back with my intelligence at all? Will the stunned aspect be negated? Any other way to combat the effects without spending a week of downtime?
Thank you.
Played for realism, even though the DM is deviating from RAW by allowing you to regain intelligence at all (which is not part of the ability), your character is unable to eat or drink, and will die from lack of water after 3 days.
I had this happen to a level 6 fighter of mine, and the party began carrying me around. Luckily they found a Circlet of Intellect which gives an Int of 19 in the same dungeon (which was all mind flayer, brain experimentation themed so it made sense) but technically even that wouldn't work as I couldn't attune to it whilst stunned. The DM allowed it to work though. An intelligence of 0 is effectively a death sentence, which is why Intellect Devourers are a ridiculous monster and shouldn't be used outside of meatgrinder oneshots.
The Optional rules in Xanathar's Guide to Everything forRelaxation during downtime activity restore one of your reduced ability score back to normal value, not 1 point / week:
Resources. Relaxation requires one week. A character needs to maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing to gain the benefit of the activity.
Resolution. Characters who maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing gain several benefits. While relaxing, a character gains advantage on saving throws to recover from long-acting diseases and poisons. In addition, at the end of the week, a character can end one effect that keeps the character from regaining hit points, or can restore one ability score that has been reduced to less than its normal value. This benefit cannot be used if the harmful effect was caused by a spell or some other magical effect with an ongoing duration.
Sadly, if you cannot drink for 1 week, you will be dead before you regain a point of intellect. I guess DM's who regret their rash choice of broken monster might allow auto-swallowing.
The Optional rules in Xanathar's Guide to Everything forRelaxation during downtime activity restore one of your reduced ability score back to normal value, not 1 point / week:
Resources. Relaxation requires one week. A character needs to maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing to gain the benefit of the activity.
Resolution. Characters who maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing gain several benefits. While relaxing, a character gains advantage on saving throws to recover from long-acting diseases and poisons. In addition, at the end of the week, a character can end one effect that keeps the character from regaining hit points, or can restore one ability score that has been reduced to less than its normal value. This benefit cannot be used if the harmful effect was caused by a spell or some other magical effect with an ongoing duration.
Sadly, if you cannot drink for 1 week, you will be dead before you regain a point of intellect. I guess DM's who regret their rash choice of broken monster might allow auto-swallowing.
If you're alone you won't survive indeed. But if you have friends that can take care of you during this time you should survive.
Only through tech that doesn't exist in your bog standard fantasy campaign.
If the DM decides that a stunned, brain dead creature hydrated can be hydrated through technological or magical means then they will probably just waive it and allow the character to regain their Intelligence after a long rest (a better option!).
Only through tech that doesn't exist in your bog standard fantasy campaign.
Incapacitated targets can swallow (witness the ability to feed a healing potion to a downed companion), so it doesn't take any tech, it just takes a person.
You also need to maintain at least a modest lifestyle, meaning the rest must be in a relatively clean and confortable area with sufficient access to food and drink.
The Optional rules in Xanathar's Guide to Everything forRelaxation during downtime activity restore one of your reduced ability score back to normal value, not 1 point / week:
Resources. Relaxation requires one week. A character needs to maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing to gain the benefit of the activity.
Resolution. Characters who maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing gain several benefits. While relaxing, a character gains advantage on saving throws to recover from long-acting diseases and poisons. In addition, at the end of the week, a character can end one effect that keeps the character from regaining hit points, or can restore one ability score that has been reduced to less than its normal value. This benefit cannot be used if the harmful effect was caused by a spell or some other magical effect with an ongoing duration.
Sadly, if you cannot drink for 1 week, you will be dead before you regain a point of intellect. I guess DM's who regret their rash choice of broken monster might allow auto-swallowing.
I'm having some difficulty finding RAW to support your claims that Stunned and Incapacitated prevent eating, drinking or any other biological function. Also, can't seem to find the part that says that an Intelligence of 0 would prevent any of the same functions. Maybe post a link to so I might learn something new?
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I'm having some difficulty finding RAW to support your claims that Stunned and Incapacitated prevent eating, drinking or any other biological function. Also, can't seem to find the part that says that an Intelligence of 0 would prevent any of the same functions. Maybe post a link to so I might learn something new?
Intelligence is the ability to reason and draw on logic, memory or education among other things, which mean that a lone creature stripped of any intelligence would not even remember to eat and drink, or even how to.
Intelligence: Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason. An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning.
I'm having some difficulty finding RAW to support your claims that Stunned and Incapacitated prevent eating, drinking or any other biological function. Also, can't seem to find the part that says that an Intelligence of 0 would prevent any of the same functions. Maybe post a link to so I might learn something new?
Intelligence is the ability to reason and draw on logic, memory or education among other things, which mean that a lone creature stripped of any intelligence would not even remember to eat and drink, or even how to.
Intelligence: Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason. An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning.
While I can easily see your subjective reasoning and agree that in this world, there are medical and mental conditions that do affect the ability of a person to remember certain biological needs, but that doesn't stop them from happening. Unless the brain is devoured, removed, or physically/chemically rendered inoperable.
What I'm asking for is the part that says: Being Stunned, Incapacitated or having an intelligence of 0 prevents you from eating, breathing, swallowing, evacuating, blinking....etc. Or even something that says anything remotely close to this. What you've quoted says abosolutely nothing of the *ability* to perform biological functions, only the mechanics that *might* allow someone to remember to do them. I've not spotted any RAW function that limits the biological functions of a creature due to the lack of an Intelligence score >0.
The requirement for a DM to rule on how to restore the lost ability score is clear. Granted we have RAW guidance from XGtE, but that is still an optional expansion to the core rules that a DM can implement or ignore. As far as I can tell, RAW, there is nothing that prevents the Relaxation Downtime Activity from working. If a DM were to require that the party be required to play nursemaid for the week, then so be it.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I'd call the brain of a creature who's intelligence has ben reduced to 0 very much physically/chemically rendered inoperable, at least the part that pertains to logic, reason, memory etc
The rules cannot cover everything, the DM must make rulings where needed, either for or against it.
I'm not against the opinion that you present. Not in the least. I actually agree that the DM will have to rule on this.
I am against presenting that opinion as RAW. What you or I would consider a fair ruling at our table is DM ruling based on subjective opinion, not rules or game mechanics.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
From there DMs are free to interpret what an intelligence score below minimum of 1 represent but my ruling is not based on opinion, it's based on that, having reduced to nil intelligence; 0 mental acuity, 0 accuracy of recall, and 0 ability to reason.
Right, and my point is that all of the functions that you are naming don't regulate biological function, per RAW. Not the Stunned condition, not the Incapacitated condition, not the Unconscious condition.
The effect of the Devour Intellect ability states that after the target failes an Int save and takes some damage, it applies the Stunned condition if the target fails to roll at or below their Intelligence on 3d6. It does not apply the inability to swallow, blink or breathe. It could be said that those symptoms might be reserved for the Body Thief ability, but that would require a DM ruling as well, as it's not specified in the ability text what actually happens to the target if they don't have a brain and their body is being puppeted by this monster.
Suggesting that someone rule that the PC can't eat or drink without assistance isn't disagreeable, but it's not RAW.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I don't think you're unable to swallow, blink or breathe while afflicted this way as these biological aspect are usually automatic.
But eating and drinking is not automatic, it requires the ability to act or move, which you don't have when incapacitated or unconscious.
Interacting with Objects Around You: Here are a few examples of the sorts of thing you can do in tandem with your movement and action:
• stuff some food into your mouth
• drink all the ale in a flagon
If that were the case, you would also say that RAW, you can't drink a potion while Grappled, having been hit by a Sentinel's OA, or even have your party dump one down your throat (aka. Administered #2c) when you are Unconscious. Because having a movement speed of 0 means you can't move at all? I would suggest that the Paralyzed better reflects this, but still doesn't stipulate state that you can't swallow a potion that is administered to you by a party member.
Forcing more granularity and other specific symptoms into what these conditions can do might have a tendency to limit what the outcomes are from a consistency standpoint. If you rule this way once in your game, you might have to do so time and again to maintain the spirit of fair and equitable gameplay. I might suggest that at a certain point, this could become untenable and your game unplayable.
I'm not sure that the portion that you quote is actually the rules for eating and drinking, but again, not a disagreeable ruling.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
If that were the case, you would also say that RAW, you can't drink a potion while Grappled, having been hit by a Sentinel's OA, or even have your party dump one down your throat (aka. Administered #2c) when you are Unconscious. Because having a movement speed of 0 means you can't move at all? I would suggest that the Paralyzed better reflects this, but still doesn't stipulate state that you can't swallow a potion that is administered to you by a party member.
Forcing more granularity and other specific symptoms into what these conditions can do might have a tendency to limit what the outcomes are from a consistency standpoint. If you rule this way once in your game, you might have to do so time and again to maintain the spirit of fair and equitable gameplay. I might suggest that at a certain point, this could become untenable and your game unplayable.
I'm not sure that the portion that you quote is actually the rules for eating and drinking, but again, not a disagreeable ruling.
You can still take an action while grappled so you can stuff food in your mouth in tandem with it.
You cannot move or take action while paralyzed since you are incapacitated so you can't stuff food in your mouth in tandam with it.
Administering a potion to someone requires an action and it can be unconscious according to an offifial ruling in Sage Advice Compendium
Can potions be administered to unconscious characters as an action? Yes, you can administer a potion to someone else as an action (DMG, 139).
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The Optional rules in Xanathar's Guide to Everything for Relaxation during downtime activity restore one of your reduced ability score back to normal value, not 1 point / week:
Thanks! That is useful to know :)
Played for realism, even though the DM is deviating from RAW by allowing you to regain intelligence at all (which is not part of the ability), your character is unable to eat or drink, and will die from lack of water after 3 days.
I had this happen to a level 6 fighter of mine, and the party began carrying me around. Luckily they found a Circlet of Intellect which gives an Int of 19 in the same dungeon (which was all mind flayer, brain experimentation themed so it made sense) but technically even that wouldn't work as I couldn't attune to it whilst stunned. The DM allowed it to work though. An intelligence of 0 is effectively a death sentence, which is why Intellect Devourers are a ridiculous monster and shouldn't be used outside of meatgrinder oneshots.
Sadly, if you cannot drink for 1 week, you will be dead before you regain a point of intellect. I guess DM's who regret their rash choice of broken monster might allow auto-swallowing.
There are ways to get hydrated without drinking.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
If you're alone you won't survive indeed. But if you have friends that can take care of you during this time you should survive.
Only through tech that doesn't exist in your bog standard fantasy campaign.
If the DM decides that a stunned, brain dead creature hydrated can be hydrated through technological or magical means then they will probably just waive it and allow the character to regain their Intelligence after a long rest (a better option!).
RAW though, this is death.
I definitely didn't expect "it doesn't work because you would die of dehydration" to be the sticking point in this conversation.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Incapacitated targets can swallow (witness the ability to feed a healing potion to a downed companion), so it doesn't take any tech, it just takes a person.
You also need to maintain at least a modest lifestyle, meaning the rest must be in a relatively clean and confortable area with sufficient access to food and drink.
I'm having some difficulty finding RAW to support your claims that Stunned and Incapacitated prevent eating, drinking or any other biological function. Also, can't seem to find the part that says that an Intelligence of 0 would prevent any of the same functions. Maybe post a link to so I might learn something new?
Edit: Grammar
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Intelligence is the ability to reason and draw on logic, memory or education among other things, which mean that a lone creature stripped of any intelligence would not even remember to eat and drink, or even how to.
While I can easily see your subjective reasoning and agree that in this world, there are medical and mental conditions that do affect the ability of a person to remember certain biological needs, but that doesn't stop them from happening. Unless the brain is devoured, removed, or physically/chemically rendered inoperable.
What I'm asking for is the part that says: Being Stunned, Incapacitated or having an intelligence of 0 prevents you from eating, breathing, swallowing, evacuating, blinking....etc. Or even something that says anything remotely close to this. What you've quoted says abosolutely nothing of the *ability* to perform biological functions, only the mechanics that *might* allow someone to remember to do them. I've not spotted any RAW function that limits the biological functions of a creature due to the lack of an Intelligence score >0.
The requirement for a DM to rule on how to restore the lost ability score is clear. Granted we have RAW guidance from XGtE, but that is still an optional expansion to the core rules that a DM can implement or ignore. As far as I can tell, RAW, there is nothing that prevents the Relaxation Downtime Activity from working. If a DM were to require that the party be required to play nursemaid for the week, then so be it.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I'd call the brain of a creature who's intelligence has ben reduced to 0 very much physically/chemically rendered inoperable, at least the part that pertains to logic, reason, memory etc
The rules cannot cover everything, the DM must make rulings where needed, either for or against it.
I'm not against the opinion that you present. Not in the least. I actually agree that the DM will have to rule on this.
I am against presenting that opinion as RAW. What you or I would consider a fair ruling at our table is DM ruling based on subjective opinion, not rules or game mechanics.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I didn't, RAW is in quote, opinion isn't.
From there DMs are free to interpret what an intelligence score below minimum of 1 represent but my ruling is not based on opinion, it's based on that, having reduced to nil intelligence; 0 mental acuity, 0 accuracy of recall, and 0 ability to reason.
Right, and my point is that all of the functions that you are naming don't regulate biological function, per RAW. Not the Stunned condition, not the Incapacitated condition, not the Unconscious condition.
The effect of the Devour Intellect ability states that after the target failes an Int save and takes some damage, it applies the Stunned condition if the target fails to roll at or below their Intelligence on 3d6. It does not apply the inability to swallow, blink or breathe. It could be said that those symptoms might be reserved for the Body Thief ability, but that would require a DM ruling as well, as it's not specified in the ability text what actually happens to the target if they don't have a brain and their body is being puppeted by this monster.
Suggesting that someone rule that the PC can't eat or drink without assistance isn't disagreeable, but it's not RAW.
Edit: Grammar
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I don't think you're unable to swallow, blink or breathe while afflicted this way as these biological aspect are usually automatic.
But eating and drinking is not automatic, it requires the ability to act or move, which you don't have when incapacitated or unconscious.
If that were the case, you would also say that RAW, you can't drink a potion while Grappled, having been hit by a Sentinel's OA, or even have your party dump one down your throat (aka. Administered #2c) when you are Unconscious. Because having a movement speed of 0 means you can't move at all? I would suggest that the Paralyzed better reflects this, but still doesn't stipulate state that you can't swallow a potion that is administered to you by a party member.
Forcing more granularity and other specific symptoms into what these conditions can do might have a tendency to limit what the outcomes are from a consistency standpoint. If you rule this way once in your game, you might have to do so time and again to maintain the spirit of fair and equitable gameplay. I might suggest that at a certain point, this could become untenable and your game unplayable.
I'm not sure that the portion that you quote is actually the rules for eating and drinking, but again, not a disagreeable ruling.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
You can still take an action while grappled so you can stuff food in your mouth in tandem with it.
You cannot move or take action while paralyzed since you are incapacitated so you can't stuff food in your mouth in tandam with it.
Administering a potion to someone requires an action and it can be unconscious according to an offifial ruling in Sage Advice Compendium