So my group allied with a medusa to take on a coven of hags. One of the hags is now a statue. Does this mean that the coven is broken? Is the hag effectively "dead" or would we have to shatter the statue as well?
I'm a player actually - the DM gave us the ally (we are trying to break the medusa's curse - she was once human). I rolled a nat 20 on my arcana check regarding the spell but the DM in this case isn't 100% certain. My character is from the Feywild and knows a thing or two about hags, particularly green hags which form this coven. That's the background for the question sorry!
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). Its weight increases by a factor of ten, and it ceases aging.
The creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can't move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
The creature has resistance to all damage.
The creature is immune to poison and disease, although a poison or disease already in its system is suspended, not neutralized.
They have resistance to all damage - meaning they still have their HP, and as such are still alive (just incapacitated until they are un-petrified).
If they drop to 0hp whilst petrified, then they would die (as nothing stops this), and I would say that the only way to break a petrified creature into pieces is to deal sufficient bludgeoning damage to it as to drop it to 0hp. Anything which is effective at cutting stone (like masons tools) I would give them vulnerability to (as a houserule) to reflect the damage these can to do stone.
Obviously this depends on it transforming to stone. Petrification allows any solid substance, so it could be wood, cheese, wax (creepy), adamantine, glass...
I do recall something somewhere (not in the summary above) which says that parts removed are still missing from the unpetrified person, so cracking their head off would cause them to be dead when they un-petrify. As they don't age, it's fair to say you have as much time as you like to repair them magically before un-petrifying them. Also no immunity to healing spells, so you can heal a petrified creature if you want. Could be a decent way to avoid character death - fail 2 death saves, so look at medusa and immediately petrify, wait for your friends to first heal and then un-petrify you!
I'm a player actually - the DM gave us the ally (we are trying to break the medusa's curse - she was once human). I rolled a nat 20 on my arcana check regarding the spell but the DM in this case isn't 100% certain. My character is from the Feywild and knows a thing or two about hags, particularly green hags which form this coven. That's the background for the question sorry!
Fair enough! I agree that petrified is not dead. If the DM did not already have an opinion on how it should go (because otherwise I'd suspect this might have been an intended option to break the coven), then that's probably how it should play out.
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). Its weight increases by a factor of ten, and it ceases aging.
The creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can't move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
The creature has resistance to all damage.
The creature is immune to poison and disease, although a poison or disease already in its system is suspended, not neutralized.
They have resistance to all damage - meaning they still have their HP, and as such are still alive (just incapacitated until they are un-petrified).
If they drop to 0hp whilst petrified, then they would die (as nothing stops this), and I would say that the only way to break a petrified creature into pieces is to deal sufficient bludgeoning damage to it as to drop it to 0hp. Anything which is effective at cutting stone (like masons tools) I would give them vulnerability to (as a houserule) to reflect the damage these can to do stone.
Obviously this depends on it transforming to stone. Petrification allows any solid substance, so it could be wood, cheese, wax (creepy), adamantine, glass...
I do recall something somewhere (not in the summary above) which says that parts removed are still missing from the unpetrified person, so cracking their head off would cause them to be dead when they un-petrify. As they don't age, it's fair to say you have as much time as you like to repair them magically before un-petrifying them. Also no immunity to healing spells, so you can heal a petrified creature if you want. Could be a decent way to avoid character death - fail 2 death saves, so look at medusa and immediately petrify, wait for your friends to first heal and then un-petrify you!
Firstly I would say that following RAW rules intended for easy reference isn't likely to give the best outcome in a game, but RAW the hag coven IS broken:
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). - The medusa specifies that it is stone.
A solid inanimate stone is not a Hag anymore. It is a statue by any reasoning, and the word that is instrumental here is transformed. There is no part of the Hag remaining, it is simply a stone statue. The effect can be reversed by magic, but it becomes a permanent state in the game world. If the statue is turned back into a Hag by magic, the coven would be restored.
By that same logic, polymorph would also break a coven, which these green hags happen to have on their spell list only if they are in a coven. So if they cast it on themselves, they break the coven, lose the spell, revert back to a hag, and reform the coven?
I'd argue that a hag is an individual. If Granny Mossbones is transformed - whether into a cat or a statue - she is no longer a hag, but she's still Granny Mossbones. And thus the coven holds.
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). Its weight increases by a factor of ten, and it ceases aging.
The creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can't move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
The creature has resistance to all damage.
The creature is immune to poison and disease, although a poison or disease already in its system is suspended, not neutralized.
Firstly I would say that following RAW rules intended for easy reference isn't likely to give the best outcome in a game, but RAW the hag coven IS broken:
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). - The medusa specifies that it is stone.
A solid inanimate stone is not a Hag anymore. It is a statue by any reasoning, and the word that is instrumental here is transformed. There is no part of the Hag remaining, it is simply a stone statue. The effect can be reversed by magic, but it becomes a permanent state in the game world. If the statue is turned back into a Hag by magic, the coven would be restored.
It is a statue with the hag's mind, soul, and entire stat block. If it had stopped being a creature, it would not be targetable by the spells that cure petrified creatures. If it had stopped being a creature, it wouldn't even be able to still have the petrified condition.
And the fact that it's mental saves are unaffected suggests it can still think (horrifying).
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So my group allied with a medusa to take on a coven of hags. One of the hags is now a statue. Does this mean that the coven is broken? Is the hag effectively "dead" or would we have to shatter the statue as well?
Petrified is not dead. I'd think no.
You're the one that gave the party a medusa ally. What did you expect to happen? Decide whatever's best for your story.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I'm a player actually - the DM gave us the ally (we are trying to break the medusa's curse - she was once human). I rolled a nat 20 on my arcana check regarding the spell but the DM in this case isn't 100% certain. My character is from the Feywild and knows a thing or two about hags, particularly green hags which form this coven. That's the background for the question sorry!
Were I the DM that would probably be my ruling!
Petrification makes its state pretty clear:
They have resistance to all damage - meaning they still have their HP, and as such are still alive (just incapacitated until they are un-petrified).
If they drop to 0hp whilst petrified, then they would die (as nothing stops this), and I would say that the only way to break a petrified creature into pieces is to deal sufficient bludgeoning damage to it as to drop it to 0hp. Anything which is effective at cutting stone (like masons tools) I would give them vulnerability to (as a houserule) to reflect the damage these can to do stone.
Obviously this depends on it transforming to stone. Petrification allows any solid substance, so it could be wood, cheese, wax (creepy), adamantine, glass...
I do recall something somewhere (not in the summary above) which says that parts removed are still missing from the unpetrified person, so cracking their head off would cause them to be dead when they un-petrify. As they don't age, it's fair to say you have as much time as you like to repair them magically before un-petrifying them. Also no immunity to healing spells, so you can heal a petrified creature if you want. Could be a decent way to avoid character death - fail 2 death saves, so look at medusa and immediately petrify, wait for your friends to first heal and then un-petrify you!
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Fair enough! I agree that petrified is not dead. If the DM did not already have an opinion on how it should go (because otherwise I'd suspect this might have been an intended option to break the coven), then that's probably how it should play out.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Firstly I would say that following RAW rules intended for easy reference isn't likely to give the best outcome in a game, but RAW the hag coven IS broken:
A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). - The medusa specifies that it is stone.
A solid inanimate stone is not a Hag anymore. It is a statue by any reasoning, and the word that is instrumental here is transformed. There is no part of the Hag remaining, it is simply a stone statue. The effect can be reversed by magic, but it becomes a permanent state in the game world. If the statue is turned back into a Hag by magic, the coven would be restored.
By that same logic, polymorph would also break a coven, which these green hags happen to have on their spell list only if they are in a coven. So if they cast it on themselves, they break the coven, lose the spell, revert back to a hag, and reform the coven?
I'd argue that a hag is an individual. If Granny Mossbones is transformed - whether into a cat or a statue - she is no longer a hag, but she's still Granny Mossbones. And thus the coven holds.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
It is a statue with the hag's mind, soul, and entire stat block. If it had stopped being a creature, it would not be targetable by the spells that cure petrified creatures. If it had stopped being a creature, it wouldn't even be able to still have the petrified condition.
And the fact that it's mental saves are unaffected suggests it can still think (horrifying).