Can I cut off a toe and leave it with my local temple?


Rules Questions

Grand Lodge

Once a party hits a certain level, and the wealth available thereof, death becomes nothing more than an inconvenience. While Resurrection requires some part of the body to be left over, True Resurrection doesn't.

So my question is, could the wealthy and paranoid adventurer purchase the diamond necessary for one of those spells and leave it at a temple with a donation and instructions that should the cleric not hear from our brave adventurer in x many days, to cast the spell?

Certainly it would fail if the person were alive, or turned into the undead, but otherwise what are the problems with this?


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There is a problem.

resurection wrote:
The condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of the creature's body still exists, it can be resurrected, but the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature's body at the time of death

So there would be no purpose to cutting off the toe. It would not work for resurrection and true resurrection does not require a body part.

Sczarni

It'd be something to discuss in- or out-of-character with your GM.

I fondly remember playing in a high level Campaign where there was a bounty on our heads. A party member left a lock of hair with a priest he trusted.

The priest was murdered and the hair stolen by an assassin that was targeting the PC.


You can do this with a wizard, however, if they have the clone spell.

Quote:

This spell makes an inert duplicate of a creature. If the original individual has been slain, its soul immediately transfers to the clone, creating a replacement (provided that the soul is free and willing to return). The original's physical remains, should they still exist, become inert and cannot thereafter be restored to life. If the original creature has reached the end of its natural life span (that is, it has died of natural causes), any cloning attempt fails.

To create the duplicate, you must have a piece of flesh (not hair, nails, scales, or the like) with a volume of at least 1 cubic inch that was taken from the original creature's living body. The piece of flesh need not be fresh, but it must be kept from rotting. Once the spell is cast, the duplicate must be grown in a laboratory for 2d4 months.


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wisdom teeth would be better


In an overly pedantic RAW literal sense, clone does not work well. Nothing in the text says you go to the clone if you die after it was grown. link

That said, it was certainly the way it was intended. And Mark at least says it should work. Link.

Scarab Sages

PRD's wording on Ressurection is a bit off of the above. Says that the piece of the body must be attached to the body at the time of death. So you can't Ressurect with pieces saved in advance.

Scarab Sages

MichaelCullen wrote:

In an overly pedantic RAW literal sense, clone does not work well. Nothing in the text says you go to the clone if you die after it was grown. link

That said, it was certainly the way it was intended. And Mark at least says it should work. Link.

There's at least one instance of a clone existing and kept preserved via magic in a Paizo AP, as well as various references to powerful wizards keeping numerous clones stored in secret locations across the planes. I think the intent is pretty clear that you grow a clone, and as long as you preserve it, it acts as an extra life.


MichaelCullen wrote:
In an overly pedantic RAW literal sense, clone does not work well. Nothing in the text says you go to the clone if you die after it was grown.

Even if that interpretation is used, you could leave a toe and a scroll of Clone with an ally, right?


BigNorseWolf wrote:
wisdom teeth would be better

But I'd hate to take the Will Save penalty. ;)

You are better off removing some skin cells from one of the shapelier growths on your back.


MichaelCullen wrote:
There is a problem.
resurection wrote:
The condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of the creature's body still exists, it can be resurrected, but the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature's body at the time of death
So there would be no purpose to cutting off the toe. It would not work for resurrection and true resurrection does not require a body part.

There would be a purpose in cutting off the toe if you left it with a powerful Wizard.

Clone Spell

If you really trust that Wizard, anyway: a Wizard can do all sorts of wicked things with a piece of your flesh.


The spell True Resurrection "functions like Raise Dead" except without limitations on the time passed since death. The spell Raise Dead has a range of Touch, and a target of "dead creature touched". This means that True Resurrection can only be used by touching the deceased creature. If a GM is feeling particularly generous, it could be argued that touching a part of the creature could count, but I think the literature implies that the spell would be cast on the full body of the dead creature.

Now, the spell also accounts for "creatures whose bodies have been destroyed" which could be interpreted that it could be cast without access to the body by simply "reciting the deceased’s time and place of birth or death". However, from my reading of the spell, this method ONLY applies when the body is destroyed and I would argue that it cannot be used IN PLACE of touching the body if the body does indeed still exist.

So essentially there's a lot of room for interpretation and a GM could easily bend (but not necessarily break) the rules to allow a player to recover from some unfortunate circumstance by leaving a toe and a diamond at the temple, but the rules seem to indicate that normally using such a method would be a fruitless endeavor.

Plus you can always have a dishonest young acolyte steal the diamond and start a new life.


Bracelet of Friends ?

Would depend heavily upon how your DM rules on the vagaries of death.


Lastly one thing to keep in mind even if any of these tactics work, is that you would need to pay them in advance, and it may be possible that they cast the spell even when you're alive if you've simply been unable to get back in time (captured/imprisoned, unconscious, magical time warp, in another plane, big-dungeon, magically-anchored-area, lost-at-sea, etc.)

Some magic items or spells might help to stay in touch, but that could potentially add extra cost, even then there would still be ways it could fail (imprisoned, unconscious, magical time warp, in another plane or dimension)


Reminds me of when, playing the original d&d, my characters always kept a jar with their clipped fingernails in a safe place...

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