How exactly does the spell STATUE work?

[Winterschuh]

I play a Mountain Druid .... ah well, isn't imporant.
This is important: How does the STATUE spell work?

The wording is unclear and answers next to nothing.
And before my GM tell me that its basically useless i drop some questions here.

As stone basically doesn't move
Do i keep GE bonus to AC?
Do i still receive GE malus to AC?
Dodge bonus to AC?
Insight? (anything thats explained with movement)

As i turn into Stone completely
Does Armor Bonus still Apply?

Do i get to make reflex saves?
Do i get to make attacks of opportunity?
Do i get the hardness 8 against attacks of opportunity?

Is hardness stackable with damage reduction? (stoneskin *rolleyes* for example)
When do i act, when am i a statue?
I just cannot figure it out.

Thank you

[Are]

You are, in effect, exactly like a stone statue. The only defensive ability you have is the 8 hardness, and you keep your own hit points. You don't get any bonuses to AC.

The hardness applies against every attack against you, including any AoOs. I can't think of any situation where a statue could provoke an AoO though.

You can spend a free action to no longer be a statue and instead act perfectly normally, and another free action to revert to statue form.

[Winterschuh]

The problem is, I am not exactly like a stone statue.
i am a moving character, who can turn into a stone statue at will as free action.
Free actions take little to no time and you can have as much as your GM needs to build up and punch you in the face.

Walk around, provoke an AoO -> Statue, enjoy hardness 8 -> free action back, move along.
etc...

I dont want to know the effects in an "I turn into a stone statue right here in the middle of a market place and watch the people" event.

I'm interested in the action part. When in combat do you enjoy what benefits and what do you pay for it?

it's a lvl 7 spell, what are the benefits besides being a better mime

[Winterschuh]

So noone else can help me and answer a few quesions?

I'm really lost on the use of that spell so far

[Ice Titan]

Winterschuh wrote:

As stone basically doesn't move

Do i keep GE bonus to AC?
Do i still receive GE malus to AC?
Dodge bonus to AC?
Insight? (anything thats explained with movement)

As i turn into Stone completely
Does Armor Bonus still Apply?

Do i get to make reflex saves?
Do i get to make attacks of opportunity?
Do i get the hardness 8 against attacks of opportunity?

I don't know what GE is, but your AC is the same. The spell doesn't say it ends any effects or enchantments affecting you.

Armor does apply.

You may make reflex saves, but you are not an object, so you don't automatically pass them.

You can make AoOs since you aren't immobile, and just made of stone.

You get hardness vs. AoOs since you aren't immobile, and are just made of stone.

It's a lot like stoneskin, but slightly worse and much better. For instance, you could argue that swords are "ineffective" at damaging you, or that you get half damage versus fire, ice and electricity effects but take full damage from acid and sonic.

What rules effect objects are in Chapter 7 of the Core Rulebook. The spell doesn't call it out, but it's a 7th level spell, and it should have benefits.

[Benchak the Nightstalker]

I think you are immobile. You turn to solid stone, and it doesn't say you can continue to act normally.

Rather, it says you can return to normal, act, and then turn back into a statue as a free action (implying that acting is impossible while petrified).

[hogarth]

My two cents:

Winterschuh wrote:

As stone basically doesn't move

Do i keep GE bonus to AC?
Do i still receive GE malus to AC?
Dodge bonus to AC?
Insight? (anything thats explained with movement)

As i turn into Stone completely
Does Armor Bonus still Apply?

Do i get to make reflex saves?
Do i get to make attacks of opportunity?
Do i get the hardness 8 against attacks of opportunity?

Is hardness stackable with damage reduction? (stoneskin *rolleyes* for example)

* While you're a statue, I would give you the same AC as if you were paralyzed. So your Dex would be 0 and you would lose any dodge bonuses. I'm ambivalent about what to do about armor and shields; on the one hand, breaking the shield of the statue shouldn't affect the statue's hit points, but a stone shield shouldn't be as effective as a normal metal shield.

* You would make Reflex saves normally, except your effective Dex is 0.
* You can't move while you're a statue, so you can't make attacks of opportunity.
* Generally speaking, an attack of opportunity would be interrupting one of your existing actions, so you wouldn't be able to change your action partway through in order to turn into a statue. There might be exceptions, but I can't think of one at the moment.
* I would have the hardness and DR overlap, not stack.

I hope that helped. Is "GE" the German term for "Dex" (i.e. Dexterity)?

[Howie23]

Statue Spell:

A statue spell turns the subject to solid stone, along with any garments and equipment worn or carried. In statue form, the subject gains hardness 8. The subject retains its own hit points. The subject can see, hear, and smell normally, but it does not need to eat or breathe. Feeling is limited to those sensations that can affect the granite-hard substance of the individual's body. Chipping is equal to a mere scratch, but breaking off one of the statue's arms constitutes serious damage. The subject of a statue spell can return to its normal state, act, and then return instantly to the statue state (a free action) if it so desires as long as the spell duration is in effect.

You are turned to solid stone, but you are still a living creature of your original type. You gain hardness 8, but you are not a construct or an object. You're just made out of stone.

Your equipment all turns to stone. Whether it is effective in that form is unclear. You are not specifically Petrified, Paralyzed, or Helpless, but some of that seems to apply.

Petrified:

Petrified: A petrified character has been turned to stone and is considered unconscious. If a petrified character cracks or breaks, but the broken pieces are joined with the body as he returns to flesh, he is unharmed. If the character's petrified body is incomplete when it returns to flesh, the body is likewise incomplete and there is some amount of permanent hit point loss and/or debilitation.

Helpless:

Helpless: A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent's mercy. A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier). Melee attacks against a helpless target get a +4 bonus (equivalent to attacking a prone target). Ranged attacks get no special bonus against helpless targets. Rogues can sneak attack helpless targets.

Paralyzed:

Paralyzed: A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can't swim and may drown. A creature can move through a space occupied by a paralyzed creature—ally or not. Each square occupied by a paralyzed creature, however, counts as 2 squares to move through.

Seems to me that while you are stone, you are paralyzed. The petrified stuff may apply if you are broken. Paralyzed includes helpless. I understand the entire concept to be that, while you are stone, you can't move or take physical actions. You can do so while in normal state.

Winterschuh wrote:

As stone basically doesn't move
Do i keep GE bonus to AC?
Do i still receive GE malus to AC?

No clue what you're talking about. GE?

Quote:

Dodge bonus to AC?

Insight? (anything thats explained with movement)

As i turn into Stone completely
Does Armor Bonus still Apply?

Do i get to make reflex saves?

What you get of armor will be up to GM's take about whether stuff still functions. While a statue, you'd have Dex of 0 (-5 to AC and reflex saves). You'll get reflex saves.

Quote:

Do i get to make attacks of opportunity?

Do i get the hardness 8 against attacks of opportunity?
When do i act, when am i a statue?
I just cannot figure it out.

While you are a statue you don't get to make physical actions. You don't get to take AoOs. You only take AoO if you do something that provokes. If you provoke somehow while a statue, your hardness applies. (silent and still spell comes to mind)

If you are mobile and are acting, during that time you don't have the hardness 8. If you provoke an Ao0, it takes place prior to the action that provokes (while you are mobile and not a statue). You can't free act back to statue to gain the hardness 8 after provoking but before the AoO.

Quote:

Is hardness stackable with damage reduction? (stoneskin *rolleyes* for example)

Effects generally stack.

I suspect from the answers that different GMs will handle this differently and you should talk to your GM. Things don't seem particularly clear-cut.

[hogarth]

Howie23 wrote:

No clue what you're talking about. GE?

I think it must be short for Geschicklichkeit (= Dexterity).

[Xraal]

hogarth wrote:

Howie23 wrote:

No clue what you're talking about. GE?

I think it must be short for Geschicklichkeit (= Dexterity).

Hehe, that is a great example why I do not like localized rulesets of my own language.

Translations have a way of becoming... clunky.

[Ravingdork]

In our group, we treat it like the twins from the second Matrix movie. Except instead of turning into ghosts, you turn into stone.

I take a full turn of actions, then turn to stone. Anyone attacking me has to deal with hardness 8. Then on my turn, I change back and resume combat.

Considering it's long duration, it can be pretty nifty.

[Winterschuh]

I'm sorry for the confusion. Of course GE is german for DEX.
I just had a mindlapse there.

Thank you for your very different opinions, it gives me different point of views to think about. And I'm not the only one who is irritated by the unclear wording.

Thank you

[Chris Mortika]

Should a spellcaster under the effects of a statue dwoemer be able to cast spells without verbal or somatic components? I would think so.