Is the critical ability of a vorpal blade considered a death effect?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Generally the books tell us if somthing is a death effect. Vorpal dosent say anything so it is not.
Only those things that specifically say they are death effects are death effects.
Just because it causes instant death does not make it a death effect. As weird as that may sound.
Please tell me we're not about to have a Rules Questions debate about the fact that the vorpal weapon removes your head, but does not specifically state that this results in death for members of all playable races*... I just don't think I could take that.
Oh of course not. The question is just, is the beheading considered a death effect? Not everything that kills qualifies as a death effect. Thats why there is a special [Death] descriptor for spells. Or the ability specifically says so, such as the bards Deadly Performance.
Deadly Performance (Su): A bard of 20th level or higher can use his performance to cause one enemy to die from joy or sorrow. To be affected, the target must be able to see and hear the bard perform for 1 full round and be within 30 feet. The target receives a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the bard's level + the bard's Cha modifier) to negate the effect. If a creature's saving throw succeeds, the target is staggered for 1d4 rounds, and the bard cannot use deadly performance on that creature again for 24 hours. If a creature's saving throw fails, it dies. Deadly performance is a mind-affecting death effect that relies on audible and visual components.
Please tell me we're not about to have a Rules Questions debate about the fact that the vorpal weapon removes your head, but does not specifically state that this results in death for members of all playable races*... I just don't think I could take that.
* Or am I assuming too much? For all I know, the Advanced Race Guide offers headless, multi-headed, or fully regenerative options for its race builder.
The description of the vorpal weapon enchant doesn't actually specify which head it severs. Did you think codpieces were merely a fashion statement?
Generally death effects are magical. And by that I mean stop your heart etc. Which isn't the same as magically slicing it off. The description itself seems to suggest it only cares about this presence of a head.
WOuld an Android PC automatically die if its head were cut off, or would it, like a golem, continue to function, only with the Blind condition?
And, of course, there are things where cutting the head off, like, say a zombie, wouldn't necessarily destroy it...
An android is actually alive, and counts as a humanoid so vorpal weapon will kill it.
Thanks, to all of you, for the clarification.