Worm that walks - what remains?

[Paladin of Baha-who?]

The Worm that Walks template indicates that the worms eat the body of the dead spellcaster and become a vessel for their soul. Does this leave a skeleton, or other remains that could be found?

[Kalindlara]

There's nothing specific to confirm this, either in Pathfinder or in the original source material. You're on your own, I'm afraid.

[Duiker]

By the book, no, because the bones are part of the body and it doesn't say anything else. But if you were creating a unique encounter, that's a neat idea: have a worm that walks lich, whose hidden skeleton is his phylactory? Nifty.

[Kazaan]

That's an interesting notion. It might be possible that, after consuming all the soft materials of the body, the skeleton is left behind when the WtW is spawned. It does say, specifically, that it's feeding on the body fats that confers the magical abilities.

[Paladin of Baha-who?]

Kazaan wrote:

That's an interesting notion. It might be possible that, after consuming all the soft materials of the body, the skeleton is left behind when the WtW is spawned. It does say, specifically, that it's feeding on the body fats that confers the magical abilities.

I guess that proves that in Pathfinder, magical power is hydrophobic.

[Kazaan]

Paladin of Baha-who? wrote:

Kazaan wrote:

That's an interesting notion. It might be possible that, after consuming all the soft materials of the body, the skeleton is left behind when the WtW is spawned. It does say, specifically, that it's feeding on the body fats that confers the magical abilities.

I guess that proves that in Pathfinder, magical power is hydrophobic.

Which is odd, considering that in real-world esoteric practices, water is considered to be a prime medium for metaphysical phenomenon (ie. water memory). One thing to consider is that the myelin sheathes around neurons are fat based which causes there to be a high concentration of fatty material in the brain, particularly in the white matter that composes the large bulk of the brain core (so calling someone a fat-head would actually be a compliment). But, then, bloatmages keep extra magical power in their blood which would be water-based. So maybe not hydrophobic, but it "burns off" more slowly from the fatty parts of the body and more quickly in the watery parts.

[lemeres]

Kazaan wrote:

That's an interesting notion. It might be possible that, after consuming all the soft materials of the body, the skeleton is left behind when the WtW is spawned. It does say, specifically, that it's feeding on the body fats that confers the magical abilities.

Or the bugs got so magically charged by the flesh they ate that, but the time they could reach the bones, they could already tear through bone and digest it.

I mean...it is magic. Particularly, it is the wild and unpredictable magic that comes when raw magic power joins with a powerful will to just tell the universe 'no' about the laws of nature and physics.

Alternatively, the kind of guy that turns into a worm that walks is also the kind of guy that both needs and encourages people to smash all his bones and leave his corpse laying to rot in a field. A critical hit with an earthbreaker- basically. That makes the bone shards small enough that they can just be carried around by the bugs.