I would rule along Davor's line of reason. If a creature is inside of you and wants to be teleported along with you, it is. If it does not, it is not.
Why is the grey goo inside the character, how did it get there, why does it stay, where is it in the character's body and lastly is the grey goo a more interesting character than the character it is in?
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Gray Goo
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Infest (Ex)
As a standard action, a gray goo can infest a Medium or larger creature (Fortitude DC 21 negates), including constructs and undead. The gray goo moves inside the creature's body, dealing double its normal damage to its host each round. It can't use its dismantle ability while infesting a creature. A host reduced to 0 hit points while infested by a gray goo is reduced to dust and destroyed (similar to disintegrate). A gray goo infesting a host can be expelled by any effect that cures disease, with a disease save equal to this ability's DC. The save DC is Constitution based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
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Ok, the PC has a Spectral Shroud, which turns PC incorporeal.
Would that mean upon activation the PC could move away from the Goo? PC argues the Goo would not be incorporeal.
If we accept that interpretation I suppose that the character gear will stay behind, too. It say "Once per day, the wearer can become incorporeal ...". There is no mention of his equipment becoming incorporeal.
Put another way: the player is trying to play stupid, hit him on the head (figuratively, not really) with the rulebook.
If he tries to use stupid interpretations of the rules, explain to him the other stupid effects of his ideas.
The goo infestation has specific rules on how it can be countered: "A gray goo infesting a host can be expelled by any effect that cures disease, with a disease save equal to this ability's DC."
An unprepared party will have a hard time fighting it, but it is a CR 14 creature after all. And swarm can be terrific if you are unprepared.
The Handmaiden Devil can teleport with an unwilling victim they have entangled into their body. So there is some precedent but whether you decide it is Handmaiden specific or specific to being inside the body of the teleporter is debatable.
The gray goo ceases to be a Creature after using Infest and becomes a Disease. When expelled or the host dies, it becomes a Creature again.
So the Disease condition goes with the teleporting, incorporeal, etc body.
Edit: Regarding not a creature, circumstantial evidence is that you can't target it any longer: can't target it with weapons, the host can't cast Shocking Grasp and hit it even though it's in contact with his body, can't--if he wanted to--cast Mage armor on it, etc.
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The gray goo ceases to be a Creature after using Infest and becomes a Disease. When expelled or the host dies, it becomes a Creature again.
So the Disease condition goes with the teleporting, incorporeal, etc body.
Edit: Regarding not a creature, circumstantial evidence is that you can't target it any longer: can't target it with weapons, the host can't cast Shocking Grasp and hit it even though it's in contact with his body, can't--if he wanted to--cast Mage armor on it, etc.
Being expelled by cure disease is not the same as being a disease. That's why there's a special caveat about it, and gray goo doesn't have the normal disease descriptor conditions.
It is still its own creature, it just shares the same "space" as its host. Objects are ruled to be affected by spells that target the caster (specifically referring to things like Invisibility, Mirror Image, etc.), so it makes sense that objects worn are considered part of the creature for purposes of spell effects.
The gray goo does not qualify for this. There's no rules-twisting here. In the Spectral Shroud example given, it would work, BECAUSE becoming incorporeal renders the target immune to non-magical attack forms, and the gray goo's abilities are entirely extraordinary, not magical.
I'm actually pretty pleased by this solution. It rewards the player for picking up an interesting item, or using their spells creatively to solve a problem.
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It doesn't _want_ anything. Grey goo is a mindless swarm.
If the player really wants to go looking for loopholes in the rulebook to overrule common sense, I say go for it, but they should know any loophole they find may well become a noose. If the grey goo must express its desire to go, then the same goes for your gut biome and all the other billions of bacteria in your body.
The PC teleports away successfully, then immediately goes insane, then catches hundreds of diseases, then starves, then dies.
The grey goo has all of its mental ability scores. It has desires. In fact, it can even follow orders: it is a construct, after all, and is not mindless.
Ok, the PC has a Spectral Shroud, which turns PC incorporeal.
Would that mean upon activation the PC could move away from the Goo? PC argues the Goo would not be incorporeal.
If we accept that interpretation I suppose that the character gear will stay behind, too. It say "Once per day, the wearer can become incorporeal ...". There is no mention of his equipment becoming incorporeal.
Put another way: the player is trying to play stupid, hit him on the head (figuratively, not really) with the rulebook.
If he tries to use stupid interpretations of the rules, explain to him the other stupid effects of his ideas.The goo infestation has specific rules on how it can be countered: "A gray goo infesting a host can be expelled by any effect that cures disease, with a disease save equal to this ability's DC."
An unprepared party will have a hard time fighting it, but it is a CR 14 creature after all. And swarm can be terrific if you are unprepared.
This seems like a rather harsh style of play. To me, it is much better to allow the player some credit for creatively trying to decide how to keep the character alive rather than just saying, "Don't have anything for disease memorized for the day? Oh well, roll a new character."
Even if the ideas don't work, there is no reason to berate the player for being creative in a fantasy based RPG.
And such a strict interpretation of all rules, not just the ones that kill the players, would destroy the game.
So, does your player argue that he can simply get rid of a cold by teleporting away and leaving all the bad cough germs behind?
Because this is exactly the same thing!
I have an infected wound, but no problem! I will just teleport over there, and leave all those nasty gangrene bacteriums behind! Haha! Insta-Cure!
--> No!
And such a strict interpretation of all rules, not just the ones that kill the players, would destroy the game.
Not true. They might destroy some games. It really depends on what a group likes. Things like this are why I think a GM should state up front how loosely or not he follows the rules.
Definitely grey area (pun intended). The Dimension Door has language in it that indicates that it CAN, but logically don't have to, bring along objects or creatures. It's not entirely concrete, but the spell uses the wording "Can" and "May" in regard to objects and creatures. I'd say that the logical flow from there indicates the caster can choose to leave things/people behind. In one game I teleported out of my clothes (There was a good reason).
That being said I'd call an infested character Grey Area at best.
Also, in game terms poisons and diseases aren't creatures as they have no stat block and it wouldn't work for them.
I know IRL they can be, but unless it has stats I wouldn't call it a creature in Pathfinder.
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So, does your player argue that he can simply get rid of a cold by teleporting away and leaving all the bad cough germs behind?
Because this is exactly the same thing!
I have an infected wound, but no problem! I will just teleport over there, and leave all those nasty gangrene bacteriums behind! Haha! Insta-Cure!
--> No!
Well, to be fair, we're talking about using VERY high level spells as condition removal. That's pretty tame stuff.
That being said, I don't think that these kinds of things would work on Poison or Disease. Yes, we understand what they are on a fundamental level, but in game terms these are conditions, not an object or creature, and so would travel with you.
Good catch on the "May" line to the poster above, though. Means you could TOTALLY teleport away from something like grey goo. Good to know. :P
I would allow the incorporeal trick but not teleport. Teleport is capable of bringing creatures along, while the shroud is a single target. It would expand the function of the shroud to disallow it, but it would not expand the function of teleportation. I would probably allow maxing out the target limits on the teleportation spell, though.
What about casting dimensional anchor on the goo first, and then teleporting away?
What about casting dimensional anchor on the goo first, and then teleporting away?
I'm assuming "inside you" = No line of sight.
It doesn't _want_ anything. Grey goo is a mindless swarm.
If the player really wants to go looking for loopholes in the rulebook to overrule common sense, I say go for it, but they should know any loophole they find may well become a noose. If the grey goo must express its desire to go, then the same goes for your gut biome and all the other billions of bacteria in your body.
The PC teleports away successfully, then immediately goes insane, then catches hundreds of diseases, then starves, then dies.
don't forget about the mitochondria inside each of his living cells!
Pulling at threads often results in ruining clothing. :D
What if a dragon swallows a character and then teleports away? Is the character left behind?
Just use Dimension Door?
Swarm: A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures
DD: You may also bring one additional willing Medium or smaller creature (carrying gear or objects up to its maximum load) or its equivalent per three caster levels.
An argument could also be made under the description for Conjuration magic
"A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it."