Zaruthustran
The tingling means it’s working!
Wild Shape might be way more dangerous than I first thought.
The rules for Wild Shape say that "You automatically revert [to humanoid form] if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die."
The "or die" part is the scary part. Because "When you transform, you assume the beast’s hit points and Hit Dice."
Page 197 says "Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum."
Putting it all together: if you're in Wild Shape as a bat (1 hit point maximum) and take 2 or more damage, you die instantly. Or do you?
It's an order of operations question: does the instant death from massive damage occur before or after the reversion caused by reaching 0 hp?
Is it:
1. Take damage
2. Apply effects from reaching 0 hp
3. Check to see if instant death from massive damage occurs
Or is it:
1. Take damage
2. Check to see if instant death from massive damage occurs
3. Apply effects from reaching 0 hp
I think it's clear that it's the first order of operations. There's a whole subsection titled "Dropping to 0 Hit Points", and the rules for massive damage and unconsciousness are preceded by "When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or fall unconscious, as explained in the following sections." To me, that means "reach 0 hit points" is an event that takes place, and only after that event, death or unconsciousness takes place. And the druid's reversion rules insert themselves at "reach 0 hit points", trumping the death/unconsciousness events before they can take place.
Still... interesting wording. Maybe the "or die" phrasing is meant to cover what happens when a 10 HP druid wildshaped as a bat takes 21 damage. 1 hp to reduce the bat to 0, revert to humanoid form, "excess" 20 damage to reduce the druid to 0, plus 10 remaining damage to kill him outright. No... in that example, the reversion happens before the druid dies.
Maybe it's meant to cover save-or-die effects. Like Power Word: Kill.
Actually... Power Word: Kill interacts very oddly with druid wild shape. A level 20 druid with 120 HP, wildshaped as a bat, would be susceptible to the instant death from the spell. Seems like the basis for a fun adventure: tricking a powerful druid to assume a wild shape, so that it can be killed by a single spell (no save).
The rules for Wild Shape say that "You automatically revert [to humanoid form] if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die."
The "or die" part is the scary part. Because "When you transform, you assume the beast’s hit points and Hit Dice."
Page 197 says "Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum."
Putting it all together: if you're in Wild Shape as a bat (1 hit point maximum) and take 2 or more damage, you die instantly. Or do you?
It's an order of operations question: does the instant death from massive damage occur before or after the reversion caused by reaching 0 hp?
Is it:
1. Take damage
2. Apply effects from reaching 0 hp
3. Check to see if instant death from massive damage occurs
Or is it:
1. Take damage
2. Check to see if instant death from massive damage occurs
3. Apply effects from reaching 0 hp
I think it's clear that it's the first order of operations. There's a whole subsection titled "Dropping to 0 Hit Points", and the rules for massive damage and unconsciousness are preceded by "When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or fall unconscious, as explained in the following sections." To me, that means "reach 0 hit points" is an event that takes place, and only after that event, death or unconsciousness takes place. And the druid's reversion rules insert themselves at "reach 0 hit points", trumping the death/unconsciousness events before they can take place.
Still... interesting wording. Maybe the "or die" phrasing is meant to cover what happens when a 10 HP druid wildshaped as a bat takes 21 damage. 1 hp to reduce the bat to 0, revert to humanoid form, "excess" 20 damage to reduce the druid to 0, plus 10 remaining damage to kill him outright. No... in that example, the reversion happens before the druid dies.
Maybe it's meant to cover save-or-die effects. Like Power Word: Kill.
Actually... Power Word: Kill interacts very oddly with druid wild shape. A level 20 druid with 120 HP, wildshaped as a bat, would be susceptible to the instant death from the spell. Seems like the basis for a fun adventure: tricking a powerful druid to assume a wild shape, so that it can be killed by a single spell (no save).
