What happens if you “unlearn” Animate Dead?
What happens if you “unlearn” Animate Dead?
I died and I became a skeleton (using this homebrew race). It appears that I might gain access to an ability/item (created by my DM) which lets me switch between both races.
When you are a skeleton you have the ability to cast animate dead once a day. So my question is: If I animate a skeleton (when I'm in my skeleton form), can I still control it when I change my race?
I suppose I can, because the spell says:
you can use a bonus action to mentally command any creature you made with this spell
It doesn't say that I need the spell to command the skeleton.
Yes, Here is a link to the race: dandwiki.com/wiki/Skeleton_(5e_Race) I'm the Magic Fluke one
– Vyrvatus
Aug 19 at 21:56
The question could still apply to vanilla D&D mechanics. For example, what if Animate Undead was cast, but then you were polymorphed into something else. When polymorphed, you cannot cast spells. This is much the same question. "Does the spell's effects last if I transform into something that cannot cast the spell?"
– John Carroll
Aug 19 at 22:01
@JohnCarroll: The issue is that the asker's specific scenario might be different because of homebrew mechanics that already address it. Now that the asker has provided the link, we can determine whether that's the case.
– V2Blast
Aug 19 at 22:02
@V2Blast Nonetheless, such material is not necessary for answering. It is the querent's responsibility to include such details if they are relevant; deciding not to include them if they are irrelevant is a fine choice that does not necessarily render a question unclear or otherwise close-worthy just because the material is not 1st party.
– the dark wanderer
Aug 19 at 22:15
1 Answer
1
Nothing
You don't need to know a spell to continue to benefit from its effects. If you don't know a spell, then you can't choose to do things that require you to know the spell, that is all. Animated corpses the spell lets you control remain under your control even if you are (briefly) unable to cast the spell. Obviously you won't be able to renew control without switching back, however.
It might be worth quoting the relevant part(s) of the spell. Namely, its duration is "instantaneous" so you don't need to continuously cast it for the undead to stay animated, but the last paragraph of the spell description does mention that you need to cast the spell once every 24 hours to maintain control over those undead.
– V2Blast
Aug 19 at 22:27
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Are you playing a homebrew skeleton race? There are no official mechanics for playing as a skeleton, and the skeleton monster statblock can't cast any spells. Given that both that and the ability/magic item that lets you change races is homebrew that we don't have access to, it's difficult to definitively answer this.
– V2Blast
Aug 19 at 21:54