Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Gameogre Jan 09, 2015 10:46:43	If my 20th levle Druid was shapchanged into a mouse and a 20th level wizard cast Power word kill at the mouse. What would happen?   This question has unleashed no little amount fo argument and confusion for us but we can't seem to reach a conclusion that eveyone is ok with.   Thanks in advance for any help you can swing our way.
#2 Gameogre Jan 09, 2015 13:05:51	One school of thought is that even though the druids hit points are higher in his normal form in his animal form his hit points for a mouse would be very few so the Deah spell would outright slay him.   The other school is that when his mouse form died he would revert to his normal form and still be alive.   Both sides bring up the wording of several spells and abilities that make this a grey area.   We can see it going both ways.
#3 Kalani Jan 09, 2015 17:09:38	The animal form's HPs act like a pool of temporary HPs though. They don't actually affect the characters true HP total. Normally, when a creature dies while polymorphed, it simply reverts to its original form and any remaining damage carries over to its actual HPs.   Therefore, the death spell would simply cause the druid to immediately revert, based on the rules for polymorph and death. I do however see why people have such confusion. The rules are badly worded in places, with little thought to the interaction between various rules elements (eg. polymorph and death from methods other than HP loss).
#4 El_Condoro Jan 10, 2015 2:17:40	It seems there are various interpretations, but to me it's fairly straightforward (which is usually an indication that it's actually quite complex):   Power Word Kill: If the creature you choose has 100 hit points or fewer, it dies. Druid Wild Shape: You automatically revert if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die. Note that the 3 are separate. So a Sleep spell that exceeded the druid's hit points would end Wild Shape because the druid falls unconscious (but note, he would revert with the hit points he had pre-change); dropping to 0 hit points may involve a loss of excess hit points when the druid reverts as per the 2nd dot point in the Wild Shape desciption; death does not involve any loss of hit points but brings about reversion. If Power Word Kill is cast on the druid in mouse form or any form, he or she simply reverts to his or her normal form with the hit points he or she had before taking a Wild Shape.   The loss of hit points on reverting comes as a result of a result of dropping to 0 hit points, which was separated out in 2., and therefore does not apply to death, which was a separate condition (not in the sense of Conditions). It does not make sense to me that death is somehow less severe than dropping to 0 hit points, but that's the way the feature is written.   So, PWK would be wasted on a mouse (not found in MM, but a Rat has 1 hit point) but would be useful on a druid in a 100 or less hit point form, but upon the creature's death the actual druid would still need to be dealt with.
#5 Gameogre Jan 10, 2015 8:20:59	https://twitter.com/calebrus44/status/553630203550138369   Well we recieved a ruling that sadly falls on the other side that indeed the druid would be dead.   This opens the door for lots fo other things to kill the druid who uses this class feature that wouldn't without it.   Also now there are aruments that polymorph, PW-kill kills anything.
#6 El_Condoro Jan 10, 2015 12:15:40	That makes more sense, at least to me, even if I still don't believe it is what is written in the PHB. A 9th level spell should have that kind of power IMO, so I am happy with that ruling. Whether the druid Wild Shapes into a mouse or a 100 hit point creature is irrelevant - PWK kills, and using Wild Shape to avoid it seems OP, so yeah, good ruling.
#7 Ninja_Ferret Jan 10, 2015 12:31:11	yeah I think the ruling is good too. Makes sense to me.