Fragile Bone to Wood spell

[darthauthor]

The second level necromancer spell Fragile Bone to Wood (5 or 30).

Can these bones be used to damage creatures that can be harmed by wood?
In particular, can they harm and stake vampires?

[ShadowLogan]

I will say no because the text states "The wooden bones are a strong, reliable building material with properties nearly identical to wood." (BoM pg188), so the bones aren't "true" wood but something analogous to it for building purposes (which is again something the text mentions). Now you could ignore the passage and still allow it to be useful for wood vulnerabilities (and offhand I don't recall wood vulnerabilities being based on specific wood, so maybe the bone-wood is some type of composite wood), but that would be a GMs call.

Now the text does state you can use it as a weapon, but in terms of vulnerable to wood (anti-vampire) aspect that doesn't appear to be in the cards (though it would count as "enchanted", so it would be like using a magic weapon on a vampire, the more general wood vulnerability will likely vary from creature to creature).

The spell description seems to indicate the spell wasn't written with much thought toward offensive combat, but rather only considered the non-combat and defensive combat use cases.

[darthauthor]

So what is the proper interpretation for "properties nearly identical to wood?"

Do the bones float?

Such that one could make a boat out of them?

I think it would look ominous.

I ask myself what can one make out of wood?

A flute?

Armor?

Fire wood?

[Grazzik]

So what is the proper interpretation for "properties nearly identical to wood?"

The spell specifically says "ordinary bone to the consistency of wood suitable for building" (emphasis added) as wood is presumably a more pliable material for construction.

It goes on to specifically call out boats.

The spell description is very clearly about building and shaping. The limited context of transformation is established by the fact that the word "wood" is in quotes, indicating by common language convention that it is not the genuine article.

As the effectiveness of fire fuel is based on the composition of a material, not the consistency of a material, this "wood" bone burns as well as any other bone.

However, when it come to material strength, this spell is ridiculous as bone is much denser than wood and should have substantially more SDC than the equivalent wood. To add 20% more SDC and weight but keep the same size would mean the bone should be transformed into something more akin to stone than wood. So, this spell's rationale of adding SDC to transformed bone material is poorly thought through.

[darthauthor]

Ah.
The problem is one of poor wording.

A better label for the spell would perhaps be, "Increase durability of bones."

I saw the word "Wood" and keep thinking of things that can be done with wood.
Wanted to touch bases with the brain trust here before trying to turn an animated skellton into
an instrument of vampire slaying if the bones hands can ''now' do the damage of wood when they punch or such.

I also had dream of loose interpretations on the word "wood."

[Grazzik]

Ah.
The problem is one of poor wording.

A better label for the spell would perhaps be, "Increase durability of bones."

I saw the word "Wood" and keep thinking of things that can be done with wood.
Wanted to touch bases with the brain trust here before trying to turn an animated skellton into
an instrument of vampire slaying if the bones hands can ''now' do the damage of wood when they punch or such.

I also had dream of loose interpretations on the word "wood."

Nothing stops you from using the spell modification rules in NB TtGD to have the effect you want... with GM approval

[ShadowLogan]

Keep in mind to that Vampires do take damage from magic, and the animated skeletons would be considered magic so they can at least hurt a vampire. And that is before turning them into "wood" (which would be another magic enchantment). Said skeletons could also wield wooden weapons (if you don't have a supply of said weapons, well...)

As for what can you do with bone, a lot actually and that is before the enchantment (FBtoW). There are examples of bone flutes (and tools) in the historical record, you can also make jewelry out of it (along with armor and again both are in the historical record). So really the spell's purpose is questionable, unless of course (the author/editor thinks) it just makes it easier to work as a building material (off hand I don't know which would be easier to work with for building purposes wood or bone) with the increased durability being more magically than physically based.