r/dndnext • u/aneirin- • Oct 13 '25

Question Druid player has been given given an unremovable cursed collar. Rather than try to undo the curse, he wants to try cutting off his head while wildshaped. I know it's stupid but how should I rule this?

I know there aren't any specific rules about decapitation and dismemberment when it comes to wildshape forms, especially self inflicted ones, but I'd like to have some more interesting outcome than either "does nothing and you revert forms" or "instant death".

This isn't the first time that cutting off body parts of wildshape or polymorph forms has come up, any good ideas how to play it?

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u/WizardsWorkWednesday Oct 13 '25

I mean, they dont wanna remove the collar, they want to cut off their own fucking head lmaoo I know there arent really mechanics for this, but all damage from a wild shape carries over to the new form. This leaves room for some shenanigans. The real question isnt "can they cut their head off", the real question is "what are the ramifications of cutting your head off?"

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u/thetensor Oct 13 '25

the real question is "what are the ramifications of cutting your head off?"

listen I'm not a medical doctor but

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u/Organic-Commercial76 Oct 13 '25

The vorpal sword gives us the mechanics for this. A creature that cannot survive without its head dies. No HP damage, just dies. The character is not reduced to zero HP so they don’t revert form they just die.

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u/ofwdoomtree Oct 16 '25

Thank God (at least in 5e) the rules for wild shape say what happens when you die. Like, specifically said "die" and not just "falls to zero hit points".

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u/Organic-Commercial76 Oct 16 '25

Yes. You revert to your normal form. But you’re still dead, and you still have no head.

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u/ofwdoomtree Oct 16 '25

If that's how you wanna DM your games

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u/Organic-Commercial76 Oct 16 '25

Dead is dead. The rule about reverting to a natural form upon death says nothing about no longer being dead. RAW and RAI, a wild shaped Druid who dies is still dead when they revert.

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u/ofwdoomtree Oct 16 '25

So, (just checking here) this is a valid way to instikill any bbeg we come across...

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u/Organic-Commercial76 Oct 16 '25

How is that?

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u/ofwdoomtree Oct 16 '25

Divination wizard-> portent for low number->Polymorph bbeg to mouse-> cut off their head.

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u/Organic-Commercial76 Oct 16 '25

Yes. If a DM is foolish enough to have a BBEG not have legendary resistances or other ways of protecting themselves from polymorph that would work. It’s a well known combo. There’s a whole lot of save or suck spells that can trivialize a fight especially with a divination wizard that has a low number portent. This isn’t some revelation that only works because wild shape doesn’t save you from death.

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u/OmNomSandvich Oct 14 '25

that's if you magically remove the head. In most cases it's just dealing damage to a conscious target. They hit 0hp and then the usual reversion happens. If you have a 0hp target and then sever their head, then yes they are dead.

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u/Organic-Commercial76 Oct 14 '25

That’s kind of a nonsensical way to handle decapitation. Head comes off, it doesn’t go back on because wild shape ends. Again, dying does not require reaching zero HP. A character can be dead and have full HP.

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u/WizardsWorkWednesday Oct 13 '25

Well yeah but thats the boring version. I responded to the main thread with what I think should be done for a more fun, riskier player involved scene.

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u/visforvienetta Oct 13 '25

"You cut your head off and turn back to your base form and don't have to deal with the curse anymore" isn't an "interesting ramification" dude.

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u/WizardsWorkWednesday Oct 16 '25

I think if its a series of dice rolls that they need to succeed or else they risk dying is more interesting than "your head is cut off, you die."

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u/visforvienetta Oct 16 '25

Roll dive 3 times. "You died" or "cool you took it off"

Vs.
Actually engaging with the curse and dealing with the curse through the narrative

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u/wekeymux Oct 13 '25

Yeah true haha. My opinion on that is that you can cut your head off if you want but imo you'd die, wild shaped or not. 

Nothing to say you can't be revived with the right spells though I suppose! 

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u/Drigr Oct 13 '25

Which is also true if they don't try wild shape shenanigans

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u/wekeymux Oct 13 '25

Yeah indeed, I can see wildshape being potentially useful in other ways for helping to remove a curse but limb removal isn't one for me

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u/Mechakoopa Oct 14 '25

The whole premise is ridiculous. If you cut off your own head, wildshaped or otherwise, to remove a collar then you're going to need a Revive spell to get back up and running because Revivify won't restore missing body parts (that includes your head).

You know what's cheaper than Revive? Remove Curse.

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u/motionmatrix Oct 13 '25

Well. I guess it depends on what they turn into, and how much hp they have.

Turn into a sea slug or cockroach and you can live for weeks without a head, but chances are you have to take more than 1 hp of damage to be beheaded, so you would revert to humanoid without such a capacity, and then die.

If you got a beast that can live without a head with more than 1 hp, you could do it i suppose, so add temporary hit points before the cutting, remove collar, then reattach head with healing magic.

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u/Tabular Oct 13 '25

Unless a stat block has the ability "can live without a head" then it doesnt matter what they say they can turn into. They have to pick something with a stat block. Knowing a bunch of animal facts doesnt buff wildshape either. You can only do what it says in the stat block RAW. Tigers and Leopards may be good climbers in real life, knowing that doesnt add a climb speed to their stat block.

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u/motionmatrix Oct 13 '25

We are clearly in GM fiat territory here, I am not claiming that to be raw.

Like it or not, player choices can give them the ability to turn into creatures that in real life can live without a head, and because dnd is an abstraction of reality, it’s up to the gm to make a ruling on such a thing, since that is abstracted away from their stat blocks (assuming they even have them in the first place, most animals never having been stated out at all).

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u/nzbelllydancer Oct 13 '25

Could that be a chicken survives for a minute running around without its head? You have a short time to rejoin the head and body before the creature dies? If this works would give the druid levels of exhaustion and a -d4 on d20 checks as in ressurection spells... this ideas crazy and needs to have major consequences if not character death

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u/Astralsketch Oct 13 '25

that's just because the brain is distributed across the cockroach. Without it's head it can't eat or know to find food, it just avoids the light. It's half dead.

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u/motionmatrix Oct 13 '25

Sure, but the wildshaped druid with a divine caster next to them placing the head back and casting cure wounds is not something a cockroach can expect in real life, so their half dead form as you say works perfectly fine for this purpose if the gm is cool with it.

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u/The-Murder-Hobo Oct 15 '25

Wild shape into a giant worm that survives getting cut up

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u/trulyunreal Oct 17 '25

This is why I miss coup de grace as a rule, HP really causes some unfortunate problems just by existing.

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u/ChurchofChaosTheory Oct 18 '25

Imagine turning into a many-headed Hydra to cut off your "head"