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Bob the wizard and his chums have encountered a black pudding and Bob has cast Slow on it to give him some time to run for it. However, helpfully, the next round the parties tank, Kevin the Barbarian, smacks the pudding with his greatsword and splits the pudding in two.

What happens to the slow spell? The Split info for the pudding is minimal.

Split (Ex) Slashing and piercing weapons deal no damage to a black pudding. Instead, the creature splits into two identical puddings, each with half of the original's current hit points (round down). A pudding with 10 hit points or less cannot be further split and dies if reduced to 0 hit points.

Are both puddings still affected by the slow spell?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Rules as written I can't see that there are any, as the sum total of the description of the rule is posted above, but there may have been a ruling somewhere that I couldn't find from my web grep \$\endgroup\$ – Rob Dec 2 '15 at 15:20
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    \$\begingroup\$ Only tangentially related, but maybe worth a link: Can you heal a split black pudding? \$\endgroup\$ – Ilmari Karonen Dec 2 '15 at 17:19
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Both Puddings Are Slowed

In this case, both puddings should be slowed. This isn't specific to being slowed, it should be true of any condition or spell effect.

Spells and conditions have definite points at which they terminate. A spell doesn't end unless a certain condition is met (the duration is met, counterspell, etc.) - and the Split ability isn't one of them.

Detailed Explanation

I'm going to walk through this inductively, since there isn't a single rule to reference:

Both puddings are either afflicted with the spell or condition, or neither is. The text of the black pudding's ability says (emphasis mine):

Split (Ex) Slashing and piercing weapons deal no damage to a black pudding. Instead, the creature splits into two identical puddings, each with half of the original's current hit points (round down). A pudding with 10 hit points or less cannot be further split and dies if reduced to 0 hit points.

If one of the new puddings is slowed, but the other isn't, than they aren't identical.

Both puddings must be slowed, since the Slow spell hasn't ended yet. Two possibilities remain: either both puddings are slowed, or neither is.

Slow has a duration of 1 round per level. Without some other effect that removes slow (such as Haste), it stays until the duration is met. The black pudding's Split ability does not explicitly remove any magical effects or conditions.

Limitations This interpretation follows from the rules text, but relies on the non-existence of a clarifying rule. If someone does find a specific rule that governs this, it would be authoritative.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Another condition for a spell effect ending is (usually) the creature dying (or ceasing to exist in a meaningful way). This is what D7 points out in his answer. \$\endgroup\$ – GreySage Dec 2 '15 at 20:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ @GreySage I was going to comment that possibility too, then realised it should be an answer and wrote it. Note that I think this is a good answer! I'm not personally sure which is/should be the correct answer actually, but I knew the site would be well-served to have two posts on the opposite interpretations to vote on. (Hence why I +1 this too.) \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Dec 2 '15 at 20:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ I +1'ed both, since they are both reasonable, and there isn't any hard ruling on it. \$\endgroup\$ – GreySage Dec 2 '15 at 20:37
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm accepting this one because this is the one I'd go for; but when it comes down to it D7's answer is also very valid as well. My reasoning is (after due deliberation) that slow, like other status effects, would persist across the new puddings when they come into affect, so if the original pudding was on fire when it split the two new ones should both be on fire (to my mind at least). That said I +1'd both answers! \$\endgroup\$ – Rob Dec 7 '15 at 8:07
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Neither pudding is slowed

As counter-intuitive as it is, each pudding is free of any conditions suffered by the parent, as each is a new creature:

Split (Ex) Slashing and piercing weapons deal no damage to a black pudding. Instead, the creature splits into two identical puddings, each with half of the original's current hit points (round down). A pudding with 10 hit points or less cannot be further split and dies if reduced to 0 hit points.

There are three puddings involved, as identified by the ability: the original, and two (necessarily new) identical puddings. Any effects suffered by the original are still attached to that original creature, but since it no longer exists, the spell effect ends due to no longer having its original target to continue affecting.

(This is something that I would personally house-rule to the contrary, though, since it makes more sense to me, as a fiction-driven GM, to have the spell persist on the two new puddings.)

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    \$\begingroup\$ I'd argue this way if only to prevent shenanigans like some smartass shoving all his diamonds (because, sure, those are stones) into the pudding and chopping away to make more diamonds! \$\endgroup\$ – Hey I Can Chan Dec 2 '15 at 20:20
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    \$\begingroup\$ Actually, that's totally a thing en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banach%E2%80%93Tarski_paradox \$\endgroup\$ – indigochild Dec 2 '15 at 21:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ +1 I can see the reasoning both ways; but have accepted the other answer as detailed in that one. \$\endgroup\$ – Rob Dec 7 '15 at 8:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ This answer is easier to handle when you get to spells like hex or hunter's mark. In theory, if a spell on the original affected the new ones, you'd end up with multiple marks or hexes to move around, which is clearly just a little bit game-breaking. \$\endgroup\$ – anaximander Feb 12 '16 at 14:47

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