How would a Flesh to Stone'd Hydra with Shape Stone cast on it regrow limbs once Stone to Flesh is cast on it?

Question

So, I'm trying to make a fast food/business wizard (McCaster's Burgers). The idea being that I capture a Hydra and preserve it with flesh to stone. Whenever I need more meat for the Big Cast Burger, I would cast stone to flesh on the Hydra, cut off a head, let it regrow and then re-stone it to preserve the freshness of the Hydra.

Infinite meat here, so the Hydra could supply a McCaster's restaurant forever. I'm ending world hunger, 1 spell at a time. I can even sell them cheap, as the production costs are low.

Now the problem here is PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Aberrations). My wizard needs to hide the Hydra. I was thinking once the hydra is turned to stone, I could shape it into a flower bed using Shape Stone. Now the problem is what happens when I turn the Hydra thats been altered as such back to flesh using stone to flesh?

none of these spells do damage per-say.

I am not cutting anything until they are in flesh state.

If I cut a Hydra flower head from the Hydra bed, would the Hydra regrow a head, and in what shape?

Answer 1

The flesh to stone spell notes that: "If the statue resulting from this spell is broken or damaged, the subject (if ever returned to its original state) has similar damage or deformities." So breaking your hydra statue into a flower bed will certainly kill the hydra.

The stone to flesh spell requires a DC 15 Fortitude save to survive the process. (But note you could use break enchantment instead and not have this drawback.)

There are lots of less-involved ways to create food using spell slots. For example you could cast create food and water (and flavor it with prestidigitation), or you could cast heroes' feast or even goodberry.

Finally, note that you can cast stone to flesh on a pile of actual stone and you'll still get meat out of it. No need to involve a hydra -- just set up shop near a mountain.

Answer 2

The Flower Hydra Stone would turn into a horrible mess of meat and blood, and very likely dead once you cast stone to flesh again.

So, no regeneration possible once you are dead.

Answer 3

This should work fine in both 3.5 and Pathfinder (the spells are functionally the same and there's no polymorph subschool stuff going on), as long as you use the second listed power of the Stone to Flesh spell. The key issue there is to track the location of the hydra's soul, as

Such flesh is inert and lacking a vital life force unless a life force or magical energy is available. (For example, this spell would turn a stone golem into a flesh golem, but an ordinary statue would become a corpse.)

(Stone to flesh spell description)

When the hydra is petrified, the soul clearly remains with the statue; the hydra can't be raised, isn't dead, etc. The only question, then, is whether stone shape somehow automagically kills the hydra, which, lacking any indication that it does, it does not. Note that you could just as easily turn your hydra into a giant rat with the soul of a hydra, or anything else as long as you are ok with a hydra-soul for that matter, as the Stone to Flesh spell does not care what kind of body you are making so long as it is flesh and of the appropriate size. You will need a chiseller, however, to get the fine details impossible with Stone Shape right-- or else your hydra will be at least a little deformed and possibly very bloody.

Given the temperment of Hydras and the existence of your PETA group, however, you may want to use the soul of something more socially acceptable, like damned humans, and just trap them in your hydra body when you need to regenerate some meat.

Answer 4

This is using D&D 3.5 as the reference

It also isn't clear how you would transmute the stone hydra into a flower bed. You may intend to use Polymorph Any Object, but that has a duration and high difficult attached to it. Furthermore, cutting a flower would quite possibly kill the hydra.

Damage taken by the new form can result in the injury or death of the polymorphed creature. In general, damage occurs when the new form is changed through physical force.

If the hydra didn't die, it would transform back when the spell ends. At that time, the flower you cut off would likely transform back, as the spell is applied to the entire object and duration based.

Furthermore, that flower would probably wither and die. Most likely, nothing would grow in its place. As the spell states:

Unlike polymorph, polymorph any object does grant the creature the Intelligence score of its new form. If the original form didn’t have a Wisdom or Charisma score, it gains those scores as appropriate for the new form.

This indicates that, with the exception of special properties that grant bonuses, the polymorphed object will behave like what it has become.

This assumes that Polymorph Any Object is the spell you use to make the stone hyra into a flowerbed. If you are using a different spell, it needs to be specified to accurately answer the question.