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The mending Cantrip says:

This spell repairs a single break or tear in an object you touch, such as a broken chain link, two halves of a broken key, a torn cloak, or a leaking wineskin. As long as the break or tear is no larger than 1 foot in any dimension, you mend it, leaving no trace of the former damage. This spell can physically repair a magic item or construct, but the spell can't restore magic to such an object.

I see no reason why this shouldn’t be allowed to repair breaks in bones of a corpse, as corpses in 5E are objects. Is there something I’m missing as to why this wouldn’t be allowed or is my understanding correct?

I do understand that this may be a RAW vs RAI issue, but I’m asking for the RAW answer not the RAI answer.

Thomas Markov
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BloodySprinkles
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    Two questions. First off, what's your use case for this, what do you plan on doing with those bones after they've been Mended (if they can be)? I know this may sound weird, but I ask because questions that ask an isolated 'does this work' with this little context tend to be XY problems. – Stop Being Evil Aug 30 '20 at 04:18
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    And second, you've quoted all the individual rules already and are asking us if you read them correctly. This usually stems from some extra uncertainty, which A) is what really needs to be addressed here, and B) isn't clear from the question. Why are the posted rules not enough to answer the question? – Stop Being Evil Aug 30 '20 at 04:21
  • First Answer - If the bones aren’t broken and are fully repaired, it is just a pile of bones again and should be able to be used to anime dead. This can be contested by the DM and is a general point of contention. However, most arguments are about this being not RAI but is RAW and claim they would just break the skeleton’s bones. Which implies my question as a solution. – BloodySprinkles Aug 30 '20 at 04:54
  • Second Answer- My uncertainty comes due to the issue of it being a corpse which is technically an object, but I can’t use it to knit skin back together. However a broken bone is also an object...for example. If my Ally dies, I cannot reattach their arm with Mending and then resurrect them because although they’re a Corpse which is an object, it doesn’t follow the ruling/intentions of the spells and corpses tend to get different rulings than normal even though they are objects in 5E. I’m unsure if bones follow this same reasoning, especially when separated from flesh, sinew, and muscle. – BloodySprinkles Aug 30 '20 at 04:55
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    So... is the real question "can a piles of bones be animated via Animate Dead even if some of the bones are broken"? – Purple Monkey Aug 30 '20 at 05:52
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    https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/04/can-mending-be-used-to-fix-brokensevered-limbs-of-corpses/ this is basically where I fall because that answer doesn’t give me very much to work with and that answer is too subjective. If your DM says so is the answer to everything and therefore isn’t a real answer in the first place. Hence why I’m here. – BloodySprinkles Aug 30 '20 at 12:07
  • I actually found the answer I was looking for on a similar question (Can Mending be used to reattach severed body parts?) so I will be closing this. Thank you though. – BloodySprinkles Aug 30 '20 at 12:12

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