Survivability of the Namekian through regeneration

[Lionel]

I've had this question for awhile now. We hear from Piccolo that he's capable of regenerating his body so long as his head remains in-tact. It's fairly safe to assume that all Namekians share in this inherent stipulation of their regenerative ability. What we don't know is what constitutes as being too severe of trauma for a Namekian to be unable to regenerate. Say the Namekian loses his jawbone or an eye, could he still regenerate? What about cranial trauma? We don't know what the limit is exactly.

[Kaboom]

I'd imagine having an intact brain is probably the clincher.

[PerhapsTheOtherOne]

I've had this question for awhile now. We hear from Piccolo that he's capable of regenerating his body so long as his head remains in-tact. It's fairly safe to assume that all Namekians share in this inherent stipulation of their regenerative ability. What we don't know is what constitutes as being too severe of trauma for a Namekian to be unable to regenerate. Say the Namekian loses his jawbone or an eye, could he still regenerate? What about cranial trauma? We don't know what the limit is exactly.

It also seems to depend on the strength of the Namekian in question.

For example, lower-level Namekians like King Piccolo, Piccolo Jr. against Nappa, and the warriors who defended their villages on Namek didn't require much to be killed, at least in terms of damage to their bodies.

Later on, however, when we saw stronger Namekians like Piccolo after fusing with Kami or Saonel and Pirina, their regeneration was immensely powerful and capable of the above. Overall, though, it seems as though the strength of the assailant matters more than the regeneration of a Namekian; Piccolo still died from a chest-blast from First Form Freeza, for example.

If it hits a vital area like the chest or head and the assailant is strong enough, a Namekian's just gonna flat-out die regardless of whether or not their head is intact.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Then again, we've seen Namekians killed 3 times now without their heads being damaged (Piccolo Daimao vs. Goku, Piccolo vs. Freeza, fused Namek vs. Moro).

[theherodjl]

Namekian regeneration seems to work like an octopus' in that its designed to merely regrow limbs but not handle intense trauma to the head or center region. Its really kind of a bad form of regen like that, Cell's version of it being superior though because he also has Freeza's intense ability to survive even being reduced to pieces.

[Lionel]

I wish we had the opportunity to see more of Saonel and Pirina's regeneration. They seemed to epitomise their species' attributes. One of the most glaring weaknesses to their regeneration seemed to be the stamina drain. All those Namekian assimilations appear to have given U6's strongest Namekian pair a potent amount of vitality that allow them to reconstitute their body with little consumptive consequence.

[BWri]

I've had this question for awhile now. We hear from Piccolo that he's capable of regenerating his body so long as his head remains in-tact. It's fairly safe to assume that all Namekians share in this inherent stipulation of their regenerative ability. What we don't know is what constitutes as being too severe of trauma for a Namekian to be unable to regenerate. Say the Namekian loses his jawbone or an eye, could he still regenerate? What about cranial trauma? We don't know what the limit is exactly.

I honestly think this is a flub from Toryama-san. He was likely thinking of Cell or the current villain Buu while writing this. This statement always made me think of Cell's regen, who also had the (mistaken) idea that he needed the nucleus in his head to regen from any injury.

The most extreme namekien injury healed had to be the hole imperfect Cell blasted through Piccolo's side and abdomen. That's internal organs (and maybe ribs) vaporized. He managed to heal that and find his way to shore before being saved by Goku. I think all limbs are fair game for Namekian regen and some internal organs, but if Piccolo's entire body shattered I don't think he's surviving that.

If it wasn't a flub then it's simply been retconned by the Super anime since a Frieza beam through his chest can easily kill him.

I used to think the Buu saga statement made sense, because the more ki he has the easier it should be to regenerate, but Piccolo seemed winded even after losing a single arm to Tagoma and couldn't regen at all after Frieza's attack. Somehow the regen scales in the anime sapping the same percentage of his overall power no matter what.