Resurrection Rules

Character death can often prove to become a minor inconvenience in some campaigns once the adventuring party reaches a certain level, with spells being available to return fallen comrades from the afterlife with temporary setbacks, robbing a small element of danger, and threat to future conflicts and challenges within the story. The following homebrew resurrection rules by Matt Mercer are very popular and widely used, as they remove the aspect of resurrection spells that make them feel like a quick "undo" button for when a character dies. Matt's resurrection rules have been slightly altered to fit our own game.

## Resurrection Spells

### Revivify

This is the cheapest of the resurrection spells in terms of both money and spell level cost. It is a level 3 spell and costs only 300 gold worth of precious gems, however its scope is very limited, as it must be used upon a creature within a minute of its death. Creature returns to life with 1 hit point. This spell can't return life to a creature that died of old age, and it can't restore missing body parts.

### Raise Dead

This is more expensive than Revivify, costing a gemstone worth at least 500 gold and a 5th level spell slot, however the time frame for use is much larger. Touch a creature dead for no longer than 10 days. A resurrection ritual is required and, if its soul is both willing and at liberty to rejoin the body, the creature returns to life with 1 hit point. This spell has no effect on undead. This spell neutralizes poisons and cures nonmagical diseases. This spell doesn't remove magical effects. If they aren't removed prior to casting, they return when the creature comes back to life. This spell closes all mortal wounds, but doesn't restore missing body parts. If the creature doesn't have body parts or organs necessary for survival, the spell fails.

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a -4 penalty to all attacks, saves, and ability checks. Every time it finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.

### Resurrection

The resurrection spell requires an hour of preparation and a gem worth at least 1000 gold. You touch a creature that has been dead for no more than a century, didn't die of old age, and isn't undead. A resurrection ritual is required and, if its soul is willing, the target returns to life with all its hit points. This spell neutralizes any poisons and cures normal diseases. It doesn't, however, remove magical diseases, curses, and the like. This spell closes all mortal wounds and restores any missing body parts.

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a -4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.

If you use this spell on a creature that has been dead for one year or longer, you can't cast spells, and have disadvantage on all attacks, ability checks, and saves until you finish a long rest.

#### Forced Resurrection

The resurrect spell above, but more forceful in that this version of the ritual forces a spirit to return to it's body. In order for this to be successful, a blood sacrifice is required, as is an object that the deceased greatly favoured in life. The object must be bathed in the blood of the sacrificed individual before the resurrection ritual is performed.

### True Resurrect

The resurrection spell requires an hour of preparation and a gem worth at least 25,000 gold. You touch a creature that has been dead for no longer than 200 years and that died for any reason except old age. A resurrection ritual is required and, if the creature's soul is free and willing, it's restored to life with all its hit points.

This spell closes all wounds, neutralizes any poison, cures all diseases, and lifts any curses. The spell replaces damaged or missing organs and limbs. If the creature was undead, it is restored to its non-undead form.

The spell can provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must speak the creature's name. The creature appears in an unoccupied space you choose within 10 feet of you.

### Reincarnation

If no material matter remains of the individual that one wishes to bring back from the dead, or an individual with a regular resurrection spell is not available, the Reincarnate spell may be used. Requires 1000 gold worth of oils. Touch a dead humanoid, or a piece of one, that's died in the last 10 days. The spell makes a new adult body for its soul. A resurrection ritual is required and, if the target's soul isn't free or willing to come back to life, the spell fails.

The DM picks the new body by rolling 1d100 that determines the character's new race and gender. The number rolled determines the new body for the soul, which may not be the same race as the old body. The creature remembers its old life and retains its capabilities save for its racial traits, which must be changed if it's given a new race. See the **Reincarnation** page for a list of races that your character could become if brought back to life from the Reincarnation spell.

## The Resurrection Ritual

### Resurrection Challenge

If a character is dead, and a resurrection is attempted by a spell or spell effect with longer than a 1 action casting time, a Resurrection Challenge is initiated. Up to 3 individuals who knew the deceased can offer to contribute to the ritual via a Contribution Skill Check. The DM asks them each to make a skill check based on their form of contribution, with the DC of the check adjusting to how helpful/impactful the DM feels the contribution would be.

For example, praying to the god of the devout, fallen character may require an Intelligence (Religion) check at an easy to medium difficulty, where loudly demanding the soul of the fallen to return from the aether may require a Charisma (Intimidation) check at a very hard or nearly impossible difficulty. Advantage and disadvantage can apply here based on how perfect, or off base, the contribution offered is which is, again, decided by the DM if it is an NPC. If the ritual is being used to restore a PC, the DM will confer with the player of the dead PC to gauge whether or not the contributions are effective.

After all contributions are completed, the DM then rolls a single, final resurrection success check with no modifier. The base DC for the final resurrection check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone (signifying the slow erosion of the soul’s connection to this world). For each successful contribution skill check, this DC is decreased by 3, whereas each failed contribution skill check increases the DC by 1.

Upon a successful resurrection check, the character’s soul (should it be willing) will be returned to the body, and the ritual succeeded. On a failed check, the soul does not return and the character is lost.

Only the strongest of magical incantations can bypass this resurrection challenge, in the form of the True Resurrection or Wish spells. These spells can also restore a character to life who was lost due to a failed resurrection ritual.

### Examples of Contributions

When a resurrection ritual has begun and the other PCs and/or available NPCs are seeking to return the deceased to their body (or new body via reincarnation), the contributions they provide are to have emotional or sentimental meaning and usually involves the contributor's relationship with the deceased. Other than telling the deceased what they meant to the living, some examples of contributions to serve as inspiration are...

**Barbarian:** Trophies of their conquests, their weapon, tales of their victories, music featuring war drums, firm and to the point speeches, personal belongings.

**Bard:** Inspiring poems or songs about them, performances befitting of their personality, stories of their adventures, their musical instrument(s), personal belongings.

**Cleric:** A prayer to the cleric's deity, cleric's holy symbol, candles and incense, an expression of what they meant to everyone, personal belongings.

**Druid:** A beloved animal companion, beseeching Ehlonna for assistance, soil of the earth, personal belongings.

**Fighter:** Their armor or weapons, trophies, firm and to the point speeches, personal belongings.

**Knight:** Their sword or shield, pieces of their riding gear, or any signets or other objects showing their status.

**Monk:** Display of their martial arts, meditation in deceased's memory, candles and incense, personal belongings.

**Paladin:** Reminding the deceased of their oath, paladin's holy symbol, stories of how they have changed the world, their weapon, personal belongings.

**Plague Doctor:** Medical doctrines and tomes, their plague mask or tools of the trade, remedies or viral agents that they have created.

**Ranger:** Their animal companion, their bow and/or quiver, a preferred type of arrow, trophy from their preferred foe, personal belongings.

**Rogue:** Expensive jewelry or gold coins, preferred weapons, tales of their exploits, personal belongings.

**Sorcerer:** Magic items of significance, sign of their ancestry, their familiar, personal belongings.

**Warlock:** The warlock's weapon, beseeching their patron for assistance, their familiar, personal belongings.

**Wizard:** The wizard's quarterstaff or spellbook, their familiar, magic scrolls and tomes, personal belongings.