I'm somewhat new to the wizard class and I am wanting to play a necromancer. I know as a necromancer you can raise the dead and stuff but what are the rules surrounding making bringing back powerful characters as zombies. For example, if I killed Strahd is there a way that I could make him my zombie puppet, or is this up to DM discretion? Also, could I bring back dead player characters as zombies? Thanks in advance for any info.
You can raise any living corpse as a zombie. But it will just be a zombie........ It will not have class levels or abilities. There is no difference between raising a CR 0 field worker or level 20 player character the stats will be exactly the same.
Oh and its important to remember that a creature turned into a zombie cant be raised from the dead by anything short of a 9th level spell or direct intervention from a God. So raising the corpses of other players or NPC's you need information from is a very good way to get yourself kicked out of a gaming group.
I don't see anywhere in the spell description that is stops the creature from being raised, as you are just using the body as a container for dark magic.
It would stop them from getting the body if that is what you are saying, and that sounds like a fun quest.
I don't see anywhere in the spell description that is stops the creature from being raised, as you are just using the body as a container for dark magic.
It would stop them from getting the body if that is what you are saying, and that sounds like a fun quest.
From the 5th level spell Raise Dead.
"The spell can't return an undead creature to life"
From the 7th level spell Resurrection
"You touch a dead creature that has been dead for no more than a century, that didn't die of old age, and that isn't undead."
From the 9th level spell True Resurrection.
"If the creature was undead, it is restored to its non-undead form."
Once you raise a corpse as an undead you change its creature type from humanoid to undead. Even if you kill it again it stays as an undead corpse and not a humanoid corpse. In D&D humanoid creature doesn't mean a human shaped body like you might expect; its a tag in the monster stat block that determines how other game mechanics interact with it. For example giants don't count as humanoid even though they look a lot like humans.
I'm somewhat new to the wizard class and I am wanting to play a necromancer. I know as a necromancer you can raise the dead and stuff but what are the rules surrounding making bringing back powerful characters as zombies. For example, if I killed Strahd is there a way that I could make him my zombie puppet, or is this up to DM discretion? Also, could I bring back dead player characters as zombies? Thanks in advance for any info.
You can raise any living corpse as a zombie. But it will just be a zombie........ It will not have class levels or abilities. There is no difference between raising a CR 0 field worker or level 20 player character the stats will be exactly the same.
Oh and its important to remember that a creature turned into a zombie cant be raised from the dead by anything short of a 9th level spell or direct intervention from a God. So raising the corpses of other players or NPC's you need information from is a very good way to get yourself kicked out of a gaming group.
I don't see anywhere in the spell description that is stops the creature from being raised, as you are just using the body as a container for dark magic.
It would stop them from getting the body if that is what you are saying, and that sounds like a fun quest.
When the DM smiles, it is already to late.
From the 5th level spell Raise Dead.
"The spell can't return an undead creature to life"
From the 7th level spell Resurrection
"You touch a dead creature that has been dead for no more than a century, that didn't die of old age, and that isn't undead."
From the 9th level spell True Resurrection.
"If the creature was undead, it is restored to its non-undead form."
Once you raise a corpse as an undead you change its creature type from humanoid to undead. Even if you kill it again it stays as an undead corpse and not a humanoid corpse. In D&D humanoid creature doesn't mean a human shaped body like you might expect; its a tag in the monster stat block that determines how other game mechanics interact with it. For example giants don't count as humanoid even though they look a lot like humans.
Sorry, I did not read those spell descriptions.
When the DM smiles, it is already to late.
You couldn't raise Strahd von Zarovich as a zombie, he's already an undead.
There is no dawn after eternal night.
Homebrew: Magic items, Subclasses
If you kill a zombie, it ceases to be undead and raise/resurrection spells work normally on it again.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.