Except perhaps for wish, I don't believe it's possible for a PC to do so. There have been "killed with no resurrection" effects in past editions, but I don't think any of them survived to 5th.
If you can permanently trap their soul (can't think of any spells) or body (imprisonment), you can keep them out of circulation as long as that effect holds. If you could kill them and trap their soul for 200 years, they're fully dead.
True Resurrection's ability to revive without the body requires the body not exist, not just not be present, so there are various tricks one can play with that. True Polymorph also has potential. (They're not dead -- they're just an anonymous tortoise on an island somewhere.)
If you can kill them, destroy the body, and completely remove their name from everybody's memory, that'd work as well, but that seems like a harder wish to get than "no resurrection".
The main defense is that most enemies aren't important enough to blow a 9th level spell on. Even the king of a kingdom. (And, in a world where the dead can be raised, the laws of succession in any established kingdom will cover the question. The old king is likely done once they're officially dead, because any other way leads to imposters and civil wars. (OK, the civil wars are probably unavoidable if a king comes back and tries to depose their successor, but you can try.))
Scarcity is the biggest deterrent, though it's not something the players can really facilitate. Generally casters who can cast True Res are like saints or whatever the evil equivalent would be; you could probably count the number of them known to be active on a continent with 1 hand. Plus 25K gp of diamonds is a trove that would impress an ancient dragon, so accessibility of the components is an easy limiting factor too.
Scarcity is the biggest deterrent, though it's not something the players can really facilitate. Generally casters who can cast True Res are like saints or whatever the evil equivalent would be; you could probably count the number of them known to be active on a continent with 1 hand. Plus 25K gp of diamonds is a trove that would impress an ancient dragon, so accessibility of the components is an easy limiting factor too.
I was going to say something along these lines as well. I think too many times people assume adventurers, especially high level ones, are ubiquitous.
True resurrection does not require the body be gone. It can be used to heal anything left. It could even regrow the whole body from a finger.
But if the body is totally gone then you need to speak the name of the individual you want to bring back.
And as always the soul must want to come back.
Now an evil person could steal the body of the good king and leave his own finger behind. If someone tries to resurrect the good king all they will get is the evil guy.
Well - here's a way: Toss the king through a gate to the elemental plane of fire. Quick, clean, effective - can't be ressurrected, get's rid of the evidence, only requires you to be an epic level caster and pick gate as your 9th level spell.
I suppose a more general purpose way of doing it is otyughs. No matter how much you want to ressurrect someone, no one is going to sift through otyugh offal to find something to cast the spell on.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Stay with the King keeping them alive and imprisoned for the next 30 days, after which the King dies of old age.
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a true resurrection is kind of rare so most people won't have access to it, probably not even kings so precautions against it specifically aren't going to be too common. That said anything that makes the soul unavailable will work. That's anything that gets rid of some one without killing them or controls where their soul goes .
Other than that you need to destroy their body and their name, destroying a body thoroughly is easy but making it so no one knows their name is hard. It will likely require allot of work or a 9th level spell to make it so no one can recite the name to bring them back. Some spells that might do it are wish or perhaps a level 9 bestow curse as that also leaves other options open to the dm. Though I think eliminating some ones name is likely to create some issues when it comes to undead ect..
True Resurrection's ability to revive without the body requires the body not exist, not just not be present, so there are various tricks one can play with that. True Polymorph also has potential. (They're not dead -- they're just an anonymous tortoise on an island somewhere.)
I prefer to turn people into objects. Who doesn't want a sword made from a demon prince?
In a world with True Resurrection how do you make sure a target you kill STAYS dead and don't come back.
Like if I kill the king of a Kingdom, he might have the necessary means to get true resurrected.
So how do you make sure, that the spell fails? as a player that is.
Except perhaps for wish, I don't believe it's possible for a PC to do so. There have been "killed with no resurrection" effects in past editions, but I don't think any of them survived to 5th.
If you can permanently trap their soul (can't think of any spells) or body (imprisonment), you can keep them out of circulation as long as that effect holds. If you could kill them and trap their soul for 200 years, they're fully dead.
True Resurrection's ability to revive without the body requires the body not exist, not just not be present, so there are various tricks one can play with that. True Polymorph also has potential. (They're not dead -- they're just an anonymous tortoise on an island somewhere.)
If you can kill them, destroy the body, and completely remove their name from everybody's memory, that'd work as well, but that seems like a harder wish to get than "no resurrection".
The main defense is that most enemies aren't important enough to blow a 9th level spell on. Even the king of a kingdom. (And, in a world where the dead can be raised, the laws of succession in any established kingdom will cover the question. The old king is likely done once they're officially dead, because any other way leads to imposters and civil wars. (OK, the civil wars are probably unavoidable if a king comes back and tries to depose their successor, but you can try.))
Scarcity is the biggest deterrent, though it's not something the players can really facilitate. Generally casters who can cast True Res are like saints or whatever the evil equivalent would be; you could probably count the number of them known to be active on a continent with 1 hand. Plus 25K gp of diamonds is a trove that would impress an ancient dragon, so accessibility of the components is an easy limiting factor too.
I was going to say something along these lines as well. I think too many times people assume adventurers, especially high level ones, are ubiquitous.
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True resurrection does not require the body be gone. It can be used to heal anything left. It could even regrow the whole body from a finger.
But if the body is totally gone then you need to speak the name of the individual you want to bring back.
And as always the soul must want to come back.
Now an evil person could steal the body of the good king and leave his own finger behind. If someone tries to resurrect the good king all they will get is the evil guy.
Well - here's a way: Toss the king through a gate to the elemental plane of fire. Quick, clean, effective - can't be ressurrected, get's rid of the evidence, only requires you to be an epic level caster and pick gate as your 9th level spell.
I suppose a more general purpose way of doing it is otyughs. No matter how much you want to ressurrect someone, no one is going to sift through otyugh offal to find something to cast the spell on.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
True Resurections limitations are:
So you can:
Abduct King into somewhere secure.
Cast Time Ravage on King.
Stay with the King keeping them alive and imprisoned for the next 30 days, after which the King dies of old age.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Not bad, but the king may have the defense of "few enough HP that he dies instantly from the spell". :)
Any Hellfire Weapon should do it IMO. If the soul is reborn then it shouldn't be available to be resurrected.
a true resurrection is kind of rare so most people won't have access to it, probably not even kings so precautions against it specifically aren't going to be too common. That said anything that makes the soul unavailable will work. That's anything that gets rid of some one without killing them or controls where their soul goes .
Other than that you need to destroy their body and their name, destroying a body thoroughly is easy but making it so no one knows their name is hard. It will likely require allot of work or a 9th level spell to make it so no one can recite the name to bring them back. Some spells that might do it are wish or perhaps a level 9 bestow curse as that also leaves other options open to the dm. Though I think eliminating some ones name is likely to create some issues when it comes to undead ect..
I prefer to turn people into objects. Who doesn't want a sword made from a demon prince?
I like to turn people into small iron figurines of themselves. Make a whole collection and never forget who is who.