I have a bit of confusion about the Raise Dead spell. It states that it can raise a creature from the dead, but cannot do so if major organs needed for life are missing (such as the given example of a head).
Killing anyone though will likely severely damage or destroy major organs. Jabbing a sword through someone's heart will leave it in little pieces. Can that heart reform itself if Raise Dead is cast? What if an enemy purposefully grinds it up as best as possible in the chest so nothing is really left except fragments? What if they remove the main heart muscle?
Also, with the head issue - what if someone is beheaded, but the head is held onto the body and the spell is cast? How about if someone is cut in half lengthwise by a nasty trap and then held back together? I'm sure that'd do major organ damage, but if both halves were available?
Some of these particular situations may be arising soon, as you might guess. Best if I know ahead of time what my PCs can fix.
It's subjective, and probably just left up to DM discretion.
I'd assume a certain amount of "mend" occurs, I'd be find with a beheaded corpse being "sewing" together if by magic or thread, but part of it also has to do if you want a skeleton or a zombie.
Personally, I tend to be lax on the prerequisites for such things.
"Missing" is the term used in Raise Dead. If the head is right there, even detached, it's not exactly "missing", is it? :p
If a creature has eaten the victim's heart, or the head is missing due to an unwise dunk into lava or acid (perhaps due to a nefarious Suggestion), then it's truly missing. Time to break out the Resurrection.
As for the mending, Raise Dead mentions it closes all mortal wounds (which I presume bifurcation counts as... >.> ) but raises the victim with 1 hp, which means he/she/it is still a mess.
As a side note, remember that those spells have expensive material components that are lost on casting!
I would say more of a judgement call on whether or not Raise Dead would work. Generally, if an enemy is intentional about keeping the person from being raised, then they easily do so. I would say for 90% of the time in game, it really isn't going to matter that much. Most enemies aren't going to go the extra mile to keep someone from being able to be raised, and those that do will certainly succeed.
I'd say Onyx has it. If you have all the necessary parts, even if they're cut to ribbons, you still have them. If the organ is physically missing, then it might be time to improvise.
Thanks folks! Since "missing" is the key I'll try to be generous about what a chute that splits into two smaller chutes in the middle with a razor in between will do if they screw up on that door. 😝
Remember, LR is already "comic" and unrealistic. -- Thief jumps off cliff, takes massive damage that in real life would be broken legs, back, etc. Next day, it can dash again. I remember old versions where we had "homebrew" crit tables with 100 things that would happen on a roll of a 20.
But 5e with LR, etc. is not realistic damage...
I don't worry about these rules. If the party has the resources, what builds the story and lets the fun continue. If the character REALLY wants it for story, the character is raised without foot and the player takes movement effects from having a peg leg. But most times, the character is in the same condition as it was if the character had been reduced to zero and then made 3 death saves.
Don't force negative results on an unwilling character unless there is specific rules reasons, or they want for the story.
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--
DM -- Elanon -- Homebrew world
Gronn -- Tiefling Warlock -- Amarath
Slim -- Halfling Cleric -- CoS (future Lord of Waterdeep 😁)
Bran -- Human Wizard - RoT
Making D&D mistakes and having fun since 1977!
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I have a bit of confusion about the Raise Dead spell. It states that it can raise a creature from the dead, but cannot do so if major organs needed for life are missing (such as the given example of a head).
Killing anyone though will likely severely damage or destroy major organs. Jabbing a sword through someone's heart will leave it in little pieces. Can that heart reform itself if Raise Dead is cast? What if an enemy purposefully grinds it up as best as possible in the chest so nothing is really left except fragments? What if they remove the main heart muscle?
Also, with the head issue - what if someone is beheaded, but the head is held onto the body and the spell is cast? How about if someone is cut in half lengthwise by a nasty trap and then held back together? I'm sure that'd do major organ damage, but if both halves were available?
Some of these particular situations may be arising soon, as you might guess. Best if I know ahead of time what my PCs can fix.
It's subjective, and probably just left up to DM discretion.I'd assume a certain amount of "mend" occurs, I'd be find with a beheaded corpse being "sewing" together if by magic or thread, but part of it also has to do if you want a skeleton or a zombie.I mixed this up with Animate Dead!
Personally, I tend to be lax on the prerequisites for such things.
"Missing" is the term used in Raise Dead. If the head is right there, even detached, it's not exactly "missing", is it? :p
If a creature has eaten the victim's heart, or the head is missing due to an unwise dunk into lava or acid (perhaps due to a nefarious Suggestion), then it's truly missing. Time to break out the Resurrection.
As for the mending, Raise Dead mentions it closes all mortal wounds (which I presume bifurcation counts as... >.> ) but raises the victim with 1 hp, which means he/she/it is still a mess.
As a side note, remember that those spells have expensive material components that are lost on casting!
I would say more of a judgement call on whether or not Raise Dead would work. Generally, if an enemy is intentional about keeping the person from being raised, then they easily do so. I would say for 90% of the time in game, it really isn't going to matter that much. Most enemies aren't going to go the extra mile to keep someone from being able to be raised, and those that do will certainly succeed.
I'd say Onyx has it. If you have all the necessary parts, even if they're cut to ribbons, you still have them. If the organ is physically missing, then it might be time to improvise.
Thanks folks! Since "missing" is the key I'll try to be generous about what a chute that splits into two smaller chutes in the middle with a razor in between will do if they screw up on that door. 😝
We play with the unearthen arcana mystic ( the healing discipling with the raise dead likish psy power).
We fight against fire giants and a NPC receive a strike of 38 damage ( his HP was like 12/18 )
So like the NPC rules, he was dead but because of the Overkill damage I said that he was smash and chop in 2 pieces.
Another NPC armored dwarf get kill but with a blow like 30 damage with 25 hp / 30. So he's dead (NPC rules) but I accepte this one to be raise dead.
But not for the Overkill one.
Generous is a pretty good way to go. It is magic after all, and magic can do magical things.
If the party is going to raise an NPC back from the dead it's best to go ahead and give the NPC death saving throws.
Remember, LR is already "comic" and unrealistic. -- Thief jumps off cliff, takes massive damage that in real life would be broken legs, back, etc. Next day, it can dash again. I remember old versions where we had "homebrew" crit tables with 100 things that would happen on a roll of a 20.
But 5e with LR, etc. is not realistic damage...
I don't worry about these rules. If the party has the resources, what builds the story and lets the fun continue. If the character REALLY wants it for story, the character is raised without foot and the player takes movement effects from having a peg leg. But most times, the character is in the same condition as it was if the character had been reduced to zero and then made 3 death saves.
Don't force negative results on an unwilling character unless there is specific rules reasons, or they want for the story.
--
DM -- Elanon -- Homebrew world
Gronn -- Tiefling Warlock -- Amarath
Slim -- Halfling Cleric -- CoS (future Lord of Waterdeep 😁)
Bran -- Human Wizard - RoT
Making D&D mistakes and having fun since 1977!