Question! If a holy warrior dies for a just cause but still has work to do can a god bring him back to life? I know it depends on the dm if they allow that but just curious lore wise can they and if so what’s the consequences to it?
Generally, a god only resurrects a character via a cleric of that god cast Raise Dead, Resurrection, or another such spell on the character. Gods in most campaign worlds have restrictions that prevent them from simply actively doing something like raising someone from the dead just because they feel like it. But there might be an extraordinary circumstance that allows a god to bring a dead character back to life, but only as a one-time thing, not as a regular occurrence.
However, not even the mightiest D&D god can bring a player back from the dead.
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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.
I have to respectfully disagree with lyran. A god can do anything they want. That’s probably one of the best parts of being a god. As far as gods having restrictions in most campaigns, I’m not sure how anyone could know what happens in enough campaigns to make any kind of generalization about what happens in most of of them. I guess if you accept the premise that most people now run pre-written adventures in FR, and that’s the standard there, then that could be true. (I’ve been playing since 1e and never actually played in FR, so I honestly don’t know.)
But even then, a DM can choose to let the gods in their world, or their version of FR, do whatever they like.
This is entirely up to the DM and the campaign they are running, but my two cents:
A god can certainly resurrect a PC, and could even do it through some insane display of divine force and power, but they could just as likely send a cleric with the appropriate ability to find the PC's body and raise them. I would opt for the second route, where a Cleric/Priest NPC is given a holy quest to find the dead PC and raise them, but again, thats me, and your mileage may differ.
I would also say that the willingness of a god to do so, and their method of doing so, may differ based on the god's domain and alignment. Illmater might do a formal resurrection via cleric/divine intervention, Asmodeus might reincarnate them as a devil, Primus might insert their consciousness into a construct, or any of them might decide to do nothing.
There's several varieties of Undead that represent unfinished business, such as the Revenant, which could also work for a character like a Paladin whose force of personality and conviction for a cause give them supernatural powers. I'd hesitate to just let players respawn without any repercussions, lest it undermine the seriousness of death itself, but if your plot is sufficiently epic in scope you could be forgiven for letting the plot bring someone back one way or another.
What happens in novels is irrelevant to what happens in game, simply because the novels do not make rules. Novels officially set in the FR, and other WoTC settings, likely have a setting bible which tells authors what they are allowed to do, but that does not apply to the game. The novels are not the boss of anyone's game. :) The rules say nothing about what gods can or can't do. It's completely up to the DM if their gods have any restrictions or none at all. Its up to the DM if they want to let their gods raise someone or not, which means they can.
@6thlyran, I disagree with your logic. Just because a god can do everything doesn't mean they will do anything. They could just as easily sit back eating popcorn and watching what happens. Or take a nice nap for 2-3,000 years.
Gods grant powers to clerics and clerics can use those powers to resurrect other creatures. So far this is RAW.
It seems likely that a god would be able to skip the middle man and do the resurrection on their own. Even if not, they could probably decide to turn the nearest friendly PC, NPC, squirrel, snail or whatever living being into a cleric with the precise task to do the resurrecting.
However, most D&D settings have multiple gods and other supernatural forces, so even if a god could just resurrect a PC, there might be other gods (or devils and contracts) that might prevent them from doing so. Not *technically* of course, but politically. Think of Asmodeus knocking on the door of your PCs minor goddess and telling her that by cosmic law the PC signed a contract with devil X and therefore the soul belongs to him and he'd rather not have to discuss this in front of the Infernal Court, but if the goddess insists in the resurrection he might just have to do that. And potentially this could involve the legions of the nine hells storming the goddess' domain to get that soul back, and you wouldn't want that, right?
There's a pretty well-known example from Critical Role, but it's a hard spoiler for stuff that happens later in the series.
One of the characters becomes a Paladin of the Raven Queen after having multiple visions and interactions with her and is singled out as her Champion. During a battle with Vecna, the character was killed with the Disintegrate Spell, which reduces his entire body to ash. Vecna is essentially the Raven Queen's opposite... both are mortals who had ascended to Godhood, but while the Raven Queen represents True Death and the natural order, Vecna represents Undeath and defying the natural order. The other party members are high enough level to have access to resurrection spells that could bring their ally back, despite the lack of a body, but they lack the expensive diamonds or time necessary to do so. The player is given a one-on-one interaction with the DM where their character speaks to the Raven Queen directly. He is allowed to return to life as her Champion in order to battle Vecna, but it comes at a high cost... the character returns partially undead... mostly it's an RP thing and I don't recall there being any mechanical effects. But most importantly, while the Raven Queen allows him to defy death long enough to banish the evil God Vecna, once Vecna is defeated the character will be taken from the material plane... he cannot be revived again and will, definitively, die. If a God is going to interfere this directly in the actions of the game, it should always come at a great cost and never be done lightly.
You haven't proven it. First, just because you can't think of an example in a novel doesn't mean there isn't one. It also doesn't mean they can't, it simply means they have not. More importantly, there is not a single rule saying anything. I remember some 1e rules about greater, lesser and demigods, and what spells levels they could grant their clerics, but that's the only thing I can think of that even comes close, and nothing since then. And presumably the OP is not talking about 1e, so that wouldn't matter anyway.
And there is no such thing as lore of every edition. There is lore for specific settings, but the lore for FR doesn't matter at all if you're playing on Greyhawk, or Athas, or Krynn, or Mystara, or Eberron, etc. and it certainly doesn't matter in homebrew. And really, once you start playing in a setting, it kind of becomes homebrew to an extent as different groups will do different things in the various setting books, changing their world from canon, which is how it's supposed to be.
The OP question is whether or not they can. There is absolutely nothing which defines the powers of gods (beyond their domains) one way or the other. Maybe they might not want to, because of politics. Maybe they can't because that's the rules at your table (and I hope I'm not coming across as saying that everyone has to allow it. Certainly if you don't want it in your game, then you shouldn't have it.), but RAW, there's nothing that says they can't, and this is the rules forum.
Technically, they can, absolutely. Whether they should is another question. Usually once one character is resurrected, one of two things will happen. Either you'll have to let the next character who dies die for good, and that character's player will feel cheated because their friend's character got resurrected and theirs didn't. Or you'll have to keep resurrecting characters, and then the game feels boring because the players know they can't die, so there's no stakes anymore. Plus, spells like Resurrection exist for a reason—you don't want to risk making clerics less relevant! In fact, everyone might feel less relevant, because now that the gods are clearly established as able to do whatever they want on the mortal plane, there's no place in the world left for big epic heroes like the PCs.
So I guess what I'm saying is, yeah a god can resurrect a character, but please be very, very careful, because it can cause some campaign-breaking issues later on.
Question! If a holy warrior dies for a just cause but still has work to do can a god bring him back to life? I know it depends on the dm if they allow that but just curious lore wise can they and if so what’s the consequences to it?
Normally, the way a god would accomplish something like that is by dispatching a cleric or other being loyal to it to do the work. Lore-wise, in the Forgotten Realms setting the Second Sundering seems to have greatly restricted the ability of gods to directly affect the material plane.
I stand corrected. The OP was asking about lore. I can only assume that means FR lore, in which case listen to the people above about it. Rules-wise, I’m still going to stay with a god can do what they want, though.
The Gods in 5e, for the most part, are very deliberately not statted so that there aren't any hard and fast rules about what, specifically, they're able to do.
Gods can do whatever they want. And they know that their actions have consequences (Just ask the Dead Three in forgotten realms).
The better question is: "Do they want to?" And that is up to your DM.
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Check out my Disabled & Dragons Youtube Channel for 5e Monster and Player Tactics. Helping the Disabled Community and Players and DM’s (both new and experienced) get into D&D. Plus there is a talking Dragon named Quill.
Again, no they can't, repeating it won't make any more true except maybe in your campaign. For example look at the DMG, where the gods' divine ranks are explained, and that's even before notions of domains (which most campaign use, if only based on the fact that the cleric's subclasses are based on them) come into play.
But even in the FR, look at what happened during the Time of Troubles, the gods were severely limited and some died. If they could have done what they wanted, don't you think they just would have wanted avoiding death or even just being cast to down to the Prime ? It's not only a question of want, gods also must follow rules of the universe, and maybe these come in the form of a more supreme god like Ao, but that just means that most gods still do not do what they want. And on top of that, even with what they can do, there can be consequences, but it's another level of constraints, that's all, not the only one.
Lyxen this is if, and only if, you uses the “standard” lore of the Forgotten Realms. Mechanically there are no constraints on a god's actions, no stats or rules, and no real direction for how they will or can act outside of their domain and alignment. There are also other settings with different lore/gods entirely. This is not a question with a clear RAW answer so there is no right or wrong way to play this as a DM. The DMG even supports this by giving guidelines on how to build your cosmology and pantheon, again without any prescription or rule on how gods are supposed to work.
Question! If a holy warrior dies for a just cause but still has work to do can a god bring him back to life? I know it depends on the dm if they allow that but just curious lore wise can they and if so what’s the consequences to it?
Generally, a god only resurrects a character via a cleric of that god cast Raise Dead, Resurrection, or another such spell on the character. Gods in most campaign worlds have restrictions that prevent them from simply actively doing something like raising someone from the dead just because they feel like it. But there might be an extraordinary circumstance that allows a god to bring a dead character back to life, but only as a one-time thing, not as a regular occurrence.
However, not even the mightiest D&D god can bring a player back from the dead.
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.
She’s a goddess of night idk if she would but I’m curious
I have to respectfully disagree with lyran. A god can do anything they want. That’s probably one of the best parts of being a god.
As far as gods having restrictions in most campaigns, I’m not sure how anyone could know what happens in enough campaigns to make any kind of generalization about what happens in most of of them. I guess if you accept the premise that most people now run pre-written adventures in FR, and that’s the standard there, then that could be true. (I’ve been playing since 1e and never actually played in FR, so I honestly don’t know.)
But even then, a DM can choose to let the gods in their world, or their version of FR, do whatever they like.
Yes a god can resurrect a player.Yes a god can resurrect a character. I am not qualified to speak with authority about the above statement.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
This is entirely up to the DM and the campaign they are running, but my two cents:
A god can certainly resurrect a PC, and could even do it through some insane display of divine force and power, but they could just as likely send a cleric with the appropriate ability to find the PC's body and raise them. I would opt for the second route, where a Cleric/Priest NPC is given a holy quest to find the dead PC and raise them, but again, thats me, and your mileage may differ.
I would also say that the willingness of a god to do so, and their method of doing so, may differ based on the god's domain and alignment. Illmater might do a formal resurrection via cleric/divine intervention, Asmodeus might reincarnate them as a devil, Primus might insert their consciousness into a construct, or any of them might decide to do nothing.
There's several varieties of Undead that represent unfinished business, such as the Revenant, which could also work for a character like a Paladin whose force of personality and conviction for a cause give them supernatural powers. I'd hesitate to just let players respawn without any repercussions, lest it undermine the seriousness of death itself, but if your plot is sufficiently epic in scope you could be forgiven for letting the plot bring someone back one way or another.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
A world where gods can do whatever they want, whenever they want with no limits is a world where player characters don't have much to do.
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.
What happens in novels is irrelevant to what happens in game, simply because the novels do not make rules. Novels officially set in the FR, and other WoTC settings, likely have a setting bible which tells authors what they are allowed to do, but that does not apply to the game. The novels are not the boss of anyone's game. :) The rules say nothing about what gods can or can't do. It's completely up to the DM if their gods have any restrictions or none at all. Its up to the DM if they want to let their gods raise someone or not, which means they can.
@6thlyran, I disagree with your logic. Just because a god can do everything doesn't mean they will do anything. They could just as easily sit back eating popcorn and watching what happens. Or take a nice nap for 2-3,000 years.
That runs counter to the lore of every edition of the game that's ever been printed.
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.
Gods grant powers to clerics and clerics can use those powers to resurrect other creatures. So far this is RAW.
It seems likely that a god would be able to skip the middle man and do the resurrection on their own. Even if not, they could probably decide to turn the nearest friendly PC, NPC, squirrel, snail or whatever living being into a cleric with the precise task to do the resurrecting.
However, most D&D settings have multiple gods and other supernatural forces, so even if a god could just resurrect a PC, there might be other gods (or devils and contracts) that might prevent them from doing so. Not *technically* of course, but politically. Think of Asmodeus knocking on the door of your PCs minor goddess and telling her that by cosmic law the PC signed a contract with devil X and therefore the soul belongs to him and he'd rather not have to discuss this in front of the Infernal Court, but if the goddess insists in the resurrection he might just have to do that. And potentially this could involve the legions of the nine hells storming the goddess' domain to get that soul back, and you wouldn't want that, right?
There's a pretty well-known example from Critical Role, but it's a hard spoiler for stuff that happens later in the series.
One of the characters becomes a Paladin of the Raven Queen after having multiple visions and interactions with her and is singled out as her Champion. During a battle with Vecna, the character was killed with the Disintegrate Spell, which reduces his entire body to ash. Vecna is essentially the Raven Queen's opposite... both are mortals who had ascended to Godhood, but while the Raven Queen represents True Death and the natural order, Vecna represents Undeath and defying the natural order. The other party members are high enough level to have access to resurrection spells that could bring their ally back, despite the lack of a body, but they lack the expensive diamonds or time necessary to do so. The player is given a one-on-one interaction with the DM where their character speaks to the Raven Queen directly. He is allowed to return to life as her Champion in order to battle Vecna, but it comes at a high cost... the character returns partially undead... mostly it's an RP thing and I don't recall there being any mechanical effects. But most importantly, while the Raven Queen allows him to defy death long enough to banish the evil God Vecna, once Vecna is defeated the character will be taken from the material plane... he cannot be revived again and will, definitively, die. If a God is going to interfere this directly in the actions of the game, it should always come at a great cost and never be done lightly.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
You haven't proven it. First, just because you can't think of an example in a novel doesn't mean there isn't one. It also doesn't mean they can't, it simply means they have not. More importantly, there is not a single rule saying anything. I remember some 1e rules about greater, lesser and demigods, and what spells levels they could grant their clerics, but that's the only thing I can think of that even comes close, and nothing since then. And presumably the OP is not talking about 1e, so that wouldn't matter anyway.
And there is no such thing as lore of every edition. There is lore for specific settings, but the lore for FR doesn't matter at all if you're playing on Greyhawk, or Athas, or Krynn, or Mystara, or Eberron, etc. and it certainly doesn't matter in homebrew. And really, once you start playing in a setting, it kind of becomes homebrew to an extent as different groups will do different things in the various setting books, changing their world from canon, which is how it's supposed to be.
The OP question is whether or not they can. There is absolutely nothing which defines the powers of gods (beyond their domains) one way or the other. Maybe they might not want to, because of politics. Maybe they can't because that's the rules at your table (and I hope I'm not coming across as saying that everyone has to allow it. Certainly if you don't want it in your game, then you shouldn't have it.), but RAW, there's nothing that says they can't, and this is the rules forum.
Technically, they can, absolutely. Whether they should is another question. Usually once one character is resurrected, one of two things will happen. Either you'll have to let the next character who dies die for good, and that character's player will feel cheated because their friend's character got resurrected and theirs didn't. Or you'll have to keep resurrecting characters, and then the game feels boring because the players know they can't die, so there's no stakes anymore. Plus, spells like Resurrection exist for a reason—you don't want to risk making clerics less relevant! In fact, everyone might feel less relevant, because now that the gods are clearly established as able to do whatever they want on the mortal plane, there's no place in the world left for big epic heroes like the PCs.
So I guess what I'm saying is, yeah a god can resurrect a character, but please be very, very careful, because it can cause some campaign-breaking issues later on.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Normally, the way a god would accomplish something like that is by dispatching a cleric or other being loyal to it to do the work. Lore-wise, in the Forgotten Realms setting the Second Sundering seems to have greatly restricted the ability of gods to directly affect the material plane.
I stand corrected. The OP was asking about lore. I can only assume that means FR lore, in which case listen to the people above about it.
Rules-wise, I’m still going to stay with a god can do what they want, though.
The Gods in 5e, for the most part, are very deliberately not statted so that there aren't any hard and fast rules about what, specifically, they're able to do.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Gods can do whatever they want. And they know that their actions have consequences (Just ask the Dead Three in forgotten realms).
The better question is: "Do they want to?" And that is up to your DM.
Check out my Disabled & Dragons Youtube Channel for 5e Monster and Player Tactics. Helping the Disabled Community and Players and DM’s (both new and experienced) get into D&D. Plus there is a talking Dragon named Quill.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPmyTI0tZ6nM-bzY0IG3ww
Lyxen this is if, and only if, you uses the “standard” lore of the Forgotten Realms. Mechanically there are no constraints on a god's actions, no stats or rules, and no real direction for how they will or can act outside of their domain and alignment. There are also other settings with different lore/gods entirely. This is not a question with a clear RAW answer so there is no right or wrong way to play this as a DM. The DMG even supports this by giving guidelines on how to build your cosmology and pantheon, again without any prescription or rule on how gods are supposed to work.
No. They could resurrect a character though. The gods are another flavor of handwavium that the DM can whip out as needed.
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