Animate Dead does this (as well as Create Undead & Create Greater Undead). The spell description of Raise Dead specifies that undead creatures cannot be raised.
Also the Destruction spell specifies that only certain spells can be used to resurrect a victim of the spell. Disintegrate would also prevent Raise Dead, since Raise Dead specifies that the corpse to be raised must be intact.
I also think that a reverse version of the Gentle Repose spell could be made- call it 'Eradicate Corpse' or something- that could accomplish this. However, as far as I know , no such spell has been published.
P.S. I think that simply removing a vital part of the body (e.g. the heart or the head), accomplishes the same thing. As long as those seeking to raise the corpse cannot acquire the missing part.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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If you're just looking to stop a raise dead, you don't need magic at all - just chop up the body. Raise dead needs a reasonably intact corpse. If you're worried about higher level magic, you need to remove all traces of the body to stop resurrection - since even disintegrate leaves a trace behind, your best bet is to plane shift it somewhere hard to get it back from - say the elemental plane of fire or negative energy plane.
True resurrection is hard to deal with. Your best bet there is trap the soul, or a well worded wish.
In the old days, I was fond of:
1. Flesh to Stone. Turn him into a statue.
2. Rock to Mud. Turn the statue of him into a mud puddle.
3. Evaporate. Suck all the moisture out of the mud leaving just dust.
4. Gust of wind. Scatter him across the countryside.
Didn't leave much you could do but Wish him back or Reincarnate him as a chipmunk...
Too bad some of those spells don't exist anymore. Maybe I'll have to research them.
To answer the OP, there are no spells in Pathfinder that prevent restoring life to a corpse unless they do so as a side effect, such as the way Disintegrate prevents Raise Dead - but Disintegrate is not really designed to prevent restoring life, its design is much more about killing enemies and removing obstacles.
The general rule is that a higher level spell trumps a lower level 'opposite'.
So if you want to prevent Raise Dead, it would require at least a 5th level spell. Resurrection and Reincarnation would be prevented by a 7th level spell, and True Resurrection would be prevented only by a 9th level spell.
None of which exist, so you'll want to make them up.
I would suggest that when you do, they require that they are cast within the presence of the corpse, or at least require something significant, like the heart from the victim or some such. Also throw in some expensive and/or hard to get components. If you make these spells too easy to cast, everyone (well, everyone who is evil enough to resort to assassination) would be using them to permanently remove rivals/enemies and nobody who is important would ever get resurrected.
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or houserule in a cumulative con penalty that cannot be restorationed. You'll find that after 3 or 4 raises players stop using that revolving door.
As far as a published spell that does it, isn't there a high level necromancy spell like soul jar or something that traps creatures souls so they can't be rezed?
I am just going to re-iterate that casting Animate Dead on a corpse prevents Raise Dead from working on it. I don't understand the requirement for a high level spell to prevent raising the dead.
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Hi Archade!
Couple of low-tech ways to prevent Raise Dead:
Death attacks (eg from an assassin)
Taking out important things a person needs to live (head, heart). The spell specifies that the body needs to be whole (taking the head also prevents Speak With Dead).
Destroying the body utterly
Disease that causes spawing into an undead (Ghoul fever)
Magical means:
Animate dead or Create Undead
Any spell that is Save or Die (a death effect)
Energy/Ability Drain that causes spawning into an undead
You can also go with Trap the Soul, but that takes the body too and reforms it when the trap is broken...
Do you have some evil plans for your victims...I mean gaming group? ;)
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If you are playing in Golarion, the easiest magical means of preventing raising would be to fling forty or fifty acid splashes at the body, turning it into soup. As a Conjuration (creation) spell with an Instantaneous duration, the acid created is *permanant,* so it will keep on dissolving dead flesh until the DM rules that it doesn't anymore (and you can make a fresh batch every six seconds anyway).
The non-magical alternative involves a tub of lye, or chopping up the body and feeding it to a bunch of pigs, then chopping up the pigs and feeding them to a bunch of people (making the innards into sausage, and feeding the totally un-sausage-able bits, of which there are scarily few, to crows).
In a fantasy world that doesn't have at will use of acid splash there may still be a *plethora* of anti-ressurection options, thanks to the wonders that are Hazards. Green slime converts flesh into green slime with miraculous efficiency. Various other slimes, molds, fungi, vermin and actual monsters are also an option. Infect the mark with ghoul fever, or infest them with Russet Mold, and good King Stefans crown now rests on the head of a Ghoul, or a Vegepygmy... In either case, resurrection isn't going to help.
The assassin who doesn't have a farm handy might carry a bag of holding, portable hole or handy haversack to carry dismembered bodies out of kill areas and bring them somewhere for ease of disposal. A prestidigitation cantrip can be used to clean up blood at the crime scene, so that no parts large enough to use for ressurection are left behind.
Note that the truly fiendish assassin could use an 'assassination' as a Manchurian Candidate sort of deal, kidnapping or killing the target, and reaching into his bag of holding to produce a dead corpse that looks exactly like the deceased. He takes the real corpse away, the wealthy family springs for raise dead / ressurection, and the enemy agent wakes up, feigns disorientation to throw off any suspicious behavior (or plays up the trauma of being killed and brushing up against the underworld, perhaps even with a phony religious conversion involved) and returns to his business of running the kingdom, into the ground...
Meanwhile, while 'good King Stefan' is introducing paranoia, suspicion and Galt-style lynch-mobs to his little slice of Andorra (as well as enjoying post-death solace in the arms of good Queen Stephanie), leaving it ripe for invasion, or just further destabilization, by those pesky neighbors to the south, the real good King Stefan's body is being fed to the pigs in preparation for sausage-making.
The requirement of disposal for the dead, to prevent ressurection can also provide a funky sort of plot hook. Remember all those adventures where you save the King from assassins? This one starts with you having already failed, and your mission is to get the assassin who fled with his body, with the price of failure being appropriately harsh, as it's being set by the King's widow...
Stop the assassin from escaping and return with good King Stefan's body so that the priests can raise him. Fail to do so, and you might find that good Queen Stephanie is not so pretty when she's screaming 'Off with their heads!'
Ok,
Sorry, but the easiest way (not cheapest, but surest) is to chop up the body and put it into a handy haversack. Then, rip the sack. Anything in a handy haversack that's damaged is utterly destroyed.
It's kind of expensive, but when you absolutely, positively, have to have a body utterly destroyed, use the very best.
We did that to a demon a LONG time ago on his home plane, cut him in half, stuffed the two halfs into bags of holding, and then put one inside the other.
Edit : Oh, when chopping up said demon bodies, do it on a wax or oil soaked canvas. This keeps the blood and bits from soaking into the ground (parts of the corpse). When done, roll up the canvas and stuff it into the sack as well. You may need two sacks, if so, destroy both.
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1) Kill with death effect.
2) That turns the deceased into a wight.
3) That you destroy with positive energy.
4) Whose withered corpse you grind up and feed to pigs.
5) That you make into sausage and feed to peasants.
6) That you dump russet mold onto and turn into vegepygmies.
7) That you dunk into green slime.
8) That you dissolve with acid splashes in a porcelain tub.
9) Which you drop into a Portable Hole.
10) That you toss into a Bag of Holding.
11) Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Baleful Polymorph - 5th Level
Flesh to Stone - 6th Level
Flesh to stone has the added benefit of being sinkable drop them into the deepest darkest hole in the ocean you can find. If they are stone they are eternally alive but inert.
I would try putting an amulet of non-detection on the body as well. Would an amulet of non-detection work on a stone person?
I am just going to re-iterate that casting Animate Dead on a corpse prevents Raise Dead from working on it. I don't understand the requirement for a high level spell to prevent raising the dead.
Not sure if it still works in PFRPG but in 3.5e you could Raise someone with Raise Dead that had formerly been undead as long as the undead form was destroyed and the body was still intact enough for Raise Dead. (Of course that's easier said than done.)
I'm going to go with burn the body. Chopping it up will work too, but burning it is significantly less gruesome.
If you're also trying to prevent Resurrection and True Resurrection it becomes more complex.
I am just going to re-iterate that casting Animate Dead on a corpse prevents Raise Dead from working on it. I don't understand the requirement for a high level spell to prevent raising the dead.
If you kill the animated dead body you can then raise it. They used that rule in the 3rd book of the AP RotRL.
If you kill the animated dead body you can then raise it. They used that rule in the 3rd book of the AP RotRL.
So the sadistic necromancer animates the body as a zombie, then orders it to "play dead", forcing it to remain inert. He then places misdirection on the corpse to mess up attempts to figure out what went wrong...
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Wow. You folks are a bunch of sickos. Pigs and haversacks and zombies playing dead. :)
What I was thinking was adding a house-rule spell, a necromantic spell around 3rd level which is 'keep the dead dead'. Keep bodies from being animated as undead, or keeping corpses from being raised from the dead.
It's nothing sinister, just a flavor spell for my campaign, for my church of Madrael, the Angel of Death.
... But I really like the zombie playing dead idea ... :)
Wow. You folks are a bunch of sickos. Pigs and haversacks and zombies playing dead. :)
What I was thinking was adding a house-rule spell, a necromantic spell around 3rd level which is 'keep the dead dead'. Keep bodies from being animated as undead, or keeping corpses from being raised from the dead.
It's nothing sinister, just a flavor spell for my campaign, for my church of Madrael, the Angel of Death.
... But I really like the zombie playing dead idea ... :)
There was something in 1e that kept the dead dead in the manner you are speaking of.
Well it's not really what you want but sort of is. A more long term effect though would make an interesting spell and because of it's level though it does make sense being so weak.
Ceremony (Invocation)
Level: 1 Components: c! S, M
Range: Touch Casting Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent Saving Throw: Special
Area of Effect: One creature, one item, or area (see below)
Explanation/Description: Ceremony has a number of applications in
the religious organization, depending on the level of the cleric. The effect
of a ceremony spell does not leave behind an aura of magic, although
in some cases an aura of good or evil might be present (and
thus detectable). The specific ceremony spells can vary from religion
to religion, but usually encompass these:
1 st-level cleric: burial
Each of these varieties of the ceremony spell requires a cleric of the
indicated level or a higher one, with additional restrictions as described
below. For all ceremony spells except anathematize (see below),
no saving throw is called for, since the recipient is either
inanimate or presumed to be willing to be affected by the magic; any
version of the spell except for anathematize will simply fail if it is cast
on a person who (for some reason) is unwilling to receive the benefit.
Briefly, the ceremonies listed do the following things:
Burial magically protects a corpse, and bestows it with the blessing of
the religious organization. The body is shielded for one week as if by a
protection from evil spell, and anyone trying to disinter the corpse
within that time must make a saving throw versus spell or stop and
flee in fear for one turn.
Wow. You folks are a bunch of sickos. Pigs and haversacks and zombies playing dead. :)
What I was thinking was adding a house-rule spell, a necromantic spell around 3rd level which is 'keep the dead dead'. Keep bodies from being animated as undead, or keeping corpses from being raised from the dead.
It's nothing sinister, just a flavor spell for my campaign, for my church of Madrael, the Angel of Death.
... But I really like the zombie playing dead idea ... :)
If you just want to prevent "Raise Dead" I would make it a fairly low level spell, maybe 1 or second level since it's fairly easy to prevent raise dead. Maybe 1st level, 10 minute casting time? You cast the spell on the corpse and it severs any connection between the spirit and the body. Considering you could get the same result by decapitating the corpse and destroying the head I don't think you need to do 3rd level.
Hmm... actually maybe that's a bit powerful for 1st level since as written it would prevent reincarnation and resurrection.
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Wow. You folks are a bunch of sickos. Pigs and haversacks and zombies playing dead. :)
What I was thinking was adding a house-rule spell, a necromantic spell around 3rd level which is 'keep the dead dead'. Keep bodies from being animated as undead, or keeping corpses from being raised from the dead.
It's nothing sinister, just a flavor spell for my campaign, for my church of Madrael, the Angel of Death.
... But I really like the zombie playing dead idea ... :)
Death knell before death = no raise dead
Burial on hallowed ground = no undeathAlso, raise dead is voluntary. You don't hafta come back. If this takes away the choice to come back, I'd make it have a save.
Flavour for Madrael...gingerbread. Being dead is stressful, have a cookie.
Many have already posted ways to keep Raise Dead from working, so I will not waste space by repeating the many vile (and gruesomely entertaining) ways that such can be accomplished. Instead, I will assume that you are looking for a way for someone to be killed truely and irreversibly permantly.
Such is not an easy task. True Resurrection is a powerful spell indeed. It requires no body (or part thereof), it can be cast years upon years after death and it has no chance of failure barring diety interlude or a trapped soul. (And even then, a trapped soul is a temporary obstacle.)
But there is a way...
A dark and evil way...
If you can stomache the process...
In an ancient and rare tome, there exists a process by which the very soul may be destroyed. And not even a deity can reverse the destruction of a soul. Many necromancers, clerics of death and dread necromancers seek the tome vigorously and prize it when found, protecting it with all but their (un?)lives.
It is known as the Libris Mortis.
Within it's pages one may learn the vile and evil method by which a small sac of necrotic flesh and fluid may be grown inside one's body. (I.E. Take a feat.) The sac, known as a "Mother Cyst", is filled with negative energy and the energies of undeath. It may be carried within by the living or undead. Once grown, the sac gives access to a collection of twisted spells, known as the Necrotic Cyst spells. (These spells are automatically added to your spells known.) Each spell is more evil than the last, and cannot be cast by someone of good alignment. (They have the evil descriptor.)
When confronted with a foe that the caster wishes permanently vaquished he must first cast the spell "Necrotic Cyst". (Cleric lvl 2, Sor/Wiz lvl 2, touch required, fortitude negates.) When cast, the spell curses the victim with a spherical sac of semisolid necrotic flesh that "resonates" with necromantic magic and energies. (Until the cyst is removed - not an easy process - the victim suffers a -2 penalty to all saving throws vs spells or effects from the school of necromancy. This includes other necrotic cyst spells. He also suffers an extra 1d6 points of damage whenever dealt damage by the natural weapon of an undead.)
Once the victim is cursed and marked with a necrotic cyst the final stage of the process may take place. Of course, this need not happen immediately. The vile caster may allow the victim to go about his ways or extort service from him. But, once the cyst is in place, the true murder may be performed at the caster's sadistic whim. The necromancer casts the dreaded "Necrotic Termination", the most powerful of the necrotic cyst spells. (Cler lvl 9, Sor/Wiz 9, medium range, fortitude partial.) The cyst physically and spiritually enlarges itself at the expense of the victim's body and soul, literally devouring them, leaving behind a twisted and disgusting undead creature comprised of the original necrotic cyst. (If the victim succeeds on his save then he takes 1d6 points of damage per level; max 25d6. Half the damage is vile damage, and therefore may only be healed by magic cast within the area of a Consecrate or Hallow spell. This may kill him anyway, but he may be resurrected normally. If he fails his save then he is instantly killed, both body and soul. He may not be returned to life by any means. He is gone forever.)
Casting such a vile and twisted spell is surely one of the greatest evils a mere mortal can ever hope to commit. It marks one's soul with a stain that possibly may never be removed. (Storytellers are encouraged to declare that casting this spell causes an automatic conversion to an evil allignment... if the caster isn't evil already.) It is difficult to learn and cast... But in the end, the method exists.
Have fun.
I reiterate that higher level spells always trump lower level spells when there is a question of opposite effects. This is why Darkness negates Light but Daylight negates Darkness. Etc.
So the concept of a level 3 spell, or level 1, preventing a level 5 spell from working entirely is somewhat against the logic of how D&D spells work.
Maybe a level 3 spell makes it harder to raise, or shortens the window during which a corpse can be raised, etc., but it shouldn't entirely prevent a Raise Dead. Only a spell of 5th level or higher should be able to do that.
As for the Animate Dead, the corpse is only prevented from being Raised while it remains animated. Kill the undead corpse and it is now eligible for Raising.
As for Trap the Soul, that is always a good option, if you have a 15th level spellcaster handy, and a whole pile of gold, and can get within a few yards of the victim. Even that is only permanent while the gem remains intact.
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Permanently preventing reviving the dead by any spell should be very hard. And very expensive.
If it were an easy thing to do, given the sheer numbers of assassins, villains, fiends, and horrors of every imaginable vile description, no king would reign 6 months on his throne - surely some enemy would pop him and prevent the resurrection. Powerful nobles, rich merchant princes, religious leaders, etc., none of them would live a year beyond coming into power.
Without easy means to prevent resurrection, the cost of assassinating someone who will be back in power the next day is prohibitve. These powerful people are rarely targetted for such shenanigans. But throw in easy means to turn the deed permanent, and all bets are off - everyone dies.
I reiterate that higher level spells always trump lower level spells when there is a question of opposite effects. This is why Darkness negates Light but Daylight negates Darkness. Etc.
Err... I think it's fairly common actually. Protection from even being one historic example. The point with Raise Dead is that it's already fairly trivial to prevent through mundane means. Chop off head, place in burning brazier. While I agree that preventing the other spells which require only a piece of the body should be a bit challenging we are essentially talking about destroying an inanimate object. It shouldn't be that difficult.
Permanently preventing reviving the dead by any spell should be very hard. And very expensive.
Well no, it shouldn't. RAISING the dead should be quite difficult.
While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life.
It's pretty clear exactly what is required by the spell. It shouldn't be extra challenging to permanently remove some vital piece of the body. I would suggest either the brain or the heart. I don't see any reason why a fairly low level spell can't accomplish what a 1st level warrior can with about 5 minutes and a cleaver.
The other spells, maybe it should be challenging to avoid those but they have fairly strait forward requirements also.
While there are all sorts of methods in the Libris Mortis (nasty necrotic cysts), the Book of Vile Darkness (grinding souls up as to make magic items), and even the Book of Exalted Deeds (siccing an Aleax on someone), probably the simplest way to keep someone dead is casting Trap the Soul on them and keeping the enspelled gem on one's person or otherwise secure. Since this spell destroys the body, it takes care of the lesser Raise Dead, Reincarnate and so forth, and even True Resurrection and Clone will fail because the soul is unavailable.
For the budget conscious or lower level, get the person to be kept dead to curl up into a compact ball (Charm Person or just drugs or threats are all options), cast Flesh to Stone, then put the person to be vanished into a Secret Chest, which is then sent to the astral plane and permanently lost via crushing the miniature chest. An astral expedition might still be mounted to retrieve the person, but even a Wish won't help, so that takes care of most troubles. Unless the victim is supremely well loved and/or absurdly well connected, most of their friends and/or associates won't have the time or the budget.
I see protection from xxx as a defence that protects the recipient against direct, hostile, enemy effects - even ones with a particular [subtype] of higher levels.
I'm not seeing a hypothetical spell designed to actively prevent someone who wants to be raised from being raised as falling in quite the same category of use (that is to say defence) as protection from xxx being used against [subtype]... (And raise dead already has a built in defence for someone who doesn't want to come back in that it simply doesn't work.)
All I'm sayin is that it's pretty easy to prevent raise dead so there is no reason it should take a 5th+ level spell to do it. You are essentially removing a unique component of the spell which you have access to.
I reiterate that higher level spells always trump lower level spells when there is a question of opposite effects. This is why Darkness negates Light but Daylight negates Darkness. Etc.The point with Raise Dead is that it's already fairly trivial to prevent through mundane means. Chop off head, place in burning brazier.
It's also fairly trivial to kill a dragon through mundane means. Chop of its head, place in burning brazier (well, unless it's a red dragon, etc.). Or just poke it with lots of sharp pointy things.
But if you want to make a spell such that you could snap your fingers and the dragon falls dead at your feet, well, that spell should be rather powerful and hard to pull off.
Why?
If such a spell became commonplace, dragons would cease to exist in your world in very nearly the blink of an eye.
Likewise, rich powerful people who have rich evil enemies would cease to exist just as quickly if simple means existed to prevent reviving the dead.
Note I have used the term "reviving" in many of my posts since that is not a reference to just one spell, but to the whole slew of "bring em back alive" magics.
Sure, the weakest of those spells is confounded by many mundane means, but the stronger of those spells are not.
And so, any magic that is capable of easily thwarting these spells, some of which are truly mighty, should be equally mighty. If you don't want to require a 9th level spell to prevent Raise Dead, then make multiple versions, one at 5th, 7th, and 9th level, each capable of thwarting revivication magic of the same level or lower.
And also make them quite short range, and expensive to cast. Too powerful to be put into a wand or potion, so you practically need to bring the corpse to the caster or bring the caster to the corpse.
That's the kind of thing that would make such heinous anti-revivication magic possible, but still allow a king to sit on his throne long enough to leave his own butt print on it before he gets assassinated permanently.
While I agree that preventing the other spells which require only a piece of the body should be a bit challenging we are essentially talking about destroying an inanimate object. It shouldn't be that difficult.
Permanently preventing reviving the dead by any spell should be very hard. And very expensive.Well no, it shouldn't. RAISING the dead should be quite difficult.
While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life.It's pretty clear exactly what is required by the spell. It shouldn't be extra challenging to permanently remove some vital piece of the body. I would suggest either the brain or the heart. I don't see any reason why a fairly low level spell can't accomplish what a 1st level warrior can with about 5 minutes and a cleaver.
The other spells, maybe it should be challenging to avoid those but they have fairly strait forward requirements also.
It's alsy fairly trivial to kill a dragon through mundane means. Chop of its head, place in burning brazier (well, unless it's a red dragon, etc.). Or just poke it with lots of sharp pointy things.I reiterate that higher level spells always trump lower level spells when there is a question of opposite effects. This is why Darkness negates Light but Daylight negates Darkness. Etc.The point with Raise Dead is that it's already fairly trivial to prevent through mundane means. Chop off head, place in burning brazier.
Umm... you are comparing what a commoner with a cleaver can do with no risk with an action an extremely risky task which a can be undertaken only by a high level group of expert adventurerers... you don't see this as ridiculous?
Likewise, rich powerful people who have rich evil enemies would cease to exist just as quickly if simple means existed to prevent reviving the dead.
I would like to point out that in real life, there are no shortage of rich, powerful people with rich, powerful enemies despite reviving the dead being outright impossible.
Likewise, rich powerful people who have rich evil enemies would cease to exist just as quickly if simple means existed to prevent reviving the dead.
Um, no.
We already live in a world where there isn't a way to revive the dead, and there are plenty of rich people with rich enemies who are both still alive. Yes, there are blood feuds and there are gang wars and mafias and so on, and plenty of them do assassinate each other successfully. But enough don't because the risk isn't worth the reward.
In a magical universe, necromancy pretty much guarantees that "Dead men tell no tales" is a lie. The dead are unbelievably chatty, and killing someone with extreme prejudice is often a recipe for a revenant, which is just unpleasant for everyone involved.
Resurrection means that death is an inconvenience, but a costly one, both in terms of time and money. You kill the king enough, his treasury runs out of diamonds. There's also the option of killing the clerics who keep performing these resurrections. The friends of my enemies are my enemies as well. Do you really want to befriend my enemies, knowing the extremes I'm willing to go to?
Imagine if you will, the king having been murdered by an assassin, his followers take him to the local temple to be resurrected. The bishop asks time alone with the body to perform the appropriate rites.
The bishop locks the door and casts Speak with Dead:
BISHOP: So, who killed you?
KING: Hell if I know. Some assassin.
BISHOP: Who sent him?
KING: Her, you mean. But it was either my brother or my wife.
BISHOP: Why?
KING: Because my brother wants my throne and my wife suspects me of being unfaithful.
BISHOP: Were you?
KING: The assassin was dressed as a hooker. Do the math.
BISHOP: Would either of them send assassins after me if I raised you?
KING: My brother? Probably. My wife? Hell yes.
BISHOP: Could you protect me?
KING: Oh, I'd try, but I couldn't even protect myself. What do you think?
The Bishop emerges from the chamber and sadly announces that the king is beyond his power to raise, but the temple has gratefully accepted the donation given and will lend its hall for the state funeral with all due honors.
Likewise, rich powerful people who have rich evil enemies would cease to exist just as quickly if simple means existed to prevent reviving the dead.I would like to point out that in real life, there are no shortage of rich, powerful people with rich, powerful enemies despite reviving the dead being outright impossible.
Indeed.
But here in real life, we don't have magic spells, demons/devils/etc., fell beasts, vile undead, lurking assassins and ninjas looking for work in every streetcorner tavern, mages, magic-wielding priests, wicked gods walking the streets, or any of the other myriad dangers that confront the good citizens of every D&D world from Grayhawk to Golarion and beyond.
No, here in the real world, assassination is much more difficult, assassins are harder to hire, harder to find, and harder to trust, and repurcussions are much more certain.
D&D worlds are risky for all who live in them. It's the relative ease of revivication compared to the relative difficulty of assassination that keeps the powerful in power. For the most part.
I beleive there is a spell called Barghest Feast or something similar in the spell compendium
A variant version of "Polymorph any Object" might work for a Gnome King solution to the body, turn it into a knick knack and put it on a shelf.
There is also the question of "If the person was driven insane before their death, would they be insane after they are raised or would the insanity prevent them from being raised, since you have to be willing to come back?"
That is how I used a Psionic Assassin once, he drove his target's mad before killing them, so they could not be raised and if they were resurrected, they were still mad.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I would have thought lesser planar binding / ally in a barghest to chow down on the corpse would be pretty effective.And you would have been right, had you thought that.
It's a good idea, you would have had. :)
After five hours I still haven't had that thought yet. My multiple personalities have to switch over soon don't they?
All this focus on the body misses the point. Only thing you can do by attacking the body is raise the spell level and material cost of bringing him back. If his friends are determined enough, they'll make it happen.
You have to attack the soul.
Trap the soul has already been mentioned, but that still leaves the soul in an object that can, eventually, be tracked down and recovered.
Only two ways to take someone permanently out of the game: make them unwilling to come back, or follow them into the afterlife and destroy them there.
First one's easy. Pay for the raise dead yourself. Bring some of his kids with you, "so they can be there when he comes back." Give them a couple minutes, get the kids out of the room, and tell him it'd be best for everyone involved if he stayed dead this time. Kill him again. Make up an excuse for the kids.
Find a different cleric, from a different (friendly) religion. Pay for another raise. If the cleric says he won't come back, you win. If he comes back, tell him you already warned him twice and this time there's consequences. Kill him.
He won't risk it again.
He won't risk it again.
Wow. That's just...so many different kinds of evil.
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I beleive there is a spell called Barghest Feast or something similar in the spell compendium
the easiest way it to bring the body to your local body disposal terrasque - every respectable city has one for dealing with problem slaves and unfaithful lovers. *looks up and sees he's a tagged Taldor and not Cheliax* Um... I mean there is no way to avoid having the empire raise your assassination targets!
I am just going to re-iterate that casting Animate Dead on a corpse prevents Raise Dead from working on it. I don't understand the requirement for a high level spell to prevent raising the dead.If you kill the animated dead body you can then raise it. They used that rule in the 3rd book of the AP RotRL.
I wasn't aware of this. I had assumed that being made into undead somehow 'defiled' the persons corpse, and would make Raise Dead ineffective, even if the undead were slain.
However, it doesn't alter my basic view that Raise Dead should be easy to foil. Higher level spells, such as Resurrection and True Resurrection, achieve the same end, but are more fool proof.
the easiest way it to bring the body to your local body disposal terrasque
Ummm...
No, NO, and Nine-Hells NO!
I have much better things to do than sit around some musty old city eating whomever YOU decide to feed me.
(it's a big big yawn, full of armored teeth)
Like napping for a century or two.
Besides, when I hunger, and I often do, I shall eat whomever I so choose, wherever I so choose.
I am just going to re-iterate that casting Animate Dead on a corpse prevents Raise Dead from working on it. I don't understand the requirement for a high level spell to prevent raising the dead.If you kill the animated dead body you can then raise it. They used that rule in the 3rd book of the AP RotRL.I wasn't aware of this. I had assumed that being made into undead somehow 'defiled' the persons corpse, and would make Raise Dead ineffective, even if the undead were slain.
However, it doesn't alter my basic view that Raise Dead should be easy to foil. Higher level spells, such as Resurrection and True Resurrection, achieve the same end, but are more fool proof.
Considering Ressurection and True Res both call out explicitly that they raise creatures who have been turned undead and destroyed I don't think Raise Dead does.
You can resurrect someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed.Compared to Raise Dead:
A creature who has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect can't be raised by this spell.
Suggests to me that once you are undead Raise Dead is no longer an option.
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I beleive there is a spell called Barghest Feast or something similar in the spell compendium
Barghast feast does indeed stop all chance of resurrection, as it destroys the SOUL.
EDIT: Sorry this is not true. It prevents everything but miracle wish and limited wish. What it can do however, is provide a 50% chance that if the latter three are preformed, they fail. Also, if ONE fails then the soul was in fact destroyed and there is nothing you can do. It literally says "No mortal spell can return the deceased to life again."
And before its brought up, miracle is a mortal spell, not a god spell.
There is also a spell in the Fiendish Codex 1 that allows you to give the soul to the master of Styxx in the Abyss, and in exchange he usually gives you power. Since the soul isn't in its normal place, its TRAPPED down there fueling the Lord of Styx's eventual freedom from his iceberg.
He won't risk it again.
Wow. That's just...so many different kinds of evil.
We were talking about assassinating someone and then making sure that not even true resurrection was a viable option. One might be able to make certain assumptions about the morality of the people we're advising.
I suppose if the person they were assassinating absolutely had it coming, and his death serves "the greater good", you could go the trap the soul route. Biggest problem is if he was a serious threat to you, his friends might be able to steal the gem from you and free him.
If you're still allowed to set foot in the Upper Planes after this little escapade, you can always find yourself a Great Wyrm Gold who died of old age and ask him to protect it in exchange for being able to keep it. If the guy's evil enough to deserve this, his friends are going to have one Hell of a time retrieving that gem.
Pun mostly unintended.
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I suppose if the person they were assassinating absolutely had it coming, and his death serves "the greater good", you could go the trap the soul route. Biggest problem is if he was a serious threat to you, his friends might be able to steal the gem from you and free him.
Throwing the soul gem into the negative energy plane runs the risk of the bad-guys just being able to animate dead to send some flunkies in to get it.
Throwing it into the *positive* energy plane would work better, as it's deadly to life, and deadly to the undead. The problematic part is that life could spontaneously arise around the soul gem, and the *kind* of life that would spring up around a soul gem containing a wicked soul? Probably not something that has any place in the positive energy plane in the first place, so you might have caused a much bigger problem...
Could always hire an Alienist to summon the most horrible thing in its repertoire, feed it the gem, and then have him dismiss it again. There's pretty much nothing that anyone could send in after the gem that would come back intact-- and they're certainly not going to go in there after it themselves.