One of the PCs in my game was killed by a vampire's energy drain (as many negative levels as HD). The PC is due to rise as a vampire 2 days after death. (1 day has already passed in game time).
The other players (oblivious to the possibility of their fallen comrade turning into a vampire) were thinking of casting speak with dead to find out if he wants to return to this mortal coil, and if so whether it should be done by reincarnation or raise dead.
All 3 spells are listed as not working on corpses that have been turned into undead. The question is, will they still work if cast before the 2 days are up? Or is the PC considered to be undead from the moment of his death?
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I would say that they work. He's not a vampire yet, so he's not undead yet. But this is a sort of grey area where a DM can make either decision and be correct. You need to ask yourself if you want to let them raise him from the dead without additional complications. If so, he's probably not undead. If you want to make this character beyond reach, then just say he's already undead. Note that it is definitely good to have the player of this character on the same page as you. Make sure you talk to this player before asserting that his character is undead already.
If you decide they don't work, the caster must get a free knowledge (religion) check to tell why. And what they can do about it.
If they do raise him from the dead, make it so that in the sunlight... he sparkles ;)
Important note:
A creature whose permanent negative levels equal its Hit Dice cannot be brought back to life through spells like raise dead and resurrection without also receiving a restoration spell, cast the round after it is restored to life.
I would say that reincarnate should be subject to the same restriction - as it returns creature to life in new body but with the same HD and with the same penalties as raise dead. A successful Knowledge [religion] or maybe Spellcraft check (with DM's aproval) should let them know to prepare restoration as well.
The Create Spawn ability mentions that victim rises 1d4 days later but does not specificially states if the actual transformation taking place after 1d4 days or if transformation is immediate but the newly created undead remains inactive for thise days - so it is DM's decision if the victim can or can't be raised.
One of the PCs in my game was killed by a vampire's energy drain (as many negative levels as HD). The PC is due to rise as a vampire 2 days after death. (1 day has already passed in game time).
The other players (oblivious to the possibility of their fallen comrade turning into a vampire) were thinking of casting speak with dead to find out if he wants to return to this mortal coil, and if so whether it should be done by reincarnation or raise dead.
All 3 spells are listed as not working on corpses that have been turned into undead. The question is, will they still work if cast before the 2 days are up? Or is the PC considered to be undead from the moment of his death?
As far as i know speak with dead is speaking with the corpse itself not with the soul, so it can only divulge information from a past life.
I would probably rule to let speak with dead work (of course, having it not work might give the players a valuable clue), and when the players did cast the spell, I would put something (or coach the dead player, if he's going to NPC his own corpse) in the corpse's cryptic answer that indicated that not all was as it should be (apart from being dead!), like complaining that his veins itched or something.
As far as i know speak with dead is speaking with the corpse itself not with the soul, so it can only divulge information from a past life.
This is true. But presumably the character's attitude to being raised when they were alive doesn't change when they die. Thus whatever the corpse has to say on the subject can be taken as what the soul would have to say on the subject.