
Midnight_Angel |

I see no indication in any of Pharasma's definitions that she views Raising the dead as something that should not be done. After all, the soul is bound to re-appear at her Boneyard sooner or later anyway, so a Raise is just postponing the inevitable.
As for the cause of the death... probably no difference.
Pharasma makes no decision on whether a death is just or not; she views all with a cold and uncaring attitude, and decides on which of the Outer Planes a soul will spend eternity.

Ice Titan |
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Pharasma as the goddess of fate pretty much already knows that they're going to be rezzed or not and pre-approves it by judging the soul quickly or taking her time.
It's free creative license for the DM to have a Raise Dead on an NPC fizzle because "they've been judged and moved on" or to have it work because they haven't. But they would never not try because as worshippers of a goddess of fate it would be blasphemous to assume they know more about the true nature of how things should be than their goddess.

Whiskey Jack |

You can raise a creature that has been dead for no longer than 1 day per caster level. In addition, the subject's soul must be free and willing to return. If the subject's soul is not willing to return, the spell does not work; therefore, a subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.
Sounds like a great roleplaying opportunity to me- have Pharasma "interview" the dead PC to see if he or she is willing to return to the material plane.

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Pharasma has nothing at all against raising the dead—and her priests will certainly do so if asked and paid and all that.
All dead bodies have a "time limit" on how long they can be dead before they're brought back to life—that limit varies as it's built into the caster level of each spell. In addition, a dead person can always choose to NOT get resurrected if he wants.
In world, when all of those limits run out, THAT'S when the soul's been judged and can no longer be raised from the dead, at which point the body can STILL be brought back to life but you have to do something more like an adventure where you go into the outer planes where the soul's been sent and turned into a petitioner and drag it back to life.

Spacelard |

The players in my CC game have forgotten that the Pharasmin Church in Ustalav will have a fair number of NE followers... Who may view Raising, etc as a cheap way to cheat Pharasma's Judgement and hunt the PCs down to address that balance... Just for giggles.
Pharasma herself has no issue... her followers might...

Dosgamer |

Pharasma has nothing at all against raising the dead—and her priests will certainly do so if asked and paid and all that.
All dead bodies have a "time limit" on how long they can be dead before they're brought back to life—that limit varies as it's built into the caster level of each spell. In addition, a dead person can always choose to NOT get resurrected if he wants.
In world, when all of those limits run out, THAT'S when the soul's been judged and can no longer be raised from the dead, at which point the body can STILL be brought back to life but you have to do something more like an adventure where you go into the outer planes where the soul's been sent and turned into a petitioner and drag it back to life.
I actually had a scene in my homebrew River Kingdoms campaign play out similarly to what you describe, James. A PC had died but a powerful NPC witch traveled to the Boneyard and yanked the dead PC out of line and dragged him back to the material plane (rezzing him in the process). It was a fun way to describe a rez.

Mad Jackson |

If you take a dead PC to a temple of Pharasma, will the clerics raise it ? Does it make any difference if itwas an "unnatural death" (killed by an ousider, undead, or just murdered ?
In one of the books, Death's Heretic, I think, a wealthy merchant contracted with the church of Pharasma to raise him if he was murdered. Apparently "life insurance" has a different meaning in Golarion.

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IMC, any priest who wishes to cast a raise dead must request the blessing of a priest/priestess of Pharasma before they conduct the ceremony. This is partly to respect Pharasma's rule over death and partly in order to not waste their time and energy raising someone who won't be coming back. It makes things a little more complicated, but it also emphasizes the significance of death, so its not just a reboot of a character during an adventure.

Ridge |

Nimt wrote:If you take a dead PC to a temple of Pharasma, will the clerics raise it ? Does it make any difference if itwas an "unnatural death" (killed by an ousider, undead, or just murdered ?In one of the books, Death's Heretic, I think, a wealthy merchant contracted with the church of Pharasma to raise him if he was murdered. Apparently "life insurance" has a different meaning in Golarion.
Interesting, and it certainly would explain the church of Pharasma as being VERY wealthy if a DM wanted to go that route.
I always thought that those slain by 'death spells' rather than chopped to bits might get extra consideration since they were killed by those daring to 'ape' the goddess and the clergy might want to show she's still supreme over such necromancers.

Wolf Munroe |

Pharasma has nothing at all against raising the dead—and her priests will certainly do so if asked and paid and all that.
All dead bodies have a "time limit" on how long they can be dead before they're brought back to life—that limit varies as it's built into the caster level of each spell. In addition, a dead person can always choose to NOT get resurrected if he wants.
In world, when all of those limits run out, THAT'S when the soul's been judged and can no longer be raised from the dead, at which point the body can STILL be brought back to life but you have to do something more like an adventure where you go into the outer planes where the soul's been sent and turned into a petitioner and drag it back to life.
How does this work with Raise Dead vs Resurrection?
Raise Dead works 1 day per caster level, Resurrection works 10 years per caster level.
I don't know how canon treats Resurrection. Without further details, I'd probably consider it that Resurrection is sort of like parole. You've already been judged, but if a cleric casts Resurrection, and you elect to heed the call, you get sent before the parole board and booted back to the land of the living on furlough, but with the understanding that you will have to be judged again.
A related question:
Does the Raised/Resurrected character remember the time they spent dead? (Either waiting to be judged, or whatever else?)

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I don't know how canon treats Resurrection. Without further details, I'd probably consider it that Resurrection is sort of like parole. You've already been judged, but if a cleric casts Resurrection, and you elect to heed the call, you get sent before the parole board and booted back to the land of the living on furlough, but with the understanding that you will have to be judged again.
A related question:
Does the Raised/Resurrected character remember the time they spent dead? (Either waiting to be judged, or whatever else?)
I always thought it was the GM's discretion on this, but that's how I've played it. (Fun stuff - we had the character still waiting in line and bored out of her skull. It makes people stop and stare when she says stuff like "Gee, I wish I'd had one of these to pass the time when I was dead.")
I'd like to know if it's actually written anywhere.

Belle Mythix |

Wolf Munroe wrote:I don't know how canon treats Resurrection. Without further details, I'd probably consider it that Resurrection is sort of like parole. You've already been judged, but if a cleric casts Resurrection, and you elect to heed the call, you get sent before the parole board and booted back to the land of the living on furlough, but with the understanding that you will have to be judged again.
A related question:
Does the Raised/Resurrected character remember the time they spent dead? (Either waiting to be judged, or whatever else?)I always thought it was the GM's discretion on this, but that's how I've played it. (Fun stuff - we had the character still waiting in line and bored out of her skull. It makes people stop and stare when she says stuff like "Gee, I wish I'd had one of these to pass the time when I was dead.")
I'd like to know if it's actually written anywhere.
The official answer is, "usually no, you don't remember" with some exceptions (like being a ghost).

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James Jacobs wrote:Pharasma has nothing at all against raising the dead—and her priests will certainly do so if asked and paid and all that.
All dead bodies have a "time limit" on how long they can be dead before they're brought back to life—that limit varies as it's built into the caster level of each spell. In addition, a dead person can always choose to NOT get resurrected if he wants.
In world, when all of those limits run out, THAT'S when the soul's been judged and can no longer be raised from the dead, at which point the body can STILL be brought back to life but you have to do something more like an adventure where you go into the outer planes where the soul's been sent and turned into a petitioner and drag it back to life.
How does this work with Raise Dead vs Resurrection?
Raise Dead works 1 day per caster level, Resurrection works 10 years per caster level.
I don't know how canon treats Resurrection. Without further details, I'd probably consider it that Resurrection is sort of like parole. You've already been judged, but if a cleric casts Resurrection, and you elect to heed the call, you get sent before the parole board and booted back to the land of the living on furlough, but with the understanding that you will have to be judged again.
A related question:
Does the Raised/Resurrected character remember the time they spent dead? (Either waiting to be judged, or whatever else?)
It works because time is elastic, on one level.
And because you can say if someone was brought back to life via resurrection after a raise dead failed due to the limitations of the raise dead spell that that was due to the limitations of raise dead, not due to the soul being judged.
A raised/resurrected character does not normally remember the time they spent dead, other than as the typical "bright light" type stuff.