Ressurection

Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which involves the same person or deity coming back to live in a different body, rather than the same one.

In ancient Greek religion a number of men and women became physically immortal as they were resurrected from the dead. Asclepius was killed by Zeus, only to be resurrected and transformed into a major deity. Achilles, after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother Thetis and resurrected, brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, the Elysian plains or the Islands of the Blessed. Memnon, who was killed by Achilles, seems to have received a similar fate. Alcmene, Castor, Heracles, and Melicertes, were also among the figures sometimes considered to have been resurrected to physical immortality. According to Herodotus's Histories, the seventh century BC sage Aristeas of Proconnesus was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a locked room. Later he found not only to have been resurrected but to have gained immortality.

Many other figures, like a great part of those who fought in the Trojan and Theban wars, Menelaus, and the historical pugilist Cleomedes of Astupalaea, were also believed to have been made physically immortal, but without having died in the first place. Indeed, in Greek religion, immortality originally always included an eternal union of body and soul. As may be witnessed even into the Christian era, not least by the complaints of various philosophers over popular beliefs, traditional Greek believers maintained the conviction that certain individuals were resurrected from the dead and made physically immortal and that for the rest of us, we could only look forward to an existence as disembodied and dead souls.

Greek philosophers generally denied this traditional religious belief in physical immortality. Writing his Lives of Illustrious Men (Parallel Lives) in the first century, the Middle Platonic philosopher Plutarch in his chapter on Romulus gave an account of the mysterious disappearance and subsequent deification of this first king of Rome, comparing it to traditional Greek beliefs such as the resurrection and physical immortalization of Alcmene and Aristeas the Proconnesian, "for they say Aristeas died in a fuller's work-shop, and his friends coming to look for him, found his body vanished; and that some presently after, coming from abroad, said they met him traveling towards Croton". Plutarch openly scorned such beliefs held in traditional ancient Greek religion, writing, "many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally mortal."

Alcestis undergoes resurrection over a three-day period of time, but without achieving immortality.

The parallel between these traditional beliefs and the later resurrection of Jesus was not lost on the early Christians, as Justin Martyr argued: "when we say … Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus." (1 Apol. 21).

The very rich get to live forever and get even richer. The rich people might move to live closer to these druids or convince them to live nearer them and/or they'll employ lower level clerics or wizards to cast gentle repose on them to be safe with the time limit.

1000gp is far beyond what most people will ever own at one time epically considering that doesn't even include the charge for actually casting the spell.

The rich are also more likely to have the resources to deal with the inevitable dysphoria that will come from being placed within a body that is not your own through magically altering their new body to better fit them.

So this entire thought experiment is just an exercise in how busted and not-thought-out D&D's economy really is…

But you are incorrect here.

Minimum cost of living in D&D: 2 SP per day.

The wage of a skilled laborer in D&D: 2 GP per day.

A carpenter can save 1.8 gp per day. And in two years he will have enough gold to afford the material cost of the spell (1,000 gp) as well as the service cost to cast it (spell level (4) \* caster level (7) \* 10 = 280 gp).

Anyone middle class and up can afford this service.

D&D's economy is crazy broken.

An immortal sovereign should do a number on feudalism especially if immortality is relatively cheap at around 20 gold/year to keep a sovereign in power indefinitely. What is an heir going to do with their lives if they can never inherit? I would expect to see a move away from feudalism towards empires with immortal emperors who control everything in perpetuity, or to other forms of government that don't rely on inheritance. If they stick with feudalism they might see frequent rebellions as the next generation tries to make a name for themselves and take a chunk out of the realm. Some societies might develop peaceful means of doing this, where once you reach a certain age you are given lands and titles to administer and it's on you to make the most of it.

There is also the question of how the druids relate to the ruling class. Are they subservient to it and can be counted on to produce the spell on command, or do rulers need to say in the druids' good graces and if they don't they won't receive the reincarnation. In medieval Europe the church had a moderating influence on kings because they were genuinely afraid of ending up in hell, so if the church banned certain practises (especially related to war), then that ban was generally respected. The druids might serve a similar function where there is the constant threat of withheld reincarnations if you don't live your life up to the druids' standards.

Divine intervention


Magical methods


Revivify

You touch a creature that has died within the last minute. That creature returns to life with 1 hit point. This spell can’t return to life a creature that has died of old age, nor can it restore any missing body parts.

Raise Dead

You return a dead creature you touch to life, provided that it has been dead no longer than 10 days. If the creature’s soul is both willing and at liberty to rejoin the body, the creature returns to life with 1 hit point.

This spell also neutralizes any poisons and cures nonmagical diseases that affected the creature at the time it died. This spell doesn’t, however, remove magical diseases, curses, or similar effects; if these aren’t first removed prior to casting the spell, they take effect when the creature returns to life. The spell can’t return an undead creature to life.

This spell closes all mortal wounds, but it doesn’t restore missing body parts. If the creature is lacking body parts or organs integral for its survival—its head, for instance—the spell automatically fails.

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a −4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.

Resurrection

You touch a dead creature that has been dead for no more than a century, that didn’t die of old age, and that isn’t undead. If its soul is free and willing, the target returns to life with all its hit points.

This spell neutralizes any poisons and cures normal diseases afflicting the creature when it died. It doesn’t, however, remove magical diseases, curses, and the like; if such effects aren’t removed prior to casting the spell, they afflict the target on its return to life.

This spell closes all mortal wounds and restores any missing body parts.

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a −4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.

Casting this spell to restore life to a creature that has been dead for one year or longer taxes you greatly. Until you finish a long rest, you can’t cast spells again, and you have disadvantage on all attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.

This spell functions like raise dead, except that you are able to restore life and complete strength to any deceased creature.

The condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of the creature’s body still exists, it can be resurrected, but the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature’s body at the time of death. (The remains of a creature hit by a disintegrate spell count as a small portion of its body.) The creature can have been dead no longer than 10 years per caster level.

Upon completion of the spell, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no loss of prepared spells. However, the subject loses one level, or 2 points of Constitution if the subject was 1st level. (If this reduction would bring its Con to 0 or lower, it can’t be resurrected). This level loss or Constitution loss cannot be repaired by any means.

You can resurrect someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. You cannot resurrect someone who has died of old age. Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead creatures can’t be resurrected.

Material Component
A sprinkle of holy water and diamonds worth a total of at least 10,000 gp.

Reincarnate

You touch a dead humanoid or a piece of a dead humanoid. Provided that the creature has been dead no longer than 10 days, the spell forms a new adult body for it and then calls the soul to enter that body. If the target’s soul isn’t free or willing to do so, the spell fails.

The magic fashions a new body for the creature to inhabit, which likely causes the creature’s race to change.

The reincarnated creature recalls its former life and experiences. It retains the capabilities it had in its original form, except it exchanges its original race for the new one and changes its racial traits accordingly.

True Resurrection

You touch a creature that has been dead for no longer than 200 years and that died for any reason except old age. If the creature’s soul is free and willing, the creature is restored to life with all its hit points.

This spell closes all wounds, neutralizes any poison, cures all diseases, and lifts any curses affecting the creature when it died. The spell replaces damaged or missing organs and limbs.

The spell can even provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must speak the creature’s name. The creature then appears in an unoccupied space you choose within 10 feet of you.

This spell functions like raise dead, except that you can resurrect a creature that has been dead for as long as 10 years per caster level. This spell can even bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased’s time and place of birth or death is the most common method).

Upon completion of the spell, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no loss of level (or Constitution points) or prepared spells.

You can revive someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. This spell can also resurrect elementals or outsiders, but it can’t resurrect constructs or undead creatures.

Even true resurrection can’t restore to life a creature who has died of old age.

Material Component
A sprinkle of holy water and diamonds worth a total of at least 25,000 gp.

Wish

see Wish

Other methods


Alchemical

Notable resurrections


Name of the resurrected Name of the resurrector Year
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License