Bringing the dead back to life.
D&D can be a fairly deadly game. Traps, monsters and magic are always there to hurt the careless or unlucky adventurer. It’s very possible for your character to die. Fortunately, magic is plentiful, and spells that can resurrect exist in these supernatural realms (as well as other similar effects).
Below I’ve pieced together everything you need to know about resurrection and raising the dead in D&D 2024.
How does resurrection work in D&D?
First of all, a bit of clarification as I often hear players get this wrong. Being reduced to 0HP does not kill a playable character. At this point, a character is simply downed and unconscious.
Hitting 0HP does cause the countdown to death though. This is represented by death saving throws. When on 0HP, you’ll take death saving throws each turn. This is a d20 roll where 10+ represents a success and 1-9 is a failure. If you fail this saving throw 3 times before you succeed 3 times, then you die. Rolling a 1 or 20 will double the successes or failures.
If you take damage while at 0HP, you receive a failed death saving throw. If that damage is from a critical hit, then you receive 2 failed saving throws. If any damage you receive is equal to or exceeds your hit point maximum, then you die instantly. This includes for damage that reduces you to 0HP, if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your HP maximum, then you die instantly too.
Finally, if your hit point maximum is reduced to 0HP, then you also die instantly.
How to raise a dead character
If a character has been knocked to 0HP but not killed outright, then simply healing them will be enough to help them recover. However, if they’ve been killed, then this won’t be sufficient.
Instead, you’ll need a spell that can resurrect/raise dead. These spells include:
| Spell | Level | Classes | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revivify | 3 | Artificer, cleric, druid, paladin, ranger | Diamond worth 300gp | Revive a creature that has died in the last minute to 1HP. |
| Raise dead | 5 | Bard, cleric, paladin | Diamond worth 500gp | Revive a creature that has died for no more than 10 days to 1HP. Neutralises poisons and closes wounds. |
| Reincarnate | 5 | Druid | Rare oils worth 1,000gp | Revives a creature that has been dead for no more than 10 days but brings them back as a random or DM chosen species. |
| Resurrection | 7 | Bard, cleric | Diamond worth 1,000gp | Revive a creature that’s been dead for no more than 100 years to full Hit Points. |
| True resurrection | 9 | Cleric, druid | Diamonds worth 25,000gp | Revives a creature that has been dead for no longer than 200 years with full hit points, even if their body has been destroyed. |
| Wish | 9 | Sorcerer, wizard | Will let you cast any level 8 or lower spell (including resurrection spells) or can simply bring someone back from the dead among other possible effects. |
The easiest way to access dead raising spells is simply by being a relevant spellcaster and taking that spell for your spell list. However, the earliest you’ll gain access to these spells is level 5 and only if you have the right class in your party. Even then, revivify has limitations on how long a creature can have been dead for.
Some subclasses also get access to resurrection type spells. These include:
- Alchemist artificer: Raise dead
- Celestial warlock: Revivify
If you don’t have a spellcaster with resurrection spells in their repertoire, then there are a few other ways to resurrect dead characters.
- A spellcasting NPC: You could find a cleric of a sufficient level and pay them to revive your fallen comrade.
- Spell scrolls: You could grab a spell scroll that can raise a dead companion.
- Magic items: You could also grab a magic item that can cast a resurrection type spell like the rod of resurrection, ring of spell storing or enspelled weapon. Most of these are reliant on having the right type of spells stored within them though.
Using the right type of resurrection
As you might have noticed above, not every resurrection spells will work every time. In fact, some effects that kill someone even state that only certain types of resurrection spells can raise someone killed by that effect. The disintegrate spell is like this, only allowing a creature to be raised from the dead by a true resurrection or wish spell.
Here are some guidelines for which resurrection spells you need for which situation. Ideally, you’ll want to be using lower levels resurrection spells where you can because higher level options come with drawbacks.
- Died in the last minute: Any
- Died in the last 10 days: Raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection, true resurrection or wish
- Died in the last 100yrs: Resurrection, true resurrection or wish
- Died in the last 200yrs: True resurrection or wish
- Died more than 200yrs ago: Wish
- Died of old age: Any except revivify
- Restoring body parts: Reincarnate, resurrection, true resurrection and wish
- Restoring lost organs: True resurrection or wish
- Restoring destroyed body: True resurrection or wish
- Restoring a creature from being undead: True resurrection or wish
- Restored as a new species: Reincarnate or wish
Drawbacks to resurrection
Raising the dead is powerful magic, even for spells of the level you’re casting. It requires both a material cost and a physical toll. This includes:
- Costly material components: Resurrection spells require costly components. Even the humble revivify costs 300gp (a lot for a 3rd level spell) with true resurrection costing a whopping 25,000gp per use. Wish is the only exception here.
- Impaired d20 tests: Resurrection will make you worse at d20 tests until you take a long rest. Wish will leave you with just 3 strength until you take a long rest too.
- Affected spellcasting: The wish spell will cause necrotic damage when you cast spells while resurrection will stop you casting spells entirely until you take a long rest.
- Might never be cast again: The wish spell might also never be able to be cast again.
- Resurrected creature might be impaired: Some spells like revivify, will leave a creature with just 1HP while others will leave the creature with temporarily impaired d20 tests like the resurrection spell.
- Time consuming: Most resurrection spells take a while to cast. Usually this is an hour except for the relatively weak revivify and the exceptionally powerful wish which both require an action.
Different tables rely differently on resurrection type spells. Much of this depends on your DM and the module they’re running. Some may quite happily kill party members, others will tend to be gentler on their players. How much you need to deal with death is definitely a judgement call, but at least you have the knowledge needed to handle it.
