Editing Planes of Existence (section)

==== Death, Resurrection Spells, and Moving On ====
When a mortal dies in the Material Plane, its soul is automatically ejected into the Ethereal Plane, unless the death was caused by extreme means that cause it to be anchored to the Material somehow. Generally speaking, the more vicious, jarring, or abnormal the means of death, the more the spirit is anchored. This is why mortals who die of old age cannot be resurrected—they usually pass quietly and naturally.

In a general sense, a morally opposing death creates the biggest anchor for a spirit. For example: a good-hearted creature stabbed in a mugging may linger as an ambivalent ghost, while a person tortured and slowly killed with acid may come back as a malevolent ghost hellbent on revenge, or even something worse like a revenant or wraith.

Certain spells like Spare the Dying and Gentle Repose are capable of anchoring souls to the Material as well. If not anchored, the spirit begins to travel. The farther it travels from its corporeal form, the harder it is to resurrect.

In exchange for their pseudo-immortality, elves cannot be resurrected, as their ancestors, the eladrin, were not touched by Entropy. When they are killed or die from one of the few elf-specific diseases, they are dead forever.

===== Spare the Dying =====
Spare the Dying can be cast when a mortal is actively dying, but not yet dead. It stabilizes the creature. Spare the Dying also works on elves.

===== Gentle Repose =====
Gentle Repose is cast to prevent a spirit from departing. It essentially causes the spirit to enter a torpor state for 10 days.

===== Revivify =====
It takes one minute for the soul to fully separate from the body. Within this window, Revivify and all higher resurrection spells can be cast successfully. Please note that this time is relevant to the Ethereal Plane, not the plane the creature has died on. Even planes without static concepts of time such as a Feywild will have a static one minute time frame from death. Revivify is automatically successful.

===== Raise Dead =====
After a minute has passed, the spirit transfers into the Ethereal Plane and begins its long pilgrimage to the Grand Judgment. This pilgrimage takes 10 days. Within this time, only Raise Dead and higher resurrection spells may be cast. Whomever is casting the spell must roll a Wisdom check. The DC to resurrect a willing creature is at this stage is 5 + # of days the creature has been dead. Higher spells like Resurrection and True Resurrection succeed automatically. Gentle Repose can be used to prevent the spirit from leaving its body, effectively causing the spirit to “sleep.”

===== Resurrection =====
Once the spirit has reached the Grand Judgment, they then begin the process of having their soul judged (or weighed). This takes 100 years of time in the mortal planes, but is nearly instantaneous to the spirit. During this time, only Resurrection or True Resurrection may be cast. Since the spirit is actively in judgment, the DC to resurrect is 8 + 1 for every 10 years the spirit has been dead - any gifts offered. The Many-Named-One is aware of resurrection and will freely offer back spirits if a suitable gift is given. The Many-Named-One appreciates gifts of service, not goods, unless the good has sentimental value to the dead one. True Resurrection succeeds automatically.

===== True Resurrection =====
After being judged, the spirit departs to its last home, or is dissolved back into the Spirit Pool to be reincarnated. At this point, only True Resurrection may be cast. True Resurrection works in two ways: if the spirit has been transferred to an Outer Plane or last realm, the spell directly connects with the deity or whatever is overseeing them and requests they return to the Material Plane. Depending on the deity, this can be a tricky proposition. In general, the DC to cast this is 10 + 1 for every 100 years the creature has been dead +/- whatever affinity the deity has for the caster. Gods, like the Many-Named-One, enjoy receiving gifts and may ask the caster to perform a task before the creature is resurrected.

If, however, the spirit has been returned to the Pool, it’s usually because they were a terrible person or made a deal with an entity for reincarnation or in exchange for something. It is not possible to resurrect a person this way, as being reincarnated is akin to being “unwilling.”