D&D 5E Perma Death in 5e?

Enevhar Aldarion · Jun 30, 2020

the Jester said:
By the time a wizard is 20th level, he's been able to add six 9th level spells to his spellbook just from leveling up. So he doesn't need to find wish at all- at least by RAW.

Maybe in your campaign world, but no one gets new spells for free when I DM. Some spells do not even exist unless a PC wants to spend time and resources and try and research it and be the creator of the spell. That way it can be named after them and not some no-name from another dimension. lol

TaranTheWanderer · Jun 30, 2020

I'm not sure there's a fool proof way but you can sure as hell(that's a pun - see below) make it difficult.

The Barghest idea is kind of what I was thinking but I'd rule the soul is no longer in the remains. You can't be resurrected without if the soul is trapped as an undead or other location.

You have to trap the soul. I think summoning it from whatever plane it is currently residing would be the first step. Probably a homebrew, level 9 summoning, or one of the existing ones might fit the bill. It might require the villain to make some deals with powerful demons to locate the whereabouts of said soul. The payment would be the soul itself. Everyone in the deal is happy.

Summon the soul into a summoning circle, trap it or reshape it it and then give it to the devil or demon to bring back to whatever level of hell they live on. So, now before they get their friend back, they need to get the gem that's being held by a Pit Fiend. Maybe the Character's soul has already been turned into a dretch or somethng. Or used as currency and sold to a different devil. Trying to track it down will be difficult and require some craftiness. Wish might not work because Devil Princes might have more powerful magicks on their Native Planes than those pesky mortals or because the character's soul is now in a completely different form, owned and tortured by said powerful Prince..

Coroc · Jul 1, 2020

S'mon said:
What do you think are some of the best ways under 5e rules for an evil level 20 Wizard (who might be called Runelord Karzoug) with near-unlimited resources to ensure the permanent demise of slain & Disintegrated level 20 PCs (whose surviving comrades also have access to level 9 magic, including True Resurrection)? Asking for a friend.

Be careful about precreated clones. I once used them as a story element to circumvent the conditions of a geas preventing priestly resurrection after a duel.