I like these. I particularly like the levels of exhaustion adjustment to Revivify. That said, I would keep Resurrection at level 7 but require a level adjustment for lack of a body. These are all meant to keep the story going and that is a good thing.
I like that, give Resurrection an upcast option. Would you increase the cost of the material component to scale from Resurrection cost to True Ressurection costs?
Resurrection should be able to create a NEW BODY, completely healthy, of any age, to bring anyone back to life regardless of how the ally died or how long ago. The Resurrection spell should even be able to reconstitute the ‘echos’ of a destroyed soul. Unlike Revivify, Resurrection should be able to handle the impossible situations, including precasting a self-resurrection. Therefore such a version of Resurrection probably deserves a slot 9, comparable to Wish. Because this Resurrection creates a new body, it should also be able to restore an ally that is trapped in suspended animation (compare Clone where the soul migrates to a new body). The old body vanishes as any residue gets incorporated into the new body. Likewise, such Resurrection can destroy an undead by creating a new living body, while the undead corpse vanishes. Meanwhile, a reverse application of this Resurrection spell can be employed to deny a foe the possibility of a resurrection. In this case, trying to Resurrect a denied ally would be similar to Dispel Magic, and difficult to succeed.
This Resurrection spell would be slot spell level 9, so I feel it should undo various effects that trap a soul.Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I don't think a resurrection should be able to reverse the effects of a trapped soul: Magic Jar, Stasis (which isn't a spell in 5e anymore, but I love it),
As far as denying a foe a resurrection: Magic Jar, turning them into undead or burying them on grounds that have been 'Hallowed' all allow for this. There's a few other spells that do this but I can't remember them off-hand.
... a person transformed into an undead. Otherwise, you'd be able to kill a Lich with a single spell remotely. I think, seeking out that soul and releasing it makes for a good adventure hook that shouldn't be hand waived by a spell. IMO.
That is kinda a good point.
When using Resurrection aggressively to destroy Undead, there might need to be some prerequisites to make it happen. An easy prerequisite would be that the former living soul of the Undead is willing. In the case of a Lich, the soul might prefer to remain a Lich.
A consequence that you may not have thought about here is the effect of being able to use these spells on NPCs. It's a lot more difficult to run a "murder mystery" style adventure when you can just resurrect the victim and ask what happened.
Yes, there's speak with dead, but (1) that spell has limitations on it while questioning a resurrected NPC has none, and (2) you could easily have a party where no one took speak with dead but there's virtually no way you'll have a party without revivify under your new guidelines.
I like these. I particularly like the levels of exhaustion adjustment to Revivify. That said, I would keep Resurrection at level 7 but require a level adjustment for lack of a body. These are all meant to keep the story going and that is a good thing.
Well, resurrection doesn't work at all if the soul isn't willing. You can't actually, offensively, resurrect people for the purposes of torturing them over and over. So, since a lich has willingly made himself undead, the spell would auto-fail. It would deny him his 'immortality' and he would never accept that. It might be the same for most intelligent 'natural' undead. (like those Giant negative energy ones...I forget what they're called) Zombies and the like would have unwilling 'tortured' souls trapped inside. A vampire is a hedge case. They probably weren't willing participants when they were turned, but now they might deny a Resurrection. So you might have to do it on a case-by-case basis or put in a saving throw.
A consequence that you may not have thought about here is the effect of being able to use these spells on NPCs. It's a lot more difficult to run a "murder mystery" style adventure when you can just resurrect the victim and ask what happened.
Specifically it's missing something that other spells to bring back the dead all have.... it does not require a willing soul/victim.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.
A few points here:Revify:
casting time: 1 action
components: 300 gp of diamonds or diamond dust, which is consumed.
Returns to life a creature who has died in the last hour. The body must be present. Mortal wounds are healed, and the creature has 1 hp. If they have died in the last minute, they come back with a level of exhaustion (unless they died with more). If longer than a minute, two levels of exhaustion. If they died from exhaustion, they come back with 5 levels of exhaustion.
Any Poisons and Disease that killed a creature are not cured by this spell, but their action is delayed for 30 minutes.
At higher levels: As a 4th level spell, works on a creature which has died in the last 24 hours. At 5th level, a week. At 6th level, a month. At 7th level, a year. At 8th level, 100 years. For each time increment beyond 30 minutes. If the creature was dead more than an day, week or year they come back with 3, 4 or 5 levels of exhaustion.
What character concept is sabotaged by keeping some setting elements secret? (other than the "I want to know everything right now" concept, which is more a player problem IMO and not something I want to cater to)Generally speaking.
I am less a fan of sabotaging character concepts for the sake of making a dungeon crawl secretive.
For example, D&D mostly destroys the classic ability of being able to Phase thru solid objects, delaying it to ridiculously high levels, just so the DM can keep a room secret.
In the case of Phase, I would rather low level be normal. When the DM needs a room to shut out player characters, then there needs to be low level spells like ‘Wall of Protection against Evil’ that also shut out phasing characters, thus can seal off a room.
Fixable immediately by raising the material component cost of Raise Dead beyond the means of any but the most wealthy, i.e. adventurers and nobility.Regarding murder mysteries. I find them almost untenable in D&D. Even a low level nonplayer character can hire someone to cast Raise Dead. The murder no longer has serious consequences.