D&D 5E Revivify - where did that come from?!?

[Sunseeker]

Or, in D&D, take their stuff.

Specifically their heart and tongue, or whole head.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Specifically their heart and tongue, or whole head.

Freakishly didn't always stop Resurrection in every ed.

 

[Sunseeker]

Freakishly didn't always stop Resurrection in every ed.

True Resurrection typically bypasses missing body parts. Regular Resurrection usually gets past some body parts.

Still, at high levels, it's probably better to just steal the target's soul.

 

[mlund]

Or, in D&D, take their stuff. They might come back, but they're so much of a threat anymore.

Well, there was Close Wounds in the Spell Compendium - 2nd level, Swift action, 'Close' (25 ft + 5/level) range.

There was a Necromancy spell that kept you from auto-dying for going to -10 HP too. As long as they could heal the physical damage before the spell duration expired the soul wouldn't be separated from the body and the character wouldn't "die."

I figure Revivify is something to that effect. The soul lingers while death sets in. If you can get the body working in the meantime you resuscitate the victim before the soul departs the body. If you want to make sure they can't be revived, cut off the head and take it with you. You need to do that to prevent Raise Dead anyway. It won't work if the victim had his throat ripped out by wolves or bowels feasted on by ghouls either. Those would be "missing body parts."

Well, OK, the spell will work, but not for the intended effect.

 

[DeanP]

Raising a character from the dead is my one D&D pet peeve. I don't mind when it's a rare and momentous event, but once characters have low level, mid level and high level access to such power, it cheapens the meaning of existential threats. I've never changed it though, because its part of the power and perk of playing a cleric who can obtain that sort of power. I try to make those events very meaningful in the course of play. I tend to role play out the scenes of characters who are about to return to life, with spirits or even gods visiting them before their return, and alluding to repercussions to abandoning paradise, etc.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Well, there was Close Wounds in the Spell Compendium - 2nd level, Swift action, 'Close' (25 ft + 5/level) range.

In my (fairly extensive) experience, Close Wounds in 3E worked more like Revivify does in 5E, in that it would prevent the need for an expensive Raise Dead, but it wouldn't usually bring them back into the fight.

It's just a side effect of how the different editions treated zero HP. In 3E, bringing someone up to positive single-digit HP was usually a death sentence, since the next hit would likely drop them below -20. If an attack would already take them down to -10, though, then Close Wounds could reactively keep them alive and stable in the negatives. And depending on DM interpretation or errata in use, you could also use it to save characters from death effects (which simply brought the character to negative ten.)

Of course, Close Wounds + Heal would get someone from insta-dead to full in a single initiative pass, and that was around when I stopped playing 3E.

 

[TwoSix]

So from a purely "magic" logical point of view, I have to concede that the spell makes sense. If a level 7 spell can turn back someone to life after years of being dad, and level 5 spell after days, then perhaps a level 3 spell can revive someone just after a few short moments of death. If a level 3 spell can create a fireball, it makes sense that a level 1 spell makes a burning hand. And we also know that well, with modern medicine someone who is dead might be brought back with emergency care if this death occurred but moments ago.

Meh. I tend to think of revivify as a healing word with a material cost and spell slot penalty for taking too long to heal somebody, rather than as a discount raise dead.

 

[Tony Vargas]

In my (fairly extensive) experience, Close Wounds in 3E worked more like Revivify does in 5E, in that it would prevent the need for an expensive Raise Dead, but it wouldn't usually bring them back into the fight.

It didn't heal a lot of hps, but it could probably get someone back up. Not for long, but that was always the problem with trying to be a useful healer in 3e, given how much damage monsters could dish out, your allies were often better off staying down, timing was critical &c.

But that was your point: stabilizing the dying at range with a bonus action.

Of course, Close Wounds + Heal would get someone from insta-dead to full in a single initiative pass, and that was around when I stopped playing 3E.

OK then.

 

[Rune]

I have problems with revivify. Among other things, it bugs the hell out of me that a spell that can revive the dead--even if only within a minute--is three levels lower than a spell that removes one level of exhaustion.

Yeah. I'm considering having Lesser Restoration heal one level of exhaustion and Greater Restoration heal it fully. That seems better balanced to me.

 

[Shiroiken]

Raising a character from the dead is my one D&D pet peeve. I don't mind when it's a rare and momentous event, but once characters have low level, mid level and high level access to such power, it cheapens the meaning of existential threats. I've never changed it though, because its part of the power and perk of playing a cleric who can obtain that sort of power. I try to make those events very meaningful in the course of play. I tend to role play out the scenes of characters who are about to return to life, with spirits or even gods visiting them before their return, and alluding to repercussions to abandoning paradise, etc.

The problem is the loss of significance over the years. In AD&D, there was a hard cap on how often you could be raised (your starting Con Score), and you had to succeed on a Resurrection roll (fairly high % chance). Characters died fairly often, and returned fairly often, but you still worried about it. Clone (and some other spells) gave really powerful character's an out, but required preparation.

3E had the level loss mechanic, but it never worked for me. It didn't have the "permanent" death threat that AD&D had (since it was automatic and you could regain the level). In some ways it actually sucked more because you were more likely to cascade into a series of deaths, since you were weaker than the rest of the party.

4E and 5E have pretty much taken the sting out of death. It's often more of an inconvenience once you reach 5th level, than an actual threat. I've considered requiring a Con Check (DC: 5+number of deaths) each time you come back as a way to encourage survival. I've also considered adding the Raise Dead penalty to Revivify (for half the duration).