All Hallow’s Eve has come and gone, but you can still wake the dead in D&D with these five spells. SpoooOOoOooky.
The time for ghosts and goblins has passed, but in Dungeons & Dragons the time is pretty much always right to wake the dead. And with these five spells, you’ll be able to always do exactly that. So it’s time to roll up your sleeves, incant the names engraved on the book of the dead, and let’s get to some necromancy!
Speak with Dead
Sometimes you just need to have a little chat with someone who is pushing up daisies, whose metabolic processes are now history, who has shuffled off this mortal coil, who has run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible. And for those times, one of the easiest things you can do is “Speak with Dead.”
This spell lets you talk to the dead, though it’s more like talking to their corpse rather than the soul that was once contained within the living body–but if you want to wake the dead, this is technically one of the best ways to do it. And as everyone knows, technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Revivify
Of course when you’re dealing with the dead, it’s probably more about the spirit of the law, pun intended, as opposed to the letter of it. Prove to everyone that your party member is not dead but sleepeth with this handy 3rd level spell. It only works on someone who happens to have died in the last minute though, so you’ll want to be quick.
True Resurrection
This spell works if you can’t be quick. Because unlike revivify or resurrection, which have some pretty strict limits, true resurrection will work on anyone, as long as they’ve only been dead no more than 200 years and didn’t die of old age. Which is pretty handy because it means you can’t bring back the ancient king or queen, but as long as you have a pretty good record, you can pull all kinds of folks out of their eternal rest with a sprinkle of holy water and 25,000gp worth of diamonds.
Animate Dead
Of course when that doesn’t work, there’s always animate dead, which will wake your fallen comrade as some kind of spooky, scary skeleton that might send shivers down your spine. They might also be a zombie though, so you’ll have to see if you need to skeleton shuffle or thriller dance whenever they come back.
Danse Macabre
And now for the ultimate spell to wake the dead. It even has dance right in the pronunciation of the spell. If you want to wake the dead, you’ll need this party spell which creates at least 5 skeletons out of nearby corpses and gets them ready to fight and do whatever you say.
Happy Adventuring!
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
