Resurrection and Undead

[bassmasterginga]

this question recently came up in a session. If someone dies and becomes an incorporeal undead spawn (wraith etc) and then their corporeal body has resurrection cast on it what happens? can both the undead creature and the living creature exists simultaneously?

[BIGMamaSloth]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/resurrection.htm

Notice the "You can resurrect someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. " you have to kill the undead first.

[Hoboshank]

same party as bassmaster. if someone is turned into incorporeal undead spawn what would happen to the persons spirit (like if you went to the outer planes would you find the petitioner of the person?) and are corporeal any different?

[Xtomjames]

Well, as already stated you have to kill the undead creature first so the spirit is "free to return" casting resurrection on a dead body whose soul isn't free to return to the body would be a waste of time and spell components.

Since a person's spirit (non-outsider or extraplanar beings only) become "outsiders" and enter a spiritual realm by most D&D pantheon and death rules you might find a "corporeal" spirit, but this spirit is only corporeal on the given realm it's been sent to and doesn't count against the resurrection spell.

If someone is turned into an incorporeal creature their spirit becomes that creature. See the Ghostwalk book for more info on this.

[Jack_Simth]

this question recently came up in a session. If someone dies and becomes an incorporeal undead spawn (wraith etc) and then their corporeal body has resurrection cast on it what happens? can both the undead creature and the living creature exists simultaneously?The spell is wasted, as per the spell description; you'd have to destroy the undead first.

However, thanks to a clause in the Undead Type (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#undeadType):
Not affected by raise dead and reincarnate spells or abilities. Resurrection and true resurrection can affect undead creatures. These spells turn undead creatures back into the living creatures they were before becoming undead.(emphasis added)

So if you try to use True Resurrection (which doesn't require a part of the corpse) to revive someone when their corpse (or spirit) is walking around elsewhere, it fails. If you apply True Resurrection directly to the undead corpse (or spirit), you get the person back unchanged.

While never spelled out anywhere, there's a fairly strong match with the spirit of the dead being chained to the undead creature....