Raise Dead in detail

[Stabbald]

I'm going to run into the players in my game casting raise dead soon, and I can't seem to figure out how the spell works. I assumed that you merely lost enough experience to put you down a level, but it seems more complicated than that.

The description says that you gain a negative level, as if you were hit by an energy draining attack. So the mods to the character would be as follows...

–1 penalty on all skill checks
-1 to all ability checks
-1 to all attack rolls
-1 to all saving throws
-1 HD/Class level

How does this effect experience? Assuming the character is level 8 before they are raised do they only gain their next level when that get enough experience for level 9? Do they get experience per encounter as if they were level 7?

Upon losing the HD/Class Level, do they also lose class features, feats, ability score increases, etc? In addition to the other losses?

[Crake]

Where the SRD says you lose a level as if hit by an energy draining attack, it means as if you failed the fort save vs the permanent level loss of a negative level.

Normally this kind of level loss can be restored using restoration or greater restoration, but raise dead specifies that this is not possible.

Edit: To clarify, their xp total is dropped to halfway from their previous level to their current level. So a level 8 character who gets raised is level 7, with enough xp to make it halfway to 8 and as soon as they have enough xp to level up to 8, they do so as normal.

[Ashtagon]

Are you going by 3.0, 3.5, or PF rules? I think 3.x are both the same, but I'm fairly certain that PF changed how level loss works.

[Stabbald]

Are you going by 3.0, 3.5, or PF rules? I think 3.x are both the same, but I'm fairly certain that PF changed how level loss works.

I'm playing by 3.5 rules.



Edit: To clarify, their xp total is dropped to halfway from their previous level to their current level. So a level 8 character who gets raised is level 7, with enough xp to make it halfway to 8 and as soon as they have enough xp to level up to 8, they do so as normal.


Where are you getting this part from? I don't see it in the SRD under the Raise Dead spell.

It looks as though I was wrong about the "-1 HD/Class level" as it seems to say instead...

-1 effective level (whenever the creature’s level is used in a die roll or calculation, reduce it by one for each negative level).

It also says "On a failure, the negative level goes away, but the creature’s level is also reduced by one." which, I assume is what you mean.

[Killer Angel]

Where are you getting this part from? I don't see it in the SRD under the Raise Dead spell.

Here you are:



A character who loses a level instantly loses one Hit Die. The character’s base attack bonus, base saving throw bonuses, and special class abilities are now reduced to the new, lower level. Likewise, the character loses any ability score gain, skill ranks, and any feat associated with the level (if applicable). If the exact ability score or skill ranks increased from a level now lost is unknown (or the player has forgotten), lose 1 point from the highest ability score or ranks from the highest-ranked skills. If a familiar or companion creature has abilities tied to a character who has lost a level, the creature’s abilities are adjusted to fit the character’s new level.

The victim’s experience point total is immediately set to the midpoint of the previous level.

[Stabbald]

Here you are:

Fantastically helpful, thank you very much.

So to clarify, the character loses a level as mentioned in the level loss section above and I ignore the other effects of having a negative level as if they had failed the fort save?

I wish they had written this spell a little better.

[Killer Angel]

Fantastically helpful, thank you very much.

So to clarify, the character loses a level as mentioned in the level loss section above and I ignore the other effects of having a negative level as if they had failed the fort save?

I wish they had written this spell a little better.

Yep, pretty much. :smallwink:

[Ashtagon]

Basically, the character loses a level, XP is set to the midpoint of the new level, and the modifiers outlined under the energy drain header do not apply (they only apply before you'd normally roll a save to see if the energy drain becomes permanent; raise dead assumes this save is automatically failed and/or cannot be attempted).