The Immortal Healer

[Pokelord2]

A friend of mine recently told me that the healer cannot stay dead. When I asked him how he said that it's because the healer gets the ability to cast True Ressurection as a supernatural ability and there's nothing that says you can't cast spells, use spell-like abilities, or use natural abilities once you are wherever you go after you die. He says that since it is a supernatural ability he doesn't need the material components to do it and the book never says that you CAN'T.

Somebody help me with this one because this cannot go unchallenged. Ugh.

[Lord Haart]

Well, it's true. Moreso; not only does death not limit "spells, spell-like abilities, or natural abilities", it doesn't limit any kind of abilities or actions (with a very few very specific exceptions) in any way. Generally, all the "dead" condition does is make you a valid target for a bunch for effects and an invalid target for a slightly smaller bunch.

Now being unconscious/disabled does prevent him from resurrecting himself or doing most anything else, and that's a problem (one that most probably makes your friend wrong in the sense of being able to do what he describes without additional precautions). However, there are ways to die without ever getting unconscious/disabled (was there ever any doubt?), in which case the only thing standing between you and hookers is DM.

It's easier to drown yourself to stay alive, though.

[ArcturusV]

Technically true I suppose, but depends on setting specifics and cosmology.

For example there are some settings where if you are of certain alignments you don't particularly get a chance to do anything as a dead guy. You're just soul food. So your soul may not really be in a condition to pop a miracle off in its own ass. Similarly situations involving Faustian Pacts that may prevent you from having full control over your soul... process of becoming a petitioner which if I recall correctly means your very soul/essence merges with an outer plane (and thus you aren't yourself to do it again). Course it's not "immortality" in and of itself as you still have to contend with old age. And the most basic ways to get around old age (Undeath or possessing a construct body) in DnD stop True Resurrection from working.

[Khatoblepas]

Material plane dwellers generally gain the the Petitioner (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineMinions.htm#creatingaPetitioner) template, which states:


Special Attacks

A petitioner loses all supernatural and spell-like attacks, but retains normal and exceptional attacks.

Outsiders merely meld into the plane they came from. Dead people don't keep their class levels, the only way they could is if they came back as an undead.

That is, that's the default assumption of D&D. If you had dead people running around with class levels, nothing would ever get done, they'd just plane shift to the material plane.

[nedz]

By RAW possibly, though you do need to ability to take actions — which if you are dead you cannot.

As to the cosmological argument — I believe that's undefined.