How to kill a target that has infinite ressurection spells at hand?

[Pinjata]

So there is this dragon that seems to have a ton of mini-hoards consisting of 5000 gp worth of diamonds ... Also seems to have stored parts of him (chips of his claws) and whenever we kill him, he just pops back up via assistance of his minions.

How do we make an end to this, playground?

thanks

[Forrestfire]

Killing the dragon with a thinaun weapon (Complete Warrior) will trap its soul in the weapon, preventing resurrection.

Other than that, animating the corpse as some sort of undead will prevent resurrections (as the spell requires the creature to be destroyed before it works), trapping the soul in some other way, or various ways of unmaking them from reality might work.

[Werephilosopher]

Flesh to stone, transmute rock to mud, purify food and drink, use half the water to water your garden and dump the rest into the sea.

[Brookshw]

Here you go. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?378250-Preventing-True-Resurrection-Wish)

[Telonius]

Are the minions easier to kill than the dragon? You might try tracking them down first.

You might try lodging a complaint with your local Marut. Otherwise, make it so that the Dragon isn't exactly dead, but not available for offensive maneuvers. The Flesh to Stone solution is a classic one. Collapsing him via ability damage (Shivering Touch or similar), then a dose of Temporal Stasis, would be another.

If you really want to bring out the big guns, a Sphere of Annihilation will remove him entirely.

[Venger]

roughly what level are you?

unname is fiddly, but extremely permanent.

barghest's feast, if you can steal one of those hordes, will take care of him once you kill him.

PAO/Shapechange is on the table, or summoning, having him killed by an actual barghest will take care of the miss chance, plus allow you to obviate the gp cost.

[ellindsey]

Remind your GM that the body part used for resurrection has to be part of the body at the time of death, so storing bits beforehand will not work. Then make sure you *completely* destroy the body next time you kill it.

[Sith_Happens]

What kind of dragon and how old? "Whenever we kill him" implies that you've done so multiple times already, so you could just milk him for XP until he's lost enough hit dice to no longer be a threat (or even until he's down to 1 HD and 2 CON and therefore can only be brought back with True Res).:smallwink:

[TypoNinja]

Resurrection? You are already winning. He's getting a negative level every time he pops back up, and literally nothing can remove that negative level. Eventually he won't be a threat at all, and every fight gets a little easier as you get stronger while he gets weaker. He should have been looking to cut a deal after death 2 or 3.

True Res so he won't lose a level? Not even a Dragon can afford that for very long, and the ones that can literally have a compulsion to collect loot, so will absolutely hate to see it evaporating like that. Again, he should be looking to cut a deal after a death or two.

[Fax Celestis]

Don't just kill him.

First, kill him. Then use reincarnate on the corpse. Then hit him with temporal stasis. Then slap an amulet of proof against detection and location on him. Then put handcuffs of constant sequester on him (a steal at 182k gp!). Cast imprisonment, and bury him in the bowels of the earth, where he will exist in a body not his own, undetectable to magic, for forever.

I forgot to mention: do all of this inside a portable hole, so that when you're done, you can fold up the portable hole and then destroy it (my preference is by throwing it into a bag of holding, and standing waaaaaaay back), which makes freeing him from imprisonment impossible: "The subject remains there unless a freedom spell is cast at the locale where the imprisonment took place."

If you want to be [Evil], don't temporal stasis him first: he'll remain conscious and slowly go mad from his isolation as he dies from starvation.

[Extra Anchovies]

Don't just kill him.

First, kill him. Then use reincarnate on the corpse. Then hit him with temporal stasis. Then slap an amulet of proof against detection and location on him. Then put handcuffs of constant sequester on him (a steal at 182k gp!). Cast imprisonment, and bury him in the bowels of the earth, where he will exist in a body not his own, undetectable to magic, for forever.

I forgot to mention: do all of this inside a portable hole, so that when you're done, you can fold up the portable hole and then destroy it (my preference is by throwing it into a bag of holding, and standing waaaaaaay back), which makes freeing him from imprisonment impossible: "The subject remains there unless a freedom spell is cast at the locale where the imprisonment took place."

If you want to be [Evil], don't temporal stasis him first: he'll remain conscious and slowly go mad from his isolation as he dies from starvation.

Imprisonment already hits them with a temporal stasis effect, sadly. So no underground mental torture tombs.

[ellindsey]

Pretty sure that Reincarnate requires the target to be willing. If he knows that his minions are going to do an actual proper resurrection soon, he probably won't agree to the reincarnation.

[Fax Celestis]

PAO or Flesh to Stone work equally well.

[Alex12]

Next time, use a thinuan weapon to deliver the killing blow, thus absorbing his soul into the weapon. Do NOT use the weapon to kill anyone else, since that'll displace the soul and allow him to be resurrected again.
Once you've got the soul, there's all sorts of things in BoVD you can do with it. The most amusing is to simply destroy it by using it as a material component to grant a +10 profane bonus to penetrate SR. If you're really mean, do so with a cantrip. More usefully, you can use the soul to count as 10 crafting XP. Note that this will make the crafted item be evil.

Alternately, kill his minions. At least the ones that can cast resurrection.

For a moment, I was expecting this to be something like a high-level Tainted Scholar with the evil subtype spamming Pact of Return.

[Leviting]

Could you knock him unconcious, then forcefully give him a ring of sustainance and [whatever that necklace is that lets things breath], then cover him with quientessence, then put him in a portable hole, then drop him in the bottom of the ocean? It won't kill it, but I am pretty sure you have to die to be resurrected in any way.

[sideswipe]

If you want to be [Evil], don't temporal stasis him first: he'll remain conscious and slowly go mad from his isolation as he dies from starvation.

i thought you couldn't die from starvation, doesn't it only deal non lethal damage? ;)

[Inevitability]

Trap The Soul. Then, just to be sure, drop the soul gem in a Bag of Holding and destroy the bag. 'Lost Forever' seems pretty absolute to me.

[Yael]

Unname (http://dndtools.eu/spells/tome-of-magic--89/unname--3448/) comes to mind.

Seriously though, trap its soul, keep his soul appart from his body, eat the soul, or do something like that, you could ask a deity for those kind of favors, if you have any way to repay them for the "favor" (Nerull-chama and Lolth-spider-neesan come to mind quickly).

[Twilightwyrm]

Next time, use a thinuan weapon to deliver the killing blow, thus absorbing his soul into the weapon. Do NOT use the weapon to kill anyone else, since that'll displace the soul and allow him to be resurrected again.
Once you've got the soul, there's all sorts of things in BoVD you can do with it. The most amusing is to simply destroy it by using it as a material component to grant a +10 profane bonus to penetrate SR. If you're really mean, do so with a cantrip. More usefully, you can use the soul to count as 10 crafting XP. Note that this will make the crafted item be evil.

Alternately, kill his minions. At least the ones that can cast resurrection.

For a moment, I was expecting this to be something like a high-level Tainted Scholar with the evil subtype spamming Pact of Return.

Not sure if this would work, but instead of going to the hassle of making sure you land the killing blow, buy a thinuan dagger (or three) and have anyone mildly proficient with throwing weapons try and stick him with one. It will be "touching" him when he dies, so his soul will instantly enter the dagger, no matter what you strike the killing blow with.
For added assurance, coat the dagger with Sovereign Glue. Even if you don't penetrate his scaled, the dagger will stick to them, and unless he expends a move action to remove it before one round has elapsed, the dagger can only be removed with universal solvent (you, of course, should already have some on hand). Once the dragon his dead, and his soul nicely tucked away inside your little dagger, apply universal solvent, remove the dagger, and do as you will with the body. If you feel like being particularly insulting, and have no particular moral compunctions with doing so, carve up the carcass with said dagger, keep the valuable bits to sell, and have some dragon steak for a nice post-victory dinner. Who knows, it may grant you invulnerability (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigurd).

[Pinjata]

Remind your GM that the body part used for resurrection has to be part of the body at the time of death, so storing bits beforehand will not work. Then make sure you *completely* destroy the body next time you kill it.

Welp, DM misread the spell. Have talked to him. Also did not apply negative levels. Oh well.

[Vogonjeltz]

i thought you couldn't die from starvation, doesn't it only deal non lethal damage? ;)

I mean, I think you're kidding because of the wink...but just in case:

Nonlethal damage that can't be healed by anything until they have had food or water as needed. Also the character would become fatigued->exhausted (the strength penalty for which is substantial, and might lead to the character being unable to carry their gear anymore.

If I recall correctly the It's Hot Outside supplement updated the rules on this to add that the damage becomes lethal after the character is fatigued...or something to that effect. Granted, if you don't have those updates it's less bad, but still pretty disabling.

[TypoNinja]

I mean, I think you're kidding because of the wink...but just in case:

Nonlethal damage that can't be healed by anything until they have had food or water as needed. Also the character would become fatigued->exhausted (the strength penalty for which is substantial, and might lead to the character being unable to carry their gear anymore.

If I recall correctly the It's Hot Outside supplement updated the rules on this to add that the damage becomes lethal after the character is fatigued...or something to that effect. Granted, if you don't have those updates it's less bad, but still pretty disabling.

Since being beaten to death is a thing, I've always felt like a certain amount of subdual damage should equate to death, like 2x your HP or something.

[Venger]

Since being beaten to death is a thing, I've always felt like a certain amount of subdual damage should equate to death, like 2x your HP or something.

that's an especially common houserule.

[Divide by Zero]

Another common house rule I've heard is to start converting nonlethal damage to lethal once it exceeds your max HP.

[Psyren]

Flesh to stone, transmute rock to mud, purify food and drink, use half the water to water your garden and dump the rest into the sea.

If he's still alive, Wish can transport travelers to bring him into an empty vat/bucket in front of the caster. If he's dead instead he can be TR'ed, Wished or Miracle'd normally. Either way this is not foolproof.

[Necroticplague]

If he's still alive, Wish can transport travelers to bring him into an empty vat/bucket in front of the caster. If he's dead instead he can be TR'ed, Wished or Miracle'd normally. Either way this is not foolproof.

True, you could magic him into a bucket. But how do you get him back to life after that? Purify Food and Water and Stone to Flesh are both Instantaneous, and dispelling the Rock to Mud would just leave you with an amorphous mass of rock. The only real way I could see him coming back it is you filled the mud into a mold the exact shape of his previous form, dispel rock to mud, stone to flesh, and then hope everything worked out O.K. (since its hard to imagine the mud->stone step going well enough for the stone->flesh to produce things that aren't horribly misplaced amalgams, as a result of the "amorphous mass of rock" above).

[Fax Celestis]

True, you could magic him into a bucket. But how do you get him back to life after that? Purify Food and Water and Stone to Flesh are both Instantaneous, and dispelling the Rock to Mud would just leave you with an amorphous mass of rock. The only real way I could see him coming back it is you filled the mud into a mold the exact shape of his previous form, dispel rock to mud, stone to flesh, and then hope everything worked out O.K. (since its hard to imagine the mud->stone step going well enough for the stone->flesh to produce things that aren't horribly misplaced amalgams, as a result of the "amorphous mass of rock" above).


This spell functions like raise dead, except that you can resurrect a creature that has been dead for as long as 10 years per caster level. This spell can even bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased’s time and place of birth or death is the most common method).


Revive the dead. A wish can bring a dead creature back to life by duplicating a resurrection spell. A wish can revive a dead creature whose body has been destroyed, but the task takes two wishes, one to recreate the body and another to infuse the body with life again. A wish cannot prevent a character who was brought back to life from losing an experience level.

Your method has no response to either of these.

[Psyren]

Purify Food and Drink is transmutation - meaning you did not erase the guy from reality, you turned him into pure water. The hard part - collecting that water - is already done. So simply add Dust of Dryness, now he is a marble-sized pellet. PAO that back into a statue of them, Stone to Flesh, and voila.

[dascarletm]

We also don't know what abilities the character and the party have at hand. All these tricks look good on paper, but we don't know if they have access to X level arcane casting, Y level manifesting, and Z level divine casting.

What class/level is your character and his party mates?

What spells do they have access to?

What other particular objects of interest do they have access to?