Permanently Killing a Revenant

[Maelynn]

According to the MM, a Revenant has one year to exact its revenge. If it dies within that year, then 24 hours after its death it will find a new corpse on the same plane and continue its hunt. Rinse, repeat.

This leaves me to wonder, is there any way to permanently kill a Revenant? Specifically, without killing its target and within the 1-year span?





A few things I already considered, but have doubts about:

- somewhere I read the suggestion to burn the corpse and put the ashes in a Bag of Holding. Good thinking on the 'other plane' part, but if you burn the body then 'the soul lingers' until the 24-hour period is up. So you'd have to find a way to trap the soul itself - and that's not something you just incinerate and stuff in a bag

- imprison the Revenant and keep it alive until the year is up. This can be easily circumvented by the Revenant committing suicide and then picking a new host outside of the prison

- some people implied that the Revenant inhabits a new body at random, so it might take a while before it becomes a threat again. I disagree, because the MM doesn't state it happens randomly so I have to assume it can pick the new host itself

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

Kill it in a demiplane, Polymorph it and drop it in a bag of devouring.

[Kadesh]

Don't kill it. Find a Ring of Free Movement of whatever, grapple it, then Manacle it, which you then Cast Arcane Lock on (DC30 Escape, it cannot achieve). Infect it with Sight Rot disease. Put a vision obscuring Mask on it (nb, not strict RAW, it doesn't require to see the target). Cut its Armour off and remove its weapons. Nail it to a Crucifix, mounted to a Cart and hire an 11th level Divine Soul Sorcerer to cast Magic Circle every hour (and Extend the 6th level casting) Place Caltrops around the base of the standard. Pierce its body with metal to be the target of Heat Metal.

Proceed to launch a Holy crusade with your greatest mortal enemy, so angry with you it came back from the dead, bound to a holy standard.

[Ganymede]

Do some research into the revenant's identity. You might be able to drag up some details about its past.

You can then use that information in order to either divine its quest, or determine a way to play to its former personality.

Maybe the revenant has forgotten that it has still living loved ones. The words of a child, lover, or friend might stir the revenant's heart and compel it to give up the ghost.

You could also aid the revenant in completing its quest, or even fool it into thinking the quest is done.

Revenants aren't unthinking machines: their threat can be overcome in a number of unique ways. Hell, Curse of Strahd offers a very out-of-the-box way to eliminate a revenant.

[MaxWilson]

- imprison the Revenant and keep it alive until the year is up. This can be easily circumvented by the Revenant committing suicide and then picking a new host outside of the prison

Flesh to Stone causes petrification, which incapacitates it permanently (until the condition is reversed) but does not kill it.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Flesh to Stone causes petrification, which incapacitates it permanently (until the condition is reversed) but does not kill it.

True but a dm night rule petrification pauses the 1 year time table. Just like it halts aging.

[Maelynn]

You could also aid the revenant in completing its quest

That's one of the options the party will get, if I can get this quest fleshed out right. The idea is that they'll encounter a Rev who used to be a pirate captain, who had his ship stolen by someone who used a Wish spell to get their own ship. The Rev's former person was killed in the process, and he blames the person who cast the Wish spell and who is now the captain of his old ship. When the party meets him, he's at the lighthouse and has located its target - he's on the ship, about to approach the port. The Rev wants to wreck the ship on the rocks and take the target down along with his old ship.

The party would have to choose to either aid the Rev or to save the target, so I'll have to think up options for both paths. Several, in fact, in case they don't come up with any themselves. That's where I'm a bit stumped. And I'd rather not force anything on them like "oh, well, my boatswain just happens to be a Wizard who can cast Flesh to Stone, soooo...".

I'm liking the suggestions so far. I didn't want to specify the details of the party so as not to limit the thread (in case others later search for this problem like I have), but they're all level 4 with no access to high-level spells or very rare items such as a Bag of Devouring. They do have a Bag of Holding, but that's about it.

CR-wise they should be able to handle a Rev, especially if the intended target ends up helping them. It seems to be the bit after that proves to be a bit of a nuisance. Given the limited options they seem to have themselves, is it perhaps best if I leave this quest for a later level? Or are there enough options for them to pull it off on their own without relying on DM/NPC Intervention?

[JackPhoenix]

Revenant only gets a new body "If the revenant's original body was destroyed or is otherwise unavailable", so burial or various means of immobilization still work. Petrification sounds like it triggers the "otherwise unavailable" part, but bind it in chains, throw it into a pit and put a pile of rocks on top, and the problem is pretty much solved. As the only thing that can destroy the body is radiant or fire damage, chains and throwing it overboard in the middle of a sea works too: even if it gets free, it has to get to the shore first, and on a ship, you'll have more than enough mobility to keep avoiding it for a year. No magic needed, assuming you have the knowledge of its functions.

[JDanton]

Shoot it with peacemaker?! No but seriously, the whole idea is that you can't kill a revenant conventionally without some high level magics. The best way to take them down would be to find out what power is allowing them to comeback to life and kill that, incapacitate them and move them to another plane and kill it (literally just take your problem and push it somewhere else), make it so their physical body cannot die and just restrain it somehow (petrification or just throw it in a well etc.), trapping or destroying their soul using magic (will usually involve some magic item or high level spell), or just solve its unfinished business/vengeance and it'll just go away. Honestly though, most encounters featuring a revenant will, at least in my experience, feature some sort of magical macguffin that will allow you to kill it for good (This is usually the setup for a sidequest where you have to track down a magic artefact or the components of some ritual), if not then just be creative, tie him to an immovable rod and leave him with a tribe of torture happy goblins who'll make sure that he doesn't die or escape but will make sure that he suffers endlessly (or until you figure out how to kill him for good), just like my party did.

[Ganymede]

Given the limited options they seem to have themselves, is it perhaps best if I leave this quest for a later level? Or are there enough options for them to pull it off on their own without relying on DM/NPC Intervention?

You're the DM, you can just handwave all of the weird rule corner case ways to prevent a revenant from coming back; the open language of the revenant monster entry already empowers you in this way.

The Revenant isn't a random mook you throw at a party. It is a story foe. If you are putting the party up against a revenant in one way or the other, you should be brainstorming some ways to defeat it with story methods.

You also control the revenant. No rule says that making a foe out of a revenant means they will kamakaze attack you every day for a year and a day. Save the revenant's vengeance for a more impactful time.

[HolyDraconus]

Feed him to a lich. Permanent death. Or a demon/devil. They do stuffs to souls as well. In 3e I know you can destroy the soul in a myriad of ways, like as super fuel for spellcasting, but I think that 5e frees it after being used like that.

[GlenSmash!]

Bring it back to life so its not a Revenant anymore. Then kill it.

[Maelynn]

Save the revenant's vengeance for a more impactful time.

Had one of the party members been the intended target, then I probably would have. I even would've fleshed out the story more, make them aware of the threat long before they encounter it (in Stephen King style, so to say). However, the true impact here is that the intended target is actually an old PC of one of the players (and the DM of that specific campaign is another one of my players). That character really did use a Wish spell to get his own ship, which really was stolen from someone else, and I'm just going to grab that and run with it to make it a plot involving a Revenant. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they first hear the Revenant's plight, perhaps agree to help him, and then have half of them realise who the target is. Let's see if they're still willing to help. xD


As the only thing that can destroy the body is radiant or fire damage, chains and throwing it overboard in the middle of a sea works too

Ooo, very good point. And since the target is a Pirate Captain, I'm sure that's something he would think of. Perhaps... he's already done that once before. A few months earlier, when he first encountered the Revenant. Then the party's objective is not to simply kill/destroy it, but to incapacitate and bind it so that it can be carried out to sea again.

[MagneticKitty]

make it able to be reasoned with. Divert its anger from the person who made the wish to the thing thay granted it. After all the wisher never meant them ill will. Blame the genie. Maybe they can arrange a reincarnate with npc help.

[Amdy_vill]

wish spell

[Contrast]

If you know a friendly cleric you could just let the revenant have its revenge and then depending how the DM rules revenants working in your game get ressed straight away or after the year deadline has passed.

[JDanton]

Could you use the 1st level cleric spell, ceremony? Specifically the funeral effect to stop the revenant from respawning; "Funeral Rite: You touch one corpse, and for the next 7 days, the target can't become undead by any means short of a Wish spell." the revenant's soul only lingers for 24 hours after death and then it needs to find a new host but if it can't become undead "by any means" for 7 days then surely it just can't come back, as its soul would be unable to revive in time. I don't know, what do you guys think?!

[ThatOneGuy1224]

Create an artifact that can sever limbs without doing damage. Make the PC's go after it. Cut the limbs off of the Revenant, it's just a torso, no threat to anyone and still "alive". Tie it to the front of the ship, you know like a wooden mermaid. Spacing on what they are called right now. Poetic, tied to his own ship, who's captained by the man who killed him.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

You could create a charm on a cage that casts soul cage every 8 hours or enslave someone to cast it every 8 hours. Now you have the soul of the revenant and you can transport him to a demiplane. Or just coat him in Sovereign Glue.

[the_brazenburn]

1. Knock revenant unconscious (maybe with a Sleep spell).
2. Put revenant into an adamantine box.
3. Fill box with Jell-O mix.
4. Weld box shut, then throw into the ocean.


I think that should do it.

[JDanton]

1. Knock revenant unconscious (maybe with a Sleep spell).
2. Put revenant into an adamantine box.
3. Fill box with Jell-O mix.
4. Weld box shut, then throw into the ocean.


I think that should do it.

First off, in what DnD world is there Jello mix?! Secondly, couldn't the Revenant just kill itself and then possess another body, as far as I know, adamantine doesn't stop souls.

[the_brazenburn]

First off, in what DnD world is there Jello mix?! Secondly, couldn't the Revenant just kill itself and then possess another body, as far as I know, adamantine doesn't stop souls.

Gelatine is made of bones. It's very easy to make, and would have been possible with medieval technology. I just said Jell-O mix for comedic purposes.

And I'm guessing that the Jell-O would serve as a restraint for the revenant, stopping it from moving and killing itself. If the box is big enough, the pressure would be enough to keep the corpse suspended in place.

Of course, I'm not a physicist, so I can't be sure this would work. Rule of cool and all that.

[JDanton]

Gelatine is made of bones. It's very easy to make, and would have been possible with medieval technology. I just said Jell-O mix for comedic purposes.

And I'm guessing that the Jell-O would serve as a restraint for the revenant, stopping it from moving and killing itself. If the box is big enough, the pressure would be enough to keep the corpse suspended in place.

Of course, I'm not a physicist, so I can't be sure this would work. Rule of cool and all that.
Admirable response XD I was just joking but hey, whatever works man

[JackPhoenix]

First off, in what DnD world is there Jello mix?! Secondly, couldn't the Revenant just kill itself and then possess another body, as far as I know, adamantine doesn't stop souls.

Revenant can't kill itself unless it gets access to radiant or fire damage. It'll just keep regenerating otherwise.

[the_brazenburn]

Revenant can't kill itself unless it gets access to radiant or fire damage. It'll just keep regenerating otherwise.

Depends on whether a revenant has control over their regen. Their high Int and exceptional Wis and Cha would indicate that they likely do, and it makes more sense that they could do that fluff-wise.

[JackPhoenix]

Depends on whether a revenant has control over their regen. Their high Int and exceptional Wis and Cha would indicate that they likely do, and it makes more sense that they could do that fluff-wise.

Why? Just because you have great intelligence doesn't mean you have control over your automated body functions.

[the_brazenburn]

Why? Just because you have great intelligence doesn't mean you have control over your automated body functions.

No, but it is a function of their undeath, which was caused by their great unwillingness to die. That sounds like a Cha thing to me.

[Kadesh]

o.O

Yeh, nah.

[JackPhoenix]

No, but it is a function of their undeath, which was caused by their great unwillingness to die. That sounds like a Cha thing to me.

In that case, commiting suicide runs contrary to that, doesn't it?

They don't have control over their regeneration anymore than a living being has control over their blood flow after being stabbed. If they could suppress it, it would be noted in the relevant part of their stat block.

[ElChad]

Thematically? Provide the boat with a spare anchor attached to a mithril chain. If it's highlighted well enough, they could think to wrap the Revenant up in the chain around its' arms and have the Barbarian drop kick him overboard over a deep sea trench.

He would be unable to hurt himself as he's chained up, and Undead can't drown.