Polymorph Any Object + Limited Wish = No EXP Loss Revival

[Endarire]

Greetings, all!

Outsiders (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#outsiderType) can normally only be revived via limited wish (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/limitedWish.htm) (LW) and greater, and with no mention of EXP loss upon revival.

Polymorph any object (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/polymorphAnyObject.htm) (PAO) assumedly allows a subject to change its type. (I know the spell is poorly-worded.)

Assuming this works...

-Use PAO to change a corpse's type to Ousider by transforming it into an Outsider.
-Use LW to revive it.
-Subject is spared EXP loss. Alleluia!

[Crake]

The reason outsiders/elementals can be restored to life using limited wish is because all you're really doing is repairing the outsider's soul/body unit, almost analogous to repairing a construct's frame. If you transform a dead body into an outsider's dead body, what you've essentially done is created a new creature (like turning a rock into a manticore), which is currently in a dead state. If you were to use limited wish to restore it to life, you wouldn't have brought back the original body's soul, you would merely fix the singular body/soul unit that you had in front of you, "restoring" it back to life. Basically, what you're trying to do doesn't work, because the soul you want to bring back has already departed, and the only way to bring it back is using standard resurrection spells.

[Mike Miller]

I know this isn't what you are looking for but it seems worth mentioning that spell compendium does have a resurrect outsider spell (or raise outsider, AFB). So you don't need limited wish or wish to raise a slain outsider.

[Anthrowhale]

I'd suggest looking into Cocoon/Reanimation/Revenance/Revivify for the effect that you want to get.

[Segev]

If you've got PAO, you could try polymorphing the corpse into a living creature that is who the corpse used to be.

Probably still have some uncomfortable questions about whether the person there has the same spirit, but....

[Menzath]

Bigger question, can souls be made into physical objects, And then used to revive the dead. If yes, PaO whatever is on hand into a likeness of the person's soul. If no... Oh well.

Edit: not sure how useful a soul in physical form could be or how to utilize it, but I'm sure there are ways.

[Crake]

Bigger question, can souls be made into physical objects, And then used to revive the dead. If yes, PaO whatever is on hand into a likeness of the person's soul. If no... Oh well.

Edit: not sure how useful a soul in physical form could be or how to utilize it, but I'm sure there are ways.

Well, outsiders and elementals are proof that souls can be made manifest, since that's literally what they are. As to whether PaO can achieve this though? Possibly, incorporeal creatures don't have any blanket immunity to polymorph effects, so there's nothing stopping you from polymorphing, say, a ghost into a living version of itself.


If you've got PAO, you could try polymorphing the corpse into a living creature that is who the corpse used to be.

Probably still have some uncomfortable questions about whether the person there has the same spirit, but....

Uncomfortable, maybe, questionable? Not at all, it's 100% not the original person's soul, and last I checked, polymorph any object doesn't give the creature any sorts of memories, so what you produce may LOOK like the original, it may even have it's own soul, but it a) won't be the original soul, and b) won't have any of the original memories. At best you've just made a memory-free clone who's going to be questioning his fleeting existence.