[3.5] Rules for [Death] descriptor?

[Mr Adventurer]

I was sure that there were rules about Death spells and effects, saying that they either destroyed the soul or worked by severing it from the target's body, or something. But I can't see anything about that in the entry on spell descriptors in the SRD. I can see Raise Dead can't bring back a creature slain in such a way, is that the only thing I am thinking of?

[The Viscount]

Also certain creatures, such as undead, are immune to death effects. Certain spells like death ward will also grant immunity to death effects. If you're a monk of the long death, you gain a bonus on saves vs death effects. Thief of Life becomes immune to death effects.

[AnimeTheCat]

from the PHB:

Most of these descriptors have no game effect by themselves, but they govern how the spell interacts with other spells, with special abilities, with unusual creatures, with alignment, and so on.
So, this leads me to believe that it is dependent purely upon the spell's effect, rather than a specific descriptor. Creatures, abilities, spells, etc will specifically call out how they interact with spells with certain descriptors if they do interact any differently than "normal".

[Jack_Simth]

from the PHB:

So, this leads me to believe that it is dependent purely upon the spell's effect, rather than a specific descriptor. Creatures, abilities, spells, etc will specifically call out how they interact with spells with certain descriptors if they do interact any differently than "normal".

Yep. The Death descriptor is just a hook for other effects. Raise Dead uses the hook: The spell won't bring back someone killed by a Death effect. You'll find scattered fragments that suggest various things about the Death hook in other effects, but little solid.