This rule is from Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn

“Please, Vyxan, the pain of your absence is sharp and haunting. Come back to us, my love. I’m unsure how to survive in this world without you, I’m unsure how to be me without you.” - Lady Lavore Pendleton, speaking to her fallen wife.

Resurrection Rules

Character death often becomes no more than a minor inconvenience in some campaigns. Once an adventuring party reaches a certain level, the spells available to return fallen comrades from the afterlife—including revivify, raise dead, and resurrection—make death no more than a temporary setback, potentially undermining one of the most significant elements of danger and threat in the campaign story.

Fading Spirits

This house rule is used in the Critical Role livestream to increase the emotional stakes of bringing a beloved friend back from the dead. It also adds the ever-increasing threat of losing a friend permanently to the game, even with the aid of miraculous magic.

If magic is used to bring a character back from the dead (except for the revivify spell; see below), everyone present becomes part of a resurrection ritual. Up to three characters present for the ritual—typically members of the deceased’s adventuring party—can contribute to the ritual by attempting to call their ally’s spirit back. This could involve delivering a stirring speech, playing a song from their shared childhood, goading a rival back with a display of sword skills, confessing undying love for them, or anything else that the players or the GM consider emotionally stirring.

Participating in the Ritual.

Each of the participating characters makes an ability check. A player can tell the GM what kind of check they want to make, but ultimately the GM decides what check is appropriate based on the character’s contribution to the ritual. The baseline DC of this check is 15, but the GM can raise or lower the DC (typically anywhere between 10 and 20) if the contribution seems particularly appropriate or particularly insincere.

For example, praying to a fallen paladin’s god for mercy might require a participant to make a DC 10 Intelligence (Religion) check, whereas shouting at a dead friend’s corpse to get back up and stop lazing around might require a DC 20 Charisma (Intimidation) check. If the contribution is roleplayed in a particularly touching way, the GM can grant advantage on the check—even if the check’s DC remains high.

Resurrection Check.

After all the characters’ contributions are completed, the GM rolls a single, final resurrection check with no modifier. The base DC of this check is 10, but it is modified in three ways:

• The DC is increased by 1 for every time the character has returned to life before, as the soul’s connection to this world is slowly eroded by repeatedly dying and returning.

• The DC is reduced by 3 for each successful contribution from the other participants in this ritual.

• The DC is increased by 1 for each failed contribution to the ritual.

If the resurrection check is successful, the character’s soul is returned to their body (if the soul is willing, as usual). If the check fails, the soul does not return—and the character is permanently unable to be raised from the dead.

True Miracles

If a character is brought back from the dead by the true resurrection or the wish spell, or by a god, they instantly return to life without the need for a resurrection ritual. Additionally, if a character has been permanently lost due to a failed resurrection ritual, the GM can allow a casting of true resurrection or wish to begin a last-chance resurrection ritual—one that can’t be repeated if failed.

Revivify

If a spell with a casting time of 1 action is used to restore life to a creature (including the revivify spell), no one but the caster can participate in the resurrection ritual. The caster makes a quick resurrection check by rolling a d20 and adding their spellcasting ability modifier, against a DC equal to 10 + 1 for every time the character has returned to life before. On a failure, the character’s soul is not lost, but the resurrection fails and increases the DC of any future resurrection checks by 1. Further attempts to bring the character back to life must involve a spell with a casting time longer than 1 action (including raise dead or resurrection).