Reviving the Dead

A hero who drops to 0 Hit Points isn't dead yet, and a hero who dies can usually be brought back. This page covers both: how dying works, how to stop it, and every way back the game has, with what each costs and how long you have.

The ways back at a glance

Gentle Repose brings nobody back, but it stops the clock on all of these (below).

Falling to 0 Hit Points

• A hero who drops to 0 Hit Points falls Unconscious and is dying. Their card on the HUD shows their Death Saving Throws.
• On each of their turns they make a Death Saving Throw: a d20, where 10 or higher is a success. Roll it from the HUD, or the game rolls it as their turn ends.
  • Three successes and they're Stable: still at 0 Hit Points and Unconscious, but no longer dying.
  • Three failures and they die.
  • A natural 1 counts as two failures. A natural 20 brings them back to 1 Hit Point, awake.
• Damage while they're down is a failure, and a Critical Hit is two (any hit from within 5 ft of an Unconscious hero is a Critical Hit).
• Massive damage kills outright: if the damage left over after reaching 0 Hit Points is at least the hero's Hit Point maximum, they die on the spot. The same goes for a hero already at 0 who takes damage equal to their maximum.
• Some things change the saves. Advantage on them comes from the Durable feat, the Reborn species, a Champion's Survivor feature (where 18 to 20 also counts as a 20) and the Mouth of Borrowed Teeth dark gift. The Grave Wyrm's Claim dark gift and the Touch of Death feat give Disadvantage.
• Some heroes don't drop at all, once. An Orc's Relentless Endurance leaves them at 1 Hit Point, and so does Death Ward the first time.
• On Story difficulty nobody dies: three failures or massive damage leave the hero Stable at 0 Hit Points instead (Difficulty).

Keeping a dying hero alive

In a fight, any of these stops the dying:

• Any healing. A hero with even 1 Hit Point is awake and no longer dying. Healing Word works from 60 ft as a Bonus Action. A healing potion can be given to someone within 5 ft as a Bonus Action. A Paladin's Lay On Hands works by touch.
• Spare the Dying makes them Stable from 15 ft (30 ft from character level 5, 60 ft from 11, 120 ft from 17).
• Stabilize, from the hotbar's Common tab: an action and a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check from within 5 ft.
• A Healer's Kit stabilizes with no check. A Thief's Fast Hands does it as a Bonus Action.
• A Periapt of Wound Closure makes its wearer Stable at the start of their turn.

After the fight:

• When you win, anyone still dying is stabilized at 0 Hit Points: their friends tend them.
• Outside a fight nobody makes Death Saving Throws, and a Stable hero stays at 0 Hit Points until they're healed. Right-click a fallen hero for Stabilize (the best Medicine in the party against DC 10), a Healer's Kit, a healing potion from the pack of anyone still standing, or a Paladin's Lay On Hands.
• A Long Rest wakes a hero at 0 Hit Points with everything back, like the rest of the party.
• If the whole party is down and nobody can act, the game ends with "The party has fallen". Load a save: the game saves at the start of every round of a fight, so you can retry the round. On Honour the run ends instead, and the game carries on in Tactician.

Revivify: the first minute

Revivify is the cheapest way back, and the only one you can use in the middle of a fight.

• Who: a Cleric or Druid from character level 5, or a Paladin or Ranger from level 9. Liriel prepares it from level 5 and Godrick from level 9 if you take their recommended picks. Life Domain and Grave Domain Clerics, Celestial and Vestige Warlocks always have it prepared from their 5th level.
• What it needs: a 3rd-level slot (or higher) and 300 gp of diamonds in the caster's own pack. Diamonds count together, so three 100 gp Diamonds make 300 gp. Diamond Dust is a different component and doesn't count.
• In a fight: pick Revivify on the hotbar and click the dead hero. It's a touch spell, so stand next to them. It works for 10 rounds after they died; after that the game won't let you aim it at them, so nothing is spent.
• Right after a fight: open the caster's character sheet (C), go to the Spells tab, and use Cast on… beside Revivify. Ending a fight passes a minute, which is exactly as long as Revivify allows, so cast it before anything else that takes time: a search, a rest, walking on, or a spell with a longer casting time. A greyed-out Cast button says why it can't be cast on its tooltip.
• From a scroll: a Spell Scroll of Revivify needs no diamond and no slot. In a fight, read it from the hotbar's Items tab on a dead hero next to you. Outside one, open the reader's inventory, pick the scroll, and use Cast Revivify on <name>; the minute still applies. The reader needs Revivify on their class's list, and a scroll above the levels they can cast needs a spellcasting check (DC 13): a failed check uses the scroll up for nothing.

The hero comes back with 1 Hit Point and any poison gone.

Raise Dead: within 10 days

At a church. Three priests read Raise Dead from their church's scrolls: Father Donavich at the Village Church in the village of Barovia, Father Lucian at St. Andral's Church in Vallaki, and Kasha Varo at the Pool of the White Sun in Krezk. Right-click the priest and choose Services; with Father Lucian you can also ask in conversation, "We need the church's help. Healing, or worse." The services screen opens on the dead hero, says when they died and how many days are left, and offers Raise Dead for 2,000 gp plus a 500 gp diamond the church supplies: 2,500 gp in all from a priest who's indifferent to you, and 2,300 gp from a friendly one (Kasha Varo starts friendly). It takes an hour.

From your own caster. A Bard or Cleric from character level 9, or a Paladin from level 17, can cast it from the character sheet like Revivify. It needs a 5th-level slot and 500 gp of diamonds (five Diamonds), and takes an hour.

From a scroll. A Spell Scroll of Raise Dead is cast from the reader's inventory with Cast Raise Dead on <name>: no slot and no diamond, an hour's reading. It's a 5th-level scroll, so a reader who can't yet cast 5th-level spells needs a DC 15 spellcasting check first.

Either way the hero comes back with 1 Hit Point and any poison gone, and has -4 on every D20 Test (attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws) for 10 days. The effect is called "Back from the dead" on their sheet. Rests don't shorten it.

Reincarnate

A Druid from character level 9 can bring back a hero who died within the last 10 days, with every Hit Point and no penalty. It takes a 5th-level slot, an hour, and 1,000 gp from the party's purse for the rare oils. The hero comes back in a new body of the same species, so nothing about the character changes.

Resurrection and True Resurrection

• Resurrection, for a Bard or Cleric from character level 13, works however long ago the hero died. It needs a 7th-level slot and 1,000 gp of diamonds (ten Diamonds) and takes an hour. The hero comes back with every Hit Point, and with the same -4 on D20 Tests for 10 days as Raise Dead.
• True Resurrection, for a Cleric or Druid from character level 17, also works at any distance in time. It needs a 9th-level slot and 25,000 gp of diamonds (250 Diamonds) and takes an hour. The hero comes back with every Hit Point and no penalty.

The Rod of Resurrection casts Resurrection for all 5 of its charges, with no slot and no diamonds, for a Cleric, Druid or Paladin attuned to it (cheat code 24E4D8). Use it from the inventory, outside a fight: Resurrection on <name>. It gets a charge back each dawn, and using up its last charge means a d20: on a 1 it vanishes.

Gentle Repose buys time

Gentle Repose keeps a body from decaying for 10 days, and those days don't count against any of the limits above. Cast it again to add another 10 days. Clerics, Paladins and Wizards can cast it (Grave Domain Clerics always have it prepared), and as a Ritual it needs no slot, only 10 more minutes.

Cast it within Revivify's minute and Revivify stays possible too, because the time under Gentle Repose doesn't count. So a party with a Revivify caster but no diamonds can cast Gentle Repose right after the fight, go and buy diamonds, and Revivify the hero when it gets back.

Diamonds

• Revivify, Raise Dead, Resurrection and True Resurrection use up diamonds worth 300, 500, 1,000 and 25,000 gp. A Diamond is worth 100 gp, so that's 3, 5, 10 and 250 of them.
• The diamonds have to be in the caster's own pack. Move them with Give in the inventory before you cast.
• Diamonds (100 gp) and Diamond Dust are always in stock at the three churches: Father Donavich's in the village of Barovia, Father Lucian's in Vallaki and Kasha Varo's in Krezk. Stanimir at the Tser Pool camp sells Diamonds at their worth too, and Kasimir Velikov at the Vistani camp outside Vallaki sells Diamond Dust (Merchants and Services).
• From level 5, the gem a fight sometimes leaves behind is a Diamond.
• A church's prices follow how the priest feels about you: 10% off when they're friendly, 25% more when they're hostile.
• The cheat code for a Diamond is 9A9C6A (Cheat Codes).

Mistakes that cost a hero

• Waiting with Revivify. It has to be cast within a minute of the death. Right after a fight, cast it first.
• The diamonds are in someone else's pack. Only the caster's own count.
• Diamond Dust instead of Diamonds. It's a different component.
• No slot of the right level. Revivify needs a 3rd-level slot or higher, Raise Dead and Reincarnate a 5th, Resurrection a 7th and True Resurrection a 9th. A Long Rest brings slots back, but the clock keeps running: Gentle Repose first if it will be close.
• Expecting a rest to help. A Long Rest heals the living and the dying, never the dead.

A dead hero stays in the party until they're brought back. They can't be sent to camp or swapped out on the roster (a body an older save left at camp can be brought along again). On the map they can't lead or be picked: the leader passes to the next hero who can act, the others close up the line, and the body stays where it fell, with no seat at the camp fire. A hero at 0 Hit Points can't lead either.

Some deaths can't be undone at all. A hero who gives their life on the altar beneath Death House, or who is lost to the Void or imprisoned by the Deck of Many Things, leaves the party for good. Story allies who travel with you don't die the same way: one who falls is carried home to heal, and can be asked along again where you found them.

Where the game differs from the 2024 rules

• Raise Dead and Resurrection leave the hero at -4 on D20 Tests for 10 days, then nothing. In the book the penalty shrinks by 1 with each Long Rest.
• Reincarnate brings the hero back in the same species, and its oils are paid from the purse; the book rolls a new species.
• Revivify's minute is 10 rounds in a fight. Ending a fight counts as one minute, so it can still be cast straight afterwards.
• Gentle Repose stops the clock for Revivify too, not only for spells measured in days.
• The church's Raise Dead is read from a scroll by a priest who can't cast it, at the book's spellcasting-service price plus the diamond.
• After a won fight the dying are stabilized for you; the book asks for a DC 10 Medicine check.
• Outside a fight no Death Saving Throws are made, and a Stable hero doesn't regain 1 Hit Point after 1d4 hours. They wait for healing or a Long Rest, and may take the Long Rest at 0 Hit Points (the book needs at least 1).
• Story difficulty turns a death into Stable at 0 Hit Points.
• Costly components are counted by worth, so several Diamonds together make up a bigger diamond.

The full list of the game's own rules is on House Rules.