Resurrection

Resurrection is the act of magically returning a creature from death, such as through the spells Revivify and Raise Dead. Critical Role uses a set of homebrew rules for resurrection created by Matthew Mercer called the Fading Spirit. These rules require a skill check against a baseline DC of 10 plus the number of times resurrected to succeed and, for spells such as Raise Dead and Resurrection, include a ritual in which characters may contribute to call the soul back and modify this DC.

Resurrection is a rare magic in Exandria, and the True Resurrection spell was held to be a forbidden magic even in the Age of Arcanum under the original god of death.

History of resurrection magic
Resurrection magics are rare and much sought in Exandria, and the ritual to raise someone from the dead is difficult. Those who are able to perform resurrection magic are few and are advised to be cautious in whom they choose to resurrect.

True Resurrection was forbidden by the original god of death by the time The Raven Queen took his place during the Age of Arcanum, and it was still held to be a prohibited magic about 120 years later at the beginning of The Calamity even among spellcasters who did not hold the divine in high regard.

The Raven Queen considered death to be beautiful and sacred, and she believed that its finality gives life meaning. She held that eternal life "in some form of undeath or another" to be an abomination and a perversion of fate. However, she maintained that this was different from returning from a death that is not destined, and she generally believed that some fates required enduring beyond such deaths to ultimately meet a final death. Matthew Mercer described specifically True Resurrection as "honestly, in a lot of ways, the antithesis to what she represents". He felt that resurrecting Vax'ildan, a paladin of the Raven Queen, with the spell would have been a source of potential conflict between the two, and Liam O'Brien remembered that Matt said that she would not be happy with Vax'ildan being resurrected that way.

Prevention
There is at least one way to prevent a corpse from being resurrected — the echoes of Otohan Thull, known as the Gray Assassins, used a rare toxin during their attack on Zephrah. It affects divine magic and makes it impossible to complete the resurrection ritual.

The Fading Spirit
Resurrection spells such as Revivify and Raise Dead generally automatically succeed in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rules. To increase stakes of a resurrection and introduce greater possibility of permanent death, Matthew Mercer uses homebrew rules regarding resurrection in Critical Role known as the Fading Spirit. These rules impose a skill check to any resurrection spell short of True Resurrection and Wish and restructures any resurrection spell with a casting time of longer than one action as ritual involving a series of checks. The latest version of the Fading Spirit was published in Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn in January 2022.

The Fading Spirit, like typical resurrection rules, requires the target's soul to be free and willing to return. A resurrection automatically fails if the soul is at peace and chooses not to return, if the target has become undead, or if the soul is otherwise prevented from returning by a force or entity.

Mechanics
When casting Revivify, the caster makes a Rapid Resurrection check, d20 plus their spellcasting ability modifier, against the target's resurrection DC, 10 plus the number of times the target has been already successfully resurrected. On a success, the target is resurrected. On a failure, the target's resurrection DC is permanently increased by 1 for future resurrections (i.e., now 11 plus the number of successful resurrections) and the target cannot be resurrected except using a spell with a casting time greater than one action. Though the rules as written both for standard Revivify and under the Fading Spirit do not explicitly require the soul to be free and willing to return, some instances in Critical Role ask if the soul is willing or if the soul chooses to depart for the afterlife.

Magics with a casting time longer than one action and are not 9th-level spells (Raise Dead, Resurrection, Reincarnate) initiate a resurrection ritual that culminates in a resurrection check against the target's resurrection DC. A ritual may have up to three participants, who each offer a contribution to call the target's soul back to their body. Each participant makes a skill check appropriate to their contribution against a baseline DC 15, though the Dungeon Master may increase or decrease the DC based on the sincerity and relevance of the contribution. On a success, the DC of the resurrection check is decreased by 3 for this specific ritual. On a failure, the DC is increased by 1 for this specific ritual. After all contributions are made, the Dungeon Master makes the resurrection check against the final DC as a d20 roll with no modifier. On a success, the target is resurrected, if it is free and willing to do so (as typical). On a failure, the target remains dead and can no longer be resurrected.

True Resurrection and Wish bypass this ritual and instantly restore the target to life. These spells can also restore a character whose soul was previously lost in a failed ritual by initiating a final ritual, at the Dungeon Master's discretion. A god may also instantly resurrect a character without a ritual.

Previous iterations
Matt first published his homebrew resurrection rules on Twitter in December 2015. This version subject all resurrection magic—not just those with a casting time of greater than one action—to a ritual skill check challenge using the same DC structure as previously described. The Revivify in followed these rules.

After feedback, he greatly expanded and revised the rules, and they were published as "The Fading Spirit" in 2017, to Twitter in January and in Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting in October. The Fading Spirit established much of the mechanics previously described, though it was unclear if True Resurrection or Wish requires a ritual to restore a soul that lost in a prior failed ritual, as opposed to instantly restoring the character to life as it does with souls that was not lost. (The 2022 version clarifies that, should the Dungeon Master allow such a soul to return, these spells initiate a final ritual.) While developing this iteration, Matt considered increasing the DC by 2 each rather than by 1, especially considering that Campaign 1 was in its late game, but he opted for an increase of 1 out of consideration that scaling the DC too steeply may be too punishing of rituals at lower character levels. Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting encourages a Dungeon Master to adjust the modifier as befits their own campaign.

Interaction with consecution
A consecuted soul within range of a Luxon beacon is taken into the beacon to be reborn. If the soul is still within the beacon when it is called by a resurrection magic, it is taken from the beacon and the spell proceeds as normal. If the soul was already reborn, the spell automatically fails as there is no soul available to resurrect.

Campaign 1: Vox Machina and related one-shots
All player character deaths in Campaign 1 and its related non-royale one-shots were eventually followed by a successful resurrection except for three of Vax'ildan's deaths. After he is killed and turned to ash by Vecna's Disintegrate spell, he becomes a revenant instead of allowing Vox Machina to resurrect him using True Resurrection. He was later strangled to death by Artagan and returned to life through his revenant abilities, rather than a resurrection, and he ultimately permanently departed into the afterlife and the Raven Queen's service after Vecna's banishment beyond the Divine Gate.

Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein
Six player characters died over the course of Campaign 2 (not counting Yasha Nydoorin's Rage Beyond Death in a vision), and five were promptly resurrected. After the death of Mollymauk Tealeaf, the Mighty Nein discussed resurrecting him but did not pursue an attempt. Later in the campaign, there was discussion of resurrecting him using Resurrection, but they were unable to attempt it as the body had already been resurrected as Lucien.

Campaign 3: Bells Hells
Campaign 3 has seen four player character deaths. Of the four, Bertrand Bell's death is the only one where no resurrection attempt was made.