@TheEdVerse I just finished "Death Masks" (great book, thank you!) I was wondering tho. Why don't the gods want people raised anymore? I don't see any other references to this any any of the d&d books…
Plus raise dead is a 5th level spell.— Chris (@TheHyperLord) November 30, 2019
1)
When writing Death Masks and most of my Realms novels, I was closely consulting with the good folks at Wizards re. Realmslore elements that should appear in the book, and this was one of them.
Why? Mortals don’t know; all they know is that priests were. 2)
…discouraged from raising folk from the dead at that place and time. I (like many priests and sages in the Realms) can guess: it was to discourage a godly 'arms race' of reviving 'more Chosen than the next god' and so having more power/influence (the gods, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2019
3)
…in general, were ‘stepping back’ from walking around among mortals as avatars and generally taking such a direct, on-stage hand in mortal affairs…because it Had
Not Worked Out Well. And as for Raise Dead being a fifth level spell: divine magic works or. 4)
…doesn't work at the favour of a deity. There are times when it fails, despite priests massed around a holy altar in a great temple…and times when a weeping adventurer of too-low level weepingly calls on the deity to bring back a fallen comrade, when the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2019
5)
…magic SHOULD be beyond the adventurer-priest, but the deity deems the fallen worthy, and the attempt works. Life all too seldom follows a predictable script, which is part of its wonder…and our doom.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2019