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Originally posted by Scimitars of Drizzt

So, my question is: Unless some unheard-of artifact/relic existed that could fix a vampire's undead state, would casting true resurrection on a deceased vampire be virtually the only method to resurrect a vampire to its previously human or humanoid state? And, more importantly, if this were the case, does anybody know how exactly this would work? Say a 30 year-old man was sapped of his life force and turned vampire, then 150 years later he is resurrected back to a living being. Would this entity now be a 30-year old man again? Perhaps these questions can't be utterly answered, but I thought it was worth asking.

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Suyoll/ "The Revival": This ritual restores an elf's life, health, and harmony with the Weave. This is seen as an
acceptance back into the community of elves, despite any changes that occur during the elf's life (or death).
This ritual restores an elf's natural state, neutralizing all ill or unnatural effects upon him. It cancels curses of any
nature other than those divinely placed (i.e., personally inflicted by a god) and spell effects such as petrification and
polymorph. Suyoll allows the regrowth of full limbs, muscles, and organs (such as eyes, tongue, etc.). It also negates
any magical or nonvoluntary alignment changes. The most advanced form of this ritual involves the restoration of
undead elves to a living state as they were 100 years before their deaths or transformations.
DM's Note: This ritual is rarely used, for the elves are a stubborn lot and forgiveness is not a virtue they practice often.
Thus, any outcast elf or seriously injured elf is often perceived as pitiful or as a fool who learned his lesson for straying away
from the path of elvenkind. However, great sacrifices made for sake of a clan or kingdom are looked upon proudly, and
the suyoll is invoked to honor heroes who act in such interests. This ritual can even restore a drow to status among the
Tel'Quessir, though the ritual erases all powers (but not appearance) of the drow (judge as a moon elf).
- Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves, p.136

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Originally posted by TBeholder

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Originally posted by Scimitars of Drizzt

So, my question is: Unless some unheard-of artifact/relic existed that could fix a vampire's undead state, would casting true resurrection on a deceased vampire be virtually the only method to resurrect a vampire to its previously human or humanoid state? And, more importantly, if this were the case, does anybody know how exactly this would work? Say a 30 year-old man was sapped of his life force and turned vampire, then 150 years later he is resurrected back to a living being. Would this entity now be a 30-year old man again? Perhaps these questions can't be utterly answered, but I thought it was worth asking.

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1. For "usual" magic, the various rules said that resurrection kills the undead.
My interpretation is that the first spell will work like Slay Living on a mortal.
If this works (i.e. the target fails MR & ST) the second spell will restore dead remnants normally, since AFAIK nothing explicitly said being undead for a while prevents this. But time after death probably should still count fully. And in most cases remnants will be in a bad enough shape that this will require full resurrection. Especially for a vampire.

2. There is a way to restore undead to life in one go and ignoring time-after-death, but it's High Magic:

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Suyoll/ "The Revival": This ritual restores an elf's life, health, and harmony with the Weave. This is seen as an
acceptance back into the community of elves, despite any changes that occur during the elf's life (or death).
This ritual restores an elf's natural state, neutralizing all ill or unnatural effects upon him. It cancels curses of any
nature other than those divinely placed (i.e., personally inflicted by a god) and spell effects such as petrification and
polymorph. Suyoll allows the regrowth of full limbs, muscles, and organs (such as eyes, tongue, etc.). It also negates
any magical or nonvoluntary alignment changes. The most advanced form of this ritual involves the restoration of
undead elves to a living state as they were 100 years before their deaths or transformations.
DM's Note: This ritual is rarely used, for the elves are a stubborn lot and forgiveness is not a virtue they practice often.
Thus, any outcast elf or seriously injured elf is often perceived as pitiful or as a fool who learned his lesson for straying away
from the path of elvenkind. However, great sacrifices made for sake of a clan or kingdom are looked upon proudly, and
the suyoll is invoked to honor heroes who act in such interests. This ritual can even restore a drow to status among the
Tel'Quessir, though the ritual erases all powers (but not appearance) of the drow (judge as a moon elf).
- Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves, p.136

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The last part means the target doesn't need to be a proper elf in High Magic sense, thus may work on humans as well.
Also, a bunch of elven spirits did this in Councilors and Kings.
Of course, practically it's beyond "unlikely". That is, good luck even discovering this much lore, even elven vampires fail to find it in centuries. Never mind the next step of convincing a team of Elven High Mages to actually perform a Ritual of Complement for the sake of who-knows-whose walking corpse.

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Gift of Life (High Magic)
Range: 1 yard/level
Component: V,S,M
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 8
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: Neg.
This powerful high magic spell has an effect unlike any other. It restores undead creatures to life. Undead creatures are allowed a saving throw vs. death magic, but they can only make such a roll at a level equal to half their Hit Dice. An 18th-level lich, for example, would make a saving throw vs. death magic as if it were actually a 9th-level wizard.
If the undead creature fails its saving throw, it is immediately restored to life as it was just before its death, if it died by unnatural causes. It is restored to life as it was 10 years before its death if it died of old age or similar causes. The restored creature will be stunned and incapable of any action for 1d4 turns as it slowly realizes what happened.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

You have it right that there is a "resurrection" spell and a "true resurrection spell". True resurrection is the more powerful and it can restore a vampire as the WotC employee said. That's under the rules that the forgotten realms operates under NOW (since around 2015 or 2016 when 5th edition dungeons and dragons came out).

The stuff that you're seeing TBeholder and Wooly quote ARE specifically rulesets written for the forgotten realms, but they're for a version of the game (2nd edition), that's maybe about 25 years old.

Just to make sure you get that all these different versions of the game have different stipulations, maybe 15 years or so back during the 3.5 edition of the game, true resurrection was still needed... BUT... the 200 year stipulation was written slightly differently... the age affected would have been 10 years per caster level of the priest casting the spell (so a 15th level cleric could true resurrect a 150 year since dead, but not a 160 year since dead). Ultimately though, for about the last 20 years of real time in our world, true resurrection has been a method for restoring undead that have been destroyed (so restoring a vampire that had been destroyed back to mortal state).


Ultimately, a long time ago, people may have really nitpicked whether you were following the rules with this... but PERSONALLY, I think we've all become inundated by changes between editions and while someone might complain if you don't have it exactly right, most people are more worried about your plot than whether you followed the rules exactly.

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