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I want to carry around a small corpse, and then raise a large monster during battle with "Raise the Dead". Are there any such creatures?

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If 4e lets you raise skeletons, that's a good solution -- the bones will be much more compact than a corpse. But I don't play 4e, so I don't know if that is really an answer! – starwed Sep 18 '12 at 16:24
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Raise dead takes 8 hours. This is completely non viable. – wax eagle Sep 18 '12 at 20:17
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We once had a guy who kept two oxen and a wagon in his bag of holding, then emptied it during a fight. It saved his life because the wagon granted cover, so the lich couldn't get line-of-sight to use any targeted spells. Never did work out how he got the wagon into the bag of holding. – Jonathan Drain Sep 18 '12 at 23:30
We could use some clarification here, could you give us an example of the specific power you're planning on using? If you edit, I'll be happy to reopen. – Brian Ballsun-Stanton♦ Sep 20 '12 at 23:28

closed as not a real question by wax eagle, Brian Ballsun-Stanton♦ Sep 20 '12 at 23:28

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

2 Answers

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From 4th Edition Player's Handbook Excerpts: Rituals you simply need:

a part of the corpse of a creature that died no more than 30 days ago (emphasis mine)

however it goes on to say that

The subject’s soul must be free and willing to return to life. ... the gods can intervene to prevent a soul from journeying back to the realm of the living. In all cases, death is less inclined to return paragon and epic heroes

so I'd recommend checking with your DM specifically before you spend time acquiring and lugging that Tarrasque claw into battle.

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I think OP must be talking about a different ability, since this one has a casting time of 8 hours. Either that or they're just very confused. – starwed Sep 18 '12 at 18:52
@starwed there is an epic destiny that lets you cast rituals in combat... – Simon Withers Sep 19 '12 at 0:53
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Does 4E still have the Item spell? You could shrink a corpse and cast item on it ahead of time. Then when you need it, throw it to the ground, reverse the shrink, and raise the creature. Though it seems like a waste of a raise dead. Might be better to summon or teleport a 'living' creature in.

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4e works completely differently and doesn't have "spell lists" as you might know them. You can't assume that anything from 3.x exists in 4e, let alone operates the same if it does. – SevenSidedDie Sep 18 '12 at 20:46
But is there a similar approach still available? ie, shrink something, itemize it, restore it, raise it. Whether its a memorized spell, at-will power, or magic item usage, the approach would still work. Plus then you dont have to carry around a decomposing corpse! – GrandmasterB Sep 19 '12 at 19:16
4e doesn't have a building-block paradigm. Abilities do exactly what mechanical effects they say, no variations. It's not like 3e and earlier where they just do something fictional and leave creative applications up to the players. – SevenSidedDie Sep 20 '12 at 2:52

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