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One of the traits of the Ring of Mind Shielding is:

If you die while wearing the ring, your soul enters it, unless it already houses a soul. You can remain in the ring or depart for the afterlife. As long as your soul is in the ring, you can telepathically communicate with any creature wearing it. A wearer can't prevent this telepathic communication. (Ring of Mind Shielding, Basic Rules, pg. 191)

Certain spells, such as Raise Dead and Resurrection, have the qualifying statements:

If the creature's soul is both willing and at liberty to rejoin the body, the creature returns to life with 1 hit point. (Raise Dead, Basic Rules, pg. 270)

If its soul is free and willing, the target returns to life with all its hit points. (Resurrection, Basic Rules, pg. 272)

If a spell is cast to bring a creature back to life whose soul resides within a ring of mind shielding, is that soul considered "free" to be resurrected, or would it need to depart for the afterlife first?


Example: A creature dies while wearing a Ring of Mind Shielding and chooses to enter the ring. Later, a group stumbles upon the ring, and offers to resurrect the soul inside (for simplicity, let's assume the body is still intact).

Can the soul be resurrected directly from within the ring (with the spell effectively creating a third option beyond "remain" or "move on")? Or does it have to choose to move on first, trusting the group that found it to actually follow through with the resurrection?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ " (for simplicity, let's assume the body is still intact)" Does this mean the group who stumbled upon it is able to locate and obtain the body? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 19, 2019 at 14:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Samara Markcosian That's the idea, though with or without the body is ultimately fine. Wanted to remove the complexities involving the physical aspect, and narrow it down to the "would residing in the ring prevent the soul from being resurrected until it leaves, since resurrection is not a given option for dead ring occupants" part. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mwr247
    Commented Dec 19, 2019 at 15:09

2 Answers 2

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The soul can be free, but you need to find the body.

Almost all Spells that return a creature to life require a body(or part of a body). There is only one that specifically states it works without: true resurrection:

The spell can even provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must speak the creature's name.

Assuming you know the creature's name, then you can begin.

Out of the ring

The next step is getting the soul out of the ring.

This one is pretty easy, as the ring states:

You can remain in the ring or depart for the afterlife.

This suggests that the soul is free to leave the ring whenever it wants to. As there is no language that states it is trapped, then we just have the requirements of true resurrection, which does require the soul to be free and willing.

As the soul is free to leave, there really isn't a restriction keeping it in the ring if it's willing to be resurrected.

The soul can either depart the ring prior to casting true resurrection, or it can leave as part of true resurrection. There isn't any rules-issue with when it departs, but more in that it can depart and that it does so willingly.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ If your DM rules that components from casting 'Reincarnation' as a non-stress wish ('You don't need to meet any requirements in that spell, including costly components.') could include 'fresh body parts less than ten days old' (& costly components), then you can easily do this - in one round at that. Check your DM's rulings on this though - this is a liberal interpretation. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 7 at 19:41
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Yes. They can be resurrected.

From a dictionary definition of "At Liberty":

Allowed or entitled to do something.
"Competent adults are generally at liberty to refuse medical treatment"

The ring says "You can remain in the ring or depart for the afterlife." which is a pretty clear indication the soul in question is "at liberty" since they have a choice to remain in the ring or not, and there's no indication they can't change their mind later.

This is a pretty clear indicator the soul is considered free, and therefore could be resurrected if they are also willing.

Technically it could happen as the soul knowing they were being resurrected (The willing part of the spell, implies being given a choice) so they leave the ring and accept the resurrection to fulfill the conditions of RAW.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ What is your "yes" referring to? The title or the two questions at the end? Each one of those has a different meaning so you are going to need to specify. \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 28, 2019 at 17:35
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    \$\begingroup\$ The question isn't whether or not they are at liberty to leave at a later point, but rather, whether or not leaving for the afterlife is a prerequisite for resurrection. The two choices they are given are to either remain or to move on to the afterlife, so does resurrection offer a third choice, or does the soul have to choose to move on before it can be resurrected? \$\endgroup\$
    – Mwr247
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 17:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Fair point. I clarified the final answer as "Yeah, they leave the ring to fulfill the letter of the spell." \$\endgroup\$
    – Σ of eDπ
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 17:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ The downvotes are a bit harsh, " (The willing part of the spell, implies being given a choice) so they leave the ring and accept the resurrection to fulfill the conditions of RAW." answers the last question posed by OP \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 19, 2019 at 14:55

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