Can you be resurrected while your soul is under the effect of Magic Jar?

Question

I've been reading up on soul-related spells and abilities from the 5th edition spell list. The question I had relates to a unique problem you run into when, while using the spell Magic Jar, your body expires.

Magic Jar

6 Necromancy

• Casting Time: 1 minute

• Range: Self

• Target: See text

• Components: V S M (A gem, crystal, reliquary, or some other ornamental container worth at least 500 gp)

• Duration: Until dispelled

• Classes: Wizard

Your body falls into a catatonic state as your soul leaves it and enters the container you used for the spell’s material component. While your soul inhabits the container, you are aware of your surroundings as if you were in the container’s space. You can’t move or use reactions. The only action you can take is to project your soul up to 100 feet out of the container, either returning to your living body (and ending the spell) or attempting to possess a humanoids body.

If the container is destroyed or the spell ends, your soul immediately returns to your body. If your body is more than 100 feet away from you or if your body is dead when you attempt to return to it, you die. If another creature’s soul is in the container when it is destroyed, the creature’s soul returns to its body if the body is alive and within 100 feet. Otherwise, that creature dies.

When the spell ends, the container is destroyed.

The bit where you die if your body is dead when the spell ends seems to imply that, at least according to game mechanics, you're still considered alive even after your body dies. At least as long as the spell is maintained.

This raises a lot of interesting points of debate deserving their own threads, but my question(s) here relate to restoring the body and safely ending the spell.

1. Is the character a valid target for resurrection magic? I assume not, due to still being considered alive, but I may be misunderstanding the rules here.

2. Is there any method to revive just the body if resurrection magic can't be used?

Answer 1

No

If the body is still alive
The magic jar spell places the body in a "catatonic state" but does not kill it. The resurrection spell targets "a dead creature that has been dead for no more than a century, that didn't die of old age, and that isn't undead." If the body is still alive, it is an invalid target for the resurrection spell, and the spell fails.

If the body is dead
While under the effects of the magic jar spell,

The only action you can take is to project your soul up to 100 feet out of the container, either returning to your living body (and ending the spell) or attempting to possess a humanoid's body.

If the caster's body is still alive and in range, the magic jar permits the soul to return to it. But the soul is unable to return to its body if the body is dead; it remains in the magic jar.

Normally, when a body dies, its soul leaves it and passes on to the Outer Planes (DMG 24)¹:

When a creature dies, its soul departs its body, leaves the Material Plane, travels through the Astral Plane, and goes to abide on the plane where the creature's deity resides. If the creature didn't worship a deity, its soul departs to the plane corresponding to its alignment.

However, we see that the magic jar has prevented this process. When the caster's body died, its soul was supposed to leave the Material Plane, pass through the Astral, and go beyond. Instead, it remains trapped in the magic jar, able to possess other living bodies but unable to return to its dead one and unable to leave the Material Plane. The only way for the soul to pass on to the Outer Planes is if the magic jar trapping it is destroyed:

If the container is destroyed or the spell ends, your soul immediately returns to your body. If your body is more than 100 feet away from you or if your body is dead when you attempt to return to it, you die.

Into this situation of the dead body and trapped soul we introduce the resurrection spell. Presented with a dead body, the resurrection spell has a valid target, but then:

If its soul is free and willing, the target returns to life with all its hit points.

While the soul may be "willing" to re-enter its dead body, it is not "free" to do so because it is trapped, bound to the magic jar. The resurrection spell acquires a valid target (the body) but then fails because the soul is not free. The fact that the spell has an "if its soul is free" clause shows that the resurrection spell itself does not have the power to force the soul out of the magic jar, any more than the natural pull of the afterlife has been able to.

In order to resurrect someone under the effect of a magic jar, you must first destroy the jar (simultaneously killing and freeing the soul) and then cast resurrection on the dead body.

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¹

When a creature dies, its soul departs its body, leaves the Material Plane, travels through the Astral Plane, and goes to abide on the plane where the creature's deity resides.

One could read this and object that the magic jar spell disrupts this process; since the soul is already in the magic jar when the body dies, it cannot complete the "its soul departs its body" stage and therefor everything that comes after is void.

However, I believe this is better thought of as the "normal sequence of events" but that when one of the steps is not met, the process naturally moves on to the next step. The description assumes that a person's soul is in their body when they die and that their body is on the Material Plane, because that covers most cases. But if either of those is not true, the "afterlife" process just proceeds to the next step anyway. To rule otherwise, to rule that this exact sequence must be followed or none of it happens, means we have a big gap in the rules where nothing is defined. What happens if my soul is in my body when I die on the Elemental Plane of Fire? Unknown. What happens if my soul is in my body and I am bodily present on the Astral Plane when I die? Unknown. According to the magic jar spell itself:

If the container is destroyed or the spell ends, your soul immediately returns to your body. If your body is more than 100 feet away from you or if your body is dead when you attempt to return to it, you die.

What does "you die" mean here, and where does my soul go in this case? Unknown.

Rather than assume that the fate of souls in all these cases is a blind spot in the rules, I think it makes more sense to just rule that if a step in the 'afterlife sequence' does not apply, we just move to the next step. If your body is dead when your soul is in a magic jar and the magic jar is destroyed, "you die" means your soul leaves the Material Plane, travels through the Astral Plane, etc. But if your soul is already in the magic jar at the moment your body dies, you do not follow the sequence. Your soul remains in the magic jar, it does not leave the Material Plane. Specific over general, the spell tethers your soul to the jar - and this is what allows it to resist the resurrection spell.

Answer 2

The spell does not define what happens if your body is dead and resurrection magic is used

The spell says (Basic Rules (2014)):

. . . if your body is dead when you attempt to return to it, you die.

So, clearly there can be a case where your body is dead, and your soul is in the magic jar.

However, the spell does not define any restrictions on resurrection.

It is reasonable that if your body is dead, you can still be resurrected, even though your soul is in the magic jar.

However, the rules do not explicitly say either way, so the DM needs to interpret. To my reading, the most reasonable interpretation is that your soul is not prevented from being reunited with a body through resurrection magic, since the spell does not say that.

A possible contrary argument

In the case where the caster has trapped another creature's soul, the spell uses the word "trapped":

target's soul becomes trapped in the container

You could interpret that to mean such a soul is not free to be resurrected. I believe that that is a mis-reading. The spell goes on to say:

Meanwhile, the possessed creature's soul can perceive from the container using its own senses, but it can't move or take actions at all.

I believe that is the sense in which it is trapped.

If you body is dead, and your soul in the jar, are you alive or dead?

You make the assertion that the creature with its soul in the magic jar whose body has been killed is "still alive".

That is not supported in the rules. The spell does not define whether the creature is alive or dead. According to the rules, in this case the body is dead, and the soul is trapped in a magic jar.

The rules do not specify a binary condition, either alive or dead. It is a reasonable interpretation, but the rules do not say that.

Furthermore, for instance, the resurrection spell says:

You touch a dead creature . . . .

That phrase causes problems, because you're really touching a dead body.

My advice

If you're the DM and you're confronted with such a situation, consider a creature whose body is dead and whose soul is in a magic jar to be able to be resurrected, and move on with your life.

The rules just are not carefully constructed enough to provide 100% unambiguous interpretations in all cases. Explicitly so, the rules say that's the DM's job.

What if you want shenanigans

Now, if you're looking to play fast and loose with magic jar, my advice is to create a custom version of the magic jar spell that does what you want and not worry about shoehorning the existing spell to fit. If you're a DM, you have that prerogative. If you're the player, you'll need to work with your DM. If I were the DM of such a player, I would entertain the possibility of a custom version of the spell, but there would be in-game costs, in time, money, risk, or some combination.

There is precedent. See simulacrum, and the custom version, Sansuri's simulacrum, from Storm King's Thunder.