Source
r/DnD•
Sigma_SP

Speak with Dead contradicts itself. And is simply confusing me.

5th Edition

Speak with dead says that the spirit that animates the corpse can't learn new information. However it does say that it is able to recognize you as an enemy if you were for instance, hostile to it in the past. And of course it can answer questions you ask it.

But this is kind of confusing to me, what information can it learn and what information can't it learn? if it's able to recognize you, would disguising prevent that? or does the spell give the spirit information about the caster?

It'd really help me if someone could clear things up for me, as I want to rule this spell correctly when my players use it and don't want to prevent them getting information they should have been able to get via this spell.

Posted Sep 19, 2023, 11:09 AM UTC

18
SecretCyan_DM•

Disguising works. Basically the corpse can just use its eyes and be like "I remember when you murdered me, not cool" and give bad answers. But the corpse wouldn't learn anything while its dead or talking to you. Like, it's not going to tell the soul that was in it about the questions you asked it- just in the niche chance the soul is reanimated somehow

1
Sigma_SPOP•

So, let's say, you use speak with dead on a dead guard of a castle that attacked. And you tell the corpse that the king is missing and that you're trying to find him. And you ask the dead guard whether the king had any secret chambers in order to find more information about the king to find him. Provided the guard trusts you and doesn't see you as hostile or an enemy. Would the guard understand what you're trying to do and understand that the king was kidnapped? or is it unable to learn this information and only take in the question at face value?

1
JanMabK•

RAW, "the corpse can't learn new information [and] doesn't comprehend anything that has happened since it died," so it would only be able to take the question at face value, yes.

1
Sigma_SPOP•

Then why would it matter who you are or whether you're disguised or not if it only takes questions at face value, regardless of context? It wouldn't be able to learn who you are, so it wouldn't be able to recognize you from its past.

1
JanMabK•

But if the dead person saw you before they died, then the corpse would recognize you. That's where a disguise could be useful.

1
ThrorfaceDM•

Yes, disguising would help.

1
3ldr1tchKn1ght•

Speak with Dead specifies: “this spell doesn’t return the creature’s soul to its body, only its animating spirit”. The corpse remembers everything up until your axe hit it in the head, including how it felt about that imminent event, but can’t comprehend anything beyond that point as it’s faculty to record that information simply stopped - it is now a ‘read only’ document. You can tell it that it’s dead, and it might be able to say “yeah I wouldn’t like that” or something, but it is unable to incorporate the information into its answers.

If it helps, you could think of it as speaking to a ‘soul imprint’, or a ChatGPT simulacra of a person. The creature’s actual soul is enjoying peace/eternal torment elsewhere. Otherwise you could use Speak with Dead to actually commune with souls on other planes which is a different thing.

1