Newbie failing to raise dead

Hi all,
My wife and I just started playing a few days ago (a together thing when we're in different rooms )and a character was killed off by stabbing I think it was. Anyway, we continued on and saved several times until we worked our way out. Now we're having problems raising the dead after going back to the area. An obvious question (it seems, but I just have to ask anyway), do we need the dead body to bring back the character with the scroll we purchased from the temple? I read the first three pages of posts and didn't see the topic raised so I hope I'm not repeating it over and over and over and ... My backup plan is to install all the cheats and bring the character back to stats as close as possible if we cannot bring her back. Thanks a lot..... EtheraL

[Wulfere]

Well unfortunately things in this game, I believe characters are included, will decompose in time. If you drop something on the ground and leave it that item will eventually disappear. Does the dead characters portrait still appear on the right side of your screen? It is possible to take so much damage that the image will disappear and that character can not be raised or resurrected. Secondly, what spell are you trying to use? Raise Dead or Ressurrection? Some races can not be raised and must be ressurrected instead.

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The line between good and evil is razor sharp. Be careful of misteps,
lest you find yourself spitted upon your own blade.

[Axterix]

If you still have the character's portrait on your screen, then you can raise him, anywhere, any map. However, if he took a hit that sent him below -10 hp, well, then his body does the exploding thing and you can't raise or ress the person if you leave the map. The exploding body thing also happens when you get disintergrated, turned to stone and then hit, and a few other deaths. This will cause the portrait of that character to disappear off the right side of the screen.

However, the portrait won't disappear until after you leave the map, rest, etc. So if you cast a raise dead/ress right after the death, you can bring those people back. A good reason to always have scrolls for raise dead/ress on you.

Lastly, the race that Wulfere refers to that requires Ress is elves. Can't use raise dead, gotta ress them.

[Leafy]

yeah, and make sure what when you're targeting the raise dead scoll, that you target the character portrait and not the pile of items they left behind. If you target the items, the spell fizzles. Always carry a stack of 5 or 10 reaise dead spells!!! i use them in the middle of battles sometimes.