On "High Fantasy" Settings.

[theweaselking]

In your sterotypical levels-and-classes High Fantasy Setting(tm)[1], where speaking with the dead is as easy as looking them up in the Necrotelecomnicon[2], and a resurrection is just an act of devotion and a chest of gold away, where postcognition and mind reading are facts of life....

...in that setting, how does one commit murder? And, having committed it, how does one *get away* with murder, assuming determined investigators who have a generous budget?

[1]: Not *specifically* D&D, although that's a perfect example of the type of setting I mean.
[2]: lit. The Book Of The Phone Numbers Of The Dead.

Comments

[sivi-volk.livejournal.com]

Burn them to ash, scatter the ashes. Almost all resurrection magics require a fairly complete corpse.

As far as their spirit goes, trap it or unravell it or call upon shades to drag it away to another plane.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Decent ways to make him stay dead - and I suppose I should be specifying what kind of resurrection is possible - Feist-ish body must be intact and whole, 5th Element-style "a few living cells is a survivor", or D&D-esque "any tiny particle, no matter how long dead, is enough - and I can Wish for that particle if I REALLY have to".

So, now that your victim is staying dead, how to escape prosecution and investigation? Assume, as in D&D, that all "I magically make the sensors stop" magic can be countered or overwhelmed, meaning you need a *clever* solution, not a brute-force one.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Alter Self. Illusion. Disguise. Mask.

"Why yes, Bob, I can tell you exactly who we're looking for. They were about five-foot-nine, and they wear a lot of bulky black clothing and dark glasses and their skin is green and greasepaint-y looking. Boy, they'll sure stand out in a crowd!"