So, I'm a little bit confused here. On ERLW pg. 62, from the Homunculus Servant entry, it reads;
"The item you infuse serves as the creature's heart, around which the creature's body instantly forms."
And it continues on to say;
"If it dies, it vanishes, leaving its heart in its space."
Given this, I can see two distinct possibilities of how you would go about reviving the Homunculus Servant.
-
The infusion fades and you must infuse the gem again.
-
The infusion remains, and its body reappears after it regains hit points.
Since it doesn't indicate the infusion fades, I'm leaning towards the second option, but I'm not sure. Which case is it, or is it some other option I haven't considered?
Best Answer
The infusion fades and you must infuse the gem again
You already quoted the relevant part:
From the description about "Infusing an Item" in the Artificier description it states (emphasis mine):
So I would argue that if the text about the Homunculus Servant says that "it vanishes" you would have to infuse the gem again to create a new Homunculus Servant.
In addition the Steel Defender from the Battlesmith subclass reads similar to the Homunculus Servant considering the healing part (even if it is not an Infusion) but it expliticially states that it can be revived:
So I think this is an additional indication that the Homunculus Servant can't be revived and needs to be infused again.
And since (in my opinion) the infusion vanishes healing spells won't work to revive it. The Mending cantrip states:
Many other healing spells heal it while your Homunculus Servant is alive (except Lay on Hands for example since it doesn't work on constructs) but also won't bring it back to life, since the infusion faded.