Haltherrion
First Post
The sessions per death poll got me wondering how many people allow resurrection in their campaigns.
Feel free to comment.
Feel free to comment.
Irrevocable death? Or do you allow resurrection?
- Thread starter Haltherrion
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
With a cost.
It is never as easy as just casting the spell. There is usually a mechancial penatly like the level loss but also a quest or deal to get a PC back. There are also small mystery sects of the death god who actively hunt down anyone that was rasied from the dead as they see it as unantural and evil. Sometimes when a character comes back from the dead they don't come back alone or are changed by the experience. There is no one true cost or way we go with it, but many ways drawn from lots of sources.
It is never as easy as just casting the spell. There is usually a mechancial penatly like the level loss but also a quest or deal to get a PC back. There are also small mystery sects of the death god who actively hunt down anyone that was rasied from the dead as they see it as unantural and evil. Sometimes when a character comes back from the dead they don't come back alone or are changed by the experience. There is no one true cost or way we go with it, but many ways drawn from lots of sources.
Tiberius
Explorer
Do you have access to the appropriate spell? Do you have the requisite gp of diamonds? If so, then you get to come back (if the party drags your encorpsified self to a cleric).
Sometimes PCs stay dead, but that's generally only in cases of poverty or the player wanting to play a new PC.
Instead of level loss (and the resultant irritation of recalculating the character sheet), I apply an XP debt that must be paid off before further advancement.
Sometimes PCs stay dead, but that's generally only in cases of poverty or the player wanting to play a new PC.
Instead of level loss (and the resultant irritation of recalculating the character sheet), I apply an XP debt that must be paid off before further advancement.
airwalkrr
Adventurer
There is always a price to pay for resurrection, be it level loss, large sums of money, or what have you. Also death is less common for low-level characters, but also more permanent, because such characters rarely have the ability to afford such costs.
One of the things I like about AD&D versus later editions is that there is a limit to the number of times one can be raised from the dead and there are also system shock rolls, such that even if a player is able to afford resurrection, there is a chance the body will not survive. I think such a thing is a good way to ensure that god-syndrome does not ensue. Otherwise players few character death very casually and hence don't play as intelligently as they could in order to avoid it.
Player 1: Grimnor died today.
Player 2: Oh really? That's terrible!
Player 1: Not really. Just paid the cleric 500 gold pieces and I was good to go.
That kind of thing irks me. It happened a lot in the RPGA, especially in the early days of Living Greyhawk when raise dead was relatively easy to procure (not the VERY early days, I'm talking late year two and further). I mean, I can understand that because of the shared nature of RPGA campaigns and possibly having a different judge for many different adventures there had to be some rules in play regarding character death, but I saw way too many players acting very cavalier about it. And it just got worse very late in the RPGA when free true resurrection certs started to get handed out.
One of the things I like about AD&D versus later editions is that there is a limit to the number of times one can be raised from the dead and there are also system shock rolls, such that even if a player is able to afford resurrection, there is a chance the body will not survive. I think such a thing is a good way to ensure that god-syndrome does not ensue. Otherwise players few character death very casually and hence don't play as intelligently as they could in order to avoid it.
Player 1: Grimnor died today.
Player 2: Oh really? That's terrible!
Player 1: Not really. Just paid the cleric 500 gold pieces and I was good to go.
That kind of thing irks me. It happened a lot in the RPGA, especially in the early days of Living Greyhawk when raise dead was relatively easy to procure (not the VERY early days, I'm talking late year two and further). I mean, I can understand that because of the shared nature of RPGA campaigns and possibly having a different judge for many different adventures there had to be some rules in play regarding character death, but I saw way too many players acting very cavalier about it. And it just got worse very late in the RPGA when free true resurrection certs started to get handed out.
Mr. Wilson
Explorer
As Nifft stated, depends on the game I'm playing. At the moment, I'm playing Star Wars d6, so a death would be quite final.
On the other hand, if I was playing DnD, death isn't quite as severe.
On the other hand, if I was playing DnD, death isn't quite as severe.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
At very low levels or if a character hasn't been with the party very long, if it dies it's probably not coming back.
At mid-high levels or if a character has been around a while, if the party can get it back (assuming the player wants it back) they'll probably try.
Given the right payments in sacrifice (I don't use the silly diamond-dust thing; magic items, objects of value, or even simple gold will do) Raise Dead is usually relatively easy to find and becomes trivially easy once any PC Cleric gets to 9th. Resurrection can be somewhat trickier, involving more cost and often much more travel. Both spells are costly - usually around 6-7K g.p. for a Raise and nearly twice that for a Res.
As this is 1e, they have to make a resurrection survival % roll in order to come back; and they lose a Con. point. If you fail, I have a table of possible reasons why e.g. you've become an undead, a god says 'no', you've already been revived elsewhere, and so on. I've also recently instituted a second table for those who are revived, of things that might have happened to you while you were dead - you might pick up an affinity for or hatred of undead, for example; or come back with a quest sitting on you, or whatever - or nothing at all.
The resurrection survival % roll is a mechanic that really should be brought forward to all editions. Just the mere threat of failure and perma-death, even if a small threat, makes people much more careful with their characters (except my crew; they greet death like a long-lost friend) than if the threat was not there.
Lanefan
At mid-high levels or if a character has been around a while, if the party can get it back (assuming the player wants it back) they'll probably try.
Given the right payments in sacrifice (I don't use the silly diamond-dust thing; magic items, objects of value, or even simple gold will do) Raise Dead is usually relatively easy to find and becomes trivially easy once any PC Cleric gets to 9th. Resurrection can be somewhat trickier, involving more cost and often much more travel. Both spells are costly - usually around 6-7K g.p. for a Raise and nearly twice that for a Res.
As this is 1e, they have to make a resurrection survival % roll in order to come back; and they lose a Con. point. If you fail, I have a table of possible reasons why e.g. you've become an undead, a god says 'no', you've already been revived elsewhere, and so on. I've also recently instituted a second table for those who are revived, of things that might have happened to you while you were dead - you might pick up an affinity for or hatred of undead, for example; or come back with a quest sitting on you, or whatever - or nothing at all.
The resurrection survival % roll is a mechanic that really should be brought forward to all editions. Just the mere threat of failure and perma-death, even if a small threat, makes people much more careful with their characters (except my crew; they greet death like a long-lost friend) than if the threat was not there.
Lanefan
In a campaign I ran resurrection was available. It was not easy and it had a cost, though.
1. One had to be resurrected by a priest of his faith. Characters powerful and important enough to have multiple gods care for them could be bargained about and resurrected by another cult, converting to the new god in the process.
2. To be returned to life, one had to have a good reason in eyes of his patron god. If you had been religious and died during a quest for your faith, nobody asked twice about resurrecting you. If you got yourself killed while looting a random tomb, probably no resurrection for you.
3. It was possible to bargain with gods to get resurrected anyway, but it required accepting oaths and missions, very strongly tying one to god's will. Both literally and metaphorically, after you returned from death, your life was not your own.
1. One had to be resurrected by a priest of his faith. Characters powerful and important enough to have multiple gods care for them could be bargained about and resurrected by another cult, converting to the new god in the process.
2. To be returned to life, one had to have a good reason in eyes of his patron god. If you had been religious and died during a quest for your faith, nobody asked twice about resurrecting you. If you got yourself killed while looting a random tomb, probably no resurrection for you.
3. It was possible to bargain with gods to get resurrected anyway, but it required accepting oaths and missions, very strongly tying one to god's will. Both literally and metaphorically, after you returned from death, your life was not your own.
I voted 'Sometimes' - I use the 4e Raise Dead ritual pretty much RAW, but you do need a more or less intact body. And I've only seen 1 Raise in 8 deaths in my 4e campaign, because the other 7 times the bodies were not recovered - either surviving PCs fled the field, or a monster carried off the body.
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