Bodak Death...raise ok?

[Wellby]

A Bodak just death gazed our cleric...and he rolled a 1.

I assume that if we get him to a temple in a few hours, and have him 'raised' to life, that takes care of the returning as a Bodak in 24 hrs problem?

thanks

 

[Nebten]

Sadly no. Your Cleric died by a death effect. He will need a Resurrection to bring him back to life.

Raise Dead: A creature who has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect can’t be raised by this spell. Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead creatures can’t be raised. The spell cannot bring back a creature that has died of old age.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Nebten has the correct RAW answer.

Bodaks should never be used, they are far and away the most poorly designed monster in all of 3rd edition, if not any edition of D&D.

(I consider the Rust Monster to be a joke entry to make the party run away in hilarious fashion and not to actually be used in nasty small room ambush scenarios where it would completely rape the party's gear, if you don't feel that way, then I guess bodak and it are toss up for worst designed monster)

 

[Rabbit503]

I don’t like using any creature that has an effect that can kill a character due to one bad dice roll. The 3e/3.5 MM had a habit of giving such effects to creatures to make their CRs higher, but that always seemed counter intuitive. Making it easier to arbitrarily kill off characters the longer a player spends time advancing them.
The only exception would be giving the players plenty of warning to prep before facing the monster.

 

[kitcik]

I don’t like using any creature that has an effect that can kill a character due to one bad dice roll. The 3e/3.5 MM had a habit of giving such effects to creatures to make their CRs higher, but that always seemed counter intuitive. Making it easier to arbitrarily kill off characters the longer a player spends time advancing them.
The only exception would be giving the players plenty of warning to prep before facing the monster.

I get what you are saying and agree with the logic.

However, I enjoy the "save or die" scenario. It adds the element of risk to the (mid to high level) situation which enhances immersement for me. I like the possibility of the caster(s) dying, ultimately resulting in a TPK. It keeps us on our toes and forces us to scout and plan ahead rather than blithely opening every door.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Even if you enjoy save or die, having it as an effect that happens just from opening a door without your eyes closed, and at a level MUCH lower than the spell required to undo it is even available is just incredibly terrible awful horrible design.

What good does scouting ahead do? Only the poor scout bites it in a sudden, random fashion, rather than the whole party? Awesome! What a great job that is, I wonder why more PCs don't volunteer to do it...?

 

[the Jester]

Even if you enjoy save or die, having it as an effect that happens just from opening a door without your eyes closed, and at a level MUCH lower than the spell required to undo it is even available is just incredibly terrible awful horrible design.

Death Ward is only 4th level.

 

[kitcik]

Even if you enjoy save or die, having it as an effect that happens just from opening a door without your eyes closed, and at a level MUCH lower than the spell required to undo it is even available is just incredibly terrible awful horrible design.

What good does scouting ahead do? Only the poor scout bites it in a sudden, random fashion, rather than the whole party? Awesome! What a great job that is, I wonder why more PCs don't volunteer to do it...?

I wasn't disagreeing with you on the Bodak, just supporting save-or-die as a general concept.

 

[Rabbit503]

I wasn't disagreeing with you on the Bodak, just supporting save-or-die as a general concept.

I think there are two different types of save-or-die scenarios. One better than the other.

1) Springing monsters who can death gaze, petrify, etc on characters in a dungeon when they have no reasonable clues to expect them is not very fun. Boo! You're petrified!

2) However, the “Perseus and Medusa” type scenarios can make new interesting challenges for players. Especially if they have worked with the same character for a while; How does your barbarian fair against an archer snake woman when he’s blindfolded?

Like so much else it's all about how the DM delivers.

I get what you are saying and agree with the logic.

However, I enjoy the "save or die" scenario. It adds the element of risk to the (mid to high level) situation which enhances immersement for me. I like the possibility of the caster(s) dying, ultimately resulting in a TPK. It keeps us on our toes and forces us to scout and plan ahead rather than blithely opening every door.

And I totally understand about the immersement and keeping on your toes. Someone I regularly play with enjoys having a character die on him early in a campaign because he says it does something similiar.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I would like to point out that while Raise Dead specifically states it would not raise a character killed by a death effect, Resurrection and higher spells specifically indicate they can bring back to life someone killed by a death effect.

I'd also like to suggest that by one interpretation of the Gentle Repose spell, you can delay the duration of a Death-effect-turned-into-an-undead-monster process for a longer stretch of time until you can track down that Resurrection. This method may be subject to DM approval.