D&D 5E Game of Thrones-style Resurrection *spoilers*

[pukunui]

Alterations to a character's appearance and behaviors is always something that should be handled delicately and should be agreed upon beforehand by the table.

Oh yeah, it's not something I'd spring on the players. I'd be sure to mention it at the beginning of the campaign and make sure everyone is on board with it.

Since it is entirely crunch, I think players should have a hand in determining what sort of madness or scars their character comes back to life with. A simple flaw can be taken to the extreme, revenge, paranoia, greed; etc.

For me, the scar would have to fit the nature of the death, and yes, the player could certainly have a hand in determining the specifics of that. And yes, amplifying a flaw might be a good way to do it. For the record, "partial amnesia" is one of the options on the long-term madness table.

 

[Jester David]

What twist? Lady Stoneheart isn't on the show, and Beric was several seasons ago now.

Lady Stoneheart isn't in the show *yet* and I'm also working my way through the books. So even if she never appears, that would have been a twist there.

I don't think it is fair to complain in thread about game of thrones resurrection that there is reference to the resurrections in Game of thrones....

It's complaining about resurrections that haven't happened yet on the show or only in the books. If the title was Song of Ice and Fire resurrections and/or a spoiler tag, I would have stayed away. I looked because I know there is was one resurrection, and it happened a few years back so I figured it would be safe from spoilers, which I have been carefully avoiding.

 

[pukunui]

Lady Stoneheart isn't in the show *yet* and I'm also working my way through the books. So even if she never appears, that would have been a twist there.

I know the showrunners like to play tricks on people, but I feel fairly confident they're telling the truth when they say she's not going to be on the show ever. The plotlines of the show have already moved beyond the point where she shows up in the books.

For the record, I've never read the books. Just the cliff notes.

I looked because I know there is was one resurrection, and it happened a few years back so I figured it would be safe from spoilers, which I have been carefully avoiding.

From what I've been able to tell, the best way to avoid GoT spoilers is to stay off the internet.

EDIT: Also, A Storm of Swords came out fifteen years ago. There ought to be a statute of limitations on spoilers ...

 

[pukunui]

I had no idea until right this instant that she is brought back in the books. I also don't mind spoilers so I'm cool with it. I wonder if they will do that in the TV series or if it has passed that point (I'm a season behind there as well).

The showrunners have said they're not going to include her in the show, and I have a feeling that they're telling no lies on that one, especially now that Season 5 has moved well beyond the point in the books where she is introduced.

I do like the idea, it could create a more cautious group as they try to stay alive and avoid falling into madness.

I dunno. I'll admit that, for some players, a maimed/loony PC is worse than a dead one. I will make sure I have my players' buy-in on this before instituting it in my games.

 

[Zardnaar]

In AD&D IIRC you lost a level and a point of con permanently. That count as leaving something behind?

 

[pukunui]

In AD&D IIRC you lost a level and a point of con permanently. That count as leaving something behind?

I guess, but I've always hated that kind of mechanic. Plus, you can always earn that level back again. I get the impression that in GoT, once that bit you lose is gone, it's gone forever.

 

[Jester David]

GRRM was a D&D fan back in the day, so the death penalty in his books was potentially adding flavour to the loss of Con and a level.

My players don't really like it either - they always try to find a way to make it so their character doesn't have to do anything for four days so they can just get rid of the penalty. [Which is not to say that I always let them, but then they grumble about having to remember what the penalty is and when to apply it and so on.]

What if, instead, being brought back from the dead worked more like it does in Game of Thrones? That is, you would still have the scars showing how you died, and you'd "lose a bit of yourself" every time. Reading through the various related spells, it seems like raise dead already does this to a certain extent, since resurrection specifically states that it restores any missing body parts (which implies that raise dead does not). The harder thing to model would be the losing a bit of yourself.

You let your players avoid the death penalty by napping for a few days, not pushing any deadlines or saying a certain amount of adventuring has to be done.
Do you think you'll be able to enforce a longer lasting and potentially more impactful penalty, like an insanity?

Okay, scars. You could get the players to narrate how they kill key monsters, or how they are knocked down. If they die from the wound, it just gets worse, but how it's described and where it is, is determined by the players.

Flaws are cool, and would be an interesting way of adding some lasting impact to death. However, this means the players have to choose to play up the flaw, and might get rewarded for doing so with inspiration. They're unlikley to let their flaw take over during a stress moment.

Are you familiar with FATE compels? Where the storyteller offers a Fate Point if a player acts out a personality trait. This could easily work with flaws: the DM offering inspiration with the reminder of the flaw, and the player either takes the inspiration and acts based on the flaw, or rejects inspiration and has to describe overcoming the flaw.

 

[pukunui]

You let your players avoid the death penalty by napping for a few days, not pushing any deadlines or saying a certain amount of adventuring has to be done.

I never said I *let* them. I did push them, and they grumbled about it. And had trouble remembering it. I think it didn't help that one PC had both the resurrection penalty *and* several levels of exhaustion at one point.

Okay, scars. You could get the players to narrate how they kill key monsters, or how they are knocked down. If they die from the wound, it just gets worse, but how it's described and where it is, is determined by the players.

Right.

Are you familiar with FATE compels?

Yes, I am. In fact, we've theoretically been using the Angry DM's Inspiration variant that makes the mechanic work a whole lot more like FATE. I say theoretically because we're still not used to it yet, so it doesn't come up much during actual play. So technically I've got the power to compel the PCs' flaws (as do the players); we just mostly haven't been remembering that we can do it.

 

[Mr Fixit]

In ASoIaF there are two additional factors that are important to resurrections. The more time it passes between death and resurrection, the more physically disfigured and "deadlike" the revived person becomes. Therefore, since quite a few days passed before Catelyn was brought back, she's almost a half-zombie. They are also increasingly obsessed with the thoughts, missions, and beliefs they had at the time of death. Catelyn died with the horrible realisation that her whole family was dead, and she turned into a sinister "angel" of vengeance that is indiscriminately hanging people left and right. Berric died on a mission to bring justice to the realm "in the name of King Robert" -- while the fat drunk still lived -- and is utterly devoted to serving the king and kingdom that are no longer there.

In a grittier campaign, and with players who are open to such things, this could be an interesting approach.

 

[Chocolategravy]

OMG, 5E has the resurrection spell?!? Some of us haven't gotten to that part of the PHB yet, you need to spoiler that stuff!!!

If you're going to make rez more like ASoIaF then are you going to make Animate Dead also allow you to instantly raise an entire battlefield? Oh man is the kingdom ripe for the taking.