D&D 5E How would you handle raising dead on a PC that didn't believe in the gods?

[WarpedAcorn]

With the wall of the faithless. Time for him to roll a new character.

Yep, this is his fate. He becomes another brick in the wall of the faithless. If they get to him in time you could "allow" him to be Raised if you want to be kind. Alternatively, you can play it that the character gets judged by Kelemvor and maybe starts to believe a little bit, and right before his sentence is passed the divine energy of [insert faith of cleric doing the spell] asks if he wants to return to the world of the living by the grace of [insert faith]'s divinity. If the character says no, then to the wall...if yes, then maybe he returns with a little bit of faith.

 

[DeanP]

This is why men must kill the gods.

There's always wish and clone.

 

[BookBarbarian]

It seems like your player is fine rolling a new character, but I don't think raising the dead is predicated on belief in the gods by the person who is dead. Only on someone knowing the spell, having the spell components, and casting the spell.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

If it's in a god's interest to do so, why not? However the PC, who is now stuck in an afterlife (surprise!) would get the choice if they wanted to return.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

He said "No my character doesn't believe in the gods". I explained that without a faith of any kind a divine Raise Dead wouldn't work on him. He replied "That's fine."

My reasoning is rejecting the gods in a world where they absolutely exist is the ultimate slap in the face. Its worse than believing in the other team, because even if you believed in some evil god like Bhaal or Malar, at least you believe in a god.

DM (Me): Do you want to try a new character, or are you cool with having your dead guy get raised?

Player Response #1): I think I'll try a new guy.
DM: Allrighty then... [player characters spend the cash to get the character raised...and nothing happens; cleric relays their religious belief of why]

Player Response #2): Yeah, I'd like to keep playing him.
DM: Allrighty then...[player characters spend the cash to get the character raised...and...he's raised. I take the now-alive PC's player in to my kids bed room and explain his 'death experience'; he died, and he knew it; he found himself in the Concordant Opposition, with other 'lost souls' who kinda just hung out, trying to find a purpose; various 'nature spirits' would talk and council with souls for a 'while'...hours, days, months, years, decades, centuries, whatever... to help a soul find a true resting place; very few actually find themselves staying here, those that do become these 'nature spirits'; Upon his first re-breath of life, he now knows, for a fact, that there is an 'afterlife' and that your ACTIONS determine where you go, but your belief in a god/dess also helps determine where your soul goes once you are dead [re: your god/desses home 'section' of the appropriate plane of existence].

The god/dess, or some higher-up angle comes to meet the character and has a chat about (whatever god/dess) and that one of his/her chosen clerics is performing a ritual to call the character back to the prime material plane...but because the character isn't a worshiper, he is offered a choice, "personally"]. It would be up to the player to decide how this affects his new-life. Maybe the PC shrugs it off and says, Whatever...gods suck. Maybe he deludes himself into thinking it was all a dream, even though he knows, deep down, it was true. Or maybe he becomes a born-again and now devoutly follows the god/dess who contacted him in the afterlife.

---

This is basically how I've handled it for decades now. Any dead PC doesn't have to come back, under any circumstances. Soul's of the dead also don't have to "talk" to mortals if they don't want to...Speak with Dead is mostly useful for finding out information from dead people who want to actually help you (or are at least not in opposition to you), but trying to use it on a recently slain bad guy to grill him about the secret lair's hiding spot for the ancient foozle of power...not likely to yield any result you can trust. (it also gives another incentive for players to try and not kill everything that moves).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[cmad1977]

I'd totally raise that heretic and prove him wrong. Maybe a god of mischief is behind it.

Or let him roll up a new character.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jester David]

Option 1) He is returned harrowed, after seeing the gods and getting a glimpse of the Wall of the Faithless that awaited him at death. He now knows his soul is forfeit it he doesn't find a patron god. Roleplaying opportunity.

Option 2) He returns incomplete, without the hand of a god to guide his soul back to its body. He gains a new Flaw of some kind, and might have the air of the grave to him (animals dislike him, he has an unnatural pallor and sunken features, etc).

Option 3) He can't return. His soul is lost.

It depends on the player. You could even leave it to the dice and have him make a Charisma check to see how much of his "self" can be retained in order to make the return.

 

[MarkB]

The spell only succeeds if the subject's soul is both willing and at liberty to return to its body. The "willing" part is up to the player, but the "at liberty" part is for the DM to decide. In simple terms, you need to decide what happens to the soul of an atheist in your campaign setting.

 

[Skyscraper]

Pretty tough not to believe in gods, when their clerics cast down pillars of flame, bring back the dead, cure open wound in front of your very eyes, paralyse people, and burn undead to dust.

I guess the PC could say, I swear no allegiance to a particular faith or god. But to not believe in them? I think the player is importing his real-world present-day knowledge where faith is based on believing something for which there is no tangible proof of. Here and now, you can decide to believe in the gods, or not. In D&D where the gods strike down the mighty and save their believers, it's not about believing.

That said, about your question: I would consider whether the sworn allegiance to a god is required for the god to resurrect a character. Or, if it is within the character's soul, i.e. he knows he's a believer. If so, it appears than coming back from the dead is simply not possible here.

However, this is your prerogative as DM to choose to play like this. I see no reason why the god would not answer his cleric's prayer to raise a character; and that the faith of the raisee remains unknown to all. This is a role-playing decision that belongs to you, it is not purely up to your player here.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

So no one gave the obvious option of Reincarnate? Same character class, different race. Like playing an old character and a new character at the same time! Plus, reincarnation has nothing to do with the gods, rather just that a soul is a real thing and returns to the material world in a new life. The spell just brings the soul back into an adult body with full memories, rather than into the body of an infant with no memories of their past life. This could also give the RP option of the character's soul actually meeting a god or two before being pulled back into a physical body, giving the player new thoughts on maybe multiclassing.