I must admit to dislike the current system under which XP is lost when a character is Raised from the dead. A character of level X is shipped to the middle of level X-1. That he might have just enough XP to be level X, or almost enough XP to be X+1 makes no difference. Maybe this makes sense, and I'm just not understanding the rational right. However I was wondering if someone out there had worked out an alternate way to determine how much XP should be lost upon being Resurected. I'm especially interested in a formula that would allow someone to calculate how much XP should be lost depending on the dead character's level, no matter how much XP that character posses inside his current level.
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Variant penalties for being Resurected
- Thread starter JCLabelle
- Start date
trentonjoe
Explorer
I don't think this is what you want exactly but I have toying with this idea.
When brought back to life the PC loses one permanent hit point per every two levels. In addition to that the characters maximum hit points is its level the first day. Two times its level the next day, three times the next and so on until max.
For example:
An 8th level ranger with 68 hit points dies. Its new max hit points is 64. The first day alive, however, it can only have 8. Day two 16, day three 24....
When brought back to life the PC loses one permanent hit point per every two levels. In addition to that the characters maximum hit points is its level the first day. Two times its level the next day, three times the next and so on until max.
For example:
An 8th level ranger with 68 hit points dies. Its new max hit points is 64. The first day alive, however, it can only have 8. Day two 16, day three 24....
Kip the Bold
First Post
These probably aren't exactly what you are looking for, but here they are anyway.
In my campaign I allow one "free" (no level loss or con loss) raise dead or ressurection per year of game time. But if a character dies and is raised again less than a year later, he loses a level as normal. Its worked out okay so far, and we've been using this house rule for over a year.
In a campaign I play in, the DM allows a character to be brought back from the dead 3 times ever, but no penalty for being raised.
I was thinking about having raise dead creating an "xp debt" of 200 points per level. When the character is brought back from the dead, he doesn't lose a level or con points, he instead doesn't gain xp untill he pays off his xp debt. Multiple deaths would increase the xp debt.
IMO a player shouldn't be penalized too much for dying. It is pretty lame for a player to lose several sessions worth of xp because of a bad roll or too.
In my campaign I allow one "free" (no level loss or con loss) raise dead or ressurection per year of game time. But if a character dies and is raised again less than a year later, he loses a level as normal. Its worked out okay so far, and we've been using this house rule for over a year.
In a campaign I play in, the DM allows a character to be brought back from the dead 3 times ever, but no penalty for being raised.
I was thinking about having raise dead creating an "xp debt" of 200 points per level. When the character is brought back from the dead, he doesn't lose a level or con points, he instead doesn't gain xp untill he pays off his xp debt. Multiple deaths would increase the xp debt.
IMO a player shouldn't be penalized too much for dying. It is pretty lame for a player to lose several sessions worth of xp because of a bad roll or too.
Cloudgatherer
First Post
I think I have what you're looking for.
IMC, I dislike the whole "you lose a level and a bunch of XP and all that other jazz." Instead, I created the idea of an XP debt.
So here's the scenario. Your character dies and is resurrected by the party cleric. The character suffers no level loss. Coming back from the dead doesn't suddenly make someone "forget" what he knows or unable to hit the broad side of a barn. Instead, the character suffers an XP debt of 500 XP per character level. The character must pay off the debt before leveling again, but suffers no ill effects otherwise.
I have 2 justifications for this method. First, I find it strange that using raise dead to bring back a "legendary" (17th level) wizard back to life will cause said wizard to be unable to cast 9th level spells. Second, the loss is constant for all characters of the same level. Under the old system, the guy who just leveled loses a lot less XP than the guy who has almost reached the next level.
That's my HR, take from it what you will.
Later!
IMC, I dislike the whole "you lose a level and a bunch of XP and all that other jazz." Instead, I created the idea of an XP debt.
So here's the scenario. Your character dies and is resurrected by the party cleric. The character suffers no level loss. Coming back from the dead doesn't suddenly make someone "forget" what he knows or unable to hit the broad side of a barn. Instead, the character suffers an XP debt of 500 XP per character level. The character must pay off the debt before leveling again, but suffers no ill effects otherwise.
I have 2 justifications for this method. First, I find it strange that using raise dead to bring back a "legendary" (17th level) wizard back to life will cause said wizard to be unable to cast 9th level spells. Second, the loss is constant for all characters of the same level. Under the old system, the guy who just leveled loses a lot less XP than the guy who has almost reached the next level.
That's my HR, take from it what you will.
Later!
In my games, I have been kicking around the idea of level loss (from Ressurection AND from level drain attacks) only remove the current level -1 times 1000 XP.
I considered doing current level times 500 XP, but at higher levels, characters end up losing a lot less XP than they would have otherwise.
My method doesn't always result in level loss, and it makes things like Restoration less icky. (Like someone gets level drained, then keeps adventuring, gains a bunch of XP, and is then Restored. How much XP do they have? In my system they have however much they lost before.)
Hope that could help.
I considered doing current level times 500 XP, but at higher levels, characters end up losing a lot less XP than they would have otherwise.
My method doesn't always result in level loss, and it makes things like Restoration less icky. (Like someone gets level drained, then keeps adventuring, gains a bunch of XP, and is then Restored. How much XP do they have? In my system they have however much they lost before.)
Hope that could help.
