Well, I haven't made it through all the posts but I agree with several apporaches and disagree with a recurring idea that keeps cropping up.
The part I disagree with is people suggesting a "new rule" to deal with dying PCs / NPCs. The ediiton wasn't mentioned in the OP but I'll go with 3e since I'm most familiar with it. To which I say:
You have enough rules already.
I kind of agree with the sentiment that you shouldn't try this, but only in so much as - you should not try this as a DM IF YOU AREN'T PREPARED to answer the barrage of things your players might try. Just telling the players to "deal with it" might work once, but gets old if you are doing it on a regular basis. Your world becomes arbitrary and players feel less inclined to actually share in it.
I don't think a plot device (no matter how cliched) should be abandonded because it just doesn't fit the rules. It can fit the rules, and you as DM have all the tools to make it happen.
In cases of an assassination, posion/disease has been mentioned which will be pretty effective unless a player has the right spell handy. Further, if this is a high level assasination, your high paid assassin should know of any number of ways to get rid of someone permanently so Cure Light Wounds doesn't work.
You also always have the option, as DM, to make something new that fits within the rules without fundamentally altering them or completely tossing them out the window. A virulent disease/poison combination that putrifies the body as the victim dies leaving nothing to "heal". A poison composed of Ghoul Spit that kills someone and begins the transformation to "undead" making Raise and Speak with Dead less useful (but in agonized tones he can relay his final words...right before he tries to eat their brains). Maybe the victim was a wizard? Maybe a contingency Magic Mouth pops up to give his dying words, heh. Who knows.
Anyway, with magic involved there are plenty of ways to creatively apply the rules to create the plot device you want -without- mucking with the rules.
The part I disagree with is people suggesting a "new rule" to deal with dying PCs / NPCs. The ediiton wasn't mentioned in the OP but I'll go with 3e since I'm most familiar with it. To which I say:
You have enough rules already.
I kind of agree with the sentiment that you shouldn't try this, but only in so much as - you should not try this as a DM IF YOU AREN'T PREPARED to answer the barrage of things your players might try. Just telling the players to "deal with it" might work once, but gets old if you are doing it on a regular basis. Your world becomes arbitrary and players feel less inclined to actually share in it.
I don't think a plot device (no matter how cliched) should be abandonded because it just doesn't fit the rules. It can fit the rules, and you as DM have all the tools to make it happen.
In cases of an assassination, posion/disease has been mentioned which will be pretty effective unless a player has the right spell handy. Further, if this is a high level assasination, your high paid assassin should know of any number of ways to get rid of someone permanently so Cure Light Wounds doesn't work.
You also always have the option, as DM, to make something new that fits within the rules without fundamentally altering them or completely tossing them out the window. A virulent disease/poison combination that putrifies the body as the victim dies leaving nothing to "heal". A poison composed of Ghoul Spit that kills someone and begins the transformation to "undead" making Raise and Speak with Dead less useful (but in agonized tones he can relay his final words...right before he tries to eat their brains). Maybe the victim was a wizard? Maybe a contingency Magic Mouth pops up to give his dying words, heh. Who knows.
Anyway, with magic involved there are plenty of ways to creatively apply the rules to create the plot device you want -without- mucking with the rules.
