Raise Dead House Rule

[mattmcan]

I'm currently running a campaign where having someone lose a character could very likely mean losing that player; so making new characters isn't an option. On the other hand, I'm not one to fudge the dice one way or the other... To do so takes the risk and therefor the challenge and fun from me, and I would imagine them if they ever found out.

Currently however everyone's pretty low level so even 500 gp is nearly insurmountable.. I want death to have the effect of "Damn, that really sucks" without actually making it less fun for them.

I feel taking away xp could alter the balance of power within the party too much and could ultimately lead to one person having less fun. On the other hand using a set amount of money regardless of what it is, could lead to the raise dead ritual being unattainable.

I'm toying with the idea of it costing 1/4 their non-item wealth in addition to their most valuable item as a sacrifice to the gods or some such.. Since no one has actually died yet, I'm not sure how this will work in practice... What do you guys think about that methodology.. In addition does anyone have any other idea's that would scale well with level but leave no possibility for losing the character permanently or altering the balance of power within the party to any great degree?

 

[Ryujin]

A mentor - Someone who looks out for the character and trains him, who will give him a certain amount of 'mulligans', before making him deal with the world on his own.

A secret benefactor - Someone who sees that the party is destined for greatness, and wants to help them get there.

A master manipulator - Someone who is using the party, for his own purposes, but who can't do that if they're dead.

Fate - It isn't their time to die, so something or someone will intervene at the appropriate moment.

Make sure that there is some sort of penalty, for death, or it loses all meaning.

 

[Truename]

I killed off two characters in the awesome closing encounter of Siege of Bordrin's Watch. I had the grateful NPCs "pass the hat" and raise most of the funds to cast Raise Dead. The players still had to chip in their own gold, but not all of it.

As for penalties, the players found the penalty built into Raise Dead painful enough. I'd say just give them whatever extra treasure they need (or provide some other plot reason to cast Raise Dead) and not worry about it.

 

[the Jester]

I'm currently running a campaign where having someone lose a character could very likely mean losing that player; so making new characters isn't an option. On the other hand, I'm not one to fudge the dice one way or the other... To do so takes the risk and therefor the challenge and fun from me, and I would imagine them if they ever found out.

Just curious- do you think your playstyles are compatible, long term? I've found (as a no-fudge, high-lethality dm) that players who freak out when they lose their character are a serious turn off to me.

 

[S'mon]

I'm currently running a campaign where having someone lose a character could very likely mean losing that player

Why?

 

[mattmcan]

Just curious- do you think your playstyles are compatible, long term? I've found (as a no-fudge, high-lethality dm) that players who freak out when they lose their character are a serious turn off to me.

We do have different ways of approaching everything. I like a good challenge and want tactical thinking to be paramount.. Where as to them it's a means to an end, the story and interaction is paramount.

It involves a bit of compromise on both our parts, I'm certainly not opposed to a good story as long as the world is real and there is some challenge.. And they don't mind too much if I subject them to tactical play so long as I keep the story moving..

But yeah, it does cause some issues such as this one.. They are all I have though..

Why?

At this point they're not completely attached to the whole D&D concept.. Any large feeling of loss might be enough for them to decide they prefer checkers. One person in particular, I doubt will ever feel comfortable with losing any effort they placed in the game. It would all suddenly become meaningless to her.

 

[ppaladin123]

We do have different ways of approaching everything. I like a good challenge and want tactical thinking to be paramount.. Where as to them it's a means to an end, the story and interaction is paramount.

It involves a bit of compromise on both our parts, I'm certainly not opposed to a good story as long as the world is real and there is some challenge.. And they don't mind too much if I subject them to tactical play so long as I keep the story moving..

But yeah, it does cause some issues such as this one.. They are all I have though..



At this point they're not completely attached to the whole D&D concept.. Any large feeling of loss might be enough for them to decide they prefer checkers. One person in particular, I doubt will ever feel comfortable with losing any effort they placed in the game. It would all suddenly become meaningless to her.

Heroic sacrifice or other "epic" death scenes show that the effort a player put into the game and the story is not wasted or canceled should a character die.

What you have to avoid is the unlucky, seemingly senseless death that pops up randomly in a throw away encounter because of a confluence of bad and good rolls.

 

[wlmartin]

How did you kill a PC at low level... that is almost commendable.

Firstly, how married to this character could your player be if 500gp is a lot of money (it sounds like 1st level...)

Since the gear on a player of even 2nd level should be worth more than 500gp (as they should have scored a magic item by now!) they could always sell the gear to raise him.

Lastly, make the raise dead a quest. The player has to play a temporary character through the quest whilst he is dead, the party adventure to a secret crypt to obtain a sacred artifact for the temple and in return they get a free raise dead.

They you go!

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Where as to them it's a means to an end, the story and interaction is paramount.

Since your players are concerned with story, I would make the cost for returning to life part of the narrative and separate it from mechanics completely.

When someone dies that's when the Devil shows up to make a deal with the survivors to bring their dead companion back to life. Or the party's wizard friend has a new spell he created that should bring the dead back to life. Or as the party is bringing their companion's body to their family for burial, miraculously the person comes back to life.

Something like those will bring the PC back to life quickly but will introduce a trouble for the party that will make death meaningful. Plus you'll get additional plot hooks for your campaign and the death will be interesting from a story standpoint, which will hopefully satisfy your story loving players.

 

[Ryujin]

There's also another possibility, that I mentioned in a previous similar thread, but forgot about. The Raven Queen, seeing that the character's task in life (that is somehow linked to her ongoing plans) isn't completed yet, and so raises him as a Revenant, with the appropriate racial feat as a freebie.