D&D 5E My New 5E Raise Dead Spell

[ren1999]

Raise Dead

necromantic prayer/class lvl 4/You restore the life of 1 ally. The ally is brought to 0 hit points and must roll his or her constitution saving throw versus DC10. On a failure, the ally takes 1d6 damage which can't be immediately healed. If he or she reaches his or her negative constitution score, he or she won't come back to the world of the living. If he or she succeeds on 3 rolls before that, his or her life is restored.

What do you think of this? I took it from the Death rules of the play-test.

 

[Grazzt]

Raise Dead

necromantic prayer/class lvl 4/You restore the life of 1 ally. The ally is brought to 0 hit points and must roll his or her constitution saving throw versus DC10. On a failure, the ally takes 1d6 damage which can't be immediately healed. If he or she reaches his or her negative constitution score, he or she won't come back to the world of the living. If he or she succeeds on 3 rolls before that, his or her life is restored.

What do you think of this? I took it from the Death rules of the play-test.

How about....

When the cleric casts a raise dead spell, he or she can restore life to a humanoid creature.

The length of time which the person has been dead is of importance, as the cleric can raise dead persons only up to a certain point, the limit being 1 day for each level of experience of the cleric. Note that the body of the person must be whole, or otherwise missing parts will still be missing when the person
is brought back to life. Also, the resurrected person must make a special
saving throw to survive the ordeal (DC 10 Con save or the character is forever dead).

Furthermore, the raised person is weak and helpless in any event, and he or she will need one full day of rest in bed for each day he or she was dead.

 

[IanB]

I don't care for resurrection rules that are too disruptive to narrative flow, and long recovery times do just that. Perma-death rules are also pretty bad from that perspective. I don't have a problem with high costs, or long-lasting (but still temporary) penalties, but 'make a new character' is very disruptive (to both narrative and to other people's time) and so is 'well you could raise Timmy but you'll auto-lose this time sensitive adventure because of some early bad luck.'

 

[ren1999]

How about....

When the cleric casts a raise dead spell, he or she can restore life to a humanoid creature.

The length of time which the person has been dead is of importance, as the cleric can raise dead persons only up to a certain point, the limit being 1 day for each level of experience of the cleric. Note that the body of the person must be whole, or otherwise missing parts will still be missing when the person
is brought back to life. Also, the resurrected person must make a special
saving throw to survive the ordeal (DC 10 Con save or the character is forever dead).

Furthermore, the raised person is weak and helpless in any event, and he or she will need one full day of rest in bed for each day he or she was dead.

It's all worth considering. I was just thinking along the lines of the next comment. It is a pain to roll a new character. One option is for the player to just play a henchman as his or her primary character. The other option is to have Raise Dead only available during the encounter. The cleric will have free actions to try to raise the characters. If they can get 3 successful save versus death rolls then they can be fully restored and ready for the next encounter. If the character dies scouting -- I always discourage the party from dividing up because some players are left with nothing to do -- then the cleric obviously can't get to the ally and he or she can't be raised.

 

[ren1999]

Please critique these other new Cleric Prayers and tell me if you think they are too powerful.

Heal Ally
necromantic prayer/class lvl 1/minor at-will/ranged 6/12/You heal 1/4th your own or an ally's maximum hit points+1d8+wis mod. You can then chose to guard your patient at +2 that round, or attack an adjacent foe, or fire a ranged attack. During an extended rest, you mass heal the party.

Cure Ally
necromantic prayer/class lvl 2/minor encounter/ranged 6/12/class lvl 2/your wis vs curse, disease or poison DC/diagnose and neutralize 1 curse, disease or poison if you succeed/diagnose and cure it if you succeed by 2/cure and regenerate 1d8+wis mod hit points if you succeed by 4 or more/During an extended rest, mass cure the party.

Restore Ally
necromantic prayer/class lvl 3/minor encounter/ranged 6/12/You restore bones, organs limbs, speed, defenses and attacks removing blindness, deafness and paralysis. You also regenerate 1d8 hit points/During an extended rest, you mass restore your party.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I don't care for resurrection rules that are too disruptive to narrative flow, and long recovery times do just that. Perma-death rules are also pretty bad from that perspective. I don't have a problem with high costs, or long-lasting (but still temporary) penalties, but 'make a new character' is very disruptive (to both narrative and to other people's time) and so is 'well you could raise Timmy but you'll auto-lose this time sensitive adventure because of some early bad luck.'

I don´t care for easily available resurrection.
I don´t care for rules that allow a dead creatur that has been dead for a few days to stand up and be instantly healed... however:

I could see a revivication spell:

One creature that has been dead for no longer than 1 minute can be restored to life. The target is still at -con hp. (which leaves him alive)
He can be healed as normal afterwards.

But if someone has been dead for more than 1 minute can not be brought back easily. A very costly spell and a Constitution check is needed.

With the differentiation of those two spells, you can have deadly combat but the king who has been slain can´t be easily brought back to life destroying any sense of versimilitude.

 

[IanB]

Yeah I think that kind of thing is probably a good compromise.

 

[slobo777]

With the differentiation of those two spells, you can have deadly combat but the king who has been slain can´t be easily brought back to life destroying any sense of versimilitude.

Yes, it's a problem with murder mystery or curse of the werewolf adventures too, when powerful healing abounds. "OK, he's not dead, and you're not cursed. Adventure solved. Hmm looks like I still have some spell slots left, and we've just had breakfast, so let's head on."

 

[ren1999]

You're right. Curses and poisons shouldn't be that easily curable. Perhaps a healer needs to find a component for the cure.

 

[Raith5]

I don´t care for easily available resurrection.
I don´t care for rules that allow a dead creatur that has been dead for a few days to stand up and be instantly healed... however:

I could see a revivication spell:

One creature that has been dead for no longer than 1 minute can be restored to life. The target is still at -con hp. (which leaves him alive)
He can be healed as normal afterwards.

But if someone has been dead for more than 1 minute can not be brought back easily. A very costly spell and a Constitution check is needed.

With the differentiation of those two spells, you can have deadly combat but the king who has been slain can´t be easily brought back to life destroying any sense of versimilitude.

"There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead"

Agree 100% with revivification - even with the reviving having to occur in 2 or 3 rounds rounds, just to make things interesting! I can see this spell being a 4th level spell but full on resurrection should be a higher level, rarer more dramatic ritual with a much longer casting time.