D&D 5E Are there any penalties from coming back to life in 5th edition?

[Psikerlord#]

I'm DMing 'Out of the Abyss' still, but this applies to any 5th edition campaign...

From what i can remember, back in the 3.x editions, a character would lose 1 point of CON when they died and came back to life.

Ive looked through the books and the forums online for an answer, and i dont think there is an official (or non-official) answer for what happens to a player that dies.

I mean, theres got to be some sort of penalty, right? Otherwise, players wont be afraid of dying if they knew that coming back to life had no repercussion....

Then again, it cant be too harsh, otherwise players will just roll up new characters without really caring if they live or die...

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance...

Personally I believe the best way to handle raise dead is.... to remove revivify, raise dead and resurrection from the game. There is no coming back from the dead, outside of divine intervention/weird incredibly rare ritual, etc.

 

[Mouseferatu]

So really, what do you gain with mechanical penalties? You want good story? Create some roll-play favor. Perhaps diviners react badly to the player or have difficulty seeing their fate, since they died. Maybe the player saw that they were headed for the bad place and so holy-types can smell brimstone on them and distrust them. Maybe the player saw they were going to the good place, and now they are desperate to get back. Maybe the player found out that there is no afterlife at all, just endless nothingness and is horribly depressed/angry/relieved or wants to become a god and do something about that!

That's where the fun in death comes from. Not how mathematically injured your character is.

This, 100%. Long-term mechanical penalties are the worst way to go about this. The objective is to increase the drama of the campaign, not to make the game itself less fun for one of the participants.

 

[jayoungr]

Personally I believe the best way to handle raise dead is.... to remove revivify, raise dead and resurrection from the game. There is no coming back from the dead, outside of divine intervention/weird incredibly rare ritual, etc.

Works for some tables. Others will just refuse to do anything because they don't want to lose their characters.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I have a lose a level rule at my table but I think I'm going to just change that to a -1 Con reduction. Easier and less hassle, just re-figure one save and HP and you are back, but the touch of the grave leaves a mark forever.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

If you're raised from the dead, there is a chance that (lightning flash, organ music extract) something else...something other came through too.

A demon is released.

Or there is a balance to maintain. One out, one in. It may be a character's other half, or child, sibling, or the King, plunging the world into civil war...

 

[CapnZapp]

Are you running a gritty game where you have to sacrifice a virgin in order to resurrect someone?

Ouch, that's harsh.

Especially if you play the virgin!

 

[CapnZapp]

This, 100%. Long-term mechanical penalties are the worst way to go about this. The objective is to increase the drama of the campaign, not to make the game itself less fun for one of the participants.

Gain a Flaw?

A role-playing drawback (that's an opportunity and a challenge) but not an irksome mechanical penalty.

 

[Oofta]

If you're raised from the dead, there is a chance that (lightning flash, organ music extract) something else...something other came through too.

A demon is released.

Or there is a balance to maintain. One out, one in. It may be a character's other half, or child, sibling, or the King, plunging the world into civil war...

That's pretty much the way I've handled/explained it. Hel (I use Norse mythology as a guideline) is a jealous wench and there will always be a cost to coming back from the dead, even with a revivify.

Raise dead doesn't just pop the person back either, it just opens a portal the party can go through to attempt to rescue their fallen compatriot.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

If a player's options are to roll a brand new character and let the DM work them into the game, or play a crippled character for a few sessions until they 'get better' or the DM provides some kind of option to eliminate the penalty, many people will opt to just make a new character, rather than essentially not participate.

That's why new characters should come in at level 1. You can either stick out the resurrection penalty for a few sessions, or you can spend several sessions getting your new character up to that same level.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

That's why new characters should come in at level 1. You can either stick out the resurrection penalty for a few sessions, or you can spend several sessions getting your new character up to that same level.

That is a rule which I have used in years past.

You know what I saw then that I don't see now? Players quitting a campaign when their character dies, waiting to join back in at the start of the next campaign (which usually wasn't too far off because of the natural consequences of not being able to "fill" the "hole" left in the team without being entirely unfair to the players whose characters have, or might in the future, die).

Dying sucks without anything worse than "it costs a lot of in-character currency and your character needs to take some time off" as consequences. No reason to make it suck and also make continuing to play less enjoyable.