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

[Klaudius Rex]

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...

 

[CapnZapp]

Not any I'm aware of.

The simple reason is: people don't like playing characters with penalties. And in D&D, death happens all the time.

But feel free to add back your own. Suggestion:

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The subject of the spell loses one Hit Die when it is raised. If the subject is 1st level, it loses 2 points of Constitution instead. This HD or Constitution loss cannot be repaired by any means. A spellcasting creature brought back to life has a 50% chance of having one unused spell slot of the highest level it can cast expended as if it had been used to cast a spell.​

Note I say "lose HD" not "lose level". You get less max hit points, which is the main indicator of your power, your level. But you don't actually lose any class abilities or suffer any penalties. You remain the level you were, only as somebody with less luck rolling hit points at level up.

 

[Shroomy]

Here's the relevant text from the raise dead spell:

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a −4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.

If I remember correctly, The Curse of Strahd utilizes the optional madness rules for anyone raised from the dead in Barovia, so there's some ideas you can mine that aren't too severe.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I think lowkey13 has the right of it--your buddies will have looted your corpse before bringing you back. Admittedly in 5e, with no assumption of MagicMart and a tendency for magic items to require attunement (plus the 3 attuned item limit), this isn't as big a problem as in previous editions and Pathfinder....

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Klaudius Rex]

You guys are funny.

Lots of good ideas here! Keep them coming...what are you using as a penalty in your game?

So far i like the idea of losing 1 HD worth of max hp

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Bayonet]

I add a level of exhaustion and, depending on the 'grittiness' of the game, will make a PC roll on the lingering injury table.

For a resurrection, I'd definitely make the player roll on the madness table. Probably take away either a level and/or a point from an ability score as well. Death and resurrection should be something big.

 

[Sunseeker]

Officially, there's only the -4 penalty. Beyond that it's really up to what your table needs. Are you running a gritty game where you have to sacrifice a virgin in order to resurrect someone? Perhaps it is penalty enough to meet the sacrifice's family.

Lets look at it this way: harsh mechanical penalties primarily interfere with combat. Assuming you are in a safe location (like a friendly town), resting for a few days, a week, even a month poses little danger unless there is a time-limit on what your group needs to accomplish. Secondly, harsh mechanical penalties interfere with player participation. 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. I suppose you could tell the player they either get to play Gimpy McLegBroken or just sit out, but that tends to make people leave rather than wait for the DM to deign to let them play again.

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.

 

[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.