Avoiding resurrection ?

[gpetruc]

I'm having lots of problems to design a plotline where a powerful, good aligned, NPC wizard is killed.
The problem is not how to kill him (a good poison, and a bit of link) but how to keep him dead!
If he's known to be good and wealthy when he'll die probably some good-aligned cleric would simply bring him back to life. And this ruins the plotline, as I want him to be permanently dead !

Anybody has some house rules/ideas to make death really permanent ?
It is absolutely stupid to need to kill someone level + constitution times in order to have him really dead.

I was considering to simply reduce the power of resurrecting spells (removing everything except reincarnation (druid, moved to lvl 7) and otherwise allow resurrection only through wish/miracle)
(and while there might be many 9th level casters there are very, very few 17th level casters in my world)

Anybody has some suggestion ?

 

[Crothian]

THe simple answer is maybe he doesn't want to come bacck? If he's that good, he should have a great afterlife.

 

[uv23]

I see posts like this all the time and I don't understand the problem. The solution is simple: ban all raising and resurrection spells. They simply don't exist for one reason or another. Its what I've always done and will continue to do. Nothing makes a game more anti-climactic than being able to do the equivalent of hitting the "reload" button.

 

[the Jester]

Despite how good and wealthy he is, he's an athiest and the gods won't stand for his coming back.

Or he doesn't want to come back.

Also, there's always soul trapping/eating or whatever. Or how 'bout a limited wish or wish that bans lower-level spells from bringing him back?

Finally, how many clerics high enough to cast ressurection are there in the area? Maybe they have political or religious or even personal reasons not to bring him back.

 

[Flying Monkey Style]

Or how 'bout, he's brought back secretly, but not by good guys. They, for some reason or another (possibly politically), now have control over him. Alternately, he could be brought back as undead.

 

[Valmur_Dwur]

Well don't throw out the spells! That doesn't help the party any! First off the wizard might be old? Then he has gone on to his eternal reward and there is no reason to bring him back. Or since he is a wizard he often did strange things like leave his body and appear to be dead for days at a time. By the time you realize he's dead it's pass the window of opportunity to bring him back without alot of RP'ing ie visit the land of the dead. Along that line do we have a body? Also you could have a dupe who says he was a student of the MU say he was going away for a while and won't be back til the celestal bodies are in perfect alignment. Finally, do as others have said and it is not feasible, or proper or whatever to return a lost soul without the permission of said soul beforehand ie living will.

The way I would do it based just on the information given is this. The body is not discovered for several weeks due to an evil wizard in on the plot casting some preserve spells on the body and saying that his master has left to visit the astral plane and is not expected back til at least the winter solistice. Meanwhile the wizards funds are being manipulated by the person(s) who killed him. some goes to "good" aligned churches, orphanages or whatnot while the bulk goes into their pockets. Finally, unless their is reason of foul play(not likely from the story told at first) the good churches hands are tied since there was no agreement with them and the wizard for bringing him back nor will the king of the land allow it since it fosters resentment from the populance. As an aside the churches don't want to raise him because they have already received money from his estate and if he is risen he would want it back/declare it payment for services rendered.

 

[Al]

There are two ways you can prevent resurrection: flavoursome (or RP) methods or mechanical methods.

RP Methods can include the wizard having such a good afterlife that he does not wish to come back, or there being taboos against resurrection. IMC, for example, the major world religion regards raised characters as 'undead' with all the negative connotations attached to it, and actively hunt and kill them. This would make any cleric very reluctant to raise him. Alternately, there could simply be a conspiracy. An interesting twist would be that there is a God of the Underworld (a la Hades) and those being raised must have his 'permission'. For whatever reason, this god wishes the wizard to stay dead. Finally, you could implement there being a conspiracy to keep the wizard dead, which can prevent his resurrection in a number of different ways.

Mechanical Methods could include banning raising/resurrection altogether, though this seems excessively harsh. The old fashioned method is soul containment: using Soul Bind, Trap the Soul or similar magic. Soul destruction is trickier, but barghests can have a good go, and there is a spell in R&R (Shatter Soul I think it's called) which performs a similar service.

 

[Someone]

Other house rule option: People whose body stops working linger in the ethereal or astral for a number of hours equal to cha+wis scores. Then the "true death" happen, they go to afterlife and are utterly impossible to bring back (though mighty artifacts or events can allow it)

 

[MTR]

The variety of raise dead spells do have some restrictions. Hide the body for a couple of weeks. Burn it to ashes. Send it to another dimension. Cut it up really small and scatter the pieces around.

Or, introduce an spell that keeps a body from being raised. Perhaps there's a really unpleasant magical poison that does the same.