bringing characters back to life

[Kaffis]

How do you, as other DM's, look at bringing characters back through magical means vs. creating new characters.
Do you prefer your characters to do one or the other? I generally would just have characters start new characters, but one of my group members died last week. He could create a new character, but I think I would prefer him to come back this time. The story going on in the game is the best I've ever done as a DM I feel, and its the best my players have played in.
He is a cleric of corellion, and in high regards with corellion. I am thinking having corellion send him back because the group will need his help. I am thinking of allowing him to take levels in a half-celestial template class if he wants as well.

What were the circumstances surrounding this character's death?

 

[Gez]

In the party I DM, there were two character death.

The first was right on at the beginning of the campaign. People are on a divine quest and all they know is that they have to follow one of the character, who's the only one that can lead them in the place where the divine questing will start.

Of course, said character immediately take advantage of the fact she's a level 2 ranger/wizard to die once a red wyrmling breathe hot fiery death on her.

Faced with the choice between sabording my campaign because I wasn't much experimented at guessing what odds the PCs can fight against (it was in Y2K, I wasn't yet accustomed much to the system) or using a cheesy divine intervention to true-rezz the character, I didn't hesitate much.

Fortunately, when the second character death occured, I had learnt my lesson and stayed away from contrived plot hooks relying on one character. This time, the character, a cleric who had been slain and boiled in a stew and eaten by an ogre-mage, has not left the Realm of the Dead.

Not that it was theoretically impossible to find a cleric or druid able to raise or reincarnate her. But they didn't find any. So they burried what remained in the caldron (they didn't wanted to bury it along the ogre mage's intestines, so the body doesn't rest in one single place, I should pester them with a ghost ) and continued on their valiant adventures!

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Usually depends on the level of the game in question.... A low level game probably doesn't have the means..... I did have one DM who made a staff we were looking for have a "Raise Dead" spell on it to bring back my ranger. I finally let him rest in peace after the third death. Figured it was enough.

A very high level/epic game would pretty much require the return of a dead PC. The party's usually travelled together for quite some time now and clerical magic allows it by this point. We had the $$ to buy the material component necessary so my cleric could bring someone back. Granted they had to wait until the next day as she never prepped any Rez spells unless needed. (and the DM made it a pain in the ass to swap spells midday)

Of course, all dependant on whether the dead PC was willing to come back or not.....