Coming back from the grave in FR

[frankthedm]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>rant mode activate!

Did we forget 3E was desinged by commity to appeal to the diablo / online gaming crowd? if it actually made you suffer for dying, less PHB's would of been sold and wotc couldn't have that
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<rant mode deactivate!

IMG I cap being ressed to a total # of times equal to your starting charisma score. after which you essense just is not strong emough to make the journey. I also dropped True Ress from my games spell list so the reaper's toll MUST be payed.

 

[Donatello]

But there is literally no way to make someone dead forever.

You can soul trap them, but then they just have to bust the gem.

Destruction used to be the end-all-be-all of mortality... but with the advent of true resurrection, you don't even need a piece of the body.

It just bothers me a little that, as a GM, if a player can't come back, it's directly because of something I went out of my way to do, rather than bad luck, a twist of fate, or just poor planning.

 

[mayonnaise]

interesting...

Getting rid of True REs is a pretty big change...maybe a compromise would fit nicely. You can only be True Ressed (X) number of times, and after that, True Res does nothing special for you...your spirit has frayed so much that you lose a level just like Raise Dead regardless. Eventually, players will get tired of having their character chipped away over and over....kinda representative of the character feeling their life essence wane with every time they cross the threshold.

 

[gfunk]

There are ways to make people dead permanently.

1. Sphere of Annihlation

2. Hire the Garrotes to kill your quarry (Assassin's Guild in ELH):

a) They use a poison (the name escapes me) -- if you put it on the eyelids of a dead person, Raise Dead, Res, and True Res don't work and Wish and Miracle only function 50% of the time.

b) If you really want 'em gone for ever, the head of the Garrote has a cloak-like artifact. When placed over a body, it is forver gone, "beyond even the reach of the greater gods."

 

[Hammerhead]

Kill the cleric first.

 

[Donatello]

Kill the cleric first.

Not exactly a catch-all... since the cleric can always be raised by his patron church, or somesuch.

 

[Tewligan]

I'm a fan of letting a character come back from the dead once - after that, the tie to the flesh is too weak, blah blah blah. We've always used that in the campaign I play in, and I've adopted it to the campaigns I run as well. Makes players less cavalier about jumping headfirst into stupid situations just because they know they'll be back in the mix in no time.

Although, I do like the idea someone mentioned about losing a CON point with each rez. To make it less hurtful to those with lower CONs (or maybe equally hurtful), you could determine the drained stat randomly. "Huh - that death made me stupider!" If I used this, though, I wouldn't let the drain be countered with a Restoration.

 

[Donatello]

In an AIM debate with mayonnaise, we came up with this:

You can return from the dead your Con, Wis or Cha score (player's choice) number of times.

You come back with the system associated with the spell used to bring you back (loss of level or not, etc.)

True Resurrection will only function for you a number of times equal to your highest attribute bonus. After that, the True Ressurection spell functions exactly like Resurrection.

Once you've died a number of times equal to your Con/Cha/Wis, your body/personality/soul is just too frazzled and worn to return to life.

What do you guys think?

 

[Palantir]

alter the spell...

perhaps, instead of simply *poof*, the character is alive, set it up such that the spell opens a portal to the City of Bones. The PCs must go in and find the soul, then get back to the portal before it closes, all the while dodging the bad things that can smell the blood of the living...

Just a thought.
Mark

 

[Maraxle]

Here's another thought:

Make it socially unacceptable to be brought back from the dead. If anyone catches wind of the fact that you're one of the "returned ones", make them react negatively. Superstitious innkeepers do not want you around for fear that you may have accidentally brought some Very Bad Things back with you. Commoners might not grasp the difference between those who return and the undead.