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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FinalSonicX" data-source="post: 5685819" data-attributes="member: 63787">All of my campaigns have permanent death, though there are special rules for how we handle that, and special flavor for it as well.In my campaigns, death is permanent with the exception of both holy and dark magic. Holy magic can be used for raise dead/resurrection but the catch is that this power is only used in certain circumstances where the gods feel it is necessary. This power is also imbued in several artifacts in my campaign world. All of them are in limited supply or guarded heavily by creatures or dangerous organizations. As a result, resurrection is only available when the plot calls for it or they undergo a quest to attain an artifact capable of bringing the dead to life.Dark magic, however, is available to any cleric of the appropriate level (and while I refer to it as dark magic, it is not necessarily evil). This magic is far more risky because it is not guaranteed to work and there can be disastrous side effects. The cleric undergoes a ritual with the body and the DM rolls a d%. The result on the roll determines the effects. There's a decent chance the person is brought back with no significant issues other than an extra point of wisdom and one less point of constitution. There is also another chance that the soul is lost or snatched up by creatures that lie on the planes in between as the soul attempts to return to the body. The worst possibility is that a dark creature from the abyss takes the normal soul's place and inhabits the body, transforming it into an abomination capable of a great deal of destruction.Due to the potential moral issues and the risks involved, dark magic is illegal on penalty of death in my campaign setting. Thus, my campaign keeps a lot of its internal logical consistency and it creates a lot of drama and potential future quests if a party member dies and the party is intent on bringing the member back to life.As for flavor, my campaign setting has two separate goddesses of death. One is a neutral goddess which attempts to ferry souls from their body to their rightful destination. A soul's destination is determined by the God they worship. If a soul is faithful, a deity usually grants them passage into their plane/domain but many often decide different fates for certain specific souls (some evil gods allow worshipers to inhabit the bodies of undead or allow them to wander the earth as spirits). If a soul is not faithful or has upset their deity gravely, then that deity may choose to abandon their soul so that they become a ghost. If a creature did not have a deity in life or worshiped the neutral goddess of death and has not greatly offended any gods, then the neutral god of death allows them a choice as to where they would like to remain during the afterlife.The other goddess of death is an evil goddess who often tries to steal the souls to return to her domain in the abyss, where the souls are hoisted onto a great wall where they exist in torment, bolstering her power. Souls can be rescued from the wall but it is not simple nor easy.These two goddesses often compete and battle over "ownership" of the souls. Worshipers of the goddess of death often pray over the fallen, hastening the arrival of their goddess (ensuring their safe arrival to their destination in the afterlife)This has been working out exceptionally well in all of my campaigns. The fluff and the mechanics complement each other and I always find players very involved when someone dies. Many find themselves more connected to their character's religion (or lack thereof) and often times individuals end up worshipping the neutral goddess of death and they often utter prayers over the recently dead. It really enriches our experience and I'm integrating all of these things directly into the RPG system I'm currently designing.</blockquote>

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