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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Afrodyte" data-source="post: 1812101" data-attributes="member: 8713">If you don't mind your campaign taking a detour, go the mythological route and treat bringing back the dead as a journey to the underworld (prime example: Orpheus and Eurydice).  Your typical raise dead spell is enough to get you there, but the actual retrieval of the departed spirit depends upon the characters' abilities and determination, as well as the deceased character's willingness to return.  I'd even venture a guess that if your campaign has something like heaven and hell, then it'd be a lot easier to convince neutral and evil characters to come back than good characters.  In addition, part of the difficulty of bringing back the dead is likely to be finding them because they don't remain at the place of their deaths for long, especially if there are other things more important to them.  If the party is a group of true friends who know each other well, it would be much easier than if the party is just a group thrown together for mercenary reasons, it'd definitely be harder.  If you really want to make players see death as something more than a minor inconvenience, instead of level loss and ability score loss, have other brakes to constantly breaching the barrier between life and death.  Here are some ideas:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Raise dead and similar spells can only be used one time, ever, on any given character.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Being brought back from death places a metaphysical mark on characters that can act as a magnet for undead, ghosts, and similar beings.  They may gain abilities that help them communicate with or influence these beings, but at the price of privacy and peace.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Higher powers may demand payment for the favor of returning someone to life by requiring them to perform a task or live by a certain code of behavior.  In effect, this is like a permanent geas that cannot be removed by mortal means, not even by wish or miracle.  Only powers more potent than the one levying the geas can remove it.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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