D&D 5E Death PTSD

[mrpopstar]

First and foremost, I like to make death meaningful. When a character dies I want more than "I cast Rez, let's go." which is pretty much what starts to happen by now that my players are level 10.

As such, I already use Matt Mercer's resurrection rules (resurrection is this whole big ritual that can fail). But I also wanted to add something else, like some form of PTSD.

I was thinking that, if the character that dies encounters the one that killed them or is in a similar situation, I'd have them roll a Wisdom saving throw. On a fail, they become frightened of the creature or event that killed them. This would be accompanied by things such as nightmares (each night they have to roll a wis saving throw). With three passes, they are "cured".

What do you guys think? And what should the DC be set to? 15?

Post traumatic stress, and the disorder that follows, is a terrorizing thing of disturbance, distress, and danger to self that is most often the byproduct of interpersonal violence and sexual assault. -- Attempting to model it in a consensual game between friends is ignorant at best, and triggering at worst.

Consider: Most accounts of near death experience and returning to life involve insights, revelations, and inspirations that lead people to speak of things like rebirth, resurrection, and life after death. Perhaps you could "make death meaningful" in a more life-affirming way by modeling something like that in your game?

 

[Jester David]

Adding an extra flaw or imposing a madness does seem like the easiest way to represent PTSD.
Didn't Curse or Strahd have something like this in its ressurection rules?

 

[pukunui]

Didn't Curse or Strahd have something like this in its ressurection rules?

Yes, although the PC has to have been dead for at least 24 hours for the resurrection madness to kick in (and the reason for it is because of the realization that your soul is also trapped in Barovia).

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Some possible madness traits upon being rezzed :

1d20 MADNESS TRAIT

21 "I am not [insert character name]. I have all her skills and memories, but I am not her. If only I could remember who I really am."
22 "I see it now! I have been sent back for a purpose. I have been sent to:
Possible purposes:
"...to stop a horrible event."
"...to protect someone."
"...to enact divine retribution on a particular individual."
"...to ameliorate some horrible injustice."
"...to lead or rally some faction of people."
"...but I have no idea what I've been sent to do, and it's driving me mad."
23 "Ever since I awoke, my emotions have been overwhelming. I sometimes fly into fits of blinding rage, or spend long hours sobbing when something saddens me."
24 "This world seems insubstantial and unimportant to me now. I look at all these shadow-people around me and wonder, what do your little lives matter in the grand scheme of things? Are you even really there?"
25 "Sometimes I feel like there's something or someone else living here inside of me now...in my head, in my body."