TerraDave said:
Little confused.
Najo seems to be talking about undead (in some broad form) charecters. But their is a standard approach in the rules: raise dead. It has got some issues, but I don't oppose it, at least in theory.
I know that my initial statement is vague, that is intentional. I want replies to be open ended.
I can see playing after you die in a number of ways occuring based on the idea behind the campaign setting:
1) Something about death or the lands of the dead allow the pc to remain or cross over into the land of the living. The form of the pc is either semi-solid (like ghostwalk) or incorpreal.
2) Something about the campaign setting allows characters to travel between the land of the dead and the land of the living (like soul reaver).
3) The land of the dead and the land of the living are shared, crossing into one another or most of the game play occurs in the lands of the dead (Wraith)
4) The dead remain or return in some physical form (like a golem, possessing a host or undead form) until they avenge themselves or are returned to life through other means. (Kindred of the East does this best I think).
4) Raise Dead spells/ magic items. Ironcially I can't think of a property of the top of my head that takes this approach. It seems that this is not a common them. Maybe Game of Thrones/ Song of Ice and Fire is taking this approach.
Anything else isn't immediately coming to mind. Other posters feel free to add to it.