D&D General Gore in D&D

[Yaarel]

A new concept for the thread: "How do you describe the deaths of PCs, and do you consider how difficult it will be for the group to resurrect their fellow when you describe the mutilation and horrible dismemberment of the PC"?

Do concerns over resurrection impact how PCs die?

I like immortality. So, I am less of a fan of permanent death.

Currently, there are four resurrection spells: Revivify, Raise Dead, Resurrection, and True Resurrection.

I love Revivify exactly as it is. Essentially, it is something like the magical version of resuscitation. And level 3 is appropriate.

However in comparison, the other three resurrections spells are less useful, even punishing. Really there only needs to be two resurrection spells.
• Revivify (when body is reasonably whole and death is just within minutes)
• Resurrection (when the body or soul no longer exists, or resurrection would otherwise be impossible).

Revivify can probably absorb Raise Dead. In other words, at level 3, if the body is only dead within minutes, then the ally comes back to life without penalties. But if the body has began decomposing, then it should return with levels of Exhaustion, that take upto several days to recover from. If the body is destroyed, such as missing a head, then Revivify automatically fails.

Resurrection should be able to create a new body, to bring anyone back to life regardless of how the ally died or how long ago. The spell should even be able to reconstitute the ‘echos’ of a destroyed soul. Resurrection should be able to handle impossible situations, including self-resurrection. Therefore, such a version of Resurrection probably belongs as a slot 9 spell, comparable to Wish. Because Resurrection creates a new body, it should also be able to restore an ally that is trapped in suspended animation or to destroy an undead by creating a new living body. Meanwhile, a reverse version of the Resurrection spell might be employed to deny a foe the possibility of a resurrection. In this case, trying to Resurrect a denied ally would be similar to Dispel Magic, and difficult to succeed.

If the only two spells are Revivify and Resurrection, then slot 3 Revivify meets the needs of most recoveries from death in the D&D gaming experience. By contrast, slot 9 Resurrection comes into play for those rare events of an awful demise. Meanwhile the Resurrection spell is useful for the capacity to self-resurrect.



So, to answer the question.

Revivify is fine most of the time. Most of the time there is no destruction of vital organs, and the spell would heal any mortal wounds, such as reattaching a head.

For those times when the body has been destroyed, the fellow party members need to find someone who knows the slot 9 Resurrection spell to create a new body. In some situations, the player of the destroyed character might want a new character to figure out a way to Resurrect the destroyed character.

Finally, if the narrative makes it clear that the body is destroyed, then that is what it is. The player still has options even if this would happen.

 

[Bohandas]

Do you guys remember the ballad of Sir Robin from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

"He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp
Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken
To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin

His head smashed in and his heart cut out
And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped and his bottom burnt off
And his...

THAT'S ENOUGH!"

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Do you guys remember the ballad of Sir Robin from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

"He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp
Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken
To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin

His head smashed in and his heart cut out
And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped and his bottom burnt off
And his...

THAT'S ENOUGH!"

"And his nostrils raped" is my favorite part. XD

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I like immortality. So, I am less of a fan of permanent death.

Currently, there are four resurrection spells: Revivify, Raise Dead, Resurrection, and True Resurrection.

I love Revivify exactly as it is. Essentially, it is something like the magical version of resuscitation. And level 3 is appropriate.

However in comparison, the other three resurrections spells are less useful, even punishing. Really there only needs to be two resurrection spells.
• Revivify (when body is reasonably whole and death is just within minutes)
• Resurrection (when the body or soul no longer exists, or resurrection would otherwise be impossible).

Revivify can probably absorb Raise Dead. In other words, at level 3, if the body is only dead within minutes, then the ally comes back to life without penalties. But if the body has began decomposing, then it should return with levels of Exhaustion, that take upto several days to recover from. If the body is destroyed, such as missing a head, then Revivify automatically fails.

Resurrection should be able to create a new body, to bring anyone back to life regardless of how the ally died or how long ago. The spell should even be able to reconstitute the ‘echos’ of a destroyed soul. Resurrection should be able to handle impossible situations, including self-resurrection. Therefore, such a version of Resurrection probably belongs as a slot 9 spell, comparable to Wish. Because Resurrection creates a new body, it should also be able to restore an ally that is trapped in suspended animation or to destroy an undead by creating a new living body. Meanwhile, a reverse version of the Resurrection spell might be employed to deny a foe the possibility of a resurrection. In this case, trying to Resurrect a denied ally would be similar to Dispel Magic, and difficult to succeed.

If the only two spells are Revivify and Resurrection, then slot 3 Revivify meets the needs of most recoveries from death in the D&D gaming experience. By contrast, slot 9 Resurrection comes into play for those rare events of an awful demise. Meanwhile the Resurrection spell is useful for the capacity to self-resurrect.



So, to answer the question.

Revivify is fine most of the time. Most of the time there is no destruction of vital organs, and the spell would heal any mortal wounds, such as reattaching a head.

For those times when the body has been destroyed, the fellow party members need to find someone who knows the slot 9 Resurrection spell to create a new body. In some situations, the player of the destroyed character might want a new character to figure out a way to Resurrect the destroyed character.

Finally, if the narrative makes it clear that the body is destroyed, then that is what it is. The player still has options even if this would happen.

I like a lot of your suggestions here. Oddly enough though, i also like immortality and yet, it actually makes me like having the option for permadeath even more and vice verse. Weird.

 

[iserith]

A new concept for the thread: "How do you describe the deaths of PCs, and do you consider how difficult it will be for the group to resurrect their fellow when you describe the mutilation and horrible dismemberment of the PC"?

Do concerns over resurrection impact how PCs die?

I don't think it impacts my narration. I go with what follows and, if that's mutilation or the like, then so be it. In my experience, players almost never opt to raise dead or the like anyway. They just tap in a replacement PC and carry on.

 

[Unwise]

I play in the Warhammer setting. My descriptions are pretty much full blown body-horror. The PCs fight a great deal of chaos stuff, so the descriptions of mutations etc lends itself to that. Unconsciously I don't tend to describe wounds done to PCs or friendlies much, probably because of the way HPs work.

Spoiler: Examples

PCs are likely to split open the guts of a foe, only to find a tentacle writhe out from inside and grab at their weapon. One bad guy got his head split, only for the PCs to find a mass of maggots where the brain should be.

 

[generic]

I play in the Warhammer setting. My descriptions are pretty much full blown body-horror. The PCs fight a great deal of chaos stuff, so the descriptions of mutations etc lends itself to that. Unconsciously I don't tend to describe wounds done to PCs or friendlies much, probably because of the way HPs work.

Spoiler: Examples

PCs are likely to split open the guts of a foe, only to find a tentacle writhe out from inside and grab at their weapon. One bad guy got his head split, only for the PCs to find a mass of maggots where the brain should be.

Interesting, I've heard that Warhammer is very dark and gritty, correct?

I always find it interesting how some settings seem so much better simply because of how injuries function.

 

[Unwise]

Interesting, I've heard that Warhammer is very dark and gritty, correct?

I always find it interesting how some settings seem so much better simply because of how injuries function.

Yes, the setting certainly is and the RPG lends itself to that too. I actually play D&D 5e in that setting, so the grittiness is really only from my DMing, not the system itself. I tried realistic injuries for a while, but it dragged gameplay down to a crawl. It is the old problem of fighters wanting a short rest and mages wanting a long one all over again, some of the PCs being dragged around very sick for a few sessions before getting to rest.

I'm actually playing Curse of Strahd, reskinned to be in Warhammer's Sylvania region, with the PCs being inquisitors trying to purge the vampire Von Carstien.

 

[Shemeska]

I wish I could do it as good as @Shemeska in his story hour but my skills on that are quite meager and I fear that for at least some of my players @Shemeska 's style is a bit above their threshold.

Yeah it's all about knowing the expectations of your players and their desire for/tolerance of that sort of content. I make sure that everyone at the table is aware of the themes and tone that they'll be facing prior to a game and adjust as necessary from there. Plus when I was running my storyhour's campaign I was doing surgical work at the time, so what became mundane for me on the job might have carried over into the game I suppose.

I also modulate it for convention games, dialing back anything too extreme, but for instance at my last PaizoCon I said something along the lines of, "Well it's good that we have a room with just us and doors we can close, because there's one particular NPC that might end up screaming obscenities depending on what you all do."

 

[Bohandas]

2001 isn;t hard sci-fi, it's a parade of magic space aliens, killer rogue AI, and magic space alien AI

Actually, strike that last part. It was a magic space alien AI in the book, but in the movie it was a magic space alien kaleidoscope.