Have you ever refused to come back from the dead?

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Just once, rather famously. It was an old, long-running 1E campaign. I was running a monk. Now, for the longest time in this campaign it was very easy to get your dead PC's raised. On top of that wishes were very affordable to remove any remaining accumulated penalties like lowered Con. I convinced the DM to change that, making resurrections harder to get, wishes harder to get, and an absolute limit on the number of deaths that a PC could suffer even with wishes. We called it the Irrevocability score. Your PC could not be reduced to irrevocably dead (-10hp) more times than his original Con score.

So, what character was it that was most affected by these changes? MINE. My monk PC went beyond utterly broke and heavily into debt. At one point when he died I declared that I did NOT want him resurrected at that time because as it stood he was unlikely to ever afford to pay back his debts, much less pay for ANOTHER resurrection, obtain basic adventuring supplies like potions, and so on. I suggested that if they should ever come across a free supply of resurrection magic somewhere that I might change my mind but I simply COULD NOT AFFORD TO PAY TO BE RESURRECTED.

Eventually they DID come across a few resurrections (I forget where excactly) and brought him back to life. He died again. And again. And again, and again... Finally he reached his Irrevocability limit. His next death would well and truly be his last. The first and ONLY character to have that problem in that campaign. I bought him an Amulet of Life Protection. A magic item that, when you die, pulls your soul into it, and saves you the necessity of having to be resurrected, you just need your corpse repaired. So what happens? The monk takes a fireball. Misses his save. The amulet misses ITS save. And because he was already wounded even the partial damage from it kills him. An ignominiuous end to one of my all-time favorite characters: Bannor "Face Dancer" Addidas.

 

[jeffh]

I've seen it happen multiple times. Mostly the real reason was that the player wanted to try a different sort of character or (in one case) had been thinking of quitting the group anyway, but in character it was usually because the GM (myself in one case, someone else in all the others) made the characters' respective afterlives actually sound pretty appealing. As well they should.

 

[airwalkrr]

I had an elf wizard refuse to return from the dead because he liked Elysium too much and was fed up with the Material Plane anyway.

 

[Blackrat]

I had a Drow character once who started as a devout worshipper of Kiaransalee. After a couple of years of gaming she had converted to Eilestraee and after death was deemed worthy. The happy joy joy afterlife with dancing goddess made her refuse the resurrection spell cast by partys cleric. I actually would have liked to continue playing her but it was more in character to stay in a better place than she thought was even possible for her corrupted soul.

 

[Lanefan]

Depends on the situation...if things warrant refusing a raise, and the party bothers to cast Speak With Dead before going ahead with the raise, I'll say no.

However, that's no guarantee the character won't come back anyway...we have it that if someone tries a raise, the spirit has no choice whether it stays dead or not (though there's always a chance of the raise failing as per 1e).

Lane-"glad to be alive for the 5th time"-fan

 

[Firedancer]

Yes, I have had characters refuse to be resurrected.

Primarily ones of strong faith who are under the impression they will be receiving their just rewards in the afterlife.

I've had a ranger specify only reincarantion is permitted (again, because of character belief).

I've known a paladin refuse unless he was on a mission and it still remained incomplete.

I've even arranged for a dead character to return as undead do to how they died.

 

[William drake]

Title. If so, why?

Personally, I've had a Sorcerer who refused a Ressurrection because I wanted to play something more durable.

One, had option to play as a ghost for a bit.


And two, got tired of coming back. IT gets silly after the third time dying, and sometimes coming back is way way way to easy.

 

[silver_wizard]

There's a player in our game who has a 'no resurrections' policy - ie he always refuses them for his PCs - which I find somewhat implausible. Most living things want to go on living. It's effectively the same as choosing to commit suicide.

Not really... A good character that has died might refuse to come back to the mortal world after a glimpse of the glorious life that awaits "beyond the barrier".

 

[diaglo]

There's a player in our game who has a 'no resurrections' policy - ie he always refuses them for his PCs - which I find somewhat implausible. Most living things want to go on living. It's effectively the same as choosing to commit suicide.

after you die in D&D you go to the place with your god(s).

um... why leave that place to come back to suffering?

 

[francisca]

Yep, if it fit that char's particular vibe.