How is death (and raising the dead) handled in D&D novels?

[Felon]

I've always felt it is a little unrealistic to expect a D&D movie that is actually faithful to the game, simply because there's relatively little that you can do to a D&D character that can't be fixed. How do you have dramatic tension when the death of a major character isn't an emotionally-draining tragedy, just a financially-draining inconvenience?

But it occurs to me there's lots of D&D novels out there, and while I've never read any of the Dragonlance or FR books, surely a few of those characters must travel in circles where there are some clerics of 9th-level available. How do those books handle the lack of permanent death?

Do they just pretend spells like raise dead don't exist?

Do they just make 9th-level clerics unavailable, and that finding one isn't feasible?

Do they keep the characters too poor to afford spellcasting services?

Do they use a lot of spheres of annihlation, mind flayers, and barghests?

Or do they just accept that death has a revolving door?

 

[foehammerx]

Great point man,

I have read a ton of D&D novels and I dont ever remember an adventure being resurrected like is so commonplace in the game.

 

[Zappo]

Do they just pretend spells like raise dead don't exist?

Do they just make 9th-level clerics unavailable, and that finding one isn't feasible?

Do they keep the characters too poor to afford spellcasting services?

Mostly A and B, and C on top of that. It isn't quite satisfactory, I know.

 

[Numion]

Do the rules address how often someone might want to come back? The person being resurrected gets to choose if he wants to come back.

Maybe the afterlife is such a good place that generally people dont want to come back. At least my players usually let a character go after one or two resurrections, but I don't really know their motives :\

 

[Shemeska]

I can think of a few examples of characters coming back from the dead. However I find that noble characters, especially kings etc don't get returned from the dead largely because that really, really screws with regal succession, etc.

There was a female drow who was killed in a Salvatore novel who later shows up quite alive in one of the War of the Spider Queen books. Her return to life during the intervening years is actually picked up on and becomes a rather major point in the development of the character. As far as such things go, it was handled very very well, all things considered.

There was one member of the ruling elite of the Netherese enclave of Shade, one of the sons of High Prince Telamont, who was killed in one of the novels. IIRC he shows up in a later sourcebook or short story as being quite alive.

But usually a return from the dead isn't a regular event, either for reasons of clerics of the ability to do the spell aren't readily present, or the dead person simply has no desire to return to life.

 

[Voadam]

I've read a couple dozen TSR novels (old greyhawk, FR, DL, Ravenloft, Spelljammer) and clerics are not that prevalent in the stories. I remember some drow ones in the drizzit underdark novels, the bane/cyric/xvim cleric guy, the lathander cleric in the time of troubles ones, and goldmoon in DL. I guess time of troubles had a bunch more npc ones briefly mentioned but with divine magic gone raising was not happening. Oh and I think there were a few in the helm clerics in the maztica novels.

 

[Felon]

Well, I guess it's only been in 3e that all cleric had a rock-solid guarantee of getting access to raise dead at 9th level. Before that, there were spheres and what-not to consider.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

I've always felt it is a little unrealistic to expect a D&D movie that is actually faithful to the game, simply because there's relatively little that you can do to a D&D character that can't be fixed. How do you have dramatic tension when the death of a major character isn't an emotionally-draining tragedy, just a financially-draining inconvenience?

Spoiler warning for Dragonlance Chronicles novels . . .

Hmm . . . I haven't read a lot of TSR/WotC DnD books, but I did read Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends back in the '80's. If I'm not mistaken Riverwind died in the first book of Dragonlance Chronicles when he took a blast of black dragon breath in the face. After the fight his wife, Goldmoon, the only cleric on the planet at the time, touched him with a holy staff, and he was restored to life and fully functional, a la True Resurrection. Some might argue that he was not dead, as it is not explicitly stated that he was dead, but I think he was.

In the same series two other major good guy characters died, and neither received the benefits of Raise Dead or Resurrection.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

I've read a lot of 'official' TSR & Wizards novels over the years.

Most campaign settings didn't have alot of high level characters (cleric or otherwise). Thus Raise Dead/Ressurrection wasn't much of an issue.

Then there is the Forgotten Realms. Archwizards under ever stone, Epic Characters in every hamlet.

While I won't discuss the 'munchkin' label so often attached to the realms, I will say this.

I can remember less than 3 Raise Dead in the 120+ FR Novels I've read. Maybe 10 if you count off hand references to 'the high priest was unable to raise her'. But, the Realms is crawling with Clerics capable of casting Raise Dead. Why isn't Raise Dead often mentioned in the novels?

Because it would 'ruin the mood'. Essentially, the creative people in charge of making the Realms fiction line has always maintained that any obvious show of Resurrection Magics as prevalent would ruin the 'Dramatic Effect'. Basically, why care if Bob heroically sacrifices himself, if they'll just raise him later in the week (like often happens in the RPG).

Thus, the dead stay dead because that makes a better story. Much the same thought as went into "Well, let's just CALL it Catwoman, we don't need any of the back story or plot that made the character into what it is."

As long as the book head takes a pretty conservative view of 'how fanatsy should be written' Don't expect a lot of Raise Dead (or healing spells in general).

One of the biggest things I hated in The Rite (Rogue Dragons II). A charcter survives the battle, horibbly injured but survives. Next scene "Hi old friend, the clerics say I'm too injured to survive the night, but I just wanted to say...." Bascially the author wanted a 'touching moment' between the 2 characters, so the injured guy had to live for a bit. One of the few times I've thrown down a book in disgust & didn't pick it up for a month. (If it was just a novel, or set in a world like Warhammer, fine, I wouldn't have minded, but having some NPC slowly bleed to death because the 100's of levels worth of clerics nearby all spontaneously ran out of EVERY SPELL THEY HAD, is just stupid) Maybe a supernatural poison that prevents healing? Would have worked & wouldn't have had to use the clerics' spell list like so much used toilet tissue.

If you don't like how the game rules work, fine. Just don't IGNORE THEM. Shared World Fiction means VOLUNTARILY restricting your work to fit within certain defined rules & guidelines. Don't like it? Don't write it.

So your answer is Raise Dead doesn't exist in the Novel World. Unless the writer really, really needs it to & gets permission. (Or has enough Clout to say Up Thine, like Greenwood, Salvatore, Wies, Hickman.

 

[NiTessine]

I recall two instances that dealt with the issue...

King Azoun IV's death in Death of the Dragon. High priests attempted to bring him back, but failed, saying Azoun didn't want to return.

King Zalathorm in The Wizardwar. He croaked, but was immediately resurrected by the power of... disembodied elven souls, I think. Not too sure about that. It was definitely a situation not covered by the rules.

I think there was also the undead paladin Miltiades, who was returned to life by Tyr himself as a reward for the completion of some quest, but I haven't read that novel and can't even remember its name.

It's possible Cadderly resurrected someone at some point, though I cannot recall specifically when and who that might have been.