Is it normal to come back from the dead?

[0-hr]

I recently had a character die. He was 10th level and we had a cleric, but I started working on a new character idea because, well, my old one died and that's what I've always done when a character dies. My DM seems mad that I'm making a new character rather than being raised and seems surprised by the idea that someone would even consider such a thing.

I'd like to get a feel for which is the norm. So...

If your 10th level D&D 3.5 character died, would you want him or her raised?

 

[the Jester]

It depends on the character.

In my campaign, at 10th level, I'd say the pcs who die prolly come back 50% of the time. My halfling campaign is around that level (or a lil higher) and the most recent time a pc died, they stayed dead.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Frankly, it's not a question which leads to a yes or no answer.

In actual play, my answer is based on how my character would feel about it. I have, in fact, played a character who had a very good reason to not accept resurrection when it was offered to him, and I based my choice entirely on what he would have authentically chosen.

It has very little to do with how I might feel as a player or how other players or the DM might feel. I figure, though, that if a character is embroiled in an ongoing plotline, the sort of thing that the group and the DM would like to maintain party continuity for, then she's probably going to be invested in seeing it through herself anyway and therefore agree to come back.

If there's any in-game reason why the resurrection should be delayed - such as "We're deep in Khyber and we don't have a cleric who can raise you with us", then I would hope the group and the DM would accomodate my continuing to play in the game by letting my have a temporary character - ye olde cliched captured prisoner who's just in it to get away, for instance.

 

[Sanackranib]

depends . . . does your new character start at the old characters level or the level lower that the old one would be if he were raised? what about gear? if you go off the list in the DMG that characters of a level above 1st have a certin ammount of "treasure" dependant on level then the new guy might come out way ahead of the old one, depending on how your DM is giving out treasure.

to actually answer the question that you 1st asked. no comming back from the dead is extremely uncommon. basically its just adventurers that do.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Originally Posted by Ki Ryn
If your 10th level D&D 3.5 character died, would you want him or her raised?

It would really depend on how satisified I was with the character, or what beliefs the character might have about the afterlife.

 

[howandwhy99]

My characters almost ALWAYS want to come back from the dead.

My preference is to have any person returning from death be RARE. And those cases would be traditionally after a meaningful quest for the rest of the party involved. (I can run a TempPC or something)

 

[Crothian]

Sure, why not

 

[InVinoVeritas]

I said "Never."

In my campaigns, Raise Dead and the like doesn't exist. Economically, it makes little sense. Assassination is useless. There is little compelling reason to raise some vagabond--even a rich one--when there's more to be made by plundering the body, AND leave the king dead.

Sometimes, I can understand it, but only for plot reasons--the PC had to die, and be subsequently brought back to life. Otherwise, nope, not gonna happen.

There's one other reason I can think of: in a game where the world and RP are of little or no consequence. When the challenge is just dungeoneering, then dying in some messy way and having a mechanism to come back makes sense and keeps the game fun. However, I think that videogames can fill this need much more efficiently than a tabletop RPG.

By the way, has anyone introduced a magic device that the PCs can set and then at a later point, rewind time to the set time and continue? In essence, a "Save Game" magic item?

 

[airwalkrr]

My character getting raised from the dead wouldn't even become an issue for me until the other characters cast speak with dead on my character's corpse to ask if I wanted to be raised. At that point, I would consider what my character would do. I would consider where he would be happier, if he had a sense of duty and left unfinished business on the prime material, if he was selfish and didn't want to experience the pain of death.

In other words, it would be an in-character decision. Usually, when it has happened, my characters have chosen to come back because we were in the middle of an important mission and my characters are usually good or lawful aligned. There was one time I was playing a CN character however, and when he died, I decided he said "screw it." I made a new character.

 

[realmaster]

Frankly, it's not a question which leads to a yes or no answer.

In actual play, my answer is based on how my character would feel about it. I have, in fact, played a character who had a very good reason to not accept resurrection when it was offered to him, and I based my choice entirely on what he would have authentically chosen.

It has very little to do with how I might feel as a player or how other players or the DM might feel. I figure, though, that if a character is embroiled in an ongoing plotline, the sort of thing that the group and the DM would like to maintain party continuity for, then she's probably going to be invested in seeing it through herself anyway and therefore agree to come back.

If there's any in-game reason why the resurrection should be delayed - such as "We're deep in Khyber and we don't have a cleric who can raise you with us", then I would hope the group and the DM would accomodate my continuing to play in the game by letting my have a temporary character - ye olde cliched captured prisoner who's just in it to get away, for instance.

I totally agree with this statement.