Is it normal to come back from the dead?

[WayneLigon]

Unless there was some compelling reason for him to refuse to come back, he'd be back , either through one of the raise dead spells or Reincarnation. I see no reason not to.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

So, raise dead bothers you, but not the fact that each time someone dies there's someone else of roughly similar competence ready to join the group (namely, the players new PC)?

This bothers me at higher levels, super-PCs popping out of the woodwork. A character of 11th level or higher is "legendary" (as in the spell Legend Lore). When you get to the really high levels (say 15 or above) there are probably no more than a few dozen such individuals in the entire world. When legendary characters appear out of nowhere and none of the other PCs have ever heard of them or their deeds before, it strains credibility (unless perhaps they are from another kingdom far away, another plane, etc.). Because that's something about my 18th-level PC; his deeds and accomplishments have had an effect on the world ("That undead army that was marching across the North? We kind of created it, but also destroyed it.")

A new 10th-level PC could conceivably be an unknown entity, but in general I prefer "organic" characters that worked their way up from 1st and you know exactly what they did to get there.

 

[werk]

I very rarely will bring back a character from death, like you said, unless there is a good reason to come back.

Of all my dead characters, the only ones that have come back via raising/rezzing were characters that I felt had 'unfinished business' and would feel compelled to return. And the one character that I would have brought back for selfish reasons, couldn't be raised because of the nature of his...uh...sacrifice.

 

[Matchstick]

Haven't heard of Morganti blades then?

This was the first think I thought of as well. I think Brust deals with the Raise Dead issue very well, where assassins can be sent to kill someone as a lesson knowing full well they will be raised, or sent to kill someone for good with a Morganti dagger or by cutting off their head.

There's no reason those pricinples wouldn't carry through into any setting where Raise Dead was common, or even uncommon. In fact I think they are logical extensions of that kind of setting.

To answer the OP's post, I think it would depend on the character, but also on the effect the death would have on the game overall. If I'm really messing up the DM, I'd rez. My default would be to rez though, usually I have too much invested in the character and his/her interactions with the world to give up all that history.

 

[DragonLancer]

Personally, unless theres a good reason to be brought back I'd rather remain dead and make a new character.

 

[Wombat]

In 30 years of gaming, I have had 3 characters brought back from the dead, one of them very unhappy with the situation.

Just doesn't happen that often, and shouldn't.

This is not a video game with a "Save Game" feature.

 

[KB9JMQ]

As a player I would rather make a new character.

But since I mostly DM I know that would be a pain for DM. The biggest problem I see is gaining XP thru adventuring. If that is the style of the game.
What I mean is if the new character joins a fight the rest of the party is in he will be slaughtered. If he doesn't he levels up so slowly it bogs the party down.

I think once a party is past 6th level any deaths should be raised unless a good story can be worked in. It is just to hard on the party to have such level differences.

 

[IcyCool]

I voted "No, not without good reason". I mean, my character has gone on to whatever afterlife awaits him, which is usually better than the crappy life he had as an adventurer. Why would he want to go back?

 

[Matchstick]

I voted "No, not without good reason". I mean, my character has gone on to whatever afterlife awaits him, which is usually better than the crappy life he had as an adventurer. Why would he want to go back?

It's pretty easy to justify I would think. He wants to help his friends. He doesn't want to leave a mission unfinished. He wants to see his daughter get married someday. In this case we're talking about the Age of Worms, I would think saving the material world just might be enough justification for even the most reluctant of characters to come back.

Heck, you know you're going to spend eternity in the afterlife. And eternity is a mightly long time. Might as well put it off and live more in the material world where your time is going to be limited.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I make the decision based on what I want to do and possibly what the needs of the campaign are. (If the character not coming back from the dead would screw things up too much for the other players.)

I can always come up with some justification for the PC to feel about it however I want him/her to feel about it. You never have to do anything just because it's "in character".