Is it normal to come back from the dead?

[Wolfwood2]

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.

Also, many afterlives are pretty lousy places. You want to spend eternity in Hel just because no valkerie happened to be looking when you died bravely? You don't necessarily get some kind of reward or heaven in the afterlife, no matter what your alignment or actions were.

 

[Gold Roger]

Also, many afterlives are pretty lousy places. You want to spend eternity in Hel just because no valkerie happened to be looking when you died bravely? You don't necessarily get some kind of reward or heaven in the afterlife, no matter what your alignment or actions were.

Exactly. And it doesn't even have to be a lower plane for that. Imagine a lowly servant that was always lawful out of a sense of obedience and fear, but really wanted to break out of his old ways, landing in mechanus or arcadia. Or the CN rogue that was always looking for a peacefull life but stumbled from escapade to escapade ending up in Ysgard. Talk about personal hells.

 

[Lanefan]

Did not vote, as ther's no option that says something like "depends on personality, situation, and resources".

Personality: does the character want to come back? (this is not a dealbreaker for me if it doesn't, if someone goes ahead and raises a character who preferred to remain dead, said character always has the option of falling on a sword at first opportunity...) Also, *can* it come back, e.g. is it a member of a religion to whom death is sacrosanct? Is its deity (or another deity) likely to interfere?

Situation: *can* the PC be brought back, or is it a small pile of unraiseable ash or dust? Does the party have access to raise in the field, and if not can they get back to town before the statute of limitations runs out? (1e had a 1-day-dead-per-level limit for casting raise dead, a mechanic I've always rather liked) If raised, is the character immediately going to die again from whatever killed it the first time (loss of head, poison, etc)?

Resources: can the character afford to pay for its own raise? If not, is the party willing to, either as loan or gift?

I have no problem with raising characters either as DM or player; there's always a small chance it'll fail anyway (1e resurrection-survival rules), so let 'er rip!

Lanefan

 

[Agamon]

Some players see a PC death as an opportunity to try something new. Some DM's like the party to have some consitancy, especially if the PCs are well invested in the campaign. I, as a DM, prefer to see PCs raised when possible, but I don't force the subject. I do offer incentive, however.

PCs that die and are raised lose 1 level's worth of XP (depending on what level they are) after XP for what they did during the adventure up to the point of their death is added on. I do it this way, so that a level is lost, but the loss of XP isn't overly enormous if the PC was about to gain a level.

New PCs made by players who's PCs die start with the least amount of XP necessary to be 1 level lower than every PC in the party. This isn't so bad early on, when raising isn't cost-effective and the PC is relatively new to the game, but it can become quite prohibitive later in the game when raising is easier.

 

[Agamon]

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.

This is a good point. I'd say keeping the same PC in an AP like AoW is even more poignant. Until the threat of the Age of Worms is stopped, the destined PC's work isn't done yet. You can even say he dies at the very end, when the job is done (if he doesn't anyway...only 1 PC made it out alive after the fight with Imix when I ran RttToEE).

 

[Treebore]

Oops! Made the wrond assumption and answered before reading the particulars of your question. Raise Dead/Ressurection is always available in my games, but it is always up to my players whether or not it happens.

So it is your call in my game. The second option, no, not unless there is a good reason, best fits this.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

I'm still trying to figure out how option 2 differs from option 3.

2. Not unless there is a reason to come back.
3. Not unless there is a reason to stay dead.

 

[e.429]

One of the things I've done in the past is create a family member and introduce them to the game. For example, in one campaign I was in my 12th level druid was killed so I and the DM talked it over and created his daughter, a 9th level ranger, complete with back story to fill the space left in the group and family can still fill in some of those sub-plots people talk about.

 

[Patlin]

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?

Interesting, considering Gorefoot.

My characters generally prefer to come back from the dead, though if I'm tired of playing them I'll use it as a reason for them to bow out.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I voted always.

In order for the game to be challenging there must be a serious risk of death. If there is a serious risk of death PCs will die with some frequency. If every time a PC died they stayed dead, that would lead to a constant change in the PCs which would be highly detrimental to campaign continuity.

I understand players getting bored with a character from time to time and wanting a change but that should be kept to a minimum.

To the people that answered 'depends on the character', why would you create a character that hurts the game by refusing resurrections? It's much the same as creating a character that refuses to join the party.