Keep on the Shadowfell and Rituals

[Fallen Seraph]

Or simply since NPCs are exception-based, the priest has the rituals for no other reason then it fits the character.

If I wanted to in my game I could give a crow if I felt like it. (Which I am doing, gotta love hyper-intelligent, talkative, womanizing bird that has studied arcane texts for its whole life )

 

[marune]

That's the most interesting scoop out of KoS.

Or simply since NPCs are exception-based, the priest has the rituals for no other reason then it fits the character.

You can rationalize that the cleric have these rituals because they fit the character, but that's not the fundamental decision criteria. Instead, think about the help/hindrance the NPC offers to the PCs when they face the adventure's challenges.

 

[MindWanderer]

c) This isn't a simulation. NPCs don't come back from the dead because rituals like 'raise dead' don't work on them by DM fiat. So there is no reason why 'raise dead' couldn't be a readily available ritual that any priest could perform, because the logic of the scarcity of 'raise dead' isn't based on the scarcity of priests but on the scarcity of PC's.

Except that, logically, very few NPC priests will ever encounter the PCs, and those that do won't be exposed to them for very long. Unless it's a recurring or long-term ally, no NPC, by this logic, should ever have Raise Dead because it's pointless.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

You can rationalize that the cleric have these rituals because they fit the character, but that's not the fundamental decision criteria. Instead, think about the help/hindrance the NPC offers to the PCs when they face the adventure's challenges.

Oh of course how the NPC affects the PCs is primary, I meant it more simply there is no: first the NPC must be this level, then be this class, then take this feat, etc, etc. to gain the rituals.

 

[JesterOC]

Except that, logically, very few NPC priests will ever encounter the PCs, and those that do won't be exposed to them for very long. Unless it's a recurring or long-term ally, no NPC, by this logic, should ever have Raise Dead because it's pointless.

Well the key with Raise Dead is that for MOST people it just does not work. But that does not mean that they don't try it on everyone. People come to the priest for help, I can easily see that she tries to raise each one of her flock. You can easily imagine a priest saying that it is not for her to judge who gets raised, you try to raise all, and only the souls with a need come back.

JesterOC

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Or simply since NPCs are exception-based, the priest has the rituals for no other reason then it fits the character.

And I love this oh so much - it's just simple, and obvious, and it works.

Thankfully, it means that if I want someone in a village / town / merchant's caravan / whatever to be able to raise dead - they can! I don't have to go through all the work of statting them out as a 9th level or higher Cleric, with all the attendant details of feats, skills, equipment and so on. Instead, the statblock reads:

Jim the Healer. Rituals - raise dead, and that's it.

 

[Sojorn]

Well the key with Raise Dead is that for MOST people it just does not work. But that does not mean that they don't try it on everyone. People come to the priest for help, I can easily see that she tries to raise each one of her flock. You can easily imagine a priest saying that it is not for her to judge who gets raised, you try to raise all, and only the souls with a need come back.

JesterOC

That has to be brutally heartbreaking for those with loved ones that Raise Dead just "doesn't work on". Wouldn't be surprised if there were accusations of not trying hard enough or the like sometimes.

In fact, now that I think about it, this make raise dead more akin to intensive surgery. Which, while most people understand the basics of, still seems magical and mysterious when it holds a life in the balance.

 

[Mentat55]

Couldn't also the costs of the ritual (I believe they said the costs were still there) be the barrier to almost all normal people benefiting from Raise Dead? I mean, the average villager, or even decent craftsman, is never going to be able to plop down 5,000 gp to get someone raised.

 

[hong]

That has to be brutally heartbreaking for those with loved ones that Raise Dead just "doesn't work on".

Only if the expectation going in is that it will work. There is no reason for that expectation to exist.

 

[Ten]

Only if the expectation going in is that it will work. There is no reason for that expectation to exist.

But still. It seems to me that Raise Dead is one of those rituals that may be widely known by clergy, but only works on very few rare people. I can imagine weeping families paying the clerics, knowing very well that there is little chance of it working. They would still have hope, however small, that in this case it WILL work. After all, their son/husband/girlfriend was a brave man/woman and surely Bahamut is a just god who can see that they are loved...it has to work!

Good stuff.