money value in 1st/2nd/3rd ed.

[Korgoth]

Fair enough. You might try changing it to an XP penalty for the casting cleric, however. I find players are much more willing to spend gold than experience, and then you can introduce power components to cover the XP cost - rare power components which would require them to jump through as many hoops as you like to acquire, of course.

My favorite idea is just to require that the soul of the deceased be actually obtained before casting the spell. Quest time! It also explains why only PCs usually benefit from these spells: they're the only ones equipped to go into the afterlife and get somebody's soul back.

 

[Quasqueton]

My favorite idea is just to require that the soul of the deceased be actually obtained before casting the spell. Quest time! It also explains why only PCs usually benefit from these spells: they're the only ones equipped to go into the afterlife and get somebody's soul back.

What's the player of the dead PC to do during this quest?

I could see this concept being the whole of a campaign -- the PCs are "ghost grabbers" for hire.

Quasqueton

 

[dcas]

OD&D: 50cp = 10sp = (2ep)* = 1gp = (1/2ep)* = (1/5pp)* -- 10 coins = 1 pound
*("If electrum is added it is optionally worth either twice or half the value of Gold. Platinum is five times more valuable than Gold if it is decided to add it to the precious metals list." -- OD&D vol. II, p. 39)

If platinum is five times more valuable than gold, then gold is worth 1/6 the worth of platinum.

 

[Slife]

If platinum is five times more valuable than gold, then gold is worth 1/6 the worth of platinum.

Yeah, but the NPC moneychangers like to rip off PCs

 

[Kelleris]

What's the player of the dead PC to do during this quest?

I could see this concept being the whole of a campaign -- the PCs are "ghost grabbers" for hire.

Now that is a great idea! All kinds of weird special contacts and people to meet and make friends and/or stab to death in that line of business. And you could use the PCs' special position to make raise dead SRD-normal easy for them while not having some of the weird verisimilitude effects of easy raise-deading (since they just have to call in a few favors, you know).

 

[Quasqueton]

If platinum is five times more valuable than gold, then gold is worth 1/6 the worth of platinum.

How do you figure that? 1 x 5 = 5.

Quasqueton

 

[dcas]

How do you figure that? 1 x 5 = 5.

Because it is said to be "five times more [i.e., 500% more = 600% as] valuable," not "five times as valuable."

As a side note, you would not believe how many mathematical errors I find in RPGs.

 

[frankthedm]

The rule is there for PCs to expend resources in the form of GP. The fact that the GP goes to a diamond is just flavor text when it gets right down to the rules of it.

So would you permit a player to cover the cost of a raise dead spell with a quintuple Hecatomb? [Sacrifice of five hundred 10 GP cows]

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

So would you permit a player to cover the cost of a raise dead spell with a quintuple Hecatomb? [Sacrifice of five hundred 10 GP cows]

Actually some variation on that might be interesting, have raise dead involve a balancing act. In order to bring your friend back you have to sacrifice intelligent creatures of the same type with a total of the same number of HD.
Explain it as Death or the entity(or entities) responsible for getting to the afterlife being greedy. They'll give you your friend back but they've got their quota; the books need to stay balanced and all that.