O' Death Where is Thy Sting....

[Xyvs]

I rarely post (actually never have but IMC, you have to find a cleric who is sympathetic with your alignment, first of all, and then, you have to be a worshipper of that cleric's god. After all, every single spell cast by a cleric is at the discretion of the generous god. The power of life is extraordinary, and the power to live it twice, or more, is greater still. So why would a god just give that kind of power away? Much less to a non-believer? So if you aren't already a worshipper of the cleric's god, you must promise to worship them thereafter.

Moreover, in my campaign, your death must be a secret to the public at large. If your death is witnessed by the masses or even a large group of people, the gods won't resurrect you. None of them will. Because then it suddenly reveals to every tom, dick, and harry in the world that they can come back from the dead. The enormous flood of requests to rez their loved ones for even the most trivial of reason would just overwhelm the world's priesthoods. Imagine mass riots in the world if you knew that the rich could live forever, but you couldn't. Lots of people would become disillusioned with the gods and abandon worship, and the gods would in turn lose their power. So the public at large, and even player characters, don't know about the possiblity of resurrection until they hit the levels that they can cast raise dead. Even then, they must keep the power secret. It has led to some really funny sessions where characters talk in hushed voices with each other as they try to carry around a dead body in a bag while telling ridiculous lies to throw off suspicious clerics and commoners.

This is on top of the revised 3.5 gp cost. I do all this becuase in every work of fiction, whether it is Dragonlance or FR, the dead stay dead. I mean, the king of Cormyr could come back. He was a huge and popular figure. If the book was a D&D campaign, right after he died, the next chapter would have been Elminster and buddies asking their 17th level cleric buddy to rez the king. In Dragonlance, they would just need Goldmoon to cast Raise Dead on Sturm. No climactic deaths. The act of sacrifice is cheapened, and all the D&D books become inconsistent with the campaigns they are based on. In those books, it seems like rezzing isn't an option.

Obviously, I'm more into the realism than others perhaps. But, as it has turned out, in my campaign, I had a guy get rezzed 4 times, so I don't try to punish my players. I just want to make death meaningful and make raise dead and resurrection make sense in the context of the game world. This dude who died and got rezzed repeatedly ended up really poor, and walked with a limp and had to wear a scarf around his neck constantly (ironically, because he was decapitated by the decapitating scarf spell from OA and the clerics just couldn't fit his head on right), but he did get raised 4 times. That's mostly because he died in dungeons, far from the public eye. And when he did die in mass battle above a populted city, that was death no. 5, and we all decided it was time to retire his character because it had gotten pretty ridiculous by that point.

Xyvs

 

[LokiDR]

I've delt with this issue in a variety of ways, but by far my favorite so far has been the hero point system from Arcana Unearthed. A hero point can be spent when you are about to die to not die. However, you will be maimed, and this is up to the DM. The form varies, but it might mean losing an arm or a nasty scar down your face. In my game, you can tell how reckless characters are by the number of scars they have. Hero points are gained by heroic action, with is usually reckless, so this seems to balance out.

I have also used personal experiences with the servents of dieties and special requirements (such as having your magically bonded weapon). These are cumbersome, however, and can seem very arbitrary at time.

The problem, to me, is one of respect. If the PCs don't respect death, then the rules should probably change. That is why, after all, the prices went up. But don't forget the other side of this. We are DMs, we are the ones putting out the challenges. If the players are dying left and right, perhaps it is time to scale back the challenges. If the DM's don't respect death with their challenges, why would you expect the players to respect death?

 

[Mephistopheles]

Another alternative is to give everyone (PCs and NPCs) 1d10-1 lives. This number should be kept secret by the DM.

Excellent. This could lead to some instant laughs and ensuing DM beatings with just one roll.

Player: "I spent 12 hours writing a background for my new character, Manus McManus. I have his physical appearance described right down to the detail of the whisker sprouting mole in his right armpit. I have personality traits, aspirations, fears and desires. I have his rather eccentric wardrobe planned out for each day of the week. I know what his favourite meal is and how he prefers his beer warm rather than cold. I know Manus better than I know myself."

DM: "That's great! Now there's just one thing we need to do before Manus is ready for play. Roll a d10 for me."

Player: "Ok, sure." *rolls d10* "I got a 1. What's that for?"

DM: *thinks 1d10-1 means 0 lives for Manus* "Hmm, hand me Manus's character sheet along with that sharp slice of mango on your plate. I have some bad news..."

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

IMC, there is only one resurrection spell (True Resurrection) and the players have to contribute 1,000 of their own XP as part of the ritual to raise a fallen comrade, in addition to the monetary costs. On top of that, the dead PC must make a Will Save with their level as a bonus VS. DC 25 for it to work. Each additional companion who donated XP adds another +1 to the roll, as well. This lends a more "epic" quality to the act, as the fallen character's companions must "give of themselves" to return him or her to life. Lower level PC's don't have much of a chance, bu the higher level ones do. This is a sort of reward for a player who's invested a lot of time and effort into their character and are more reluctant to see it "die".