Raise Dead/Level Loss

ptolemy18

First Post
Hello everyone,

Normally in my campaign when PCs die they just make new characters, but I recently looked at the rules for level loss from "raise dead" and was surprised at how much tougher (on the PCs) they are than I thought.

Specifically -- it says (PHB3.5, p.171) that the character "...loses one level of experience. The character's new XP total is midway between the minimum needed for his or her new (reduced) level and the minimum needed for the next one."

The problem with this is that if you're really close to levelling when you die, it SUCKS!! :( One of the PCs in my game just died when they were literally 200 XP away from the next level.

Now, I'm not one of those people who thinks that you shouldn't lose *any* XP for losing a level. That's too wimpy. But it seems more reasonable that the PC loses something like, say, 1000 XP per their current level. This way they're guaranteed to lose a level but at least they stay in the same relative position to the next level. (This is what my old DM used to do.)

I was wondering how many people use house rules on this?

Jason
 

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ptolemy18 said:
Hello everyone,

Normally in my campaign when PCs die they just make new characters, but I recently looked at the rules for level loss from "raise dead" and was surprised at how much tougher (on the PCs) they are than I thought.

Specifically -- it says (PHB3.5, p.171) that the character "...loses one level of experience. The character's new XP total is midway between the minimum needed for his or her new (reduced) level and the minimum needed for the next one."

The problem with this is that if you're really close to levelling when you die, it SUCKS!! :( One of the PCs in my game just died when they were literally 200 XP away from the next level.

Now, I'm not one of those people who thinks that you shouldn't lose *any* XP for losing a level. That's too wimpy. But it seems more reasonable that the PC loses something like, say, 1000 XP per their current level. This way they're guaranteed to lose a level but at least they stay in the same relative position to the next level. (This is what my old DM used to do.)

I was wondering how many people use house rules on this?

Jason

You could have them lose a point of constitution instead of levels or xp. I think it worked that way back in D&D1E. If you go with this have them retroactively adjust their hit points down if the loss of the constitution point reduces the bonus hp.

Thanks,
Rich
 

(Wrong forum BTW.)

Our house rule: -1 level, % XP to next level remains the same.

Example: A 10th level character needs 10000 (more) XP to become an 11th level character. If he has 9000 of those 10000 XP when he dies, he's raised as a 9th level character (-1 level) with 8100 XP (90% of 9000 XP) towards becoming a 10th level character again.
 

Yes, we pro-rate the XP loss to the same percentage point at the previous level. More or less similar to what you suggest. I do recommend that.
 

I just have them lose XP equal to 1000xcurrent level. I don't make them go down a level they are just in the hole XP wise. It makes it easier for people if they don't have to subtract a level from the character sheet and doesn't cause characters that die to have a greater chance of dieing again when they come back.
 

After raised and lost a level, that character gets the XP for the encounter he has dead. This lessons the effect of the level loss a little bit. Because an encounter which causes a PC death tend to be a touch one. Thus, gives a lot of XP.

And, the rule is somewhat unclear about how to handle XP award for other encounters not yet calculated XP. Many DMs do not give XP after every encounter. Usually, a DM calculate XP after each session, each adventure, or when PCs rest, etc.

Assume there was 3 encounters in a day's session and a PC died in the 3rd session. Shall we give XP for the 1st or 2nd encounter before or or after level loss?

I am not sure if this is a house rule. But I usually give XP for that 1st and 2nd encounter after the dead character's level loss.

And, as we tend to play encounter-heavy modules and play 8 hours or so for each session, a character who lost the level usually catches up with others within a session or two.
 

In a previous campaign, I dropped the PC a level and kept their XP at the same relative % of progress to the next level. For example, a PC that was 90% of the way to 8th level would be raised at 90% of the way to 7th level.

In the end, my group found the whole process of reverse levelling to be a pain. Trying to remember what skills you'd last added and such in the past level was annoying. In future campaigns, I'm thinking of just adjusting the PC's XP and slapping on a negative level (like in energy drain) that stays until you regain your prior level. Not a perfect solution but far less annoying than deconstructing a PC.

In my current campaign, I made raising the dead very rare and painfully expensive and hard to do. Knocking off a level hasn't seemed necessary to limit raising the dead or to discourage suicidal tactics. Death tends to be permanent so players respect it quite a bit.
 


dcollins said:
The DMG does say to give dead characters XP for the encounter they died, after the level loss is applied. (3.0 DMG p. 169)
I always wondered about that! Thanks for the quote. But does the same rule exist under 3.5e?
 

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