Resurrection and Revive Dead

[aurin777]

Yes this has come up before, and yes, those are the easiest solutions (above).

I love low magic. Magic has to be just that, magic. If every slob can put on some robes and toss fireballs, it becomes mundane and therefore no longer special. In a land where raise dead can happen early game, the fear of death is out of the players, and in my opinion, the campaign degrades from there. Allow raise dead, but put STEEP penalties on it. Cut true resurrection. Allow ressurection, but only as the wish spell. Also, cut out teleport, but thats a topic for another thread.
~~Brandon

 

[Saeviomagy]

Yes this has come up before, and yes, those are the easiest solutions (above).

I love low magic. Magic has to be just that, magic. If every slob can put on some robes and toss fireballs, it becomes mundane and therefore no longer special. In a land where raise dead can happen early game, the fear of death is out of the players, and in my opinion, the campaign degrades from there. Allow raise dead, but put STEEP penalties on it. Cut true resurrection. Allow ressurection, but only as the wish spell. Also, cut out teleport, but thats a topic for another thread.
~~Brandon

Why is it that DM's hate these spells (teleport and raise/resurrect)?

Why do DM's want their party to trudge from location to location? Is it really that fun to work out encumbrance and travelling rates and food rations and water supplies?

Why do DM's think that death has to be eternal?

Why is death the worst thing that the average DM thinks he can do to a bad guy?

Why do no DM's take advantage of the 10 year/level limit on resurrection?

Why is it that DM's almost never use resurrect or raise dead to recall their BBEGs?

Why must the players be the only ones mildly inconvenienced by death?

 

[Wormwood]

Why is it that DM's hate these spells (teleport and raise/resurrect)?

Control.

At least, that's why I used to hate those spells---they shifted control from the DM to the players. I hated that.

Not any more.

 

[Kweezil]

My own house rules for this are on the House Rules forum, here. It pretty much sums up my own thoughts on the matter.
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43794

The counter to this that one of my players pointed out is that death is often far too easy and common in higher-level games. If you get into epic, it almost assumes a death per fight, and that this doesn't matter due to true resurrection.

 

[A'koss]

Our group is mulling over the what might be the ideal solution for raising the dead for a Norse-themed campaign so keep hashing out those ideas guys!

Just a thought to keep in mind when reducing easy access to Raise Dead (and this ties in with Wormwood's point). It is pretty easy to die in D&D... or should I say easy at low levels, harder at middle levels, but increasingly easier again at high levels, and especially so at epic levels. Don't make it too hard unless you're willing to make some adjustments to balance it the other way...

Originally posted by Saeviomagy:

Why is it that DM's hate these spells (teleport and raise/resurrect)?

Easy resurrections can be abusive on both sides of the fence - good guys and bad guys. At high levels, "real" victory or losses vs your enemies become difficult. Oh, he'll be back - again. And again.

Teleport can be abusive as well for obvious reasons, but there are many stylistic reasons to warrant it's reduction or removal. My own campaign has nerfed teleportation and magical flight wholesale with the exception of rare "Gateway" sites. Wanna get around quickly - get a flying mount. It just fits in with the style of game we're trying to run.

Why do DM's want their party to trudge from location to location? Is it really that fun to work out encumbrance and travelling rates and food rations and water supplies?

I've never seen it as big a chore as you seem to make it out being. Rations? Water supplies? At the levels where you're using teleport magic, food is rarely a concern. LL magic can take care of that easily enough.

Why do DM's think that death has to be eternal?

For some people, the thought of playing the game without some possibility of permanent death is, uh, pretty boring.

Why do no DM's take advantage of the 10 year/level limit on resurrection?

Where is this rule exactly?

Why is it that DM's almost never use resurrect or raise dead to recall their BBEGs?

Most DMs I know do.

Why must the players be the only ones mildly inconvenienced by death?

Obviously your experience differs from mine...


A'koss.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Where is this rule exactly?

PH, page 246?

 

[A'koss]

Originally posted by CRGreathouse:

PH, page 246?

My bad, I thought he meant something else entirely... Carry on.


A'koss.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I'm with Wormwood 247% on this one. As he's already said what needs to be said, I think I can restrict my part to moral support.

 

[Darkness]

Why do no DM's take advantage of the 10 year/level limit on resurrection?

What do you mean with 'take advantage of' here?

 

[Saphryme]

My DM has implemented two different rules. The first being everytime you die you gain a madness rating increasing 1d6 for every death/resurection he additionally implements a 3 max resurection per character unless by god intervention ie. you can quest for more chances...but that could be worth a life all in it's self.