Rezzing

[2WS-Steve]

One thing I'd like to see changed is the default setting for raise dead and similar abilities.

I'm generally okay with rezzing for players, but for NPCs it causes a lot of problems for DMs. All your plots where this or that fellow gets assassinated require either a bunch of special planning -- killing guy and taking head or other vital bits, special magical poisons, or so on, stuff that you almost never see in the fiction we're trying to emulate, including D&D fiction.


Mongoose's "The Drow War" had a nice little solution where the players and certain important NPCs were the only ones who could be rezzed (for plot reasons). That'd make for a smoother game and less weirdness in running a proper story.


Also, it'd be nice to see some serious discussion and a simplified system for running a game without any rezzing. Make it less of "here's some vague ideas, now figure it out on your own" and more "here's a system of changes you should make and how it will impact your game." For instance, codifying (and playtesting!) rules for what happens when a character dies and the player writes up a new character to replace the missing one.

 

[JoelF]

There's already a mechanism for not having most NPCs come back from the dead. They have to be willing to. Most NPCs live lifes according to their faith, and wind up in an appropriate after life, and don't have a compelling reason to come back, even if someone has the magic and material components to bring them back. Only NPCs which have some unfinished business (i.e., whichever ones the DM wants) would choose to come back. PC heroes are some of those rare exceptions - they typically die leaving lots of stuff unfinished (such as the adventure they are on when they die, companions who are still alive and need their help, etc.)

 

[Wormwood]

I removed all magic-based resurrection from my game.

If a character would have died, a player may spend Action Points to 'undo' the death (leaving him helpless for the remainder of the encounter). If they don;t have sufficient points, they may go into debt.

Yes, completely stolen from Eden's Buffy the Vampire Slayer drama point mechanic.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

I don't allow raise dead or its higher level versions. The only way a mortal can bring back the dead is with wish/miracle.

Instead I make it a tad harder to actually die by increasing how far a character can go into negative HP (constitution score plus hit dice) and with action points (slightly stronger than what is described in ebberon, can be used to raise AC/reduce damage).
In the past I've also given one 'hand of god' per character (ala shadowrun).

 

[Treebore]

There's already a mechanism for not having most NPCs come back from the dead. They have to be willing to. Most NPCs live lifes according to their faith, and wind up in an appropriate after life, and don't have a compelling reason to come back, even if someone has the magic and material components to bring them back. Only NPCs which have some unfinished business (i.e., whichever ones the DM wants) would choose to come back. PC heroes are some of those rare exceptions - they typically die leaving lots of stuff unfinished (such as the adventure they are on when they die, companions who are still alive and need their help, etc.)

Very true.

Plus I want the penalties to be taken away, officially. I have yet to see a player who was happy their character died, and I don't penalize them. Just they lose out on the XP's for the encounter in which they died, and only on creatures/opponents that died after they did. Thats been plenty of punishment in my opinion.

I also kiind of use action points in the same way other posters have said, however I do not allow them to go into debt. If they have no AP's with which to save themselves, that was poor thinking on their part.

I also have been doing the go negative CON, but it is plus their CON bonus. Minimum of -10.

 

[Jackelope King]

I allow PCs to bust out the equivalent of psionic revivify to heal someone who "died" within a few rounds, which is enough to bring back most PCs who die, but it's probably not enough if you find the king dead in his chambers the next morning. Death still matters for plot reasons, but PCs can get little resets.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I removed all magic-based resurrection from my game.

If a character would have died, a player may spend Action Points to 'undo' the death (leaving him helpless for the remainder of the encounter). If they don;t have sufficient points, they may spend go into debt.

Yes, completely stolen from Eden's Buffy the Vampire Slayer drama point mechanic.

I did something somewhat similar. IMC, you can turn "dead" into "almost dead" with an action point, but you're still vulnerable to being killed. You can't spend into debt this way. Also, resurrection still exists, but the spells are two levels higher than normal (making True Rez an epic spell). However, permanent negative levels (such as from being raised from the dead) are much easier to get rid of in my game.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I removed all magic-based resurrection from my game.

If a character would have died, a player may spend Action Points to 'undo' the death (leaving him helpless for the remainder of the encounter). If they don;t have sufficient points, they may spend go into debt.

Yes, completely stolen from Eden's Buffy the Vampire Slayer drama point mechanic.

QFT.

No gameplay death + no gameplay resurrection. This is how SWSE handles the issue, and I hope it's another improvement 4e will incorporate.

 

[M.L. Martin]

QFT.

No gameplay death + no gameplay resurrection. This is how SWSE handles the issue, and I hope it's another improvement 4e will incorporate.

I don't know . . . the idea of raising the dead is almost an iconic part of D&D by now, and while I'd like to see it seriously curtailed (to the point of 'only die if you've spent all your Action Points or want to fulfill your Destiny'--think we could convince them to slip Destiny rules into the 4E DMG? ), I'm not sure I'd want it cut entirely.

Extremely rare gameplay death + extremely rare gameplay resurrection, maybe?

 

[WarlockLord]

How about this:

Ressurrection can only be performed by necromancers, because they have supreme mastery over life and death. However, necromancers are neither common nor welcome. Therefore...