The resurrection problem. Case in point: Eberron

[delericho]

It should be worth noting I think though that in my 25+ years of play, I've never been the DM when 17th level characters were in play, and only once was I the PC with such a character (and I didn't get that one 'fairly' by starting at 1st level).

Only time I've DM'ed for 17th level characters was right at the end of our "Shackled City" campaign. Those characters were run 'fairly' in all but one case (a character who had dropped out of the campaign and then come back later).

A couple of the players from that campaign have other similarly high-level PCs, but I can't common on how 'fairly' they came about.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Thought all dead in EBERRON became the life force in War Forged.

It is all about the world myth:

• Maybe their gods thought it was a good death and does not want them to return.
  
• Maybe another god is preventing it.
  
• Maybe something ate their soul on the way to the afterlife.
  
• Maybe they did not get their last rights in the time frame required.
  
• Maybe it was their time.
  
• Odds are it just did not move the plot along.

 

[Aaron]

Most of you have addressed really good points.

I think that the most convincing one is the scarcety of high level NPCa that can cast resurrection spells, something I need to get accustomed to.

Thank for your suggestions.

 

[MarkB]

For what it's worth, there's a 4e paragon-tier module we've recently started playing which takes easily-available resurrection as its basic premise. The hook is that in one particular town, Raise Dead rituals have started to fail, and those who have been successfully raised seem to have had some damage dealt to their souls. Even the Gentle Repose ritual is failing.

When our party heard about these events, my character's first reaction was "Wow, a town that uses Raise Dead frequently enough to generate statistically-meaningful failure rates over a couple of weeks? Let's head there - these folks have got to be loaded. And accident-prone."

 

[RainOfSteel]

So, the objections made that the more excessible sorts of resurrection like Raise Dead are highly limited spells that are easily foiled ring true to me with regard to the assumptions of Eberron.

Then what about the OP's original comments? Those people died, Raise Dead should have been used, but it wasn't; and the OP could locate no explanation given about why.

Clearly the PC's weren't around to save King Boranel's older brothers.

As I was going to sleep last night, I thought to myself, "You know, you went too far into a discussion about PCs on that one."

I still think a national ruler in Khorvaire on Eberron has the resources to come up with a True Resurrection if it were needed. It could be something for the PCs to track down. Did I hear an adventure hook landing?

------------

I joined in a group that had hit 15th level after over a year of play, and we continued on to 20th level over another several months. While the game was conducted mostly in a homebrew Prime setting, we wound up in Sigil as the launching point for a final adventure into the Egyptian Land of the Dead where we had to solve some issues. Play at 20th level was a blast. I would have been happy to continue but the DM was burned to a cinder on running it.

 

[BOZ]

a) Polymorph - One of the most accessible ways to rid yourself of a person in D&D is a baneful polymorph of some sort. You don't kill the King's wife, because that's a problem that's too easily dealt with. Instead, you keep the King's wife alive and hide her somewhere she can't be found. So long as the body is alive and undiscoverable, the King's wife is as good as dead and no high level spellcaster can do anything about it until the King's wife current form and location are ascertained. Ideally, you put the King's wife in a form she can't escape from and put her somewhere she will be safe until such time no one cares whether she comes back.

That didn't work in Princess and the Frog.

 

[MarkB]

a) Polymorph - One of the most accessible ways to rid yourself of a person in D&D is a baneful polymorph of some sort. You don't kill the King's wife, because that's a problem that's too easily dealt with. Instead, you keep the King's wife alive and hide her somewhere she can't be found. So long as the body is alive and undiscoverable, the King's wife is as good as dead and no high level spellcaster can do anything about it until the King's wife current form and location are ascertained. Ideally, you put the King's wife in a form she can't escape from and put her somewhere she will be safe until such time no one cares whether she comes back.

A wrinkle with this one is to turn the person into something very short-lived, like a mayfly. Not even True Resurrection can bring back someone who dies of old age.

If your DM rules that peoples' lifespan is unaffected by Polymorph, an alternative is to zap their brain with Touch of Idiocy until they're of animal intelligence, then stick them in a fast-time pocket plane with a Ring of Regeneration and a Ring of Sustenance sovereign-glued to their fingers. That way, they'll be sustained through old age, but will still expire within days or even hours Prime-Material-time, and they'll be unable to figure out a way to escape.

 

[delericho]

If your DM rules that peoples' lifespan is unaffected by Polymorph, an alternative is to zap their brain with Touch of Idiocy until they're of animal intelligence, then stick them in a fast-time pocket plane with a Ring of Regeneration and a Ring of Sustenance sovereign-glued to their fingers. That way, they'll be sustained through old age, but will still expire within days or even hours Prime-Material-time, and they'll be unable to figure out a way to escape.

Touch of idiocy would also expire at that same accelerated rate. Also, repeated applications of the same spell typically don't stack, so that may or may not work.

Also, that's a really expensive way to get rid of someone...

 

[Celebrim]

That didn't work in Princess and the Frog.

No, but it arguably made for a better story than if the high level Cleric in 'Princess and the Frog' had just said, "D'accord, mon cherie, I cast 'raise dead' and ya be back alive again! Now child, get yerself off to N'awlings and learn some discipline. Dats what ya really need I say. But first, let me do a Gospel inspired musical interlude about Voodoo, because this being a family film the Good Gal has to be a cleric of a politically approved animistic religion. And dis being ENWorld, I canna even have a good rant about it."