Wasn't raise dead supposed to be harder at low levels?

[Mort]

Looking at the Raise dead ritual it seems, well, easy (especially compared to say the cure disease ritual which will likely harm and may even kill a target).

500-650 gold and boom your up and going (yes you have a -1 to most checks for a little while but so what).
The ritual is 8th level, so characters get access to it as soon as they did in old editions (possibly sooner since NPC's don't necessarily adhere to the level guidelines).

The soul having to be "available and willing" is identical to the 3e requirement.

Now I haven't seen the wealth guidelines for 4e so maybe the gp cost is much more than it looks but it certainly seems quite low.

Funny thing is the higher level you get (by tiers) the more the ritual costs to get you back, so it actually seems harder to get back at higher levels not easier(unless of course other options are available by then).

I'm not really looking for a "well the DM can limit the ritual how he likes" response - that's ALWAYS true; I just kept hearing that per raw it was harder and it certainly doesn't look like it.

 

[Mercule]

I had a similar concern. I kinda assume there's a zero missing from the end of all the costs.

 

[ForbidenMaster]

680GP is how much an 8th level party should get from one of the 10 encounters it fights to get to 9th (note thats the total monetary treasure value of level 8 divided by 10, not one of the parcels). In addition to that you are still going to have to buy the proper components, putting you back another 500GP.

Also, 3 levels later and its going to cost 5,000GP in components. Thats the equivalent to what a 15th level character should get from one encounter (same method as above).

At epic it costs 50,000GP, but thats the equivalent to treasure from one encounter from between 21st and 22nd (45,000 for 21, and 65,000 for 22). So its going to be really hard for a heroic character, moderately hard for a paragon character, and relaticly easy for an epic character, which IMO is how it should be.

 

[Traken]

I think the prices are actually pretty good.

For Heroic tier, you have to sell a Level 7 item to ressurect someone.
For Paragon tier, you have to sell a Level 15 item.
For Epic tier, you have to sell a Level 22 item.

Any more expensive and resurrections would be far and fewer between, which goes against the heroic feeling Wizards is trying to make.

 

[Mort]

I think the prices are actually pretty good.

For Heroic tier, you have to sell a Level 7 item to ressurect someone.
For Paragon tier, you have to sell a Level 15 item.
For Epic tier, you have to sell a Level 22 item.

Any more expensive and resurrections would be far and fewer between, which goes against the heroic feeling Wizards is trying to make.

Seeing as they have a "quest" system of sorts I'd have been much more impressed if they attached some sort of quest component to raise dead ("ok you can come back but your god demands x from you") than a simple monetary component; it certainly would have felt more heroic.

That also adds a nice element of "are you willing to pay the price" especially if the god bringing you back isn't yours ("yes you can come back, but I will at some later point require a favor, still willing?"

 

[mattdm]

Seeing as they have a "quest" system of sorts I'd have been much more impressed if they attached some sort of quest component to raise dead ("ok you can come back but your god demands x from you") than a simple monetary component; it certainly would have felt more heroic.

That seems like a reasonable way to play it for a group that enjoys doing things that way.

 

[WalterKovacs]

Seeing as they have a "quest" system of sorts I'd have been much more impressed if they attached some sort of quest component to raise dead ("ok you can come back but your god demands x from you") than a simple monetary component; it certainly would have felt more heroic.

That also adds a nice element of "are you willing to pay the price" especially if the god bringing you back isn't yours ("yes you can come back, but I will at some later point require a favor, still willing?"

A "quest" to bring a character back to life means that a player gets to spend a play session with their character dead. A ritual to pay some money to raise him means that he has to sit out maybe a few enconters as the players go to where they can buy the scroll [early on] and the material components to raise him.

The goal for the default raise dead is to let players get back into the game as quickly as possible. The idea being that a playe wants to be able to play his character.

One quest variant could be that a quest is assigned after they are raised. Perhaps you make a deal with the Raven Queen to return him to life ... but he then has to help in a quest that, if it isn't accomplished, she'll send someone to reclaim him.

EDIT:

Oops, I just realized you said the same thing basically. I thought you were talking about a party quest to get someone raised ... but you meant it as a quest that starts after the raising.

 

[Hellzon]

Making Raise Dead require a quest is a nice idea, but I don't think "Make the DM come up with a quest on the spot" should be a spell. A hefty monetary price is a good baseline.

 

[Aria Silverhands]

Resurrection rituals will be far and few between in my games. PC's won't even be allowed to learn them along with a good many other rituals. Just because the pc's are "supposed" to be special doesn't mean there aren't others in the world who have powers beyond their ken.

 

[robertliguori]

Also, don't forget that unlike before, where you needed diamonds, for 4E raise dead you need either generic restoration ritual components, or 2,500 gp worth of magic items.