Wormwood said:Yep. The same exact way you would play such a game in 3e, 2e or 1e: remove spells and effects that raise people from the dead.
In 1E, 2E, and most especially 3E, that broke the game at mid- to high levels. High-level play in the older editions was so absurdly deadly, thanks to the profusion of save-or-die effects, that resurrection was a necessary component. You had to either stick to lower-level play or make extensive house rules to avoid constant PC turnover.
While 4E seems to be moving away from that level of carnage, the existence of "once a day, when you die" effects makes me worry that resurrection will still be hardwired into the system at high levels.
two said:I can imagine Epic D&D play with easy raising, and I can imagine Epic D&D play with no easing raising. Why did WOTC choose the former rather than the latter?
You could even allow "raising" at non-epic levels, but reinstate "no raising" for Epic (for example, if you are killed by a god or being of a certain divine status/power you stay dead forever barring another god intervention/quest).
My guess is the designers figured players will be very attached to characters who've reached epic levels, so it should be very hard to off such a character permanently. While I agree to some extent, I wish they'd devised a better system for it; the E6 "death flag" system is a lot better than resurrection magic IMO.