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So I had my first PFS TPK last night. Without giving away too much about the scenario, there was a pretty much instant death condition with a Fort DC of 11. Two players rolled natural 2s (and the summoner also rolled nat 2 for his pet) none of which increased to 11. The other insta killed player, who had bad Con, rolled a 9 and got a 10. One did get a shirt re-roll, which saved him, but then he and the last player proceeded to fight the remainder of the encounter to their ultimate demise.
Two of the players were devastated, two of the players thought it was hilarious. I just feel bad for all concerned.
When you have had player death (and, especially, massive player death), how have you handled it? What are good ways to approach it for the enjoyment of the players?
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It's really hard to give context here because you haven't mentioned the scenario (spoiler tag it if you have to).
In general, TPK's can be the fault of the scenario or the fault of the players.
If it's the fault of the scenario, everyone tends to feel cheated. Difficult to pick up on this, because everyone's biased to some degree.
If it's the fault of the players - and it usually is - the best way to get past it is to consider it a lesson learned. Maybe your 2 leftover players should have considered fleeing to fail their mission and save their lives?
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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So, what I do is:
1) See if any of the characters can be brought back. Body recovery is 5 Prestige Points, then a raise dead is 16 PP or 5450 gold. Then there are two permanent negative levels to clear. As I understand current ruling, both negative levels have to be cleared or ele the character is retired.
2) Start something else immediately. The hour-long "Ambush in Absalom" and "Urge to Evolve" quests can be replayed and give the PC a chance to accomplish something during the session. If the TPK happened very early in the scenario (harpies, I'm looking at you) you could even play a quick scenario.
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There were a few opportunities for most of the players to flee. Mostly they thought that they could win, though, and so they fought. It was also a really bad night for dice from the player side of the table. At least two players had remarkably horrible rolls all night, and I kept having multiple crits all night (though they lived through those . . .)
It would have been nice to get people into something new, but the store was closing.
I know one player did blame the scenario, and it was a challenging encounter (I guess, duh, obviously). The pet and the re-roll were the first to fail, though, so it was not without (at least some) warning.
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I think as your characters do die, as long as you can get past the turmoil, you do look back and hyper-analyse it a bit to figure out what you could've done to cheat death or overcome it, and it helps your gameplay style forever.
It helps to educate players about that when they've had some time to soften up.
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In the strategy game XCOM, on the classic and impossible difficulties, many players go through multiple playthroughs and often end up suffering cataclysmic defeat multiple times. This is expected to be normal, veteran players say that you need to learn from every defeat - why did it happen? what mistakes did I make? Was this luck or something else?
I have only been at one TPK in my time. I was GMing.
The players had an entire team that all suffered from poor will saves. Not one member of the team could stand up to a powerful enchantment spell.
The team also accidentally positioned themselves in the perfect setup for a 30-foot cone shaped burst of Fear. The results were not pretty. Those who were not fleeing for their lives were mopped up with impunity.
Even though I didn't lose a character, when I sit at high level tables now I make a mental note of everyone's strong saves. I think if I sit at a table where everyone has a poor will save, I'll begin to freak out a bit.
So I had my first PFS TPK last night. Without giving away too much about the scenario, there was a pretty much instant death condition with a Fort DC of 11. Two players rolled natural 2s (and the summoner also rolled nat 2 for his pet) none of which increased to 11. The other insta killed player, who had bad Con, rolled a 9 and got a 10. One did get a shirt re-roll, which saved him, but then he and the last player proceeded to fight the remainder of the encounter to their ultimate demise.
Two of the players were devastated, two of the players thought it was hilarious. I just feel bad for all concerned.
When you have had player death (and, especially, massive player death), how have you handled it? What are good ways to approach it for the enjoyment of the players?
If everyone instantly died on a DC 11 Fort save, it tells me a few things:
1. Players were either 1st or 2nd level.
2. Whatever it wast hat killed them was at least a CR3.
First, low level characters are incredibly squishy. Still, I feel that a DM who would lead PCs into a bloodbath like what you described is either inept or sociopathic. Possibly both.
The best way to approach a TPK for the enjoyment of the players? Don't.
Ask yourself how you would feel if you spent two hours making a character, fleshing out a backstory, selecting gear, and transcribing a character sheet for the DM to say "Everyone died. No raise dead. Make a new character."
I always plan for character death because one of my DMs is barbaric, but TPKs are show stoppers. Totally ruin a session.
I remember that scenario- it actually is easy to get a TPK if the GM insists on knowledge rolls that the party doesn't have the skills for. It also requires a merciful GM to point out the close at hand method for reversing the petrification. Some bad rolls and things could get very nasty.
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1) See if any of the characters can be brought back. Body recovery is 5 Prestige Points, then a raise dead is 16 PP or 5450 gold. Then there are two permanent negative levels to clear. As I understand current ruling, both negative levels have to be cleared or ele the character is retired.
Where does it say that both negative levels must be cleared or the PC is dead?
I've always assumed if the negative levels aren't cleared, they're marked as a condition on the chronicle (and can be cleared at a later time).
Depending on the TPK, if one person can come back, it's also possible for that one person to spare everyone from paying the 5 PP for body recovery. If you're really lucky (and high level), that one person can also cast Raise Dead and Restoration on everyone else, saving substantial money.
For me, TPKs have never been fun, either as a player or GM. As a one shot or short term campaign yes, as a long term campaign no.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Jason, it's a newish ruling, from the "if I am affected by baleful polymorph and turn into into a super-intelligent squirrel, can I stay that way for the rest of my career?" thread.
All conditions, including attribute drain that otherwise doesn't have any effect, needs to be cleared by the end of the session or else the PC is declared dead.
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If it's the scenario everyone seems to think it is, it can be rough on low level characters. From what I understand, it can be worse at high tier, though not necessarily because of that encounter. In general, I have trouble recommending a group of completely new characters or even all level 1s play a Season 4.
We had a character fail his save and turn to stone. Fortunately we had the appropriate knowledge skill, so we knew how to avoid a TPK and what the readily available cure was.
TPKs are always rough, and they seem to happen most at low levels and to new players. We've had the most locally on First Steps II, I think.
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I've never been a part of a TPK, but one short module I ran got fairly close.
In general, I try and run the tactics as written, adjusting where appropriate.
Sometimes I roll a couple of 20s in a row and the nasty bow crit takes someone out. I also roll open on the table, so if it's a 20 it's there in plain view for everyone. This helps players know I'm playing fair and not out to kill them. I don't believe in fudging dice, I believe in instilling a real sense of danger to the game. I mostly find that if players are upset about losing they typically:
1) Don't realize that it is possible to lose this game.
2) Are young and/or immature.
3) Were doing something stupid anyway and can only blame themselves.
I've recently had a few character deaths and the people took it fairly well. Though I do still have one local player nervous to sit at a table with me; he keeps making jokes about avoiding angry yeti.
I think the after action report and deciding what they could have done better is an excellent way to learn from a TPK.
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The only DC11 fort save or die is a young basilisk turning people to stone, which is entirely by-passable by the PC's in the circumstance you described, you can just close your eyes when the pet turns to stone and fight blind as a 50% miss chance is better than instant death (I believe I played the same scenario my cleric closed his eyes and just bashed at it while the inquisitor poked me with a heal stick, I would yell out when I needed the heals otherwise he would try to poke past me with his longspear).
Sure, if you have someone with the knowledge skills to hit a DC 15 knowledge nature check (a 20 int character who has it as a class skill with a rank in it will still fail 25% of the time), they act early enough, they ask the right question, they weren't hit by the gaze attack at the start of their round. At level 1. If they do get the information about the gaze attack, they will have needed to beat the DC 15 by 5 or more in order to know about the blood breaking the enchantment. Further, they only provide enough blood for 1d3 PCs to be revived, meaning even if you beat them, its possible for you to lose PCs to the stone if the GM doesn't roll high. And its DC 13 at low tier unless you are playing with 4 players.
Long story short? That's an insanely cruel deathtrap to 1st level characters.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 8
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Sometimes I roll a couple of 20s in a row and the nasty bow crit takes someone out. I also roll open on the table, so if it's a 20 it's there in plain view for everyone. This helps players know I'm playing fair and not out to kill them. I don't believe in fudging dice, I believe in instilling a real sense of danger to the game. I mostly find that if players are upset about losing they typically:
1) Don't realize that it is possible to lose this game.
2) Are young and/or immature.
3) Were doing something stupid anyway and can only blame themselves.I've recently had a few character deaths and the people took it fairly well. Though I do still have one local player nervous to sit at a table with me; he keeps making jokes about avoiding angry yeti.
I think the after action report and deciding what they could have done better is an excellent way to learn from a TPK.
I too roll in the open, fully. I also announce what my bonus is before I roll. My experience is that this helps to build trust with the players; I am also happy to explain any and all bonuses that occur.
Unfortunately, this past Monday I GM'd my first TPK...the players still had fun and I think/hope I felt worse about it than they did. The problem in this case was partially dice, partially poor player decisions vs simple tactics from the scenario. Critical hits vs PCs, especially at the low tiers, is the biggest cause of this I think.
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Jason, it's a newish ruling, from the "if I am affected by baleful polymorph and turn into into a super-intelligent squirrel, can I stay that way for the rest of my career?" thread.
All conditions, including attribute drain that otherwise doesn't have any effect, needs to be cleared by the end of the session or else the PC is declared dead.
Well that sucks, but thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll have to read the thread to know why, but right now it seems like a terrible decision based upon some fringe case.
When we first started, it took 16 PP for Raise Dead (and the Restorations weren't needed). Now it takes 24 PP to come back without being permanently dead. You can't even pay off your "death debt" slowly now.
Sometimes it seems like we're fixing problems that occur in 1 out of 1000 games but the "fix" we apply makes the majority of game a worse experience. My thinking is that having people play and continue to play is a good thing, being lenient is a lot better than being harsh.
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Some scenarios (or rather, a module) contain creatures that aren't even save or die; they're "AC or die." Notably,
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Jason, it's a newish ruling, from the "if I am affected by baleful polymorph and turn into into a super-intelligent squirrel, can I stay that way for the rest of my career?" thread.
All conditions, including attribute drain that otherwise doesn't have any effect, needs to be cleared by the end of the session or else the PC is declared dead.
Well that sucks, but thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll have to read the thread to know why, but right now it seems like a terrible decision based upon some fringe case.
When we first started, it took 16 PP for Raise Dead (and the Restorations weren't needed). Now it takes 24 PP to come back without being permanently dead. You can't even pay off your "death debt" slowly now.
Sometimes it seems like we're fixing problems that occur in 1 out of 1000 games but the "fix" we apply makes the majority of game a worse experience. My thinking is that having people play and continue to play is a good thing, being lenient is a lot better than being harsh.
Yeah. If your low on PP and spending cash I can see players saying "I have to sell my gear to raise the cash to clear a neg level? That sucks!" Almost no one wants to take sell an item at 50% just to clear a neg level and then buy the item back at the end of the next session.
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Some scenarios (or rather, a module) contain creatures that aren't even save or die; they're "AC or die." Notably, ** spoiler omitted ** puts 1st level PCs against a wight. If it hits, that character takes a negative level, which kills him or her. While the stat blocks lists a save, that's the save at the end of the day to prevent the level from becoming permanent; energy drain explicitly doesn't allow a save to prevent the effect in its entirety.
Hmm... I don't know that scenario (clicked on the spoiler thinking I knew which one it was). There is another scenario with a Wight in tier 1-2, but it specifically alters the level drain to just be a Con drain. Are you sure something similar isn't the case? I know when I played the one I'm thinking of, the GM missed that part and it resulted in a character death. Unfortunately, it was many months before I read and ran the scenario and caught his mistake.
I know there is supposed to be logic somewhere but that is one of the sillier rulings I've heard.
All conditions, including attribute drain that otherwise doesn't have any effect, needs to be cleared by the end of the session or else the PC is declared dead.
So all Barbarians have to spend PP's to get rid of fatigue, if the game ends after the final fight? Or if a PC gets Fatigued (as he would have to rest 8 hours)? Talk about being tired to death.
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So all Barbarians have to spend PP's to get rid of fatigue, if the game ends after the final fight? Or if a PC gets Fatigued (as he would have to rest 8 hours)? Talk about being tired to death.I know there is supposed to be logic somewhere but that is one of the sillier rulings I've heard.
All conditions, including attribute drain that otherwise doesn't have any effect, needs to be cleared by the end of the session or else the PC is declared dead.
I know you're just being facetious, but fatigue goes away by itself, as does stat damage, exhaustion, temporary deafness (like from a thunderstone), and many other negative conditions.
What must be cleared is any permanent negative condition, up to and including negative levels and attribute drain. It sucks that a few characters may be left having to sell equipment to remain playable, but that's the way things go when things like the baleful polymorph thread show up.
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Some scenarios (or rather, a module) contain creatures that aren't even save or die; they're "AC or die." Notably, ** spoiler omitted ** puts 1st level PCs against a wight. If it hits, that character takes a negative level, which kills him or her. While the stat blocks lists a save, that's the save at the end of the day to prevent the level from becoming permanent; energy drain explicitly doesn't allow a save to prevent the effect in its entirety.Hmm... I don't know that scenario (clicked on the spoiler thinking I knew which one it was). There is another scenario with a Wight in tier 1-2, but it specifically alters the level drain to just be a Con drain. Are you sure something similar isn't the case? I know when I played the one I'm thinking of, the GM missed that part and it resulted in a character death. Unfortunately, it was many months before I read and ran the scenario and caught his mistake.
The wight in
Err... baronbloodbath, you seem to have wandered into the Pathfinder Society forums without noticing it. In PFS, we have to run the published scenarios as written, so this isn't an issue of a sadistic GM, just a nasty scenario and some bad luck and/or tactics...
Yeah, guilty as charged. PFS seems pretty brutal.
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The ruling that you have to clear all permanent negative conditions or you become unplayable is a very blanket statement. However, if they don't make a very broad blanket statement then you get strange corner cases. If a single point of stat drain is allowed, how about 3 points of stat drain? How about 10?
I know I wouldn't like it if a melee character showed up in my Pathfinder squad and asked my cleric to prepare a bunch of Restorations so they could get their Dex score back because they were too cheap to do it on their own.
This ruling is about preserving fun for future tables, not trying to force players to sell equipment to keep playing. How frustrated would you be if you had to deal with the stat-drained character or the level drained character?
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This ruling is about preserving fun for future tables, not trying to force players to sell equipment to keep playing. How frustrated would you be if you had to deal with the stat-drained character or the level drained character?
I'd be OK with it. It doesn't really matter if it's 1 point of permanent stat drain or 10, it takes a single Restoration spell to fix. I'm sure 1 spell slot (maybe after the game!) isn't going to matter to the cleric.
Even two permanent negative levels isn't impossible to overcome, even if he has to live with it during the game and pay for it after the game. -2 modifier... is nothing compared to how you play your PC.
If someone was so desperate that they needed to do this, to preserve their PC (or PC wealth), I'd be OK with it.
The situation (people being cheap and waiting for a cleric to cure them the next session) is how we play now, and in 50+ sessions I haven't seen it once.
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If this ruling holds, it would be nice if the next version of the Guide makes it very explicit what your character needs in order to remain playable after death:
16PP or 5,450gp for Raise Dead
+
2 x (4PP or 1,280gp) to remove negative levels
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5PP for Body Recovery (if necessary--consult GM to determine)
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The ruling that you have to clear all permanent negative conditions or you become unplayable is a very blanket statement. However, if they don't make a very broad blanket statement then you get strange corner cases. If a single point of stat drain is allowed, how about 3 points of stat drain? How about 10?
I know I wouldn't like it if a melee character showed up in my Pathfinder squad and asked my cleric to prepare a bunch of Restorations so they could get their Dex score back because they were too cheap to do it on their own.
This ruling is about preserving fun for future tables, not trying to force players to sell equipment to keep playing. How frustrated would you be if you had to deal with the stat-drained character or the level drained character?
I would be happy to have seen him look me up. As long at he has the material components, what's wrong with casting the spell for him?
But my clerics are often healers...
I can also see an adventure starting like that.
My guy when working an assignment someplace and who should show up at the local lodge but a beat up team with one or more "stat-drained character or the level drained character". Makes me feel important! Yeah!
I totally get that, and would love to cast a spell on my cleric to heal someone... However, I've also been to the table where the fighter with a 7 Wisdom (now drained at -4) lets the table know that he won't be making any Will saves today, and can anyone cure it. When we said we couldn't (no casters at all at that table) he just shrugged and "maybe next table." We told him he could get spell casting services for pretty cheap to fix that, and he just shrugged and said, "I'd rather save my gold." Guess what happened to him? Color Spray.
We still won, but it was frustrating that we had someone who was unwilling to get healed up so we could be more effective.
That being said, I'd be perfectly happy with a few conditions spelled out that had to be fixed or be considered unplayable: dead, polymorphed, petrified, cursed, etc. Then let the table deal with players starting the session with their minor afflictions or stat drain. My point was that I understand it's easier to make a blanket ruling and be done with the situation. If they did try to make a list, then they would just have to hear: "What about X? Did you consider Y? Is Z ok?"
TL;DR
I was fine with it before the ruling, but they're going to get a huge thread of complaints either way (see above).
If this ruling holds, it would be nice if the next version of the Guide makes it very explicit what your character needs in order to remain playable after death:
16PP or 5,450gp for Raise Dead
+
2 x (4PP or 1,280gp) to remove negative levels
+
5PP for Body Recovery (if necessary--consult GM to determine)
What this ruling does is effectively raise the minimal level of a character that can be brought back without party help from 3 to 4-ish to up around 5 or 6 somewhere depending how they had spent their PP and cash.
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@Andrew Hoskins
Solution is to tell that player that it's his duty to have properly ready character. Otherwise, just don't play with him.
This ruling is big hit to everyone and effectively reduces chances of PC's getting proper resurrection. Usually you could resurrect character
at level 4 with all PP gained, but more likely at level 5. Now you need 16+8= 24 PP to resurrect him via Prestige. So death becomes affordable only at 7th or 8th level.
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I've been on the receiving end of a TPK and nearly on the dealing end.
On the receiving end, we were a part of experienced players, playing with a bunch of new characters. The last boss in our particular encounter was 2 or 3 levels higher than us and had fighter or Cavalier levels (can't remember and can't be bothered to look it up). He had about 5 times the HP we did at level 1 and our dice went cold.
That happens, we were out of spells that could seriously dent him (we had a Cleric and Inquisitor of Rovagug, a Barbarian and a PreGen Kyra)
It happens. GM spent the entire end scenario apologizing to us, and we were laughing our asses off.
The time I was on the close to dealing end, I was GMing for some moderately inexperienced players on the 4-5 tier. First character guys, I pulled a few punches when I realized they didn't have the firepower to overcome us. They realized I was doing it and told me at the end thank you, but I could have killed them and they wouldn't have been mad. I chose not to though because they were 1 scenario away from all having the Prestige to get Rezs and the like.
I warned them the next GM probably wouldn't be so kind, and made some pointers on tactics they overlooked to help them overcome situations like this.
Finally, I have a character, who is my first character I've ever played in Pathfinder. He's my 11th level Fighter and will be playing Eyes if he passes Risen Rune.
I play him on hardmode (meaning I've purposely spent all of his prestige so that he can never be raised if he dies). I'm resigned to the fact that he might die, but I'm careful to understand the rules in case I get an inexperienced GM who does something that kills him, that shouldn't work i.e. I had an assassin use his assassination attack on me, when my character had just entered a room, there hadn't been time for him to study me. Turns out the GM got confused between my character (who had been mopping up a room) and a Ninja (who had entered the area a few rounds earlier to scout ahead.
I pointed out my character shouldn't have been eligible for the assassination attack and he said, "Oh I thought you were the ninja" and we were cool. Just double check that the tactics you are using are being used properly and be ready if a player questions the spell, ability or attack.
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If this ruling holds, it would be nice if the next version of the Guide makes it very explicit what your character needs in order to remain playable after death:
16PP or 5,450gp for Raise Dead
+
2 x (4PP or 1,280gp) to remove negative levels
+
5PP for Body Recovery (if necessary--consult GM to determine)
How is this not explicit in the current guide with the ruling in place?
At some point we have to assume that folks can read, right?
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Its a rubbish ruling. Which is what happens if you base decision making on message board threads. See also: monks. And pigs.The ruling that you have to clear all permanent negative conditions or you become unplayable is a very blanket statement. However, if they don't make a very broad blanket statement then you get strange corner cases. If a single point of stat drain is allowed, how about 3 points of stat drain? How about 10?
I know I wouldn't like it if a melee character showed up in my Pathfinder squad and asked my cleric to prepare a bunch of Restorations so they could get their Dex score back because they were too cheap to do it on their own.
This ruling is about preserving fun for future tables, not trying to force players to sell equipment to keep playing. How frustrated would you be if you had to deal with the stat-drained character or the level drained character?
No, what's rubbish is what lead up to the ruling. Go read that thread, and see how folks were being absolutely ridiculous.
The ruling was necessary to stop all the rubbish.
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@Andrew Hoskins
Solution is to tell that player that it's his duty to have properly ready character. Otherwise, just don't play with him.This ruling is big hit to everyone and effectively reduces chances of PC's getting proper resurrection. Usually you could resurrect character
at level 4 with all PP gained, but more likely at level 5. Now you need 16+8= 24 PP to resurrect him via Prestige. So death becomes affordable only at 7th or 8th level.
So they use the cash at the end of a scenario to help with the negative levels.
It also means that you save up some cash rather than spending it down to zero every scenario.
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If this ruling holds, it would be nice if the next version of the Guide makes it very explicit what your character needs in order to remain playable after death:
16PP or 5,450gp for Raise Dead
+
2 x (4PP or 1,280gp) to remove negative levels
+
5PP for Body Recovery (if necessary--consult GM to determine)
How is this not explicit in the current guide with the ruling in place?
At some point we have to assume that folks can read, right?
Let's assume I'm a new player, no prior experience with Pathfinder or 3.5.
I start playing. I have not read the CRB back to back. I have read the Guide to OP up through the player section.
Death is a part of any roleplaying game, and unfortunately it can happen in Pathfinder Society Organized Play just like in a regular Pathfinder RPG game session. The basic rule for Pathfinder Society is that if a PC dies during the course of a scenario, he can be raised by a PC of appropriate class and level seated at his table (paying all expected costs), he can be raised by an NPC in an appropriately sized settlement (see “Purchasing Spellcasting Services”), or he can be raised by his faction if he has sufficient Prestige Points.
Okay, I died. So I see "Purchasing Spellcasting Services" as directed
Generally speaking, you can pay to have spells cast on you at any time during the scenario so long as you’re in a settlement or have access to a church, temple, shrine, or wandering mystic. Page 163 of the Core Rulebook covers the rules for purchasing spellcasting services and the associated costs are listed in the Spellcasting and Services table on page 159.
For Pathfinder Society Organized Play, PCs may only purchase spells with a total cost of above 3,000 gp by visiting a settlement with more than 5,000 residents. Any settlement smaller than that will have a mystic or full- blown wizard or cleric who can cast spells that cost fewer than 3,000 gp, but never more. Please note that PCs may never purchase the traveling service of a spellcaster—in other words, a wizard from the local town is not, for any price, going to accompany the PCs on their mission into the nearby haunted castle.
Spells that are 7th level or higher are not available from spellcasting services. Spellcasters capable of casting such spells are quite rare, and as such, cannot simply be bartered with for higher-level spellcasting services. The only exceptions to this rule are any 7th-level or higher spells listed as available to be purchased by your faction.
Nothing here specifically tells me how to get myself alive again. Well it did say "just like in a regular PRPG game." I'll check the CRB.
When your character's current hit points drop to a negative amount equal to his Constitution score or lower, or if he succumbs to massive damage, he's dead. A character can also die from taking ability damage or suffering an ability drain that reduces his Constitution score to 0 (see Special Abilities).
Certain types of powerful magic, such as raise dead and resurrection, can restore life to a dead character. See Magic for more information.
All right, let's check out Raise Dead. Let's see....blah blah...oh, hmm: "Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The subject of the spell gains two permanent negative levels when it is raised, just as if it had been hit by an energy-draining creature." Blergh.
Okay, back to the Guide. Let's see..."Raise Dead 5,450gp." Ugh. I don't have that kind of gold. Oh wait, it said something about Prestige. Let's see...Raise Dead 16PP. That should do it. Well, I've only got the 16PP. I guess I'll have to deal with the rest later.
Currently, as written, the Guide says that's okay. It also takes a lot of flipping back between pages and books to unravel everything. I know that's pretty standard for RPGs, but it doesn't mean it can't be easier.
All I'm asking for is something like this:
Raise Dead* 16PP
*Note that the negative levels from a Raise Dead must be cleared for a character to remain playable
I'm sorry if that suggestion offends you. Not everyone comes into the game with complete system mastery.
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Lets back off the vitriol for a moment.
Your suggestion didn't offend me.
But if you are brand new and haven't read the guide from cover to cover, that's really your own fault, isn't it?
In this case, whatever the full official ruling ends up being in Guide 5.0, I'm positive Mike will make sure that it is as unambiguous as he can make it (even if that means the current ruling stands).
As for spelling out in the charts, that I think might actually confuse things if you start putting a bunch of extra information on the charts for what things cost.
The raise dead spell indicates you incur two negative levels. The Core Rule Book indicates what that means.
And GM's should know that these must be resolved.
I've had players at my table that were unaware of stuff explicitly in the guide from the character section. They didn't read it.
So having it super spelled out is not going to solve the problem of people not reading the information they are given.
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@Andrew Hoskins
Solution is to tell that player that it's his duty to have properly ready character. Otherwise, just don't play with him.This ruling is big hit to everyone and effectively reduces chances of PC's getting proper resurrection. Usually you could resurrect character
at level 4 with all PP gained, but more likely at level 5. Now you need 16+8= 24 PP to resurrect him via Prestige. So death becomes affordable only at 7th or 8th level.So they use the cash at the end of a scenario to help with the negative levels.
It also means that you save up some cash rather than spending it down to zero every scenario.
Just saying it's gonna be harder to resurrect if you have to immediately remove negative energy levels as it hits on your wallet.