Well, it was sure to happen...
One of my PCs got himself offed last gaming session. (Ironically, in a side quest of my own design, but enough of that.) Anyway, while the party as made the effort to seek out Lady Annah Teraknia of the Church of Wee Jas to raise him--they had done so prior for Kora Whistlegap in an act of exceptional philanthropy--he was sure to lose some experience, or at least the level, for the raise dead spell. He was cool with that, but later, a thought occured to me.
With Dungeon #149 now on the stands, and Charon's stat block just staring me in the face, I had the idea that upon a character's death, that character would find themselves face to face with Charon. Perhaps the two meet in Hades, but I'm more inclined to make it the Abyss for this character, as he has a very shady past involved in piracy. (His own back story makes assertions that he was the co-founder of the Crimson Fleet with Cold Captain Wyther, who betrayed him.)
At this point, across the planes, the call to his soul to return to be raised comes out. Well, in this situation, I see raise dead's loss of a level as being Charon's "portion of the recipient's soul" which he takes in lieu of its entirety. Thus, every individual who is raised by raise dead is, in effect, bestowing his portion of his soul unto The Ferryman.
Here in lies the interesting part. I think it might be fascinating if, with a stat block in hand, that if the character "refused" to part with that portion of his soul, Charon would come after the character, looking to take what's his. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that if such a character tried such a bold act in front of an immortal creature, he faced its wrath, as the effect of raise dead was in progress.
So in short, the idea I have is that a character who dies, and is raised by a means which would not ordinarily prevent loss of level will confront Charon. Unless they choose to willingly part with their experience/level, they could fight him, or rather, just try to stay alive until such time that the raise spell "took effect", i.e. say, one round per character level. If the character survives, he gets to keep his experience et al, and is raised as well. If not, Charon takes the experience/level, and then departs with his due; the character is raised, but with the usual penalty.
This does pose the problem that although raising a character is an expensive venture, I believe my players are a little too attached to their characters. Thus, they will strive to keep them alive. (Good luck on the Isle of Dread, I know.) But that said, I'm wondering if using this strategy, if anyone can think of a way to more appropriately adjudicate Charon's abilities, so that the character doesn't have to roll a nat 20 on any given save to have any chance, whatsoever. Or, should I just have Charon mercilessly pummel him, and instill a sense of fear over this figure sure to rear his head at the end of the campaign?
You could potentially deal with it by Charon appearing and offering to let the player propose a game of chess or cards in order to save his soul. It's been a common theme in folklore and film that Death enjoys playing games and can be dissuaded by being beaten in chess.
~ Bryon ~
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Let him barter the piece of his soul in such a way that to keep the piece now he'll have to give his whole soul when they meet again. That way you can up the trade ante everytime and before you know it, Charon has a whole party of souls instead of a piece now ;)
I am inclined to go this route. Indeed, by the time they reach "Enemy of my Enemies" Charon may decide to "cash in" on the souls that are his due. Or perhaps have the aforementioned character be bound to the Styx and the planes it visits until they defeat Demogorgon to Charon's satisfaction...
However there are "lesser" boatman, servants of Charon, whose name escapes me atm. I am assuming the aforementioned character is of relatively low level to be taking on Charon himself. Perhaps one of these intermediaries is appropriate as an encounter as the OP describes. Charon may not be interested in low level adventurers...
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I had the idea that upon a character's death, that character would find themselves face to face with Charon. Perhaps the two meet in Hades, but I'm more inclined to make it the Abyss for this character, as he has a very shady past involved in piracy. ..
I've been wondering about this WRT the SWW stowaway concept. If Rowyn were killed in TiNH, then raised by her family, wouldn't the "sneak preview" of punishment in the afterlife be a BIG impetus toward a major direction change in her moral life?
With PCs, the player can decide that his character's oblivious to the warning, but for anyone else, the view from the lemure pits should make for a major fork in the alignment road.
Sorry if this is threadjacking....
However there are "lesser" boatman, servants of Charon, whose name escapes me atm. I am assuming the aforementioned character is of relatively low level to be taking on Charon himself. Perhaps one of these intermediaries is appropriate as an encounter as the OP describes. Charon may not be interested in low level adventurers...
That's a good idea. I glanced at them (the marrenoloths, out of Monster Manual II), but their stat blocks leave a lot to be desired. Something's wrong with a CR 10 creature with no major offensive abilities and only 45 hit points. I'm tempted to try to reverse engineer a kind of "proto-Charon", as an example of a revised marrenoloth. Something more in line with its actual CR. (Geez...where can one go to find errata for the MMII?)