Last session our cleric died horribly at the hands of the BBEG. Now the PC's are thousands of miles away from anyone with the ability to raise dead. They are stationed at a jungle village on an island in the middle of nowhere.
I'd like to send them on some kind of side quest that will allow them to somehow raise the fallen cleric. I'm thinking an ancient shrine... A magic fountain of some kind... maybe making a deal with a powerfull outsider... something... anything? can get a concept to gel in my mind...
What do you guys think, any ideas? Has anyone ever done this in their campaign?
Thanks in advance!
Ancient Shrine to long forgotten deities (or Elder Gods) would be fun. So would making deals with an outsider of some sort. Are you looking for more of a scenario to play out with your party?
You could crib from Greek and Egyptian mythology, where the PCs have to journey to a physical place (a cavern or underground shrine), while the dead PC is judged by their deity (or one of their deity's representatives), not unlike the Weighing of the Heart in Egyptian mythology.
Funny... the same thing just about happened to my cleric in our last gaming session. :(
So the party is in a jungle far away from civilaztion.
You can go with your shrine or fountain idea, and when they find the spot, the group has to sacrifice something (incense, jewels, a specific wild animal) equivalent to the price of a raise dead spell to activate the raise dead affect.
When there's no civilization with clerics and temples, there's always druids (human, lizardfolk, or whatever tribes are on the island) to use reincarnate. That can lead to interesting things... I had a human warmage reincarnate as a bugbear. Totally rocked.
If working with a local non-humanoid tribe, there could be side trek potential in the way of, do this for me and I'll raise/reincarnate your fallen comrade. That kind of side trek can be any short adventure from a Dungeon magazine or maybe a download from WotC.
Oooh! I just remembered an old Treasure Map adventure that you could adapt:
The party finds the ruins of a small village and there is a broken clay bowl. The inside of the bowl has etchings that depict people going down a well, performing some task, then coming out "better."
The party finds the holy spot, goes down an ancient (dry) well. The walls on the well depict the actions the party must take (sacrifice incense, or whatnot) to raise the fallen hero.
The walls also depict that people that attempt to use the power of the well more than once die and become some sort of undead. You can even have the well "haunted" by the last group that tried to use the power of the well inappropriately.
The original adventure had a well that would raise an ability score for each PC that completed the task on the wall, but you can make it anything that fits your game and the needs of your PCs.
Are you looking for more of a scenario to play out with your party?
yeah... basically they get some info, travel to a location, have to pass some kind of test/combat/puzzle/all of the above... and then earn the right to have their friend ressurected... he was a cleric of the sea god procan (posiden) if that helps get the creative juices flowing...mine have ran dry LOL :/
Let me sleep on this one. I might have something in the morning.
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I would maybe make it a buy now/pay later sort of affair. The reason I suggest this is that you don't want the players to be engaged too long in raising the cleric, as you want him back in the game (and the player back to playing) as soon as possible.
Maybe have the body possessed by a spirit (but played by the player, not the DM) at a minor shrine, and then he and the rest of the party can then head to another shrine or similar place and free it from some sort of evil influence - as appropriate to their levels and the type/affiliation of the spirit. Then, with the place reconsecrated, the spirit then departs the body and the cleric's spirit is returned. The "payment" is more along the line of services rendered rather than cash, but maybe that could also be incorporated as part of the reconsecration ceremony.
Director of Narrative
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I once had a dwarf die under my GM-age and had him raised by a mortuary-running group of Wee Jasians...for a price. He was important to their goal to complete a task for them, so he was raised immediately. There is no reason to dock the player of the fun of a game (unless of course he or she cannot make the session).
I guess what I am saying is, raise the character now, but impose a random sidetrek. It can be anything really if done that way, even something the group is uneasy about. It can also be used to further the campaign goal but in a related way, as opposed to a direct approach. The task required to make good on the resurrection could even flavor the current path of the campaign or be used to insert new information overlooked so far.
I’m generally against anyone waiting around dead while their party adventures, so here’s my off the cuff hook:
Party receives information of witchdoctor located within the jungle. In exchange for something valuable, probably a permanent hit point donation from one of the characters (nothing extreme though), he /she agrees to return the character to life. The process is flawed however, and returns the character’s mind and spirit into the body of a zombie (pitiful stats of the undead, brains of the character). This is the best the shaman can do, and takes offense when the party does not appreciate the job performed for them.
Now the group has the character along, allowing for interaction and a reason for them to show up without losing their character, and in addition to their main goal, now they need to seek out something equivalent to a limited wish to return the body to its proper living state. I’d probably discuss it with the player first, as it will require some hardship on their part, but ought to be an interesting opportunity for role-playing.
Another option is a half-zombie -- the ghelden half-undead template from Dragon 313 has worked well for me in the past. So your chosen humanoid tribe/phanaton shaman/whatever attempts to raise your cleric for a fee/task/side trek of your choice, and this mistake is the best they can come up with.
I like the potential character conflict in a half-undead that can turn undead -- and the humor angle is even greater, if you apply the "Vampire in Brooklyn" ghoul jokes. "Hey, was that your ear back there in the boat?"
A twist on half-life is for the gheldan to be created and sustained by some sort of worms the tribe has -- worms have to be healed on occasion to sustain the psuedo-life of the character. Creates a dangerous dependency that gives role-playing options as well as future adventure possibilities. Having the occasional worm crawl in and out of your cleric's skin would have the some impact on charisma and intimidation checks, of course!
A planetar can cast raise dead as a spell-like ability. Maybe the PCs can somehow contact a planetar in service to Procan, who will raise the cleric and give the party some sort of extra duty, probably fighting sea-based enemies of Procan or erecting a massive temple or otherwise furthering the god's agenda.
Is this level-appropriate? Is it right for Procan to have a planetar serving him?
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Most of my "Raise Dead" events involve 4d6 reroll 1s and a blank character sheet. Other than that is has gone like this:
Had to travel to Planescape to get there souls out of the "Dead line"
Hired a all powerful wizard (Yes wizard, make something up.... Umm.. Had a demon raise the dead PC) Wizard demands a adventure of an evil sort as repayment. Before setting out to do the evil deeds as requested, we notified the authorities who killed the evil wizard.
After a intentional TPK - Each member met his respective god. Got put on a path of glory.
Sold the dead PCs Vorpal sword for a Rez.
Sold the dead PC to a alchemist. The PC was a dragon.
Reincarnate, came back as Owl. Killed Owl. Reincarnate, Came back as bugbear. Killed Bugbear. Reincarnate, came back as halfling. Considered killing halfling. Found it more humerous to let the elf live as a halfling.
he was a cleric of the sea god procan (posiden) if that helps get the creative juices flowing...mine have ran dry LOL :/
That little factoid reminds me of an old Dungeon adventure. It involved a trip to a ruined island shrine guarded by a skeleton "mine field" (lots of them buried in the sand, each square had a certain number, only one path skeleton free). Really cool idea I never saw any replicate. But I use it all the time.
he was a cleric of the sea god procan (posiden) if that helps get the creative juices flowing...mine have ran dry LOL :/
Often in our campaigns, when a character dies and it'd be really troublesome to bring them back to life or make a new character, they have a run in with their deity, or an agent of their deity. This works extremely well with clerical types.
Procan is a fickle god with a huge temper. Maybe the cleric wakes up in a lovely sea palace and is being welcomed into his happy afterlife when BAM! Procan throws a hissy fit and kicks everyone out, which for the newly dead means they are restored back to their bodies. An interesting twist would be that Procan doesn't care where the soul ends up as long as it's out of his house, so roll on the reincarnation table in the PHB to see what happens. I'd use all the rules for the reincarnation spell, to relfect the harshness of a soul being shunted into a new body and the anger of the god.
A quick, cost effective, and interesting way to get the player back in the game.
In addition to the abovementioned, there are several adventures from Savage Tide set on the Isle of Dread (very similar spot to the OP's situation). Most of these adventures are set up as strung-together segments, and it would be easy to clip one.
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Cenotes--essentially big sinkholes with water at the bottom; kinda holy/mother rite birthing symbolism; I think there was sacrifice involved with them, but don't really want to get into all that mucking about.
See Apocalypto? Where his wife was hidden? That's a cenote.
You could work something out about a healing well.
THEN, I think the tribesmen have a little voodoo ritual influence; could get Baron Samedhi to put half the character's soul back in his zombielike form, then have to go to the healing well to put the rest back and resurrect him/her, as part of a quest. The cleric could have slam attacks for a few fights like a zombie; in a way could be in on the adventure and yet...motivated to see to its completion. Being truly alive is much nicer, not to mention being able to cast spells...
Maybe some of those skinwalker chaps have done something wicked to the healing well, making the water unholy or something.
You could create a magical location (see Dungeon Masters Guide II) that allows one raise dead per year. Call it the well of rebirth or something similar. The well of rebirth is a secret of the native witch-doctors (adept NPC class).
Lore: Characters can find out the following information by making appropriate Knowledge (Local/Island) checks.
DC 10- The well of rebirth is a spring with miraculous curative ability.
DC 15- The well of rebirth can bring the dead back to life.
DC 20- The well of rebirth can only be activated by a special ritual.
DC 25- The location of the well of rebirth is hidden somewhere on the island.
Description: As appropriate to the chosen location; a small pool in the jungle, a stream of water from a cliffside, a grotto underground, etc.
Prerequisite: To activate the well of rebirth, a creature must be able to cast cure moderate wounds.
Location Activation: To bring one creature back to life, the activator must perform a 1 hour ritual that consumes 5,000gp worth of rare materials. At the end of the ritual, one corpse is brought back to life as if receiving a raise dead spell effect.
Recharge: The well of rebirth can only revive one dead creature per year.
Aura: Moderate necromancy
Value: 1250gp
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a local shaman knows of a shrine nearby where a powerful entity is imprisoned. It might be possible to persuade the entity to help you. The entity is a planetar, trapped by an ancient evil spell. He would happily raise your cleric, however he is helpless at the moment. To do so, he needs the heart of a Yuan-Ti, and the Eye of a Beholder. These items posses alchemical properties that together will weaken the mystic runes engraved around his cell that bind him. They have a maximum of 17 days since the cleric died to succeed. The clock is ticking. Oh, the Yuan-tis are 4 days away and the Beholder lairs another 4 days from that. Hurry!