Does anyone have a different way to determine the amount of XP a character loses for being brought back to life, other than the method in the Player’s Handbook. Or even a different type of penalty, rather than XP lose.
-1 permanent con loss
One negative level, can be removed only by completing a quest in the interest of the church/religion/deity of the cleric casting the raise dead spell.
Well one thing I would start off with, is to make sure everyone knows how to do it by the default method.
-Drop to middle xp for last level.
-Get xp for encounter that character was killed in (assuming the party overcame it), remember to take into account they are lower level so they get more xp from the encounter.
Now what you might do is just have them drop down to the lower end of the level they are currently on, instead of the middle of the next lowest.
Or give them an xp debt and until they pay it off they are treated as having a negative level (-5 hp, -1 to attacks, skills, saves, etc). (this is nice in that it is basically the same as the normal rules except that they don't have to relevel. Of course they also don't get more xp for being lower level either)
One negative level, can be removed only by completing a quest in the interest of the church/religion/deity of the cleric casting the raise dead spell.
Alernately, the negative level can only be removed by gaining a new level.
Greg
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Or give them an xp debt and until they pay it off they are treated as having a negative level (-5 hp, -1 to attacks, skills, saves, etc). (this is nice in that it is basically the same as the normal rules except that they don't have to relevel. Of course they also don't get more xp for being lower level either)
This works well with an RP-centric game as well. The recently returned person feels like they are 'lightly attached' to the world, and are distracted and disoriented for a time, only reconnecting slowly in an emotional and psychic sense. While their comrades are living and learning as usual, the risen person is still 'finding their way back,' in a sense, and it interferes with their advancement for a time.
Eventually, for most, it becomes like a bad dream, and life goes on, although they may still have moments where they feel disconnected, like a visitor to a strange land where nothing makes sense. Depending on how far you want to go with it, they might return with other quirks, such as never remembering their dreams after being returned, or spending a lot of time sleeping, or more physical signs such as hair turning white or scars or signs of age being worn away and smoothed out, so that the person looks like a younger, less travelled person, with the signs of their 'old life' wiped away, further serving to reinforce their moments of disconnection.
Other signs could be that the death-blow never heals quite right, and leaves a notable scar, or freakier stuff like their belly-button going away, as they have been 'reborn' without the whole birth process...
This works well with an RP-centric game as well. The recently returned person feels like they are 'lightly attached' to the world, and are distracted and disoriented for a time, only reconnecting slowly in an emotional and psychic sense. While their comrades are living and learning as usual, the risen person is still 'finding their way back,' in a sense, and it interferes with their advancement for a time.
Eventually, for most, it becomes like a bad dream, and life goes on, although they may still have moments where they feel disconnected, like a visitor to a strange land where nothing makes sense. Depending on how far you want to go with it, they might return with other quirks, such as never remembering their dreams after being returned, or spending a lot of time sleeping, or more physical signs such as hair turning white or scars or signs of age being worn away and smoothed out, so that the person looks like a younger, less travelled person, with the signs of their 'old life' wiped away, further serving to reinforce their moments of disconnection.
Other signs could be that the death-blow never heals quite right, and leaves a notable scar, or freakier stuff like their belly-button going away, as they have been 'reborn' without the whole birth process...
Well, I do pretty much the same thing when NPCs (or my PCs) are brought back using the standard rules. Usually they have some lost of memory (which coincides with the xp they lost), so they might not understand why the party is somewhere or what they are trying to do. They may also have no memory of someone that had recently joined the party. With reincarnate, I also act as if they believe their new form was always what they were, even if it doesn't make sense. "Yeah my parents are both gnomes, but I have always been a kobold."
Until I read some of the posts, I didn’t think I could contribute much to the topic. Now my imagination is spurred.
I really like how Set’s suggestions made me think of the season of Buffy after she died and was brought back. She certainly was “out of sync.” Owen from Torchwood might be another example.
What happened to the character after death? Did they go on to an afterlife? A blissful Heaven or a terrible Hell? Perhaps they remember, at least in part. Perhaps depression sets in because they were pulled back from bliss and Paradise is lost to them; mortal life seems as bad as Hell by comparison. Or maybe they endure a kind of post traumatic stress from their brief time of torment in Hell and now suffer nightmares and a fear of the dark or something.
Okay, I know this isn’t what your were originally looking for – you’re looking for rules and not role playing ideas. But the two sort of go hand in hand, no?
So now I’m thinking about a permanent loss of 1 Constitution and reduction of XP back to the beginning of the current level. The Constitution loss because you are never quite the same after resurrection – health will ever after be an issue. The XP loss because I never liked the idea that you lose skills and, well, experience, as if you’ve lost your memory of the past few months or whatever. This way, in role-play terms, the character remembers everything up to his death, maybe even that afterlife stuff, but, like someone said, is disconnected and takes a while to get back on track.
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I really like how Set’s suggestions made me think of the season of Buffy after she died and was brought back. She certainly was “out of sync.” Owen from Torchwood might be another example.
I avoided the Buffy parallel only because of my own dislike of that season. :) Definitely a valid comparison, 'though.
So now I’m thinking about a permanent loss of 1 Constitution and reduction of XP back to the beginning of the current level. The Constitution loss because you are never quite the same after resurrection – health will ever after be an issue.
One interpretation of why the Elven peoples often have a lower Con score than Humans is that they are creatures partly from another world, a fey place, and this world isn't their home.
A human who has been ressurected might find a similar thing occuring. Their body has changed somehow, and they are not as strongly connected to this world, as if their body still, on some level, craves to return to the earth, and so does not resist disease or shock as fervently as it once did.
One interpretation of why the Elven peoples often have a lower Con score than Humans is that they are creatures partly from another world, a fey place, and this world isn't their home.A human who has been ressurected might find a similar thing occuring. Their body has changed somehow, and they are not as strongly connected to this world, as if their body still, on some level, craves to return to the earth, and so does not resist disease or shock as fervently as it once did.
Wow, I like the way you think. My group has pretty much learned that they can get me to buy just about any rule if they can come with a reasonable in-game explanation for it. You seem to have a talent for it.
(I know this doesn’t further the topic, but I had to express my admiration. Sorry if it seems like I’m blowing smoke up your kilt).
Other suggestion that has been given is, a character loses XP equal to 500 x their level. What do you think about that?
Other suggestion that has been given is, a character loses XP equal to 500 x their level. What do you think about that?
Yes. I have also played DDO where this occurs and happen to like the concept quite a bit.
Example: All your players are 10th level and one gets himself killed. He does not lose a level, he simply is behind the group by 5,000 XP. He will have to "pay off this debt" before beginning to advance again. To my mind it keeps things simpler for players as they do not have to try to remember what skill points they awarded themselves when they last leveled up, they don't have to worry about how many hit points to take off, or what feats and special abilities they now have to remove.
They ARE penalized for dying, don't get me wrong. You will now level up long after everyone else, you just don't have to bog yourself down with crummy paperwork by "leveling down".
Just my two coppers,
-Roth
I don't like the loss of XP at all--does it represent the character forgetting some experiences? I instead use "permanent" Constitution drain--it can actually be regained, but only by the character journeying into the outer planes to find the lost fragment of their "self" that was severed at death.
I give a character their level x 1000 worth of XP Debt. As long as you have any debt, you always MUST use half of your gained XP to pay off your debt. You may, of course, choose to use any amount over 50% that you want.