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I recently had a character die in the Legacy of Fire AP. Death sucks but it happened fairly and he has been revived so no qualms there. My question is what kind of resources do you folks know of to add flavor to the whole experience? IMO death should be kind of a big deal from a characters perspective (Especially in this case where he was traveling the afterlife for a good three days before the party could bring him back) I’ve read the Great Beyond and have some story thoughts but are there any feats, traits, classes, or books that are out there for the revived character? Hasam is a CG Barbarian who doesn’t really follow any particular deity if that helps. Story ideas are welcome too. =)
Speak up, I can't hear you. All that whispering.
Ah, that's better!
For feats and such, you might check out Ghostwalk.
The deceased's perspective: He probably wasn't in the actual afterlife yet. He was waiting in line to be judged by Pharasma. He might have had some nice conversations with other people waiting in line.
A recent issue of Kobold Quarterly (think it was #10) had some interesting feats that you can only take if you died and returned from the grave.
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Every campaign has a unique take on this, I feel. All DMs have an idea how they want it portrayed.
In my old home-brew, you can only get truly ressurected by a high cleric at a major temple to your prime deity. If a cleric casts one on you "out in the field" I treat the character as forever exhausted (as the condition) until they recive the spell by a high cleric at a major temple, as above. Also, no cleric just 'casts it' when the PC comes in. The spell must be personally crafted for that character by the high cleric on a scroll used in the ceremony.
Also, any character resurected has a small eternal symbol of the god of death appear under the skin of his right hand palm. Folks who have been raised always have mistrust about them even if they're otherwise normal. Thus another reason to handshake someone at a meeting without gloves on.
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Lathiira, Mikhaila, Thanks for the heads up on KQ#10, Jeff I like the idea of a mark of some sort. Kaeyoss I put together a short story about "waking" in the astral plane among the soul currents and bieng escorted to the boneyard before being wrenched back to the land of the living but it still needs fleshed out. Any thoughts on quirks from such an experience? While we are at it how do you as players picture death and the afterlife playing out in the Pathfinder setting?
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Lathiira, Mikhaila, Thanks for the heads up on KQ#10, Jeff I like the idea of a mark of some sort. Kaeyoss I put together a short story about "waking" in the astral plane among the soul currents and bieng escorted to the boneyard before being wrenched back to the land of the living but it still needs fleshed out. Any thoughts on quirks from such an experience? While we are at it how do you as players picture death and the afterlife playing out in the Pathfinder setting?
In Golarion? I picture it as it's described in Campaign Setting. A short trip to The Boneyard, a LONG wait in line, and then a Deity sending someone to collect you to your final reward.
I still use the old cosmology for the Outer Planes, as I'm not nearly as familiar with Golarion's cosmology.
In general, I describe in vague terms the transition from death, through the Astral, then to the Final Destination. Once there, it's whatever it is. The return is jolting, disorienting and when one wakes up from Resurrection the memories of their time Beyond start fading almost immediately.
Kaeyoss I put together a short story about "waking" in the astral plane among the soul currents and bieng escorted to the boneyard before being wrenched back to the land of the living but it still needs fleshed out. Any thoughts on quirks from such an experience?
For action, have an Atradaemon rip into the waiting souls, only to have him driven off (and maybe killed) by angels.
Have other people tell him what they did, how they lived, how they died. Great opportunity: You can annoy people, you can plant some Easter Eggs by having former characters stand in line, foreshadow some events by have important NPCs that have just died give them some hints, let vanquished foes stand there beside them....
Have devils walk up and offer them an instant promotion to imp status if they defect now.
And describe the Boneyard in detail.
To me:
The PC shouldn't have any solid memories of what happened, if in fact he remembers anything at all.
If he's been true to his CG alignment then he might have some glimmer of memory in his dreams about being fulfilled or happy or contentment.
If he hasn't been true to it, especially if he's been waning more towards evil, he might instead have some nightmares of hellish torment and alot of discontent.
Just thoughts.
-S
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Selgard, I defiantly understand the “memory fade” concept, I’m writing the story as more or less of a dream sequence. The whole experience is a blurred half reality with a lot of symbolism and personal reflection. I’m reluctant to completely wipe the experience from the characters mind however as I’m trying add some personal weight and have it be a life affirming ordeal (as for alignment he lives up to the good guy thing pretty well… more good than chaotic though). Also I’d like to throw in some of Golarion’s flavor for our group (Kaeyoss you may be happy to know I’ve added a scene with an Astradaemon raiding party among others) Still ill try to add some more “haze” to the story and perhaps leave the character sort of amnemonic about the experience upon waking.
Every campaign has a unique take on this, I feel. All DMs have an idea how they want it portrayed.
In my old home-brew, you can only get truly ressurected by a high cleric at a major temple to your prime deity. If a cleric casts one on you "out in the field" I treat the character as forever exhausted (as the condition) until they recive the spell by a high cleric at a major temple, as above. Also, no cleric just 'casts it' when the PC comes in. The spell must be personally crafted for that character by the high cleric on a scroll used in the ceremony.
Also, any character resurected has a small eternal symbol of the god of death appear under the skin of his right hand palm. Folks who have been raised always have mistrust about them even if they're otherwise normal. Thus another reason to handshake someone at a meeting without gloves on.
Really like this. In my home brewed campaign I did something similar, except the only people who could raise the dead were the high priests (or Druids) of their faith, and only for people of their faith. I removed all spells that raised the dead from PC land. I always thought it was a little heavy handed. Your idea feels more balanced.