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Fellow GM's, I am interested in your input. I've got some fairly-new players who made a series of mistakes and paid for it. Now I'm wondering if I should expound on it. On the one hand I feel like I'm rubbing it in, but on the other it could add a lot of depth to the game world, character-wise.
The set-up:
The players are my younger brothers and my son. The PC who died was an unarmored bard who sought to go toe-to-toe with a Wight. Death was due to level drain. I would have 'pulled punches' a bit more except I specifically pointed out that they were depleted, and went so far as to suggest ways they could camp in the dungeon, etc. They decided to press on, and it went poorly. Since I want the monsters to be dangerous, and not merely canon fodder, I went ahead and pushed the button, killing the PC. The others recovered the body and fled. When they arrived at the church they balked at the price of resurrection, and the bard's player decided to roll up a new PC. They never mentioned that the bard had been slain by a Wight. They're probably not aware that Wight's can spawn undead.
The decision:
Do I have the church notice the condition and destroy the undead spawn properly? Or do I save 'dead-bard' for use as a menace in a later adventure?
I don't wish to be insensitive to the bard's player. I really think the death was avoidable, lesson learned, and all that. But the world should probably live and breathe on its own, should it not?
What would you guys do?
You have a totally awesome plot hook here. Use it for all its worth.
EDIT: Note, the main issue I see is that if he was slain by a Wight, he rises as spawn in d4 rounds. They didn't bring a corpse back to town with them, they brough a full fledged wight (or wight spawn) with them. Now it could be smart enough to play dead, but there are a lot of things that might give it away (such as a DC 13 knowledge (religion) check.
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Do I have the church notice the condition and destroy the undead spawn properly? Or do I save 'dead-bard' for use as a menace in a later adventure?
What would I do? Well, in world, there's no discernable difference between dead and undead-pupae until the bard suddenly opens its rheumy eyes and looks around the temple, starving for life energies. I'd have the character attack the priests and make its getaway.
Now, wights have some memories of their bodies' life-histories, so I'd make sure that this wight is well prepared for the party, should they decide to correct their mistake and end its undead existance.
I think that would make great stories for the rest of the campaign. "Do you remember when your corpse came back and killed my fighter?" And I bet they'll never let it happen again.
This depends entirely on the information given the church, and the church itself. A church of pharasma won't hesistate to cremate that body if the word "wight" comes out and they won't have him ressed. However if the PC's don't bother telling them what did it there are few ways they can tell what actually did it.
So, let the wight come after them.
The decision:
Do I have the church notice the condition and destroy the undead spawn properly? Or do I save 'dead-bard' for use as a menace in a later adventure?
I don't wish to be insensitive to the bard's player. I really think the death was avoidable, lesson learned, and all that. But the world should probably live and breathe on its own, should it not?
What would you guys do?
What church did they bring the body to? The deity involved may give you an insight into how they handle the internment of bodies.
Give most fantasy world religions, I assume using preventative measures on corpses to prevent rising from the dead as undead would be a standard thing. It is not like the religions of world do not know undead exist.
Depending on how long it took them to get back to town though, the daed character could 'rise' in the church before they have had a chance to prepare the body and that could be interesting as well depending on the level of the resident clergy.
Personally though I would let the churche discover the issue and nip it in the bud before it got out of hand.
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Enough said. ;p
I envy you. Sounds like you are playing with guys for whom the whole game is still relatively new. That they did not think to tell the church that the PC was slain by a wight, or to do anything about it themselves, is a terrific opportunity. You can now reveal to them something about the game world in the way we veterans can rarely do with our hardnosed, longtime players: through story, in-game.
Yes, have the wight come back to haunt them. If it were me, I would start with news of a terrible incident at the church, as some creature has clawed its way up from its grave and attacked some poor acolyte there, before fleeing. Then I'd see if I could get the PCs to chase it down, then make the horrifying reveal.
If it remembers/resent them for leaving it, all the better.
You do have to take care to make sure the bard's former player will not be offended or angry. It might take some finagling to find out how he feels without revealing to him what you're up to. But it would be worth it. And remember to always treat it like a great story opportunity that you could not pass up. Never treat it like a lesson you are "teaching" them, about how they "should have" done this or "should have" done that.
Absoultly us it. What a fantastic opportunety for you (and the players) to have some fun and the players to learn a bit. I would not consider it rubbing it in, it is part of the monsters m o.
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"First you kill my bard, and then you kill my new cleric with my bard! You're so mean, daddy!"
I think it'd be MORE fun to drag it out for awhile... After they leave town, they start to hear rumors of one wight they must have missed... people dying and what not...
If they go back THEN they realize it was their fault :)
MUCH more fun than just having the bard track them down and fight them some more... have THEM look for HIM!! :)
Wights spawn real quick, as has been pointed out. If it was playing dead long enough for the body to be dropped off at a church, it likely is sneaky enough to make a band of lesser wights in short order and turn the whole temple into a new, wight infested adventure location for our heroes to hear about within a day or two and be asked to go clean out. The realization that this may be there fault (the moment they see the Wight-bard in charge), should be a nice twist of the knife.
The only real flaw to evil GM plotting like this, is that if the temple has someone on tap to Raise dead (such a Cleric or Oracle) is likely 7th level or better and you have to ask why they can't have nipped this in the bud? On answer might be to make the priest Venerable with a low Con to start with. His Acolytes could have gotten him out barely in time, badly hurt, or he may be barricaded in a back room somewhere with his holy powers being all that's giving the wights pause in swarming the rest of the town, putting a nice little tie-clock on this whole side-scenario.
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Hmm, rounds, eh? That's interesting. I think I'd just houserule that, though, since they carried him all the way back to town without noticing. Must have been that the Wight's mojo was low, or something... :)
What church? Excellent question. We're pioneering a new campaign setting as we go. We've used the Pathfinder framework, e.g. deities for clerics, but 'their church' hasn't yet had much description. It could well be that their particular deity isn't well represented in these lands, as the campaign is racially-tinged, and they're elves and dwarves in human lands.
So, yeah, sounds like I have enough wiggle room to make it believable, anyway.
...What would you guys do?
Depends on the age/maturity of your players.
If they are likely to get very upset about being attacked by the former bard. Then I would have the curch discover it and let them get all huffy with the group for no warning.
If the players can handle it, I would definitely have the wight come back to 'haunt' them.
Humm Plot hook...tasty. Yeah I would use that undead Bard for all he is worth.