My character died last session. I put a lot of time and effort into him and have grown attached. Rather than starting from scratch I would instead prefer he be brought back some how. The party is on book 2 of Serpent's Skull and was killed by Zenj Spirit dancers. Since then the party has moved on to the Ruins of Tazion carrying my corpse with them.
There are a few issues concerning my coming back though. For starters, we have no spell casters in the party. My character was the only one and he's dead now. Furthermore, the party is in the middle of nowhere and venturing deeper nowhere. The party is also nearly broke, so even if we come across a spellcaster we would have trouble paying the material costs. and finally, in-game the party has more pressing issues to deal with. Out of game is a bit of a different story but we're refusing to metagame my character back into play.
I'm looking for some solutions to my situation weather they be radical or obvious.
Note: Please keep any Adventure Path spoilers out. The only person who has future knowledge of whats to come is our DM and I would like to keep it that way.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Gunslinger
Beastmaster Cavalier who rides a T-Rex
Monk Barbarian
Paladin
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I hope they have some way to keep that corpse minty fresh, otherwise things are going to get very messy in those humid conditions soon.
Is your group working for a faction? If so, do they have that faction’s expeditionary team with them, or have any way to contact them? Are there other factions also trying to reach the same goal?
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Contributor
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I know this is unorthodox and may not fit with the style of play that your group has, but I'll offer it up, in case it's something you might want to pursue.
I am GMing a campaign that is a continuation of the "Price of Immortality" series of modules ("Crypt of the Everflame," "Masks of the Living God," & "City of Golden Death"). In the last chapter of that series, the PC of one of my players died. I won't include spoilers on how she died, but it was a sudden, unceremonious, inglorious death.
It was a good character who had contributed a lot to the story. Neither I nor the player wanted her to die. It just so happened that the character was a paladin, and she died battling evil.
So, I thought about it for a moment, and decided that the player's deity would bring her back from the dead. I pulled the player aside and described roughly what the PC experienced and then explained that this resurrection was going to come with a cost.
The PC is now back with the party, but she has undergone a significant change. She has gained a template that fits the manner in which she dies. She gains some benefits from this template, but no longer looks normal and has some significant weaknesses that she didn't have before. On top of that, she's constantly aware of the fact that her deity expects something from her. She doesn't know whether that expectation will take the form of specific direction or if she's just supposed to be a better servant. Her condition therefore directly impacts the player, above and beyond the usual in-character aspects, because the player isn't quite sure what to expect.
I would suggest that you talk to your GM and see if something like that is possible for your character, as well. Perhaps your character became a petitioner in the afterlife and stumbled across an outsider or other being with whom he could strike a deal. The being restored the PCs soul to its body in exchange for a price to be determined, or at least paid, later.
There are many ways this can work in most any campaign, especially if the cost can introduce drama into a later portion of the campaign.
I know that's not the typical, pay-for-the-diamonds-and-get-the-spell-cast method, but it might be a way for both you and the GM to get something out of the deal.
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My character died last session. I put a lot of time and effort into him and have grown attached. Rather than starting from scratch I would instead prefer he be brought back some how. The party is on book 2 of Serpent's Skull and was killed by Zenj Spirit dancers. Since then the party has moved on to the Ruins of Tazion carrying my corpse with them.
There are a few issues concerning my coming back though. For starters, we have no spell casters in the party. My character was the only one and he's dead now. Furthermore, the party is in the middle of nowhere and venturing deeper nowhere. The party is also nearly broke, so even if we come across a spellcaster we would have trouble paying the material costs. and finally, in-game the party has more pressing issues to deal with. Out of game is a bit of a different story but we're refusing to metagame my character back into play.
I'm looking for some solutions to my situation weather they be radical or obvious.
Note: Please keep any Adventure Path spoilers out. The only person who has future knowledge of whats to come is our DM and I would like to keep it that way.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Something similar happened to our group at about the same part of that AP (I think it was immediately before the ruins), except that we did have a cleric (though he couldn't resurrect yet). The DM just decided to BS that there was a druid willing to help nearby (we got the scoop from a couple natives, thank god I took polyglot as a language). We paid them in goods, and later found some diamonds that "happened" to be there instead of the loot that would have normally been there (the cleric leveled and got access to restoration).
Lacking similar BSing on the part of the DM: You're probably screwed.
I hope they have some way to keep that corpse minty fresh, otherwise things are going to get very messy in those humid conditions soon.
Is your group working for a faction? If so, do they have that faction’s expeditionary team with them, or have any way to contact them? Are there other factions also trying to reach the same goal?
Gentle Repose has been cast on the corpse, Im not to worried about rot.
We are with a faction. Shame on me for forgetting which one though. There is another faction that is racing us which is currently the party's main concern. I can find out if it helps.
I know this is unorthodox and may not fit with the style of play that your group has, but I'll offer it up, in case it's something you might want to pursue.
I had actually asked my DM if I could climb the mountain of Heaven and come back as a lantern Archon for the time being until I could find a way back into my body. I was shot down for two reasons. 1. because the teleport ability of the Lantern Archon might cause too much trouble for our DM. 2. I was not aware that I would be locked into that new form upon coming back.
Excellent suggestion none the less. The striking a deal to come back from the dead angle could work.
Lacking similar BSing on the part of the DM: You're probably screwed.
I have fully realized that rolling a new character may be my only option. I have a week to explore every opportunity I can first though.
If the paladin is not willing to commit the feats, invest in a Cauldron of Resurrection. I do not know if I can fix this right away, but preventing this from happening in the future should be on your group's list of to do list.
Though this is an excellent suggestion I think the Paladin is a few levels off from acquiring all these feats. I was hoping for more of an immediate solution.
I like the cauldron suggestion though. considering it doesn't appear to need the same material component to use it could be a useful tool to keep on hand.
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Oh, let the madness begin!
As suggested earlier, you can appeal to your deity for a return to the land of the living. If the deity in question is not interested, fear not, you have more options.
The second choice would be to appeal to the darkest, most vile deity you can find, in return for some horrendously evil future act. How badly did you want to live again?
Option is admittedly pure cheese. Create your new character. Do you know what you're playing? I do. It's a cleric! Guess what your new character's first act is going to be!
Fourth is the appeal option. Tell your gm that you want to keep playing your dead character, and you'll go along with whatever he comes up with to make it happen.
Fifth is the saddest option of all. Make your new character virtually identical to your old character. Maybe it's his twin brother, or a clone that has awakened and you have no idea why there are clones of you out there.
That's it, I'm outta tricks for now.
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Does your faction’s expedition have any NPC spellcasters, and possibly any emergency raise dead scrolls? Do they have a way to contact the faction leaders back in the city, who might be convinced to send you the resources you need?
Alternatively, is there any possibility of contacting your rival faction to do some sort of deal with them (raise our companion and we’ll work with you / let you get there first / share whatever we find with you etc). This probably isn’t a desirable option, I’m just trying to feel out what options you might have.
Hey I'm not cheesy! I'm offering the man a legitimate means of returning to his friends in their moment of need, and need I remind you that such magic isn't cheap! This is high grade wishing going down here! A soul isn't too much to ask in return for a second chance at life! Heck maybe he'll get lucky and find a way to fulfill his contract without giving up his soul too -- no telling what you can get done with another chance at living!
Hey, hey you -- yeah you that wants to go back to the land of the living. Yeah, do I have a deal for you. You just sign on the line and you can use your first wish to be resurrected, your second to be fully restored, and your third to get you back to your friends. Tell you what sign now, and I'll even teach you two new spells for free! That's right infernal and greater infernal healing. Sure you can't use greater infernal healing yet, but you show potential... I think you'll get there.
Out of morbid curiosity how would you go about contracting a devil from heaven. I'm with you on the theory, but the doing is the hard part. Can't exactly hide on the dark side of the glowing mountain while no ones looking. Heck it would be great for good roleplay. Other tricky part is explaining to your party how you got back.
Have a private conversation with your GM to discuss this. If the GM isn't willing to accommodate the request, then build a new character and move on.
Look man, I'm not at liberty to explain away all my trade secrets you know? Lets just say Heaven isn't without its fair share of shadows and back doors alright? I mean you wouldn't bother worrying about how an angel came to your aid if you were in Hell right? So why worry about how I got here?
All you really need to know is I can make this all go away for you. You get off this boring old hill, your friends get the help they need on getting their quest done, and you get to become rich, famous and hook up with that hot chick you want to impress back in civilization. It's not like I'm asking you to kill a virgin or something -- you can be a good guy I'm down with that... everyone has to find their own way yeah? I'm just here to help you make it happen.
Bwahahaha. I was asking from a mechanics perspective. Although I did enjoy the answer.
On a more serious note it's going to require the GM's approval anyways, but with that said as a GM I'm ALWAYS willing to cut a deal with the devil for a player -- especially in this juicy of a manner.
The answer is the fact that the Contract Devil has Plane shift once a day and contact other plane, mage's private sanctum, and sending. He can use sending to contact you (even across planes) set up the contract in principle get someone else to be ready to bring him back (and a contract devil will have contacts to make this happen) and then plane shift/greater teleport (since plane shift won't get him to your exact location immediately) to your location and get the contract signed. Mage's Private Sanctum helps keep him out of sight until the chance to go home comes up.
As to how he knows to contact you? Well he's got the resources of hell trying to help him find souls in heaven to pull out. You are asking around trying to get back to life and all it takes is a whisper of that to get out. The contract is a great deal for him since he has no chance of getting a soul with you already in heaven. He might even willingly tell you how to get out of the contract (via trading souls) since just getting one soul is fine... the fact you are still alive afterward means he's still got other chances to try and corrupt you later (or have someone else do so) which could actually net him even more souls. Besides if you don't break the contract well he managed to get one soul out of heaven and into hell -- that's a triple win for him: 1 heaven is down a soul, 2 hell is up a soul, and 3 he's the awesome guy who got the job done... which really helps his chances of promotion.
I'm still stuck in the old DnD frame of mind. Thanks for the clarification.
So it seems as though the consensus is that selling my soul is the easiest rout.
My question is now, rather than selling my soul to somebody evil, could I instead trade my soul to somebody good? Are there any good creatures who might be willing to do this? If so, which ones? If the Paladin in my party ever found out I sold my soul to somebody evil he would skullf#%+ me and I'd be right back in the same position I am in now. He takes his role very seriously.
Salve of the Second Chance
Come back as a Bug Bear for the low low cost of 1600 g
If I were your GM, I might offer you the following options in this particular situation:
1. Retcon the death--but at a cost. You've lost an eye or a limb or something detrimental has happened to you. You may take a permanent loss to an ability score or permanent penalty to an ability score or skill checks in certain situation (or other obvious penalties like if you have lost an arm, no more two weapon or two handed fighting for you). No healing spells, not even a wish or miracle will restore this loss--the deity of death chose to show mercy, but this is the cost she has exacted for letting you live.
I would also make it clear that if you die again, the deity of death does not show such mercy twice, and nothing short of true resurrection will bring you back should you die again. (The big thing you have to note here though, is that PC death rarely happens in my campaigns--if it's more common in your GM's world that may be too harsh, depending on play style and other things.)
2. The party must go on a planar quest to retrieve your soul.
I might do the scenario like this, just as an example: you meet a shaman who is willing to help the party try to restore you, but they don't have the focus required for an easy raise/resurrect, and neither is he. But he knows another way, that involves a ritual at the Sacred Cave of Ladeda. It is very difficult and dangerous--but it doesn't require diamonds. He is even willing to use magic to preserve your corpse while you go through the ritual.
You enter the cave, start the ritual--and find yourselves transported to the planes (perhaps in astral form). They have a general sense of what direction your soul is in, but they have to find you. Doubtless there will be hungry beasts that want to eat your soul they have to kill first, or entities both you and they have to barter with. Or perhaps your soul and they are lost in a maze (Lady of Pain style) and need to solve the puzzles of the maze for all of you to escape.
Maybe you're even in the upper planes, in a complete paradise of an afterlife, and the greatest challenge the party will have to face is talking you into leaving the wonderful reward you've achieved for dying valiantly.
You could either sit out a session, or the GM could run the scenario "split-screen" with your soul learning of the party trying to find you and you trying to seek them out as well.
This becomes a huge sidequest. It will take time, and time will pass in the real world--so if you're on an urgent mission, there may be a cost to the time spent. But you just died, failing to meet a deadline is a small cost for your soul.
I could also do the sell your soul thing, but as a GM, it would have to depend a lot on whether I want to add that complication to my plotline. Depending, it might work perfectly, and really add some depth and complexity to the story. OR it might create a lot of long term extra work for me I'd rather not deal with, throwing in an antagonist who might distract from the real enemy I want the party to focus on.
But me as a player? With that party? Personally, I'd let go of my attachments and write up a cleric or oracle, stat. That is, however, entirely just me. I hope you do find a solution that can suit everyone while still making it clear that dying is something--that I hope for obvious reasons--is not to be taken lightly.
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Simply ask the GM if the party will encounter a wander Paladin of Aroden, a man of displaced faith who has become a Hermit in the wilds. An elderly fellow, he has been blessed with powers unknown to bring the dead to life. In his heyday he battle the atrocities of Geb, but now, in his twilight years he contends himself to the serenity of the wild, and freely gives his aid to endangered travelers. IE you encounter a 75 year old paladin, level 9 with 22 charisma and the Ultimate Mercy feat. He can bring you from death, but he can't do anything about the level loss you've experianced.
Maybe the group you are scouting for will have the capabilities. Head back there, swallow the day or two it'll take to head there and back, and see if they can raise your body.
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** spoiler omitted **
Maybe the group you are scouting for will have the capabilities. Head back there, swallow the day or two it'll take to head there and back, and see if they can raise your body.
The problem is they're already into the 2nd book, and I think the Zenju Spirit Dancers occurs at least a week or 2 into the traveling to the city.
Did you not find the scroll of Raise Dead on Smuggler's Shiv?
We did find it. The party opted to use it to Raise the Cavalier instead of me. I wasn't the only one who died that same encounter.
But there's a faction following you...
What class were you? I didn't see that mentioned.
Come on buddy -- just sign on the line, and it's all good. No need to jump through all these loops and try to finagle your way back when you got a sound, guaranteed 3 wishes to get it done.
Gunslinger
Beastmaster Cavalier who rides a T-Rex
Monk Barbarian
Paladin
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.Same character?
You are the forward scouting party racing on the expedition, depending on how well you are doing on time, you might be able to afford a couple days for perhaps a couple of the main expedition to "catch up" and give a raise dead.
I am GMins Racing to Ruin, although my group is slightly behind yours in terms of progress, thats how I would handle a player death.
EDIT: Totally missed Cheapy's post so....What HE said!
Come back as a Bug Bear for the low low cost of 1600 g
I cannot stress this option enough. This is really the easiest and cheapest you could want.
Although if you if you want a more complicated option, you could go with...
... talking to this guy, (the infernal contract broker encouraging you to do above) and make your wishes:
1) The lay on hands abilities of a paladin, or barring that, this item, but that can be activated when anyone speaks the command word).
2) All mercies (or barring that just the Ultimate Mercy or even an amulet of some sort that allows that, similar to this one).
3) A jar of true resurrection ointment <six uses> appear in your characters' possession.
That should pretty much take care of you guys for resurrection purposes through the rest of the game. The ointment is a last-ditch effort to raise someone(s), but the paladin puts in a single lay on hands-plus-ultimate mercy into the crystal of healing hands, and, if he dies, he's better.
Now, if you don't want to sell your soul to evil, there's always the Solar option...
(NOTE: actually both astral devas and planatars have the spell-casting to raise you from the dead, not to mention several agathions and archons - the latter of which might be an optimal choice, considering where you are -, but the Solar actually can grant you wishes or miracles due to ninth level casting ability. The problem with all of these is they are unlikely to simply bring you back to life without good reason, and "My friends need me!" is, historically, neither a good reason nor, strictly speaking, accurate.)
:
Accept the wishes, wish to be raised from the dead near your friends, wish for an unused lawful evil candle of invocation (with extra caster levels up to twentieth - if you must, term it "with greater than normal magical force: enough magical power to open a gate that could summon not only one of your kind, but have enough left over for a desire devil* too" or something similar, so that it's at least 20th caster level), and wish for any other thing you like - wish that Eleder becomes racially integrated or something, I don't know.
Then, use the Candle of Invocation to summon two ifreets (a kind of fire genie) and require the service from them that they grant you two wishes each and in exchange, if and only if the intent behind your wishes function, you will wish for them to have lots of rubies with your third wish.
Wishes from ifreets:
[first three from genie one]
1) a nigh-indestructible gem that is irrevocably yours in your hand that is unable to be located or sensed by evil creatures and automatically uses create lantern archon** spell-like effect once per hour on devils bound inside of the gem (as if they were willing casters), with the contract devil that you made a contract with bound inside the gem <similar to trap the soul spell>, which disintegrates when the devil dies.
2) the contract you signed with the devil in your gem is null and void, though the effects of the wishes you made are not
3) the genie (ifreeti) who granted you these last two wishes is granted one million gold-worth of rubies in his home
[second three from genie two]
4) your paladin gains the power of the Ultimate Mercy
5) you have a <insert raise-dead item of your choice>
6) the genie (ifreeti) who granted you these last two wishes is granted one million gold-worth of rubies in his home (or, if the other one has left already, make it two million)
Now the reason you do things that way is 1) you don't burn any bridges, and 2) you make friends with the ifreets in question. You're also not wishing for anything they'd have any reason not to grant it. They are lawful evil (that's why you had the candle lawful evil in the first place), but not inherently so - they're not fiendish, which means that you're not really doing anything to violate the paladin's ethos, and your hoisting evil by its own petard, thus turning what would be evil to good. Plus, with the wishes as outlined as above, you're not actually doing anything game-breaking, per se, but rather allowing evil to seem to "win", but then using its own tools against it. You have the devil in-hand (so it can't really do anything) that is slowly dying (10-20 hours and it's done) while you're spontaneously generating lantern archons (between 10-20) from its destruction. Congratulations on winning at being "good"!
* Good luck getting the hyperlink in your spoken wish. :)
Ooh! Another wording, "powerful enough to open a gate that could call two creatures of your power"
EDIT: the note below and some sentence changes and clarification
** This is a 3.5 Spell, but
But there's a faction following you...
What class were you? I didn't see that mentioned.
I don''t know why I forgot to mention this.
My character is a Fighter(Cad) 1 / Sorcerer(Sage) 5 on his way to becoming an Eldritch Knight. He's designed as being a support role for the rest of the party.
Also, We sided with the Pathfinders. We're supposedly racing everyone but the Aspis Organization are our main rivals.
So whatever happened? I'm on pins and needles to find out.