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In my current campaign, we've had our first character death. They managed to get things together for a raise dead spell, but it got us thinking that that's a bit too easy. On the other hand, we don't want to just ban the spell or give random reasons why it just doesn't work.
Instead, we're working on a table of things that happen to you on the way back. You can look at the table here. Almost all of the results are purely RP effects, though a couple do have some mechanical effects too.
I'd like to get some extra eyes to look over this and see if there's anything that stands out as odd or out of place. In particular, the results should be from best case to worst case as your modifier for the roll increases each time you're raised. (Also, the modifiers are more-or-less off the top of my head at the moment.)
I really like it, MagiMaster.
I've also wrestled with the idea of "Raise Dead", and have been tempted to eliminate "Resurrection" and "True Resurrection" and simply make "Raise Dead" a 9th level spell - with repercussions on the caster, as well.
I like your idea better, though :)
Put me in mind of the 6th season Buffy episode, "After Life", where "something comes back" after the Scoobies bring Buffy back from the dead.
You could even go further and add a long-term issue, just as Buffy did (the First Evil was able to "come through" and begin to affect events because of Buffy's resurrection).
Damn...I'm gettin' ideas now...:)
Thanks. I've tried to keep everything in the "you can get rid of it, at least eventually" category, but any ideas would be welcome.
All the tables I found looking for those were fairly large. Any suggestions on specific mutations that might fit?
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Nice table really MagiMaster. I really love it. It seems to imply alot of roleplaying and effects don't seem too hard for a player.
A minor observation tho; lot of effects seem to be deity related. What with characters who don't worship one? Reroll simply?
I would also add maybe possible penalties but on social skills mostly. You might want to check Taint system (Heroes of Horror book). It has some interesting idea's.
You might also look up the thread of 1001 Resurrection Effects; it's full of ideas, some serious, some silly.
Malag - This is for a setting where your chosen deity gets your soul once you die. I'm not exactly sure how to decide who, but someone still gets your soul if you don't choose for yourself.
Looking over Heroes of Horror, most of the taint effects are too specifically evil or otherwise too strong. There are a couple of effects that could work though.
Lathiira - This thread: 1000 Resurrection Effects? Thanks for the reference. Between that and the GitP thread linked, there's a lot to look over.
What about...weird characters? Half-undeads like Dhampirs, or Aasimars or Tieflings, crap like that?
I like this idea.
You might want to clarify 36-45, or just replace it. "Actions that run counter to your choice" is poorly defined and a -4 penalty to everything in potentially lethal circumstances sounds very, very bad if it doesn't go away. It could also give characters an allergy to following the plot.
I don't like that there's a result that forbids your resurrection, either. I'd rather something really dreadful happen than the whole thing just fail. I wouldn't be averse to a lower result that means you come back, but this is your last try.
You need to explain what happens if characters don't have a god. I don't get why there's a penalty for not having one or having more than one. What's so special about having exactly one god? Seems to me like they're as likely to want to keep you as they are to send you back.
Instead of preventing your resurrection, you should just really Come Back Wrong.
Vamptastic - Which results are you asking about? I can't think of much off hand that would be different for them.
Mortuum - For example, if you were killed by a goblin, and chose to hate goblins, rolls while attempting to run away from one would be at a penalty. Also, that penalty does fade with each encounter.
Which result prevents you from coming back? 156-175 says your deity won't let you go for free, not won't let you go free. So you'll have to make some kind of bargain or sacrifice (beyond the diamond) to appease them.
I do need to figure out what to do about characters with no deity, but yeah, I guess that particular penalty doesn't make much sense. I suppose the simplest answer would be that the GM decides which deity got your soul based on your actions.
What happens if you have a soulbonded item, and its destroyed? Is it like a phylactery and the process kills you, or some other effect?
A default deity would probably work, but in the (randomly generated) I'm using, no deity is singled out as the psychopomp. It seems more like Sheto and Shind as the twin deities of the sun and moon would share that duty, but they're still distinct deities and each has a separate afterlife.
I'm thinking that perhaps such souls would be distributed as pieces in a divine chess match, which to mortals means it's practically random (although maybe limited to those of similar alignment).
The spell went slightly awry and now your soul is partially bound to some object present at your resurrection, most likely something already on your body. If you're more than 100 feet away from this object, you're sickened until you get it back. If the object is destroyed you are knocked unconscious for 1 minute and gain two permanent negative levels.
If it's destroyed, you're knocked unconscious and gain two negative levels. As a houserule, I'm not too worried about making things as readable as I would be if I intended others to use this, but I'd still appreciate any suggestions on a better way to word things. (I figured the phylactery rules were too big of a hit compared to the rest of the table. Plus, the object only has part of your soul, not the whole thing.)
Your body has lost some of its connection to the plane of fire. You exude no warmth and anyone that touches your skin will be put off by the unnatural chill.
Your body has lost some of its connection to the plane of water. You always look as if you're dying of thirst.Your body has lost some of its connection to the plane of earth. You appear slightly gelatinous and translucent.
Your body has lost some of its connection to the plane of air. You still breathe but only barely.
I could use a bit of help with these four. The fire one is fine, but the other three don't feel right. This is for a cosmology where the Greek four elements view of the world is actually true and everything, especially living things, are composed of four elements in balance.
Using the other part of the Greek idea, the four humors, would add a significant role-play burden to the player, which is something else I want to avoid in most cases. Maybe I should add the "reroll if you don't think you're up to dealing with this" clause and use those anyway.
156-175 says your deity won't let you go for free, not won't let you go free.
Disregard that, I am dumb.
I do need to figure out what to do about characters with no deity, but yeah, I guess that particular penalty doesn't make much sense. I suppose the simplest answer would be that the GM decides which deity got your soul based on your actions.
Surely it matters more which plane your soul goes to. Maybe assume the godless fall into the hands of the primary local outsider race?
151-155: Something malevolent came back with you. Roll Init.
I cannot express how awesome that is. The whole table is sweet, but that made my day right there. What a great idea... having a pit fiend or something real evil follow your soul back.
Mortuum - The current cosmology I'm going by doesn't really have such a race. There are places outside the material plane other than the divine realms, but they're more like the astral plane or the elemental planes rather than places a soul would go.
Maybe there could be some neutral ground in the divine realms though where undecided souls go until something happens to move them along elsewhere. The idea makes me think of Rukongai from Bleach (the giant expanse of shacks on the outskirts of Soul Society).
DajellyMan - I can't claim that one was original. I think I got the idea from something very similar on the 1000 Resurrection Effects list mentioned earlier.
I was thinking that whatever it was should be level appropriate, but the idea of something really bad coming through and just sneering at the characters before running off could also be fun. :)
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16-20 hurts martials far more than casters. Make it all physical or all mental based on the class.
Maybe make it 2 results. A lower one where it hurts the stats they do not use so much and a higher one where it hurts the stats they do use.
For the mental hit, fluff it as "The strain of death and resurrection has left you confused and absent-minded".
That's a good point, but just to keep things simple, I changed it to reduce a random stat to 1.
The potential exists (in both versions) for that much Con damage to reduce a low-hp character maximum hp to the negatives. (A 10 Con wizard that rolled two 1s on their 2nd and 3rd level, for example.) I don't want this effect to immediately kill the character off again (or leave them comatose for a few days), but I'm not sure how to word it to remove that possibility.
One more question, assuming that no other penalties apply, how many times should someone have to die and be raised before they have a chance to get to the last couple of results on the table?