Story based penalty for being resurrected by the seal as a Cleric of death

[Damian Doyle]

Im running a campaign with a group of players and we have decided to try and make things heavy on the role playing side. So far everyone is enjoying it, but in a recent battle at Ravenscraeg our Cleric was killed through the excessive failing of saves from poison and dropping his con score to 0.

The group has never used the seal except when they first opened it, they have been super careful with it. I was thinking it would be neat to introduce some kind of story or role playing based issue or side effect that comes from being resurrected by the seal and I was curios people's thoughts.

In this case the Cleric is a somewhat custom build, he worships the god of death, he's true neutral and has made it his mission in life to help people cross over to the other side. It works out well for complicated role playing in the game because he really views killing things as a service and really hates the undead. There have been some really great interactions around what you do with NPCs and other characters who are near death, because on at least one occasion he has "helped" them in ways the other characters didn't really want. And the first time he absorbed someones soul to increase his caster level really caused some heated discussions in the group.

Any thoughts on what a good side effect or side track would be for a character like this who has just experienced death and then gets brought back?

Thanks,

Damian

[Tangent101]

Raise Dead and the like will not work if the soul does not want to return.

Thus the Cleric cannot be raised... unless it is the will of that character's God at which point there should be no penalties.

So have him roll up a new character, really.

[The Shaman]

Yes, if the cleric believes his calling is to help everyone pass over as soon as possible, it would be expected he does not want to come back and a new character is called for.

Generally, clerics of non-evil death gods (or non-evil death clerics) tend to see their job as helping people pass over when their time has come. If you have any familiarity with the Exalted setting, it is like the Chosen of Endings - ensuring things end when they are supposed to. In that case,it could be that he believes his talents are needed to redress a great problem in Minkai, where hundreds of thousands may die before their time. Or it could be that his god tells him that his work is not yet done, so he should go back and do it more. The thing with clerics is that you are not your own boss, so sometimes you are told to do stuff from "up high".

[prototype00]

So maybe he doesn't want to come back, but the boss wants him back on the scene, expiry date, when the new Empress of Minkai is crowned?

prototype00

[Damian Doyle]

I think for this purpose his god wants him to come back and continue his work, especially with the coming storm.

Assuming that is the case, any suggestions around some side effect or story side effect. Doesn't need to be a punishment, can just be something interesting as a side effect.

Damian

[Tangent101]

There is a Story Feat concerning dying and coming back, Arisen. The benefit is you don't die 'til you go negative hit points of your Constitution +4, and can as a standard action gain +1 temporary hit point per level once a day.

Your goal is to meet in person and hear the words of your deity or his chosen herald, but this can naturally be modified by the GM as chosen.

The completion bonus is found in the Ultimate Campaign rules available on the PRD.