Making ressurection magic rare...for NPCs

[Drew]

Here's an exerp from a varient rule I'm cooking up. It sums up the reasoning behind this rule:

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp In D&D, death is far from permanent. A 9th level cleric can bring back the
deceased, and any mid level party with enough coin can pay to bring their friends and companions
back from the grave. The availability of resurrection magic is a good thing. It fits well with
the epic fantasy tone of the D&D game and gives players the means to continue playing their
favorite characters.
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp From a plot perspective, resurrection poses a few problems for the DM. Many
common fantasy plot elements are impossible or unlikely. What does it matter if the king is
assassinated when bringing him back is a simple matter of tapping the local treasury? Why would
a desperate villain ever take a hostage if he knows the heroes can easily raise the dead?


With this in mind, I thought I might introduce a rule that makes it difficult to resurrect someone. This rule would apply in any case where an NPC is being raised.

Many campaigns deal with this by stating that the god of the dead is unlikely to give up souls, making resurrection fairly rare. I don't really like this approach as it leaves way too much up to DM arbitration.

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of how my rule works, I'd like to know your opinion of creating a rule that only applies to NPCs. Do you think its fair or necessary?

Should I give a hard and fast rule or simply do as others have and rely on DM fiat?

 

[graydoom]

Why is leaving it up to DM arbitration a bad thing? The DM decides on the rules anyway; making elaborate rules doesn't mean that the DM can't say "Hmmm, I feel that the rules should not apply in this instance because of reason."
IMO, the best way to do is to just say "Raising the dead doesn't always work, who knows why, maybe the god of death is only willing to return some souls." And thus the DM can say "Sorry, death god not giving that one up" whenever it is needed to do so.
So ultimately, I'd advise you to rely on "DM fiat". You do anyway. A DM can always rule0 the rules.

On whether a rule or condition like this that only affected NPCs would be fair... certainly! The PCs (by virtue of being exceptional people) have a special hold on life, or are watched by the gods, or are given more chances than normal by the god of death... whatever works for you.

 

[Vaxalon]

I saw a good one on DnD-L.

The Halls of the Dead will not release the soul of the deceased, unless the soul of the deceased's killer is there to replace him.

This has all kinds of implications.

It means that assassins don't get killed by their employers, to silence them. Employers like keeping their assassins ALIVE.

It means that PC's who kill lots of important people will get a long list of enemies.

It means that PC's who come back from a near-total TPK won't be able to get everyone resurrected until the monster is dealt with.

 

[Drew]

Thanks for your feedback!

Note that I don't plan on creating an elaborate rule. When I was originally working on this, it was an essay about why resurrection on my home brewed world is rare. I got to thinking, what happens if I need to determine whether some NPC king or another can be brought back to life. Of course I'll rely on DM fiat when its important, but in some cases the DM might want a method to determine the success of a resurrection. In those instances it would be nice to have at least some idea how hard it is to resurect someone.

Here's the rule, in a nutshell:

<nutshell>

Whenever attempting to raise someone from the dead, the spellcaster must make a special "resurrection check." This check is 1d20 + relevant abililty modifier + level of the spell being cast.
The DC for this check is 30.

Here are some modifiers:
+4 DC if the target is old
+6 DC if the target is venerable

If the caster is a cleric of the god of death, he or she may add +1 to the roll for every 5 levels of cleric.


</nutshell>

What think you? To hard? To easy? Bear in mind that this is meant to be simple and quick, and it only applies when the subject of the resurrection spell is an NPC.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

I saw a good one on DnD-L.

The Halls of the Dead will not release the soul of the deceased, unless the soul of the deceased's killer is there to replace him.

This has all kinds of implications.

It means that assassins don't get killed by their employers, to silence them. Employers like keeping their assassins ALIVE.

It means that PC's who kill lots of important people will get a long list of enemies.

It means that PC's who come back from a near-total TPK won't be able to get everyone resurrected until the monster is dealt with.

I like it. I'd add that people killed by circumstance or accident are not subject to the rule, but otherwise this is very neat. I think I'll be working with the idea some more.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

I find both ideas interesting.

 

[navriin]

I think this situation is best served by DM arbitration, and a few background rules.

In my campaign I only allow clerics of the deceased character's god or their close allies to perform the actual raising. Next I take the viewpoint that people on the prime are basically being raised like crops for the deities to reap, sort of like counting beans. When a faithful dies, his soul departs to join his god, increasing the deity's strength, making said divine a little bit more powerful. So naturally, the gods are reluctant to 'give up' the newly acquired soul, and will basically only do so if the dead character could further serve the deity's purpose by being brought back to life. This is judged partly by the work the character does against the deity's enemies, but moreso by the work the character does for the deity-after all dead allies of an opponent deity are nice, but what the god really wants is more followers, thus, raising tends to be reserved for those who actively work to increase the power of the faith, by winning new converts and nurturing those followers into higher levels of faith (tastier souls, yum!).

Second, I take the viewpoint that the gods have a set of rules they follow to avoid the destruction of the world-hence gods working through clerics instead of directly. Basically the rules state that for every favor a god shows to his follower, his opposing deity is allowed to answer with an equal favor. Thus, if a cleric of a good god raises a faithful, he does so knowing that an evil deity may very well answer in kind by bringing back a terrible foe from the grave. This makes the cleric decide if the raising is actually worth it, and can make such affairs dangerous.

Lastly, I provide for worry-free raising through the priests of a death-god, for a price...of course. (Adventure hooks are a good thing).

Just a run-down on how to look at this topic, I think game mechanics would cheapen the maricle of being brought back to life, but that's just my opinion.