Raising the Dead in your FR [Archive] - Wizards Community

Raising the Dead in your FR [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Charles Phipps
01-29-08, 05:24 PM How do you handle Resurrection and similar spells in your Forgotten Realms games? Do you go with the idea it's just a spell like any other or have you outright banned it?

Share how common it is and difficult in your Realms.
Rauric
01-29-08, 05:30 PM I would use it. It is a game.
Charles Phipps
01-29-08, 06:25 PM Raising the Dead in Charles Phipps' Faerun

I made it a point in my games that Resurrection does exist but it's a lot less common in my games than people think. Basically, in my realms, most churches aren't made of Spellcasting priests to begin with and levels are more like Eberron.

I.e. 13th level is fairly High Level in my Faerun.

But in addition to all that. Raise Dead and its variants are only granted as "Special" Gifts from One's Deity. Thus, only like 13 guys in the whole of Faerun have the ability to raise the Dead and most of them don't do it for money.

A short list for my games is provided here.

1. Fzoul Chembyrl (See FRCS)

Conditions: Only resurrects worshipers of Bane or members of the Zhentariam. Fzoul Chembyrl will often do this service for "free" if the operatives are especially valuable to him. Fzoul has been known to Speak with the Dead first to see if a powerful adventurer is willing to become a Banite if he's brought back, if so, he's been known to raise enemies and charge them a quest.

2. Cadderly (See Silver Marches)

Conditions: Cadderly will only resurrect children, innocents that have been murdered, and individuals who have perished on a quest that needs to be completed. Part of his powers as Chosen of Deneir means that he automatically knows the Alignment and disposition of a subject who wants to be raised. Cadderly shells out the cost of the Diamond Focus out of his own pockets in the case of kids. Deneir Clerics also can 'work it off' at the Spirit Soaring Cathedral by doing healings and other jobs.

3. Grand Harvester of Souls Merlyn the Second (LN Female Half-Elf Priest of Kelemvor 17)

Conditions: Will only ressurrect "Heroes" of Good or Neutral alignment. They must be of exceptional fame (13th level or above) for her to consider any that do not worship Kelemvor. One must make a donation equal to twice the cost of the diamond and destroy a sentient undead creature as a sacrifice as part of the ceremony. She will not attempt to resurrect anyone who died of natural causes or a particularly glorious death.

4. Elminster of Shadowdale (See FRCS)

Conditions: Technically not a Priest but one of the few granted the power to Raise the Dead by Mystra. Elminster can be entreated to do so, begged, bribed, or pleaded with to no avail or might simply raise the dead on a whim. Bizarrely, there's a 20% chance he'll do it if one presents him a barrel of pipeweed though.

5. Dawnmaster Gavin Brightstar (Baldur's Gate NPC, NG Male Human Priest of Lathander 18)

Conditions: The head of the Church of Lathander outside of Bereghost and self-styled Patriarch of all "true" worshipers of Lathander, Gavin will only raise the dead if one spends up to twenty minutes flattering him. A donation is required equal to the cost of the diamond and an additional twice as much. Gavin's hatred of Cyricists actually means he'll wave the donation and half the diamond's cost if one can bring him proof of a slain High Priest of that God.

6. Dawnmistress Alexia Soulkeeper) (N Female Half-Priestess of Lathander 16)

Conditions: The Dawnmistress of Waterdeep has been blessed with Lathander's power ever since they spent the night together. Dawnmistress Alexia Soulkeeper refuses to raise Evil NPCs or anyone who doesn't worship Lathander, unlike her counterpart in Bereghost. She only charges the cost of the Diamond, however. The Raised are expected to go on a quest in Lathander's name afterwards.

7. Grand Justicar Foehammer (LG Male Dwarf Priest of Tyr 15)

Conditions: Grand Justicar Foehammer will only resurrect LG worshipers of Tyr normally but will make an exception for Dwarves of Good Alignment due to his racial loyalty. The Grand Justicar will automatically refuse any request that brings up the painful subject of his being a Dwarf that doesn't worship the Dwarvish pantheon. He charges nothing but a quest to do something that strengthens the Justice in the North.

8. Manshoon (See FRCS)

Conditions: Provided one can get an audience with one of the Manshoon clones (The Vampire Manshoon being the exception) and one is sufficiently grovelling, the former Lord of the Zhentariam can be persuaded to Clone a subject. It will require a fairly massive bribe in spell books, magical items, and gold (equal to ten times the cost of a Resurrection Diamond). He will also expect a "favor" in the future with the implicit understanding he'll incinerate anyone who welches. Manshoon only needs a piece of the subject's flesh and is talented enough that post-death doesn't matter.

9. Lord Darkness Volthume (NE Male Elf Priest of Shar 15)

Conditions: The Netherese missionary Volthume will resurrect any Shar worshiper that is willing to pay twice the cost of the diamond and will raise a Shadow Weave user that doesn't worship Shar in exchange for three times the cost. Volthume will only raise Neutral or Evil subjects as a general rule. Volthume has rather demonic tastes and will require the offering of a Young Maiden as part of the ritual for his own use then sacrifice (Mystra or Selune female clerics will have Volthume wave the fee). Finding him will be a problem since he wanders the Realms but a message can be left for him in Shade.

10. Witch King of the Hidden Blood Acturus (NE Male Lich [Dwarf] Priest of Velsharoon 18)

Conditions: Acturus is an insanely evil and twisted Necromancer that had no real talent for magic but is grateful for Velsharoon's ascension. A former Acolyte of Orcus, he's almost completely amoral and will only raise Evil individuals. Acturus requires a blood offering of ten sentient humans or humanoids in exchange for the ressurection plus the Diamond's expenditure. However, he has no problem performing the act as often as the individuals require so long as they pay. Acturus has a 10% chance of bringing them back as Mummies or Vampires however.

11. Aelyse (CG Female Priest of Llirra 15)

Conditions: A bright, happy, and bubbly woman whom absolutely adores the world around her. Aelyse is blessed with the power of raising the dead and does so without the requirements of the diamond. Her requirements are usually that a person be both Chaotic and Good though she's made exceptions for Neutral and Chaotic Neutral individuals before.

Aelyse, does however usually only help those out to help the world in some suitably romantic and dashing way. She often insists that they go forth on a quest to prove themselves as well, though she may do a resurrection on the spot anyway. Serious individuals have very little chance of getting help but, bizarrely, due to a past relationship with Kelemvor the God she will raise his followers for free.

12. Great Druid Robyn Kendrick (see FRCS)

Conditions: Will Reincarnate a sincere worshiper of the Earthmother into a Demihuman race of their choice. The subject in question must set forth on a quest to slay some horrible monster of the Moonshaes before the ritual stabilizes though, this represents death.

13. The Lord Coin Jobison: (Human Male Priest of Waukeen 10)

Conditions: Only knows the Raise Dead Spell but will perform the act purely for a flat fee of x10 the cost of the Diamond and Travel expenses with no questions asked. The Lord Coin can be bargained with down to x5 but is aware that his services are well desired.
SATA
01-30-08, 01:32 AM For me it's a spell like any other in a way but requires certain things.

1. Is not mandatory but preferable that the one casting it have the same patron as the dead, if not, then the spell according to the patron and alignment of the caster, will have some difficulties to breach through.

2. Once the caster establish contact with the soul, they will talk, role-play, so that way the caster can address the reason and try to convince or persuade the soul to come back to life. (this method, at least my second point, is used in The Last Mythal)
msatran
01-30-08, 02:57 AM In my game it's a spell like any other, if you can afford it. Dice behave funny around me.

Despite the challenge ratings of opponents, I have players who prepay their true ressurrections and save money to ressurrect their intelligent mounts.

But the priests have to like you enough to do it, and sometimes there is a social price to pay as well.

Plus, if people really offended one of their enemies, well...the spell does take ten minutes to cast...and you know, a knife in the back of a priest could well end the spell early. Best to bring all your friends when ressurrecting your buddy.

Hey...wait a minute. Just look at Dragon #210. That's how it works. :)

I wrote that article.
olympos
01-30-08, 04:27 AM It was a spell like any other. But until 5 months ago we still were playing with 3.0 edition rules. A "True Ressurection" did cost a 5000 gold diamond. We recently stumbled about that now with 3.5 rules it costs 25.000 gold in diamond.

In our high level campaing (ok, 15 -20 lvl) we had several "True Ressurection" scrolls with us. Just in case.. plus there was always a cleric with us. (one of the players). But that too was with 3.0 rules... scrolls were cheap then.

We are still struggling how to cope with the new costs. Last time we had a god intervening, because several of our players died and we were helping a god through our quest. We wouldn't have had the money for a True Ressurection, we all are around level 7 and 8.
Alleran
01-30-08, 06:13 AM 4. Elminster of Shadowdale (See FRCS)
Wait, what?

(I don't have a copy of the FRCS near - how does Elminster have the ability to resurrect people again? I don't remember him having the ability...)

As to how I handle it, though, generally, there are enough mages/clerics/whatever around to make it possible for it to happen... if (and only if) the characters can find one with the right connections. And that could well be (and usually is) an entire quest in and of itself.
Storm_Silverhand
01-30-08, 06:24 AM Heya,

They're definitely just spells... Costly spells, but spells.

First of all, they do cost a lot of gold. But it's not just gold, it's diamonds. There's every chance that, even in a big city, getting your hands on a large amount of diamonds won't be easy. Also, monsters don't conveniently have their treasure hordes made up of diamonds. So the first thing a party needs to do is to get their hands on the diamonds.

Second of all, the Raise Dead line requires a minimum of 9th level to cast the first spell in the line. Unless the party is 9+, they have to rely on NPC clerics. It just so happens that not every city in Faerun has a cleric of that level or higher. True Resurrection is even more difficult, since you need to be 17th level to cast it... Again, clerics won't just cast the spell willy nilly for just anyone off the street - cultivating a relationship with the church and the clerics there in is a good idea for a group of PCs... And even then, the church will most likely ask the PCs to provide the diamonds.

The spell restricts itself, there's no need to restrict it any further IMHO.
Alediran
01-30-08, 10:37 AM Just another spell. Only the cleric's god can object.
Red_Wizard
01-30-08, 11:10 AM If the game were different, and didn't rely so much on the randomness of the dice I might restrict it's usage. As is, when a run of bad luck with rolling crops up, it would be a kick in the proverbial ********* if I turned around and said "sorry, I know you liked your character, but you're dead, so deal with i"t.

-RW
The_Mess
01-30-08, 09:05 PM Reality is also brutally random and kills by bad luck. Worse, it doesn't even let you roll up a new character. : - )
Red_Wizard
01-30-08, 09:42 PM It's a different manner of random, that isn't restricted by rules that prevent you from doing things you know to be possible in reality. ;)

-RW
Kynesis
02-01-08, 07:56 AM Its not a spell any priest would commonly memorize, its generally a highly demanding spell.

The pricey material component listed is there to illustrate the great value of the spell, chances are you'd have to already have a very good relationship with a church and expect ones family to continue that relationship for several generations.

Chances are you'd be at least moderately famous for having been brought back to life, even in a high magic setting like FR.

(Dungeon crawling games by contrast might take it for granted that characters resurrect reasonably often).

Personally I'm inclined to use it as an opportunity to let a god directly influence a character, instilling a special feature or goal. Just bringing that character to the personal attention of a god is bound to spring adventure hooks.

I never let characters off easy for such significant acts.
Even if they can cast it themselves, its sure to draw alot of attention in gathering the material components, the actual casting and as mentioned, the social repercussions.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Charles Phipps 01-29-08, 05:24 PM	How do you handle Resurrection and similar spells in your Forgotten Realms games? Do you go with the idea it's just a spell like any other or have you outright banned it? Share how common it is and difficult in your Realms.
Rauric 01-29-08, 05:30 PM	I would use it. It is a game.
Charles Phipps 01-29-08, 06:25 PM	Raising the Dead in Charles Phipps' Faerun I made it a point in my games that Resurrection does exist but it's a lot less common in my games than people think. Basically, in my realms, most churches aren't made of Spellcasting priests to begin with and levels are more like Eberron. I.e. 13th level is fairly High Level in my Faerun. But in addition to all that. Raise Dead and its variants are only granted as "Special" Gifts from One's Deity. Thus, only like 13 guys in the whole of Faerun have the ability to raise the Dead and most of them don't do it for money. A short list for my games is provided here. 1. Fzoul Chembyrl (See FRCS) Conditions: Only resurrects worshipers of Bane or members of the Zhentariam. Fzoul Chembyrl will often do this service for "free" if the operatives are especially valuable to him. Fzoul has been known to Speak with the Dead first to see if a powerful adventurer is willing to become a Banite if he's brought back, if so, he's been known to raise enemies and charge them a quest. 2. Cadderly (See Silver Marches) Conditions: Cadderly will only resurrect children, innocents that have been murdered, and individuals who have perished on a quest that needs to be completed. Part of his powers as Chosen of Deneir means that he automatically knows the Alignment and disposition of a subject who wants to be raised. Cadderly shells out the cost of the Diamond Focus out of his own pockets in the case of kids. Deneir Clerics also can 'work it off' at the Spirit Soaring Cathedral by doing healings and other jobs. 3. Grand Harvester of Souls Merlyn the Second (LN Female Half-Elf Priest of Kelemvor 17) Conditions: Will only ressurrect "Heroes" of Good or Neutral alignment. They must be of exceptional fame (13th level or above) for her to consider any that do not worship Kelemvor. One must make a donation equal to twice the cost of the diamond and destroy a sentient undead creature as a sacrifice as part of the ceremony. She will not attempt to resurrect anyone who died of natural causes or a particularly glorious death. 4. Elminster of Shadowdale (See FRCS) Conditions: Technically not a Priest but one of the few granted the power to Raise the Dead by Mystra. Elminster can be entreated to do so, begged, bribed, or pleaded with to no avail or might simply raise the dead on a whim. Bizarrely, there's a 20% chance he'll do it if one presents him a barrel of pipeweed though. 5. Dawnmaster Gavin Brightstar (Baldur's Gate NPC, NG Male Human Priest of Lathander 18) Conditions: The head of the Church of Lathander outside of Bereghost and self-styled Patriarch of all "true" worshipers of Lathander, Gavin will only raise the dead if one spends up to twenty minutes flattering him. A donation is required equal to the cost of the diamond and an additional twice as much. Gavin's hatred of Cyricists actually means he'll wave the donation and half the diamond's cost if one can bring him proof of a slain High Priest of that God. 6. Dawnmistress Alexia Soulkeeper) (N Female Half-Priestess of Lathander 16) Conditions: The Dawnmistress of Waterdeep has been blessed with Lathander's power ever since they spent the night together. Dawnmistress Alexia Soulkeeper refuses to raise Evil NPCs or anyone who doesn't worship Lathander, unlike her counterpart in Bereghost. She only charges the cost of the Diamond, however. The Raised are expected to go on a quest in Lathander's name afterwards. 7. Grand Justicar Foehammer (LG Male Dwarf Priest of Tyr 15) Conditions: Grand Justicar Foehammer will only resurrect LG worshipers of Tyr normally but will make an exception for Dwarves of Good Alignment due to his racial loyalty. The Grand Justicar will automatically refuse any request that brings up the painful subject of his being a Dwarf that doesn't worship the Dwarvish pantheon. He charges nothing but a quest to do something that strengthens the Justice in the North. 8. Manshoon (See FRCS) Conditions: Provided one can get an audience with one of the Manshoon clones (The Vampire Manshoon being the exception) and one is sufficiently grovelling, the former Lord of the Zhentariam can be persuaded to Clone a subject. It will require a fairly massive bribe in spell books, magical items, and gold (equal to ten times the cost of a Resurrection Diamond). He will also expect a "favor" in the future with the implicit understanding he'll incinerate anyone who welches. Manshoon only needs a piece of the subject's flesh and is talented enough that post-death doesn't matter. 9. Lord Darkness Volthume (NE Male Elf Priest of Shar 15) Conditions: The Netherese missionary Volthume will resurrect any Shar worshiper that is willing to pay twice the cost of the diamond and will raise a Shadow Weave user that doesn't worship Shar in exchange for three times the cost. Volthume will only raise Neutral or Evil subjects as a general rule. Volthume has rather demonic tastes and will require the offering of a Young Maiden as part of the ritual for his own use then sacrifice (Mystra or Selune female clerics will have Volthume wave the fee). Finding him will be a problem since he wanders the Realms but a message can be left for him in Shade. 10. Witch King of the Hidden Blood Acturus (NE Male Lich [Dwarf] Priest of Velsharoon 18) Conditions: Acturus is an insanely evil and twisted Necromancer that had no real talent for magic but is grateful for Velsharoon's ascension. A former Acolyte of Orcus, he's almost completely amoral and will only raise Evil individuals. Acturus requires a blood offering of ten sentient humans or humanoids in exchange for the ressurection plus the Diamond's expenditure. However, he has no problem performing the act as often as the individuals require so long as they pay. Acturus has a 10% chance of bringing them back as Mummies or Vampires however. 11. Aelyse (CG Female Priest of Llirra 15) Conditions: A bright, happy, and bubbly woman whom absolutely adores the world around her. Aelyse is blessed with the power of raising the dead and does so without the requirements of the diamond. Her requirements are usually that a person be both Chaotic and Good though she's made exceptions for Neutral and Chaotic Neutral individuals before. Aelyse, does however usually only help those out to help the world in some suitably romantic and dashing way. She often insists that they go forth on a quest to prove themselves as well, though she may do a resurrection on the spot anyway. Serious individuals have very little chance of getting help but, bizarrely, due to a past relationship with Kelemvor the God she will raise his followers for free. 12. Great Druid Robyn Kendrick (see FRCS) Conditions: Will Reincarnate a sincere worshiper of the Earthmother into a Demihuman race of their choice. The subject in question must set forth on a quest to slay some horrible monster of the Moonshaes before the ritual stabilizes though, this represents death. 13. The Lord Coin Jobison: (Human Male Priest of Waukeen 10) Conditions: Only knows the Raise Dead Spell but will perform the act purely for a flat fee of x10 the cost of the Diamond and Travel expenses with no questions asked. The Lord Coin can be bargained with down to x5 but is aware that his services are well desired.
SATA 01-30-08, 01:32 AM	For me it's a spell like any other in a way but requires certain things. 1. Is not mandatory but preferable that the one casting it have the same patron as the dead, if not, then the spell according to the patron and alignment of the caster, will have some difficulties to breach through. 2. Once the caster establish contact with the soul, they will talk, role-play, so that way the caster can address the reason and try to convince or persuade the soul to come back to life. (this method, at least my second point, is used in The Last Mythal)
msatran 01-30-08, 02:57 AM	In my game it's a spell like any other, if you can afford it. Dice behave funny around me. Despite the challenge ratings of opponents, I have players who prepay their true ressurrections and save money to ressurrect their intelligent mounts. But the priests have to like you enough to do it, and sometimes there is a social price to pay as well. Plus, if people really offended one of their enemies, well...the spell does take ten minutes to cast...and you know, a knife in the back of a priest could well end the spell early. Best to bring all your friends when ressurrecting your buddy. Hey...wait a minute. Just look at Dragon #210. That's how it works. :) I wrote that article.
olympos 01-30-08, 04:27 AM	It was a spell like any other. But until 5 months ago we still were playing with 3.0 edition rules. A "True Ressurection" did cost a 5000 gold diamond. We recently stumbled about that now with 3.5 rules it costs 25.000 gold in diamond. In our high level campaing (ok, 15 -20 lvl) we had several "True Ressurection" scrolls with us. Just in case.. plus there was always a cleric with us. (one of the players). But that too was with 3.0 rules... scrolls were cheap then. We are still struggling how to cope with the new costs. Last time we had a god intervening, because several of our players died and we were helping a god through our quest. We wouldn't have had the money for a True Ressurection, we all are around level 7 and 8.
Alleran 01-30-08, 06:13 AM	4. Elminster of Shadowdale (See FRCS) Wait, what? (I don't have a copy of the FRCS near - how does Elminster have the ability to resurrect people again? I don't remember him having the ability...) As to how I handle it, though, generally, there are enough mages/clerics/whatever around to make it possible for it to happen... if (and only if) the characters can find one with the right connections. And that could well be (and usually is) an entire quest in and of itself.
Storm_Silverhand 01-30-08, 06:24 AM	Heya, They're definitely just spells... Costly spells, but spells. First of all, they do cost a lot of gold. But it's not just gold, it's diamonds. There's every chance that, even in a big city, getting your hands on a large amount of diamonds won't be easy. Also, monsters don't conveniently have their treasure hordes made up of diamonds. So the first thing a party needs to do is to get their hands on the diamonds. Second of all, the Raise Dead line requires a minimum of 9th level to cast the first spell in the line. Unless the party is 9+, they have to rely on NPC clerics. It just so happens that not every city in Faerun has a cleric of that level or higher. True Resurrection is even more difficult, since you need to be 17th level to cast it... Again, clerics won't just cast the spell willy nilly for just anyone off the street - cultivating a relationship with the church and the clerics there in is a good idea for a group of PCs... And even then, the church will most likely ask the PCs to provide the diamonds. The spell restricts itself, there's no need to restrict it any further IMHO.
Alediran 01-30-08, 10:37 AM	Just another spell. Only the cleric's god can object.
Red_Wizard 01-30-08, 11:10 AM	If the game were different, and didn't rely so much on the randomness of the dice I might restrict it's usage. As is, when a run of bad luck with rolling crops up, it would be a kick in the proverbial ********* if I turned around and said "sorry, I know you liked your character, but you're dead, so deal with i"t. -RW
The_Mess 01-30-08, 09:05 PM	Reality is also brutally random and kills by bad luck. Worse, it doesn't even let you roll up a new character. : - )
Red_Wizard 01-30-08, 09:42 PM	It's a different manner of random, that isn't restricted by rules that prevent you from doing things you know to be possible in reality. ;) -RW
Kynesis 02-01-08, 07:56 AM	Its not a spell any priest would commonly memorize, its generally a highly demanding spell. The pricey material component listed is there to illustrate the great value of the spell, chances are you'd have to already have a very good relationship with a church and expect ones family to continue that relationship for several generations. Chances are you'd be at least moderately famous for having been brought back to life, even in a high magic setting like FR. (Dungeon crawling games by contrast might take it for granted that characters resurrect reasonably often). Personally I'm inclined to use it as an opportunity to let a god directly influence a character, instilling a special feature or goal. Just bringing that character to the personal attention of a god is bound to spring adventure hooks. I never let characters off easy for such significant acts. Even if they can cast it themselves, its sure to draw alot of attention in gathering the material components, the actual casting and as mentioned, the social repercussions.