Post/Author/DateTime	Post
hobson1975 10-06-05, 10:26 PM	What other house rules do DMs have on characters dying? How do you handle the person building a new PC? Any penalty? We typically did average party level minus one as the new PC, but are reconsidering that.
Jagyr Ebonwood 10-06-05, 10:31 PM	I'd do former character level minus 1, unless the old character was extremely high or low. This way gives them equal incentive to choose resurrection or new PC.
Cynlas 10-07-05, 05:11 PM	Given how we handle ECl, La, and whatnot, in my campaign, I typically will just allow them to make their next character with the same XP as their dead character had when they expired, thereby making the only "penalty" being the loss of whatever xp they would have aquired from enounters prior to getting axed. I do not think that there is, at least in my group, much reason to penalize the new character, as the creation of a new character is usually enough of a penalty as it is. Further, as in the standard "level based" xp system, you are affecting the entire party when instituting direct xp penalites to a player whose character died, something my personal "fairness" sensors get agitated about. Further, penalizing the player by reducing the level of the new character only forces a level of conservativism into the play that I, again personally, find to be counterproductive in a D&D game. Finally, there just is no real justification for penalizing a "new" character because of the death of a former character except for metagame penalties aimed at penalizing a player. If there is a valid, in-game, reason then that would be the only valid (as always, in my personal opinion) consideration to be made. For instance, the party is now staying in a small villiage, and the player is creating a new character who is a local who is joining the party, but the highest level character already "present" in the villiage is only 6th level, while the party is averaged at 8th or 9th, then unless appropriate backstory is generated to justify an 8th or 9th level character to have been passing through at the same time, then I think the DM could reasonably restrict the new character to the 6th level produced by the villiage. In the end, I feel, as a DM, that there are enough "penalties" involved in a character death and replacement (such as the rebuilding of RP trust and bonding between the party and newbie, in additiona to the stuff mentioned above), that additional XP or level penalties are too much.
Raelifin 10-07-05, 07:21 PM	I cut resurection from my games entirely. :D
Aurotuli 10-07-05, 10:01 PM	Resurrection is non-existent, and I use a slightly modified form of Raise Dead - including a Fortitude save on the part of the Raised equal to the number of days since their death. If they fail they lose a second level and must roll again. Each time they fail the DC increases by one and they permanently lose another level. Recovering from death is not easy, and it should be discouraged. That's not even taking into account the fact that I use a SP system instead of the "typical" GP system - but leave the price for Raise untouched (thus increasing its cost significantly). Also, upon death and again each 24 hours thereafter their is a chance that the soul has been found by a celestial servant of the PC's patron deity and removed to the appropriate afterlife. If that is the case Raise Dead will have a chance of success only if the priest casting it is also of the same patron deity. Otherwise any priest will do (although the patron of the priest may choose to place a Quest upon the raised - in addition to the normal 5k cost). Also, if the spirit has not yet been found / taken by a celestial, there is a small chance of it being found and taken by a fiend - in which case there is no chance of success with Raise Dead. The more devout the PC the more likely the celestial is to find it right away. Clerics are auto-taken upon the second check 24 hours later. Certain divine spells can also call upon a celestial to gather a spirit - quite low level and common to funerary rites of all religions. This is yet another reason most NPCs view the wilderness / frontier regions with a touch of fear / mistrust: where is the priest to prevent any chance of a fiend from capturing one's soul? This, combined with playing intelligent foes who use strategy and tactics, has long been a factor in my group's not rushing into things. Death is not something to take lightly. - - - Now, as for rolling up a new character, I typically presume one level lower (as if raised) and at the minimum XP for that level. I make it half XP to the next level if the others are close to going up a level. If the player that died had a cohort, I offer the option of just continuing on with the cohort (bumping up the cohort's XP if necessary to the levels stated above). Backstory is also quite important and carefully considered.
Darrett 10-07-05, 11:41 PM	It depends. With one of my groups, they don't use raise dead whatsoever. The players like it this way, and it doesn't bother me at all. In the other group, I require a Will save of DC 15 + (1/2 Character Level) to avoid going insane when raised. Again, the group likes it this way. Depending on how badly the check was failed, they may just have emotional problems, or they may become possessed by an entity.
Raelifin 10-08-05, 12:47 AM	In the other group, I require a Will save of DC 15 + (1/2 Character Level) to avoid going insane when raised. Again, the group likes it this way. Depending on how badly the check was failed, they may just have emotional problems, or they may become possessed by an entity. Oho. That's quite nifty. Cheers! :thumbsup:
weasel fierce 10-08-05, 05:58 PM	For making a new character, I like to base the XP total off what the old character had. Something like 75% or so, seems to work well enough. As far as being raised, I play AD&D, and do raise dead by the book, loose 1 CON, and has to pass a resurrection survival roll.
lostone 10-09-05, 08:09 AM	We go with a 1 level penalty from what the previous character had. This encourages a player to stick with the same character and if possible the group will seek out True Resurrection as a possibility. This way a player doesn't change characters on a whim or when he finds a new uber-build he thinks sounds more fun/powerful. We had a problem with a player that changed characters every few weeks because he read the CO boards obsessively. Now he has to decide if he wants to take a level hit when changing characters or stick with his current character. Often character death doesn't even come into play, he simply creates an in-character reason for his current character to leave the group so he can change characters. Since we adopted the above houserule, he has only changed characters once.
Gilean 10-09-05, 10:36 AM	A quest to the Underworld is required, in good traditional Greek way. There the dead one must be found and got away by some way. The Underworld changes characters, as well.