Variant: The Six Trials of Purgatory [Archive] - Wizards Community

Variant: The Six Trials of Purgatory [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Limit
09-22-05, 02:19 PM The Six Trials of Purgatory

Instead of being dead with your soul on the plane of your final destination, in this variant when someone dies, their soul goes to purgatory. Leading out from purgatory are six hallways that lead back to the mortal world. Each hallway represents one of the attributes and poses a challenge based on that attribute. For example, the strength hallway may require you to move a huge stone out of the way while the intelligence hallway may have an intricate puzzle lock. However, once a soul has undergone one of the trials, they may never undergo that trial again. If someone dies seven times, their soul is lost. Persons that die of old age do not go to purgatory.

When a player dies under this system, they choose one of their six attributes. They then need to make a DC 12 check with that attribute. For this check, players may only include their base stat, racial modifiers, inherent modifiers, and bonuses gain through levels. Characters may not take ten or twenty on this check under any circumstances. If the player is successful, their soul has been freed from purgatory. Otherwise, their soul is lost.

In order for a free soul to return to it's body, the body only needs to be healed to 0 hit points. Cure spells can raise a wounded body to 0 hit points but never higher until a soul inhabits the body. Souless bodies do not heal on their own.

:ghosted:

This is just my first draft of this idea and I wanted to get some feedback about it. In the end, I'm trying to devise a resurrection method for my players that still poses a challenge, but not just to their wallets. I would need to decide what to do with the current raise dead spells as well was what happens if the body is destroyed.

If anyone could recommend an existing alternate way of handling this topic, I'd appreciate that as well.
Card_Wizard
09-22-05, 07:56 PM I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend making it so that if someone is slain six times, that there is still a way to bring them back. This is mostly a somewhat 'ruleist' if you will opinion of mine, but unless a god says so, I believe a soul can always be retrieved. And I know if anyone (especially players) thinks the same way i do, they will not like this variant. Although it does lead to an easier way of bringing people back ealier on in the adventure...maybe make it that each person effectivly has six 'lives' they can us in purgatory, but otherwise then need to be raised/ressuerected/true resuerected/miracled back to life. :confused:
FlameLover
09-22-05, 08:08 PM I like the idea but would change it so that at every level up they start again, so they can die for 'free' 6 times in a level (take an XP penalty knocking them to very beginning of level though). Once they die 7th time in a level then you need the normal ressurection magic.

Some people will say this is too easy on players but no-one likes a character to die and the game is about fun, so i always go for the fun option and not the 'realistic' or 'hard' option.

But i like the idea, i might have to use it myself!
Millennium
09-23-05, 12:05 AM Interesting idea, but the idea of being unresurrectable after six deaths isn't going to sit well with many players.

Maybe keep the basics with your system, but add a few tweaks:
Raise Dead and similar spells can be used to recreate a body which has been destroyed. In the case of Raise Dead, the body is brought back at zero hit points, but otherwise still bearing all wounds and injuries it had just before it died (i.e. every one except the one that killed it). Resurrection and True Resurrection recreate the body at full hit points but comatose; the soul still has to come back. Recreating the body does not cost the character any levels.
If a soul has been "lost" (through failing a trial or not having any left to try) then Raise Dead and similar spells can be used to reunite the soul with its body. However, the spells do not recreate the body when used in this way, so if the body is destroyed and the soul is lost then you need two spells.
Either use of the Raise spells is under the same time constraints that they are in the standard system, working from the time the character died. In the case of the soul-restoring function, this is true even if the character died a long time ago but the body was recreated only recently.
Whether the character loses a level or not depends on how the soul rejoing the body. As before, true resurrection does not cause the level penalty normally associated with death, and neither does passing one of the six trials. All other methods of reviving the dead still cause the level penalty, however. There is no additional penalty if the body needs to be recreated, other than the cost of having to cast a spell to do so.

As an alternative to this system, you may want to consider picking up Ghostwalk. It's 3.0, but easy to update. It outlines a two-step raising process similar to the one I've outlined: you can first raise a soul as a ghost and then rejoin it with its body. This is more troublesome than the one-step method of just casting one of the Raise spells, but it's much less of a financial hardship, and even if you can't complete the second step there are rules by which characters can still adventure as ghosts for a while.
Limit
09-23-05, 10:28 AM As an alternative to this system, you may want to consider picking up Ghostwalk. It's 3.0, but easy to update. It outlines a two-step raising process similar to the one I've outlined: you can first raise a soul as a ghost and then rejoin it with its body. This is more troublesome than the one-step method of just casting one of the Raise spells, but it's much less of a financial hardship, and even if you can't complete the second step there are rules by which characters can still adventure as ghosts for a while.
I knew I had read about an alternative method of resurrecting. I'm going to check out the section in Ghostwalk (if my FLGS has it) and then think more on my idea. Thank you all for the input and I'll post a modified version soon.
Thelon Fairblade
09-26-05, 12:58 PM I was going to suggest that passing a trial negates the level loss. So you can die as often as you want, but up to a maximum of 6 times you can come back without level loss (true resurrection not withstanding).
Gilean
09-27-05, 07:33 AM Ummm...
Are 6 resurrections too few? How often do the characters die?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Limit 09-22-05, 02:19 PM	The Six Trials of Purgatory Instead of being dead with your soul on the plane of your final destination, in this variant when someone dies, their soul goes to purgatory. Leading out from purgatory are six hallways that lead back to the mortal world. Each hallway represents one of the attributes and poses a challenge based on that attribute. For example, the strength hallway may require you to move a huge stone out of the way while the intelligence hallway may have an intricate puzzle lock. However, once a soul has undergone one of the trials, they may never undergo that trial again. If someone dies seven times, their soul is lost. Persons that die of old age do not go to purgatory. When a player dies under this system, they choose one of their six attributes. They then need to make a DC 12 check with that attribute. For this check, players may only include their base stat, racial modifiers, inherent modifiers, and bonuses gain through levels. Characters may not take ten or twenty on this check under any circumstances. If the player is successful, their soul has been freed from purgatory. Otherwise, their soul is lost. In order for a free soul to return to it's body, the body only needs to be healed to 0 hit points. Cure spells can raise a wounded body to 0 hit points but never higher until a soul inhabits the body. Souless bodies do not heal on their own. :ghosted: This is just my first draft of this idea and I wanted to get some feedback about it. In the end, I'm trying to devise a resurrection method for my players that still poses a challenge, but not just to their wallets. I would need to decide what to do with the current raise dead spells as well was what happens if the body is destroyed. If anyone could recommend an existing alternate way of handling this topic, I'd appreciate that as well.
Card_Wizard 09-22-05, 07:56 PM	I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend making it so that if someone is slain six times, that there is still a way to bring them back. This is mostly a somewhat 'ruleist' if you will opinion of mine, but unless a god says so, I believe a soul can always be retrieved. And I know if anyone (especially players) thinks the same way i do, they will not like this variant. Although it does lead to an easier way of bringing people back ealier on in the adventure...maybe make it that each person effectivly has six 'lives' they can us in purgatory, but otherwise then need to be raised/ressuerected/true resuerected/miracled back to life. :confused:
FlameLover 09-22-05, 08:08 PM	I like the idea but would change it so that at every level up they start again, so they can die for 'free' 6 times in a level (take an XP penalty knocking them to very beginning of level though). Once they die 7th time in a level then you need the normal ressurection magic. Some people will say this is too easy on players but no-one likes a character to die and the game is about fun, so i always go for the fun option and not the 'realistic' or 'hard' option. But i like the idea, i might have to use it myself!
Millennium 09-23-05, 12:05 AM	Interesting idea, but the idea of being unresurrectable after six deaths isn't going to sit well with many players. Maybe keep the basics with your system, but add a few tweaks: Raise Dead and similar spells can be used to recreate a body which has been destroyed. In the case of Raise Dead, the body is brought back at zero hit points, but otherwise still bearing all wounds and injuries it had just before it died (i.e. every one except the one that killed it). Resurrection and True Resurrection recreate the body at full hit points but comatose; the soul still has to come back. Recreating the body does not cost the character any levels. If a soul has been "lost" (through failing a trial or not having any left to try) then Raise Dead and similar spells can be used to reunite the soul with its body. However, the spells do not recreate the body when used in this way, so if the body is destroyed and the soul is lost then you need two spells. Either use of the Raise spells is under the same time constraints that they are in the standard system, working from the time the character died. In the case of the soul-restoring function, this is true even if the character died a long time ago but the body was recreated only recently. Whether the character loses a level or not depends on how the soul rejoing the body. As before, true resurrection does not cause the level penalty normally associated with death, and neither does passing one of the six trials. All other methods of reviving the dead still cause the level penalty, however. There is no additional penalty if the body needs to be recreated, other than the cost of having to cast a spell to do so. As an alternative to this system, you may want to consider picking up Ghostwalk. It's 3.0, but easy to update. It outlines a two-step raising process similar to the one I've outlined: you can first raise a soul as a ghost and then rejoin it with its body. This is more troublesome than the one-step method of just casting one of the Raise spells, but it's much less of a financial hardship, and even if you can't complete the second step there are rules by which characters can still adventure as ghosts for a while.
Limit 09-23-05, 10:28 AM	As an alternative to this system, you may want to consider picking up Ghostwalk. It's 3.0, but easy to update. It outlines a two-step raising process similar to the one I've outlined: you can first raise a soul as a ghost and then rejoin it with its body. This is more troublesome than the one-step method of just casting one of the Raise spells, but it's much less of a financial hardship, and even if you can't complete the second step there are rules by which characters can still adventure as ghosts for a while. I knew I had read about an alternative method of resurrecting. I'm going to check out the section in Ghostwalk (if my FLGS has it) and then think more on my idea. Thank you all for the input and I'll post a modified version soon.
Thelon Fairblade 09-26-05, 12:58 PM	I was going to suggest that passing a trial negates the level loss. So you can die as often as you want, but up to a maximum of 6 times you can come back without level loss (true resurrection not withstanding).
Gilean 09-27-05, 07:33 AM	Ummm... Are 6 resurrections too few? How often do the characters die?