Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 McMechanism Jul 27, 2015 7:41:42	One of the PCs in my game has died (gored to death by a minotaur). I am the DM and I have 3 level 6 PCs playing with me, including the one that's died.   It's the first PC death in our group and the player in question is keen to bring his character back if he can. I want to avoid ressurection spells at this point and would like to do a one-session (3-4 hrs) side-quest to get the character back.   They already think they are just going to do a battle through hell type session to retrieve the soul. I never suggested this to them. They are just assuming.   I just wanted some ideas from people or reports of what you have done in this situation. Part of me wants to give them totally different characters for one session, like level 1 soldiers on a totally different mission that might somehow tie in with a search for a soul. Or I could have them visit another plane and have to change form to enter it. They all become elementals or something.    Basically, I want it to be different to a normal session which is why I was keen to shake up the characters a bit. Also unsure as to what the dead PC player will be doing - does he become an NPC that goes with the others?   Just interested in your thoughts. Many thanks
#2 iserith Jul 27, 2015 7:55:20	The manner in which the character died has created a personal hell from which he or she needs outside assistance to escape. Having been killed by a minotaur, it takes the place of a seemingly endless maze filled with deadly traps and shadelike monsters. To reach it, the surviving characters must enter a form of deep sleep that is close to death, brought on by a night hag who demands they sign a blood-pact binding them to her service until the next harvest moon. If the PCs can escape the maze, the dead character is brought back to life. Of course, unless you're prepared to have the character trapped in the maze remain so, escaping the maze cannot be uncertain. So I'd suggest setting up a failure condition that has the PCs escape the maze, but at some kind of cost (a curse, for example, that only additional questing may remove).   I'd also suggest that during this "side-trek," some important information is revealed about something later on in the campaign. Something that only visiting "The Other Side" could reveal.
#3 Ralif_Redhammer Jul 27, 2015 8:54:09	Was the PC that died good-aligned? Maybe they have to go to one of the good-aligned planes to retrieve his soul. Plus, having to deal with good adversaries might be an added complication. And on the way, they run into some demons or devils that are part of a raiding party (because there have to be some bad guys to smite).   I’d  give the dead player an NPC to play on the quest to save the old one. Maybe a celestial dweller of some sort – perhaps even an animal, for a change of pace, like a blink dog.   One thing I did when a PC died was have the player run the character’s ghost. He had limited abilities to interact with the world, but could do some physical stuff, until they were able to reconnect his spirit and body.
#4 Bloodscythe Jul 27, 2015 11:35:50	Iserith's idea is spot on.  It keeps the dead character's player involved in the adventure since the entire side-adventure takes place in a dreamscape/hellscape.  Basically, since the dead PC can't join the other players' characters in the prime material plane, the other characters join him wherever his spirit is and everyone gets to play.   Or at the time of death, the character's spirit, fighting to cling to the prime material plane, but unable to stay in their mortally wounded body, became a ghost and possessed an unconscious, or dying NPC... another minotaur maybe?  This however is unnatural and is taking a toll on the PC.  A quest is necessary to restore their body so they can reinhabit it before their soul is corrupted beyond the point of return.  This will enable the player to stay involved also so the entire group gets to play.   I've done the incorporeal adventurer thing that Ralif mentions too... I adapted information out of some White Wolf publications of Wraith: oblivion.  It worked ok... but the player enjoyed his ghost abilities a little too much and I think he was disappointed to return to normal since I only allowed it as a temporary thing.
#5 Hoprc91 Jul 27, 2015 12:38:40	I had a similar situation before and had fun making it a political role-playing scenerio rather than a hack-n-slash.    I had my other characters travel to a city of the dead via a planer gate dungeon (filled with Ghosts and Specters). once there, they had to petition to speak to the king, and convince a council that their friend should be allowed to live again. The king and council were stuffy old souls who kept insisting they couldn't stray from "Tradition" of dead people staying dead. I forget how they were eventually able to convince a majority of the council, but then they actually had to go through the city and find their friends soul, and bring it back to the body.    Obviously, these other suggestions are great, but my players found it frusterating (and fun) argueing with a council of stubborn old men rather than a "battle through hell" session.
#6 UmbraCarmen Jul 27, 2015 13:43:20	Don't forget the Marut (Inevitable) that might end up coming up after the PC.  If the characters don't do really well in the rescue mission one of these might be alerted.  Could give the dead character a pocket watch that ticks louder when it approaches.  Eventually the PC's might demonstrate that it was fate that the character came back rather than fate thwarted?   McMechanism wrote:
#7 BRJN Jul 27, 2015 19:30:13	During Rise of Tiamat, my group encountered some Devils guarding a stairwell.  Some of the party wanted to go down the stairs that said "DANGER", some did not.   The ones that stayed in the room wound up playing poker with the devils.  Nobody ever said what the stakes were (I imagined a handful of GP). Good thing for them, the lead PC card-player rolled much better than I did.  He won several rounds.  Then he asked, "What have I won, somebody's soul?" A half-dozen devils now owe my player some souls !   This might be a way to equip your group before they go after their friend: they can trade one-for-one to get their friend back, if need be.
#8 McMechanism Jul 29, 2015 8:11:40	Great answers. Thanks everyone.   I'm going to go with Iserith's idea as a base but with a flavour of all the other suggestions:    When said PC died, Baphomet managed to snatch the PC's soul which is now imprisoned within The Abyss in The Endless Maze. A night hag will transport the living PCs souls there to mount a rescue mission. In order for the PCs to have physical bodies to perform actions etc, their souls will be forced into whatever weak-minded creatures are residing there. This could be dumb minotaur guards or brainwashed Baphomet cultists. They have to find the dead PC's soul and help it escape. I've decided that Baphomet has imprisoned the soul within a body for his amusement. It could be a demon, a halfling, a stone golem, a tiny dog - anything really. The soul also has no memory of his former life.   So basically, none of the players are playing their physical characters (so to speak) and the dead PC's soul doesn't even realise he's a dead PC's soul. I'm looking forward to hearing the other two trying to convince him he needs to escape.   I just need to work out some mechanics of escaping a maze, may be some traps and some fast-talking etc. Also a chance of failure - I don't want it to be a given that they'll get out.   My biggest worry is making it all too complicated. It sounds complicated when reading this back but most of it will be fun roleplay I think. I'd welcome any further thoughts but don't expect you to write my session for me!
#9 BRJN Jul 29, 2015 16:38:52	Create the maze as a Skill Challenge, not a Map.  Insight and Investigate to figure the way through.  Perception and Arcana (maybe Nature?) help.   Successful results: - You find some chalk or other material to mark your path. - Another lost soul offers to join you to find a way out.  He DOES have a map of where he's been - and you're not in there.  So you know where not to go. - You come across a long-dead denizen of the maze and can loot his body for useful equipment - You find your friend's soul inhabiting the other body, and know that it's him.  (Arcana check to confirm?)   Failing results - You run into somebody who wants to pick a fight just because - Trapped in a dead-end (portcullis comes down behind you &c) - Run into a trap that wastes resources (rips canteen, smashes food, spiked pit) - A soul-collector arrives, notices that you are not the normal tormented sorts, and challenges you with vile intent