Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kimby Jun 11, 2009 13:38:15	I just got out of a heated debate regarding PC death in LFR. The way it's being explained to me is that the only way for a character to truly die, as in never coming back and dead forever, in LFR is if the entire party is TPK'd. I thought this was wrong because in the CCG it states that "if a party can't or won't pay to have your PC raised or doesn't have access to the body" the character comes back to life at the end of the module. Of course, minus story awards, gold and only gets XP's up to the opint where they died. If the entire party is TPK'd, then wouldn't that count as not having access to the body? When I asked how this was different from a TPK, it was "explained" that the difference was access to the raise dead ritual. The party MUST have access to the body in order for the ruling to take affect. Is there a final ruling on this matter? If so, where? I'm getting tired of "debating" this issue.
#2 Istaran Jun 11, 2009 14:02:35	A TPK counts as not having access to the body. In fact outside of TPK it's rare to need to have the "Charity of Death" clause invoked. (It is often used because the ritual is more expensive though.) Basically, in LG if your character was perma-killed (usually from TPK, but there were plenty of other possibilities) you start over at level 1. Sucks to be you. Otherwise, if you died and were raised you lost 0.5-1.5 levels worth of XP and a fixed amount of gold, which after a certain point made you more powerful relative to your enemies (as you get ahead of the 'gold curve'). In LFR your character is only ever permanently lost to you when you chose to retire him/her. Otherwise, make up some convoluted set of circumstances if you feel the need, but somehow someone recovers your body off screen and gets you raised. This never forces you to drop to level 1 (or lose a level at all) but is always bad for you; you have a -1 death penalty for about a mod and a half, and you are permanently behind the gold curve (either by paying for the ritual or by gaining XP without the corresponding wealth). This creates a minor "death spiral" effect, as someone who dies a lot will be notably behind the gold curve as well as frequently at -1, but the effect is not terribly strong and the gold loss becomes insignificant as you level up. So.. no more convuluted incentives to die. No more losing your place at the table with your friends because you die. No more starting at level 1 because you die (though LFR provides other incentives to start new characters due to how level bands work). Seriously though, what kind of people are you playing with that you have to debate whether "not having access to the body (due to TPK)" qualifies as "not having access to the body"? The CCG (and the boilerplate text on every LFR mod) gives you an out if you don't have access to the body. It says if you don't have access to the body, not if you don't have access to the raise dead ritual.