So for my campaign I’m writing, I have this character who’s a really old witch type person who’s memory is as bad as a rock. Her name is Ol Martha Stone Eye and she “stores” memories. She has the ability to save a memory in a jar and then reform it into a visible picture. In the campaign she supplies the players with a very important map that is crucial to the story. I had a really strange thought cross my mind and thought I should get some other people’s opinions before I actually implement it into my story. I thought, what if she could save a “memory/soul” of an entire person, thus, if one of the players were to die, they could go to her and reincarnate that player into a different body. I feel like this could be kinda cool and interesting if one of the players came back to life, but as a completely different being. However, I really want to stay away from ruining my campaign by turning it into a mess. I’m honestly scared if one of my players dies, because they are very important characters to the story, and I’m not sure how I’d fix everything if they did. However, I don’t know if I’m ready to add a way to get them back into the world. Do you guy have any thoughts on this? Does it sound like a good idea to have a way that the players can come back to life? Or does that just make it seem like character death in the game doesn’t matter?
Well there are RAW ways to bring a character back. Though it's very expensive. I don't see an issue home-brewing an item to fit your need though. I wouldn't necessarily reveal it to the players unless it becomes absolutely necessary. You don't want them thinking they can be reckless because it's easy to come back. The Lore monger from Acquisition Incorporated isn't far off from what you're describing about keeping stories. But back to the memory/soul... maybe a way to limit it's power is the memory of the person it stores has some drawbacks. The first one that comes to mind is missing memory from the time the 'soul impression' was made. Maybe it's been weeks or months since the memory was stored so you'd have no memory of the time after that. You could also create a random table of defects that could happen based on how well it works. Who knows, it could be silly things like you can't remember anything about cats or serious stuff like you can't remember your family or childhood.
Way, way back a DM I was playing with had a similar item in the form of a gem that stored a soul and made reincarnating easier.
Thank so much! I honestly don’t know who you’re referencing in saying it is similar to the Lore monger. I should look that up. But I think those are some really great ideas. I was actually thinking what you said about the memory loss. I was also thinking that storing these souls would cost a lot of money. My players have more money than they know what to do with, and I keep throwing ways to spend a bunch at them, but they want to save it, so there’s a high chance they won’t even want to do this. I just thought this could be a really cool element to the story, but I need to look into the possibilities that could emerge from it in the future.
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So for my campaign I’m writing, I have this character who’s a really old witch type person who’s memory is as bad as a rock. Her name is Ol Martha Stone Eye and she “stores” memories. She has the ability to save a memory in a jar and then reform it into a visible picture. In the campaign she supplies the players with a very important map that is crucial to the story. I had a really strange thought cross my mind and thought I should get some other people’s opinions before I actually implement it into my story. I thought, what if she could save a “memory/soul” of an entire person, thus, if one of the players were to die, they could go to her and reincarnate that player into a different body. I feel like this could be kinda cool and interesting if one of the players came back to life, but as a completely different being. However, I really want to stay away from ruining my campaign by turning it into a mess. I’m honestly scared if one of my players dies, because they are very important characters to the story, and I’m not sure how I’d fix everything if they did. However, I don’t know if I’m ready to add a way to get them back into the world. Do you guy have any thoughts on this? Does it sound like a good idea to have a way that the players can come back to life? Or does that just make it seem like character death in the game doesn’t matter?
Well there are RAW ways to bring a character back. Though it's very expensive. I don't see an issue home-brewing an item to fit your need though. I wouldn't necessarily reveal it to the players unless it becomes absolutely necessary. You don't want them thinking they can be reckless because it's easy to come back. The Lore monger from Acquisition Incorporated isn't far off from what you're describing about keeping stories. But back to the memory/soul... maybe a way to limit it's power is the memory of the person it stores has some drawbacks. The first one that comes to mind is missing memory from the time the 'soul impression' was made. Maybe it's been weeks or months since the memory was stored so you'd have no memory of the time after that. You could also create a random table of defects that could happen based on how well it works. Who knows, it could be silly things like you can't remember anything about cats or serious stuff like you can't remember your family or childhood.
Way, way back a DM I was playing with had a similar item in the form of a gem that stored a soul and made reincarnating easier.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Thank so much! I honestly don’t know who you’re referencing in saying it is similar to the Lore monger. I should look that up. But I think those are some really great ideas. I was actually thinking what you said about the memory loss. I was also thinking that storing these souls would cost a lot of money. My players have more money than they know what to do with, and I keep throwing ways to spend a bunch at them, but they want to save it, so there’s a high chance they won’t even want to do this. I just thought this could be a really cool element to the story, but I need to look into the possibilities that could emerge from it in the future.