So one of the character's died. It was all the party's fault but now the consensus is that they want to bring bak the character. Normally I'd be hesitant but the player has said that he's going to make a new character anyway and retire the dead/resurrected character so it won't really effect anything going forward but could be a nice little side quest for a few sessions. Just looking for suggestions for a quest they might have to do to secure the service of someone who can bring him back. Leaning towards a morally ambiguous quest set by a necromancer but open to suggestions. Cheers
Does the rest of the party know the player doesn’t want to bring the character back? Because doing a side quest like this for nothing ends up being pretty frustrating and unsatisfying.
But to answer the question. Level 9 clerics have access to raise dead, and the spell costs a 500 go diamond, in addition to whatever other costs the cleric might impose. (By RAW, a necromancer could make the guy’s corpse a zombie, but I doubt that’s what the party is after. Of course, you can always house rule that it can cast raise dead.) So I’d say think about the kind of clerics the party might be able to find, and what they or their gods might want. Build the side quest around that. And ideally have it tie into the larger plot. Maybe the cleric is after the same thing as the party, or a different thing in the same place.
I agree with Xalthu if the rest of the party are expecting the player to continue with their character and they do a side quest to raise him from the dead only for him to desert the group it might be a bit of a let down.
This is especially true when you introduce moral dilemma's. Say for example a player thinks my character wouldn't normally do this but so my real life friend can continue enjoying the game with a character he has come attached to I will do so. I thinks the first rule of D&D is for everyone to have fun and hte second is don't metagame, here the players are thinking they are breaking the second rule in order to not break the first only to find they didn't need to.
If the players are aware the dead character wil be retired that is a different issue, it also allos the player of the dead character to join the party with their next character immediately and help them in the quest to raise his former character.
If you do wnat to go the necromancer route if you base him on a PC necromancer Wizard you could always give him wish. (Though as Xalthu said you could also give hime Raise dead even though a PC wouldn't get it)
I was in a game where just before we fought the final boss (literally the penultimate combat of the campaign) one of the party had their brain extracted by a mind flayer. With the party reduced from 3 to 2 we felt unable to take on the boss so took something that belonged in the lair teleported out in the hope of getting our friend raised to life. The only option was a cleric of Umberlee and while what we were doing was generally something that Umberlee would approve of it did cause dificult decisions as to whether we also did things she would not approve of (but our characters would have wanted).
You could do something similar and rather than have a necromancer have a cleric of an evil alligned God but what I said at the top still applies.
If the player isn't going to play the restored player character, any temple will cast the spell for the price of the material component and a donation for the spell slot expenditure. Let them pay if they want to. They might consider it a waste of gold.
If the player was going to play the character, then I might do something along the lines of the only priest that can cast a spell of that level has been kidnapped/gone missing/etc. and the party needs to find them and bring them back.
I will quote Yoda as, I think he sums things up quite nicely.
“Death is a natural part of life.Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force.Mourn them do not.Miss them do not."
Yoda, of course, takes the DM perspective, but he is wise.
I think the point here is that character death, while not desired or even sought out, must be a reality/possibility in the game, else the whole game loses its meaning. Ressurection I agree is kind of a PC game feature where you "re-load" the game after something happened you didn't like, it really shouldn't be a part of the game at all, but even as written it has sufficient penalties and limitations as written.
I would say, don't cheapen death to irrelevance, no one has to like the fact that characters die, but they must respect the game by having an appropriate amount of fear and anxiety to ensure the risks feel real. In a sense, as a DM this is one of those times when you must think about what is good for the game, rather than what the players want. Doing what the players want is not the DM's primary responsibility, a DM's job is to do what is best for the game, for the story, and for the experience. and the truth is, that is often not what the players want.
So one of the character's died. It was all the party's fault but now the consensus is that they want to bring bak the character. Normally I'd be hesitant but the player has said that he's going to make a new character anyway and retire the dead/resurrected character so it won't really effect anything going forward but could be a nice little side quest for a few sessions. Just looking for suggestions for a quest they might have to do to secure the service of someone who can bring him back. Leaning towards a morally ambiguous quest set by a necromancer but open to suggestions. Cheers
Does the rest of the party know the player doesn’t want to bring the character back? Because doing a side quest like this for nothing ends up being pretty frustrating and unsatisfying.
But to answer the question. Level 9 clerics have access to raise dead, and the spell costs a 500 go diamond, in addition to whatever other costs the cleric might impose. (By RAW, a necromancer could make the guy’s corpse a zombie, but I doubt that’s what the party is after. Of course, you can always house rule that it can cast raise dead.) So I’d say think about the kind of clerics the party might be able to find, and what they or their gods might want. Build the side quest around that. And ideally have it tie into the larger plot. Maybe the cleric is after the same thing as the party, or a different thing in the same place.
I agree with Xalthu if the rest of the party are expecting the player to continue with their character and they do a side quest to raise him from the dead only for him to desert the group it might be a bit of a let down.
This is especially true when you introduce moral dilemma's. Say for example a player thinks my character wouldn't normally do this but so my real life friend can continue enjoying the game with a character he has come attached to I will do so. I thinks the first rule of D&D is for everyone to have fun and hte second is don't metagame, here the players are thinking they are breaking the second rule in order to not break the first only to find they didn't need to.
If the players are aware the dead character wil be retired that is a different issue, it also allos the player of the dead character to join the party with their next character immediately and help them in the quest to raise his former character.
If you do wnat to go the necromancer route if you base him on a PC necromancer Wizard you could always give him wish. (Though as Xalthu said you could also give hime Raise dead even though a PC wouldn't get it)
I was in a game where just before we fought the final boss (literally the penultimate combat of the campaign) one of the party had their brain extracted by a mind flayer. With the party reduced from 3 to 2 we felt unable to take on the boss so took something that belonged in the lair teleported out in the hope of getting our friend raised to life. The only option was a cleric of Umberlee and while what we were doing was generally something that Umberlee would approve of it did cause dificult decisions as to whether we also did things she would not approve of (but our characters would have wanted).
You could do something similar and rather than have a necromancer have a cleric of an evil alligned God but what I said at the top still applies.
If the player isn't going to play the restored player character, any temple will cast the spell for the price of the material component and a donation for the spell slot expenditure. Let them pay if they want to. They might consider it a waste of gold.
If the player was going to play the character, then I might do something along the lines of the only priest that can cast a spell of that level has been kidnapped/gone missing/etc. and the party needs to find them and bring them back.
Resurrection feels like easy mode to me. Let's them do a quest, only to discover the soul doesn't wish to return.
Enjoy your slop. I'll be enjoying good products elsewhere.
I will quote Yoda as, I think he sums things up quite nicely.
“Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not."
Yoda, of course, takes the DM perspective, but he is wise.
I think the point here is that character death, while not desired or even sought out, must be a reality/possibility in the game, else the whole game loses its meaning. Ressurection I agree is kind of a PC game feature where you "re-load" the game after something happened you didn't like, it really shouldn't be a part of the game at all, but even as written it has sufficient penalties and limitations as written.
I would say, don't cheapen death to irrelevance, no one has to like the fact that characters die, but they must respect the game by having an appropriate amount of fear and anxiety to ensure the risks feel real. In a sense, as a DM this is one of those times when you must think about what is good for the game, rather than what the players want. Doing what the players want is not the DM's primary responsibility, a DM's job is to do what is best for the game, for the story, and for the experience. and the truth is, that is often not what the players want.