I’m not a big fan of resurrection in D&D, particularly in 5E where it’s relatively painless.  Coming back from the dead is really no big deal in 5E once you get to third  level spells thanks to revivify, which to me just seems like it takes a large chunk of the danger out of the game.  I grew up on 2nd edition where you lost a point of Constitution when you resurrected and could fail to resurrect thanks to a system shock roll, and we had to walk ten miles to the dungeon both ways in ten feet of snow and we liked it. I’m not saying getting players back into the game ASAP is bad, but it just feels like taking a miraculous, amazing event and sapping much of the majesty out of it (granted that’s been a problem with D&D clerics for a long time). It makes dying and coming back from death rote and predictable.    

Granted I have a known preference for low-magic games, so I’m not saying the ease of returning from the dead is a bug not a feature, but I am saying it’s a feature I’m not a fan of.  So I’ve made some changes in my games to make it happen less often.  I want coming back from the dead to be a special world-shaking event that only happens with great sacrifice, not by popping off a spell slot and destroying a diamond. 

Setting Side Changes

First off in my campaigns I’ve set up my homebrew settings a bit differently than most 5E settings.  Clerics are either non-existent or extremely rare due to the gods being dead or very very weak.  I also have a rule that with rare exceptions there are no friendly NPCs higher level than the PCs. The players can have allies they are comparable to but there are no Gandalfs or Elminsters to pull their bacon out of the fire (luckily I play with the caliber of player who don’t take this as a license to run amok in the setting thinking no one can stop them). With these two guidelines the result is that  there are no NPCs that can bring PCs back from the dead.  The players have eventually learned how to do so on their own, but they’re the only ones who can.  It does make them stand out a bit more as being big damn hero types once they can bring back the dead.  

The players know this from the beginning; it’s established they’ve never heard of someone coming back from the dead except in legends.  As far as the PCs and most people in the setting are concerned,  coming back from the dead is impossible.  Indeed doing so is a goal of one of the major campaign villains, an alchemist who seeks immortality and restoring the dead through dangerous and immoral alchemical research.

This all means that the players have to be at least a  little more careful knowing there is no second chance if they die.  The deaths that I have had have been restored by divine intervention at great cost twice and once with a wish spell from a luckblade. These all worked story wise and kept the general air of returning from the dead being a rare and miraculous occurrence.  One case of divine intervention resulted in the adjustment and net loss of the characters ability scores, and in the other case the character came back as a new race (the previously posted starborn).      

In addition I’ve developed what I call the Black Marble system, which is a reference to several larps I’ve played that used drawing marbles out of a bag to determine if you successfully resurrected or not.  If you drew a black marble you failed to resurrect. Each time you died the makeup of the marbles in the bag changed so it made it more likely you drew black, meaning you never knew exactly when you would permanently die but it was coming.  

Soul Dearth

Each character has a numerical rating, their Soul Dearth, that represents the weakness of their soul caused by returning from the dead. Each time a character is restored to life their Soul Dearth increases depending on how they are brought back.  Soul Dearth increases at the following rates per spell to return the dead:

• Revivify: 1 point
• Raise Dead: 2 points
• Reincarnate: 2 points
• Resurrection: 1 point
• Touch of the Phoenix: 2 points
• True Resurrection: 0 points
• Wish: 2 points
• Divine Intervention: 0-3 points up to the DM.

When a character is returned to life the player makes a d20 roll and subtracts their accumulated Soul Dearth to the roll. If your character is Hollowed (see previous blog post), their Hollowed level is subtracted from the Soul Dearth roll as well.  Other forces like curses may also add to Soul Dearth at DM discretion. The total is then consulted on the table below to determine the immediate effect and the long  term effect.  

Long term effects are permanent unless somehow corrected by actions in game, such as restoration spells, but these spells need more power to remove the lingering effects of death from a character. To remove any of the effects on this table requires the greater or less restoration spell use a special component called a deadman’s diamond, which is a rare type of black diamond which can be created when an innocent person is killed with a diamond in their possession. Deadman diamonds usually cost at least 1,000 gp and can cost much more as they are very difficult to find. Though you can make your own if murdering innocents is acceptable. 

I added the deadman’s diamond as otherwise almost everything on this list can be easily fixed with a lower  level spell than is needed to return the dead, making nearly all the long term drawbacks into nothing more than a spell and diamond tax.  Making them truly permanent seemed a bit harsh,  so adding a higher gold cost to removing the long term effects seemed a good middle ground

Roll d20	Immediate Effect	Long Term Effect
11-20	Spell works as intended.	None
7-10	You revive under the effects of the confusion spell. Spell Save DC 15.	None
5-6	You revive under the effects of the fear spell as if cast bv whatever killed you.  Spell save DC 15.	Apply a -2 penalty to any healing effect on you.
3-4	You revive at half hit points	Your hit points maximum is reduced by 2d10.
1-2	You revive with no hit dice.	Apply a -5 penalty to any healing effect on you.
-1	You revive with no spell slots.	You lose one point of Constitution.
-2	You revive gaining 1d4 levels of Exhaustion.	Reduce your speed  by 5 feet.
-3	You revive blinded or deaf (roll 1d20 1-10 Blind, 11-20 deaf)as per the blindness/deafness spell	You now take half effect from healing spells and gain necrotic resistance.
-4	You revive cursed as per the bestow curse spell.	You are cursed. Next time you die you rise as an undead of CR equal to your level under DM control.
-5	You fail to resurrect and are permanently dead.	You are dead and cannot be raised

New Spells

Deathlock

4th level, Abjuration (ritual)

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Target: 1 corpse

Components: V S M (an iron lock)

Duration: 8 hours

Classes: Cleric, Wizard, Warlock

This spell may only be used on a corpse. Any spell that would return the corpse to life fails and any spell components are consumed. No Soul Dearth roll is made and more attempts to restore the dead may be made.  This spell may be dispelled.  

 

Death’s Grace

4th level, Necromancy

Casting time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Target: 1 ally

Components: V S M (an emerald worth 100 gp)

Duration: 8 hours

Classes: Cleric, Wizard, Paladin

The target of this spell had advantage on the next Soul Dearth roll they make before sunrise or sunset.  

Measure Soul

2nd level, Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Target: 1 creature you can see within range

Components: V S M (aset ot merchant scales)

Duration: 8 hours

Classes: Cleric, Wizard, Paladin, Warlock 

The caster of this spell knows the Soul Dearth and Hollowed level of the target and the deed that weighs most heavily on the target’s conscience. The target may resist the spell with a Charisma saving throw. This can target either a corpse or a living being.