D&D 5E Rethinking the Raise Dead Penalty

[Jester David]

I haven't had a character brought back to life in 5th Edition yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. By the rules in the raise dead spell, when resurrected you suffer a -4 penalty to everything that slowly decreases with every long rest. This reflects the effort it takes to reunite the soul with the body, the trauma suffered by the ex-deceased. And generally tries to discourage you from dying, and making death less of a "speed bump".


However, this does mean you suck. You have a -4 penalty to everything. But it goes away super fast if you just take a few days off. It slows down the campaign, while making the character less fun to play.
And, really, being weak after the "ordeal" that is resurrection is also covered by exhaustion: the character is tired and weary.




I wonder if it might be more interesting to replace the penalties with just gaining 4 levels of exhaustion. As a baseline, you recover from it at the same rate and it confers more narrative that resurrection is straining (beyond just an abstract penalty). Perhaps the exhaustion that cannot be entirely removed without rest (i.e. reduced below 1 or 2), similar to how you cannot entirely remove the exhaustion from starvation. However, it could be reduced faster if necessary by spells (such as greater restoration), so you don't have to put the timeline of the campaign on hold to nap.


Because there are varying levels of exhaustion, it'd be easy to tailor the levels to the damage inflicted. The character was died after rolling a "1" or by a coup de grace and the player fails a Constitution save after raise dead was cast? Five levels of exhaustion. The character bled out with 2 successes and nails a Con save? Only three levels of exhaustion.


Is it better as exhaustion? Better as a penalty? Other thoughts?

 

[flametitan]

I guess the question is: what do you think is the more harsh penalty? -4 to everything, or Disadvantage on everything, half speed, and your maximum health is halved (the effects of four levels of exhaustion).

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Personally I'm a fan of permanent CON loss.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Personally I'm a fan of permanent CON loss.

I never have been.

Back when that was the norm, there were enough other rules regarding returning from the dead (Con score being a hard limit to how many times you could, Resurrection Survival rolls, and the penalties mentioned in raise dead) that provided ample deterrent to players not avoiding character death - it felt entirely overkill (pun intended) to have dying also mean being more likely to die again.

That's why I much prefer the modern penalty, because all it says to players is "Your character died, so he'd like to take a few days off to get over it - or you can push on with a penalty just large enough to make you seriously consider those days off."

And above all the other reasons I have for liking the modern rules, there is one that serves as the only one I'd ever need: I've never once had a player say "Can I just play a different character instead?" in response to hearing the current penalty for returning from the dead, but have heard exactly that from prior edition penalties for the same (specific Con or level loss).

 

[Yunru]

I just use Reincarnate and hope that I/they get a compatible race

 

[pukunui]

I go the Game of Thrones route and have being raised from the dead a costly experience RP-wise. You "lose a little bit of yourself", as Beric Dondarrion says. I generally amplify a flaw or give a character a new flaw or something along those lines when they are raised from the dead. (The exception being reincarnate - having a new body is generally traumatic enough.)

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It's hard to enforce any sort of lasting consequence for death, in a world where players are used to bringing in new characters that are as powerful as everyone else.

The current death penalty is fine, for what it is. They could have gone with exhaustion, except that exhaustion can be negated by a spell or potion, and they wanted this effect to always matter for at least a little while. Unfortunately - and you see this in a lot of places in the game - they seem to be under the bizarre impression that characters are going to have adventuring days on consecutive days. More likely, the penalty will last until the end of the day, and the character will be back to normal by the time the next adventuring day rolls around.

 

[Prakriti]

A character recently died in my Phandelver campaign. When the party brought his body back to town for resurrection, Sister Garaele wasn't happy. 500 gp, the cost of casting the raise dead spell, is more money than most farmers and laborer see in a year. In Phandalin, it could be used to employ a town guard, build a palisade around the town, or feed a whole family for a year. Sister Garaele pointed out that many people are suffering in the world for want of money, where-as the dead character knew the risk of being an adventurer and is now at peace. Why change that?

In other words, there was a roleplay penalty for being raised, and a moral quandary for the party to consider. They did eventually decide to raise their friend, spending most of the money they had earned up to that point, but the raised character then took on Sister Garaele's quest to seek out Agatha the Banshee as an act of atonement, even offering a family heirloom as payment to the Banshee in place of Garaele's silver comb.

The mechanical penalty, meanwhile, never really came into play.

 

[jasper]

...You have a -4 penalty to everything. But it goes away super fast if you just take a few days off. It slows down the campaign, while making the character less fun to play. ......
Hmm in town.
DM " Bob the Mostly Dead is alive again. "
Roger "it sucks I at -4 on everything!".
Group "we take 4 days to rest and restock."
Dm "hm today is the oct 5, 1492 Farrun. Ok its Oct 9th 1492. Jester your Jello vendor was out of Orange jello and he will not restock until the 20th."
Group "back to the dungeon".
If you can get back to town how does that slow down the game?
In the dungeon.If you can secure the room then that is a couple of wandering monster checks if any. If you still go out and hack and slash, then Bob the Unlucky is just not pulling his weight for 4 days of encounters.
I could never get my head around why people bemoan dying in an adventure. And then want their pc to treat death as "Just a flesh wound".

 

[Helldritch]

It will be a rare occurence in my game to see a character raised from the dead if he is not a follower of a religion. Raising the dead is quite a miracle and miracles do not go to the unfaithful.

The penalty can be meh. As spending 4 days in row is quite easy. That is why i'm thinking of a special house rule.
Raise Dead should still inflict a penalty of -4 on everything. But it fades by 1 for each week spend resting.

Now it is a whole month. Monsters in the dungeon might get reinforcement. Reset traps and repair some stuff that was destroyed by the players. Evil NPCs might try to get their revenge in that time.
I'm still not sure to implement it. Just thinking of an alternative.