Death & Resurrection

When characters die, their souls are transported to the afterlife of whichever deity they worship. Characters whose souls are not pledged to a deity or some other being have their souls sent to wander aimlessly on the fields of Asphodel. Characters bound by a pact have their souls consigned to the service of their patron. Resurrection may be attempted by a powerful enough character.

**Resurrection:**

Several spells and abilities can return slain creatures to life. This process is not a guarantee, and souls can be lost in the transition. Sometimes it’s better to let the dead rest.

Claimed Souls:

No being can be returned to life if it has been claimed without the consent of the being that claims the soul. Paladins of a high level are usually claimed by their deity, but they tend to be willing to relinquish them if they believe that the paladin still has duties to fulfill on the material plane. Warlocks gain power by promising their soul to a being, and their patrons are rarely willing to relinquish what is promised to them. A soul is not considered claimed for 6 seconds, or one round, after their death, which allows *Breath of Life* to function. Deities can be persuaded to release souls, but often ask a high price.

Ritual:

For spells other than *Breath of Life*, a ritual must be performed to coax a soul back to the material plane. The bare requirements for this ritual are the following:

-The casting of a resurrection spell.

-The components detailed in the spell.

-At least one skill check aimed towards the desired soul.

Upon completion of the ritual, the game master makes the resurrection roll in secret.

Skill Checks:

A character may attempt to influence the ritual by performing an action that would serve to coax the soul back. The skill used and method of application is personal to each individual. The resurrector then makes a skill check roll to see if their effort has had an influence. The DC of this check is influenced by whether it would be judged to be of significance by the GM, and how many skill checks have been attempted previously. Each successive check increases the base DC of the skill check by 5. Using a religion check to accurately carve an altar to the deceased’s deity would likely be effective if the deity approves of resurrection and they view you and the deceased well, so this would likely have a lower DC of 15. Using Perform (draw) to draw obscene gestures in the dirt nearby is unlikely to be of use to most characters and deities, and except for very specific circumstances would need to be an incredible work of suggestive art that inspires awe and redefines sexuality in your time, with a DC of 50 or so. There is a lot of middle ground, and every deity, soul and death has different needs. A successful skill check reduces the final DC by 2, a failure increases it by 2. Regardless of other abilities, creatures are unable to take a 10, 20, or 30 on these rolls.

Final resurrection roll:

The base DC for the resurrection is 25. Each previous attempt to bring back the target, regardless of success, increases this DC by 5. The spell level used for the resurrection is then subtracted from this DC (metamagic does not affect this, it uses the lowest level of the spell).

Participants:

Another factor that can affect the final resurrection roll DC is the number of sentient creatures participating. The participation of 10 creatures reduces the DC by 1. Each time this is doubled, the DC is reduced by 1. A creature is said to be participating if it has I>0 and fulfills components of the spell’s casting. Creatures can echo the verbal components, imitate the somatic, hold divine foci (plural of focus), or burn simple spell components (these do not have to match exactly the components of the spell used, incense and other materials work (usually)). This does not have to be willing; a vampire’s dominated minions are still intelligent and able to participate. These participants do not need to make a skill check.

After the final roll is completed, The GM gives the result of either a success or failure. On a failure, the DC to resurrect the target increases by 10 for 24 hours. On a success, the creature returns to life at full Health with 0 HP.

Optional Death Effects Rules:

Some games require death to pose an even greater threat to the characters’ overall well being. These rules are not for everybody, but give death meaningful consequences that are not easily dismissed. These effects can usually only be undone by deific powers and are otherwise permanent.

On a successful resurrection, the GM rolls 1d100 and adds 5x the amount by which they beat the DC to resurrect. On this table, a higher result typically lessens the effect. For instance, if the DC to resurrect my horse Jesse was 15, and we went all out and managed a final result of 32 (beat by 17), the penalty roll would be 1d100 + 85. This is most likely going to be above 100, and if not, still a very high result. This gives reason to try to not just barely meet the DC to resurrect.

The results of this roll are detailed below.