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- May 30, 2017 at 9:51 pm #275443frootsnaxParticipant
I have some thoughts.
Issues of death & RPG worlds have always been a potential friction point. Different campaigns and/or worlds have dealt with it differently. In some worlds and settings “dead” is essentially a condition like “stunned” or “petrified” and it’s just a matter of resources or restorative spells to get back on your feet. Not realistic and not necessarily heroic. In others, dead is dead. As a teen ager I played a Middle Earth RPG and spent over an hour building a tolkienian dwarf and that character died falling into a 10′ spiked pit in the first encounter. That might have been realistic but it wasn’t heroic (or fun either!).
So there has always been a spectrum of options. The “sweet spot” seems to be: enhances fun, not totally unrealistic, doesn’t undermine heroism.
I know that thematically Arcanis wants to have a grittier feel than something more like the Forgotten Realms. And I know from talking with Henry that at times he feels confined by some of the D&D tropes. Including the relatively easy ability to return the dead to life. Henry has also said that he’s wanted to do the “Nasha storyline” for awhile but that it would only makes sense if Raising the Dead is a rare or even Legendary event.
We are effectively running an experiment right now because ALL the available adventures started off as A:RPG mods and were converted. And the A:RPG is a different system! It that handles resources and death quite differently! That potentially makes conversions between systems a challenge. (And will presumably still be a challenge when D&D mods eventually get converted to A:RPG mods…).
So death. Currently I suspect it is ALOT easier to die in the D&D version of mods. In a A:RPG module it doesn’t matter if the 3 fights take place the same day or on different days. You face each fight at full power. And the mods were written to reflect this. D&D is the opposite. While 3 fights in three days is a cakewalk, 3 back to back fights without resting is a dangerous drain on resources.
I am not entirely surprised that I am hearing of parties drinking a lot of healing potions…. Effectively we are hearing the feedback right now on Round 1 of how well this Experiment of the converted mods are going. If you have a strong opinion this is a good time to offer (polite!) suggestions.
I think it’s obvious that the Arcanis campaign does not want to to overly penalize characters that die and render them unplayable through do loss. At the same time, in the campaign I think there is consensus that there should be some kind of bite that is the result of dying. Also an issue of fewer modules this time round?
So. Suggestions?
May 31, 2017 at 2:16 am #275446AnonymousInactiveNot at a PC so will try to be concise, but I had an idea to replace death in most circumstances with a random critical injury chart (things like a hobbled leg or broken arm with associated penalties) Such injuries would either last for X (I think 2 is a good number – makes natural healing a pain but not insurmountable) modules (and noted on the PC’s AR) or could be healed immediately by a greater restoration. That way PC death would only occur in specific, appropriate circumstances so long as whomever converts modules is cognizant of monster abilities and avoids instant-death effects unless it is meant to remove PCs from play (like a suicide mission) Example: As Editing Cat of Old Coryan, I nixed Meehan’s inclusion of bodaks in a module and replaced them with something else because the save or die effects of Bodaks were not CR appropriate due to Arcanis-specific rules.
If we want raise dead to be an epic thing (like Into the Cauldron Epic) I’d suggest a general campaign rule that critical injury replaces death wherever possible (drowned? Once they pulled you out, so long as it was a reasonably quick thing, you just got water in your lungs and can’t dash for two mods – unless you get that Greater Restoration) and that death should ONLY ever occur if specifically called for in a module with the words “this death overrides the campaign critical injury rules and is permanent”
Anice chart of injuries that allows either the GM to pick an appropriate one or a random roll (player’s choice betweenrandom or GM pick, to avoid adversarial GM tailored penalty shenanigans)
This solution is lore-friendly, avoids permanent (ie: unbalancing) penalty, and still keeps a sense of consequence.
If staff likes this idea, I’d love to help write it.
May 31, 2017 at 2:22 am #275447AnonymousInactiveEric;
I have run or played all of the modules. And actually I did read those that that I played after playing them. Come on by the Bar on Two and I will be happy to give you or any other staff member my feedback and suggestions, the good and the bad.
Overall, I am very happy with the campaign. I appreciate the work that everyone has put into the 5E campaign. But like all experiments, I feel that there are some things that have worked and some that might need tweaking.
And I’ll buy the first round.
Lucas
May 31, 2017 at 3:16 am #275448AnonymousInactivePossible ‘house rule’ for the setting.
Vanquished by HP vs Vanquished by Con.
PCs Vanquished by HP make a full recovery after the combat.
PCs that suffer a ‘death blow’ (-ve total HP or other ‘instant death’ effect) suffer a Wound. Each PC has 1+Con Bonus in Wounds before permanent death/raise dead is required.
Having a Wound means Disadvantage on ALL d20 rolls until healed.Gives a little buffer to those massive hits that I hear about.
May 31, 2017 at 3:40 am #275449AnonymousInactivePossible ‘house rule’ for the setting.
Vanquished by HP vs Vanquished by Con.
PCs Vanquished by HP make a full recovery after the combat.
PCs that suffer a ‘death blow’ (-ve total HP or other ‘instant death’ effect) suffer a Wound. Each PC has 1+Con Bonus in Wounds before permanent death/raise dead is required.
Having a Wound means Disadvantage on ALL d20 rolls until healed.Gives a little buffer to those massive hits that I hear about.
I quite like this – simple and effective – plus no bookkeeping. Honestly, I like this better than my idea.
Edit: needs a clarification on how to heal a Wound though – I’m guessing a lesser restoration at a minimum?
June 30, 2017 at 1:00 am #275620AnonymousInactivePossible ‘house rule’ for the setting.
Vanquished by HP vs Vanquished by Con.
PCs Vanquished by HP make a full recovery after the combat.
PCs that suffer a ‘death blow’ (-ve total HP or other ‘instant death’ effect) suffer a Wound. Each PC has 1+Con Bonus in Wounds before permanent death/raise dead is required.
Having a Wound means Disadvantage on ALL d20 rolls until healed.Gives a little buffer to those massive hits that I hear about.
That is an interesting option for sure, and we could add that each wound becomes a flaw that you can use to get Inspiration/Fate.
Again, we are still trying to hammer out the exact specifics of how best to present raising from the dead in Arcanis. My preference would be to have spells like revivify that have a very limited time frame be part of the normal spell lists. We would need to alter raise dead so that it only works until the next dawn. So we could add it to the temple spell lists but it would be situational, even more so than usual.
However, that’s all still a work in progress.
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