Death, and Its Role in RPGs

We've all had that moment of seeing the dice fall, looking up at the Game Master, and realizing it's over. That critical hit from the gnoll raider just drove a spike through your wizard's skull, and they're dead. All the plans you had, all the adventures you've managed, they're all for naught in the face of the grave. And even if the rest of the party piles onto that hyena-faced raider and smashes them to the ground, none of it will be enough to bring back Hedrick... he's gone.

Death is a part of the game, generally speaking, but we don't always stop and ask what role it should play. Which is why I thought I'd share some thoughts I had on death, dying, and questions surrounding it in our RPGs.

Let us hold up a mirror to the reaper, shall we?

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How Common Should Death Be?

Death in RPGs is, generally speaking, supposed to represent the ultimate fail state. Whether it comes because the party was foolhardy or the villains were lucky, the dice giveth, and the dice taketh away. However, it's important to examine what getting that Game Over screen is going to do to your players, and to your game.

Do not worry... I can fix this.

The first question you need to ask about your game to put death into perspective is what sort of game is it? For example, a game like Mörk Börg is meant to have death lurking around every corner ready to come for you, because that's part of the doom metal feeling of the game. It's supposed to be bleak and dark, where no one is safe from even minor threats. On the other hand, death is even more prevalent in games like Paranoia or Dark Souls. However, in these games when you die you don't just roll up a new character. In the former, one of your preset number of clones is activated, and shipped out onto the field, and in the latter you are resurrected to try again.

Even in games where death is an ever-present constant, the purpose it serves is vastly different. And in games where death is permanent, it isn't always common. In some games death can be quite a rare occurrence, happening only when players truly screw up, or when the dice are really against them. So ask yourself what the purpose of death is in your game.

Is death meant to be final; something which the players must avoid at all costs lest they be forced to make a new character? Or is death merely an inconvenience, meant to be something you can overcome through determination, planning or resources? And is death meant to be common, or even expected, whether or not it's permanent? Is death to be used as a punishment, or as a neutral element?

These are all things you should know before making your pitch to someone to join your table.

Does Death Prevent Attachment?

As someone who likes RPGs, I try as many of them as I can when the opportunity presents itself. One of the factors that I find is the more certain death is, and the more often it's expected to happen, the less investment tends to come from the players in their characters. After all, if you know for certain that every roll of the die could lead to your character's death, then you tend not to make any big plans for that character. You avoid getting involved in their story, and you end up not getting very attached to them.

After all, if you get invested in seeing their story to the end, but they die three sessions in because of a random lightning strike, it can take a lot of energy to switch to a new character.

I know it's only been half an hour. You're dead, roll up a new character.

In this case, death in the game needs to be in-line with player expectations. If you're playing something like Dread, for example, then you know going in that you're probably just playing a one-shot game. Maybe 2-3 games at the most, because that's what the system is meant for. This allows players to come in with the right mentality and expectation, and to figure out the proper scope of experience to expect.

On the other hand, games like Starfinder and Pathfinder fully expect that you will keep the same character for the length of the campaign. While death is still a very real possibility in these games, there are lots of ways to avoid it, and there are even methods to reverse it should that be necessary at some point. The goal here is not just to complete the plot, but to expand and explore your own character's story. They're meant to survive, grow, and change so that by the time the campaign is over you've finished not just the Game Master's plot, but also told this particular PC's story. Then once the campaign is over you can close the cover, and move on to someone else.

When you have a game that's geared toward the actions and story of the player characters, players tend to get invested in the stories they're telling. They want to see their characters struggle, sure, but they also want to see them accomplish those goals, and finish the story off. If characters get killed off before they finish telling their story, that can lead to a serious lack of closure for the player. And if that happens often enough, pretty soon they're going to lose that attachment. It's also possible they just start making carbon copies of their last character (or as close as can be managed) and say it's their twin brother, their eldest son, etc. coming to finish what their dead family member started as some way to get a sense of continuity.

Consider Alternative Fail States

Death can serve many purposes in an RPG, but all too often Game Masters just default to death for everyone on the board; PCs and NPCs alike. However, there are alternative fail states to death that can be used, and they can allow the Game Master to lead by example.

Even if you're not just pulling from I'm Back! which acts as a list of back-pocket reasons your bad guys survived what should be very lethal circumstances.

- Capture: The character in question may be valuable in some way. They might be a noble who can be ransomed, a powerful champion of good that can be sacrificed in an upcoming ceremony, or even someone with a bounty on their heads. This can be used to explain why a lot of enemies may not wish to simply execute PCs, and vice versa if the PCs are the one taking the hostages.

- Flee: Enemies and players alike need to be given a chance to flee when things go poorly. They may still fail to get away, but a lot of players believe the choice is either death or victory. Chase decks are great for this, and I talk about them in If You're a DM, You Should Get Your Hands on a Chase Deck.

- Surrender: Whether done by the bad guys or the party, this is an option most of us simply don't consider. After all, the bad guys are just disposable mooks you threw down on the board, and the PCs are often too full of pride to consider this option. Making it clear that surrender can work, and that it's a lose state that's less permanent means some PCs may be willing to put up their hands if things go really poorly.

- Interruption: This can take many forms. Maybe it's a dragon wondering why a battle is taking place on its turf, or a herd of stampeding aurochs. An earthquake, flood, or volcanic eruption might also be appropriate, depending on the terrain. While this shouldn't be used without lead up, it can help add complications to battles that you want the villains and/or the heroes to survive as a kind of deus ex machina that makes fighting one another less important than surviving the new hazard.

I am not someone who advocates the removal of death from RPGs. Just like in any story, I believe that the possibility of death hanging over the narrative increases the stakes of said narrative. But if you add too much death, it can be like over-salting a meal; now the spice is the only thing you can taste. Alternatively, if you bend over backwards to avoid death, you end up with a game that can feel bland, and in desperate need of some spice.

Which one you need will depend on the length of the tale you're telling, what the rules governing your game are meant to support, and the kind of story your table wants to tell. Which is why it's important to stop and think about how you want death to play out in your game as part of your initial pitch to your players.

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Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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The Returned

"Well I'll be damned," Retch Watkins said, putting down his bottle and leaning back from the bar. "Rena Gulch, as I live and breathe."

Every head in the room turned toward the door. The woman standing there was tall and angular, with narrow shoulders and high cheekbones. Her eyes burned green, and a white lock of hair laid against her cheek. She seemed different now, though. A stranger in a familiar place, and as she stepped forward there was an unusual smell that came with her. The scent of something burnt, wafting off her dress. On her chest, just above her neckline, was a puckered scar that looked shiny; a wound cauterized by fire.

"Surprised to see me, Retch?" she asked in that sweet voice she'd always used when she was angry. "I'd be surprised, someone I left bleeding in a ditch came back to wish me well, of an evening."

Watkins had his hand near the butt of his ugly, hatchet-bladed dagger when Rena barked a single, harsh word. She flicked back her rain-spotted cape, and black fire burst forth from her palm. It snatched hold of Watkins, wrapping around him like an ardent lover. He tried to scream, but the black flames poured into his mouth, forcing their way down his throat. His eyes bulged from their sockets, then burst as his skin cracked, and fat ran down his shriveling cheeks.

"You'll be damned, indeed," Rena said as the corpse flopped onto its belly, twitching as the last vestige of life bled out of it. "Don't worry. I kept a spot warm for you."

You're curious about what hell's like, aren't you? Go on, then, ask me.

The Returned

Resurrection is a regular part of many games, but too often we just treat it as a fact of life. Someone dies, you pay a certain amount of gold and diamond dust to a priest, and then wait while they conduct the ritual to bring your companion back from beyond. You heal them, tip your hat to the cleric, and then you're on your merry way.

However, death is one of those things that should have an impact on your character. And for the Returned, that death is a large portion of who they are now, and it's often where they draw their power and their purpose from.

Each of us owes a death... mine's currently in collections.

 

For example, your Returned might have died near an ancient ritual site, and the latent magic of that place soaked into their empty vessel, resurrecting them unexpectedly. Or perhaps they were about to breathe their last, when the potent necromancies of an unquiet boneyard filled their lungs. Both of these would be ideal ways to explain a sorcerer's bloodline or an oracle's curse, and I touched on options similar to this in 5 Tips For Playing Better Sorcerers and 5 Tips For Playing Better Oracles respectively.

Sometimes, though, the Returned doesn't come back by sheer happenstance. They might make a bargain with some outer power, or be saved by a guardian spirit. This is a common explanation for were warlocks and witches might get their powers, and form their pacts (mentioned in 5 Tips for Playing Better Warlocks and 5 Tips For Playing Better Witches in case you're curious), but it is by no means limited to characters of a magical bent. Barbarians with fiendish totems may have acquired those powers by dying and accepting some kind of bargain with an evil outsider to act as their vessel, and common folk living good lives may find themselves touched by the celestial, arising as paladins when they open their eyes once more.

While not all Returned come back from the other side with strange powers, all of them come back with a purpose, and a Tell.

Why Don't The Dead Lie Still?

Death isn't something you can just shake off like the damp after the rain. It leaves its mark on you, and clings to you. Sometimes it holds in subtle ways, and sometimes in more vulgar ones, but those who've seen the other side carry signs, if you know what to look for. That's the Tell.

I keep telling you, boys, you can't keep a bad man down.

 

Sometimes the Tell for a Returned is subtle. A puckered scar over the wound that killed them that can easily be hidden by a jerkin or armor. Even a rope scar from where they were hung could be covered with a neckerchief. Other Returned have harder Tells to hide, though. Hair that's gone bone white, eyes that seem sightless, skin that looks drawn, or which is too cool to the touch. The lingering smell of ashes or grave dirt, or just an unnatural aura that lets people know they've been touched by the back side of hell's left hand.

The other thing that a Returned comes back with is a purpose.

Death is a great weight to shift, and those who have nothing tying them to the material plane often find it's easier not to struggle back to the world. While some Returned may be made by accident due to dying in strange locations, or subject to certain rituals, those are the exceptions that prove the rule. Which is why you need to know what motivated your Returned to climb up out of their grave.

For some, the answer is simple. They lived a life that led them to hell's doorstep, and they are trying to do anything they can to avoid that fate. A Returned might take a devil's bargain to return to life, deciding it's better to be the right hand of a devil than to stand beneath its whip. Others might swear oaths with their dying breaths, calling out to celestial spirits to save them, pledging themselves to the cause of good to try and wipe out the harm they'd done.

Other Returned may have more worldly motivations for refusing to embrace death when it comes for them. Some might be driven by a thirst for vengeance, willing to make any bargain, or grasp any hand if it means they don't go down into the final dark alone. A Returned might fear for the safety of their friends or loved ones, or have oaths that have gone unfulfilled that drag them back from death. Particularly oaths sworn in the service of powerful gods, or inscrutable fey lords, for there are some duties that are stronger than death.

Incidentally, if you're looking for potent foes to swear vengeance on, or just scoundrels to trade places with on death's list, then you might want to check out 100 Random Bandits to Meet, as well as 100 Pirates to Encounter, and 100 Prisoners For A Fantasy Jail.

And, of course, my character conversion for Ghost Rider might peak your interest, if you're looking for one of the most infamous characters who could fit into the mold of The Returned.

What Did You See?

I mentioned this in Fun With Raise Dead, Resurrection, and Reincarnation (in Pathfinder) a while back, it bears repeating for this concept. If your character died, what did they experience on the other side? How much, if any, do they remember? And did that experience alter them in a fundamental way?

As a for-instance, was a few moments in hell enough to cause a lifetime buccaneer to change their ways, and to turn them into a force for good? Was a single glimpse of paradise enough to make someone fight all the harder to prove they deserved to enter that realm? Do they remember empty darkness, burning, or just a cold nothingness that makes them shiver every time they think about it?

Being dead is a big deal. No one knows that better than the Returned.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Fun With Raise Dead, Resurrection, and Reincarnation (in Pathfinder)

Death is a constant threat hanging over anyone who steps out their front door with the intention of heeding the call to adventure. Whether it's on the end of a hobgoblin's mace, or in the fiery jaws of a dragon, death is waiting to pounce at any moment. But if you are powerful enough, or rich enough, it's possible that you could get a second chance. A chance to come back from death's country, and to continue on your adventure. But sometimes the person who gets up is not the same person who fell... or, at least, not entirely.

When you rise, a part of you stays in the grave.

The Potential of Resurrection, Reincarnation, and Possession

So, if you get dead in Pathfinder, the most common means to bring you back is a basic raise dead spell. It's a 5th-level cleric spell, it will run you 5k gp in components, and it requires a part of your body. The major sticking point, though, is that you have to be raised a number of days after you died equal to the caster level of the person performing the spell, or it's not an option. Resurrection  is a 7th-level spell, runs you 10k gp in components, but it can take place 10 years per level after the target died. Neither of these spells will resurrect someone who died of old age, but other than that you should be golden. Reincarnation is the cheapest option at 1k gp worth of oils, and it's also the lowest-level since it's a 4th-level druid spell. Of course, reincarnation rolls the wheel of random chance, putting you into a new body that may be very different from your old one.

Being dead is a big deal, and it comes with a lot of questions. For instance, how would a character be changed by a few days in hell? What about ten years, or twenty, or fifty? And more importantly, what would they bring back with them once they've been raised? How would they react if they died of old age as an elf, but were reincarnated as a human with centuries of accumulated knowledge and skills?

It's all right, Lianna. Just cut his throat... it's probably for the best.

While there's nothing in the rules that says being dead changes you at all, or that you recall where you went to, there's nothing that prevents those things, either. So if your character has had a brush with death, take a moment to ask yourself how it changed them. What was their purpose in returning to the mortal coil? Do they want to return to the same afterlife the next time they die, or are they eager to make sure the next time they stand in judgment that they go through a different door? Are they different now than they were before? More humble? More afraid? More savage? Do they possess strange powers they didn't have before they died (as an ideal origin story for a witch or an oracle)? Did they receive a new lease on life to go along with a new face, trying to become someone completely different than they once were?

These aren't questions that have to wait for a spot of bad luck in the campaign, either. Death is an ever-present threat in the game, and it's possible you died and came back before you ever came on the scene as a 1st-level PC. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to come from a rich or influential family, or you were unfortunate enough to make a deal with something that has haunted you for the rest of your life, but you've managed to stay above ground... for the time being. That's where traits like possessed can add a great deal of flavor to your character, especially if you combine them with feats like the Possessed Hand tree. These create the mechanical backing that something is sharing your body with you, and occasionally acts of its own volition. The Haunted oracle curse might also represent some malign force that clung to your soul on its way back to your body. You could even embrace a character with the undead or destined bloodline, implying there are forces beyond this world keeping them on this plane until their task (whatever it is) has been completed.

If this is a topic that captures your interest, you might also want to check out Undoing Character Death: Unique Methods of Resurrection in Pathfinder.

Well, that's all for this week's Fluff post. Hopefully it gave folks some ideas for interesting story lines, or unusual characters. If you want to check out additional content from me, take a gander at my Gamers archive. It's going to grow steadily, so check back in from time to time. If you want to keep up on all my latest posts, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you want to support me and my blog, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page. All I ask is a $1 pledge per month, and that gets you both my everlasting gratitude, and a small pile of gamer swag as a thank you.

Undoing Character Death: Unique Methods of Resurrection in Pathfinder

Before we get started this week, I'd like you all to know that I've bowed to the pressures of the Internet. I am now on Twitter @nlitherl. Come follow me if you'd like to watch me stumble through this quip-based form of social media.

Every experienced player has a story about character death. Whether it's a heroic tale of self-sacrifice like when Blackwood the Mad held the bridge so the party could escape, or a frustrating account of how that level one dwarf fighter who didn't even have a name yet went down from an unlucky critical hit, all of us have felt the reaper's hands on our character sheets.

Some of us handle it better than others.

Death is not the end in games like Pathfinder though, especially with spells like Raise Dead, Reincarnate, and Resurrection just a few high-priced spell components away. The problem is that by reducing death to nothing more than another temporary status condition your game can lose a lot of drama, and as we know from comic books an underworld with a revolving door gets really boring really fast.

Finding the middle ground between death is insurmountable, roll up a new character and what happened last session, I was dead at the time? isn't easy. Here are some suggestions for keeping the mystique around death, without making it so every character at the start of the campaign has been killed and replaced half a dozen time by the end of said campaign.

The Death Quest

This is perhaps the oldest trick in the book when it comes to resurrecting a dead character, but it's one a DM willing to roll up his or her shirtsleeves can really make work. The formula is pretty simple; a party member dies, and the dead man's comrades want to give him another chance at life. The priests in town do not have the power to do this, but there are whispers of a miracle worker in the wilderness. The swamp hag with her queer ways, or the necromancer who lives in the frozen waste. There may even be rumors of powerful spirits or forgotten gods who will offer resurrection... for a price.

Just sign on the dotted line, and we'll get this party started.

This could be something as comedic as a trip to the Miracle Max's hut, or as foreboding as finding MacBeth's witches; it all depends on the tone of your game. The point is that the party has to seek out some entity with power over life and death, and that entity will ask some kind of price from the party. If it's a demon it might demand a sacrifice or (if its sly) ask for a seemingly innocuous cost. If it's an ancient spirit it might set a task that must be completed, or the practitioner might simply demand a favor from the party at some point in the future; the most ominous of prices.

The death quest goes one of two ways, usually. You bring the corpse to the entity, and the entity sets the cost. The party either pays it (perhaps it's a year from the end of each of their lives, or some other symbolic cost), or goes off to complete the quest to resurrect their fallen comrade. For groups that don't want to leave the dead character's player out of the action the entity could resurrect the character, and then place a time limit on their new life; so the party is back together, but if they don't bring the aged crone the Heart of Emperors, the lost ruby in the ancient ruins of Halcion by the next full moon, he will pass on to the other side never to return again.

An Outside Force (For Faster, More Immediate Resurrection)

While the Death Quest is a great option, sometimes it just isn't practical. After all, if you're seven stories into the desecrated Temple of the Hanging Damned then you don't need the barbarian to come back in two weeks; you need her back now.

If you have characters that have been around the block a few times then all you need is a creative solution from the DM to make that happen.

Like a diverting chess-based minigame!

This is a solution that works best with examples. So here's a few to chew over!

- Helmund the Red, a hero of the Order of the Dragon falls in battle while helping his comrades defeat the savage Bugbear King. Assumed dead, Helmund's horse kneels by his side, pressing its forehead to his and breathing heavily. Helmund's eyes open, and his steed's close forever. (Bonded creature such as mount, animal companion, etc. gives its life for the PC, or alternatively the action links them together so that their lives are now one meaning if the mount or familiar dies, the PC dies too.)

- Caprica Vaine, alchemist extraordinaire, has a spear driven through her chest during battle. Dead as dreams, the party has just managed to catch its breath when she starts screaming and batting at the flames on her shirt. Her elixirs, potions, and one of her catalysts were smashed open and mixed in the wound. This chemical accident brought her back from death's courtyard through sheer lucky circumstances. (Some twist of fate allows the character to come back from death, but that instance cannot be repeated no matter how the character tries to figure out what happened.)

- Caldon Baile, cleric of Pharasma, falls to the grasping claws of an undead horde. While his compatriots fight them off, Caldon lies dead. Moments later a chill fills the air, and a weak gurgle hisses from his lips as breath finds its way back into his body. He awakens, and the ragged hole in the hollow of his throat has healed in the shape of a spiral scar. He has one phrase running through his head like a mantra; "It is not this day." (Servants of the gods like clerics, paladins, oracles, and warpriests can be presumed to have some sort of special pull with the divine. Similarly, characters like sorcerers from the Destined bloodline may have fate let them cheat death.)

In order for this get-out-of-dead free card to work you need to have a few elements in place. Firstly, it needs to really fit the character and the scenario. While it makes sense for the pious warrior to be given a little more life to fight the enemies of her god, it doesn't make sense for a character who eschews the divine or actively blasphemes it to be given the same deal. Generally the more roleplay heavy a player has been the more opportunities will present themselves. And secondly the Outside Force should be at the storyteller's discretion. Maybe it worked once, but what makes it special is that the player has no guarantee it will work a second time.

Boons, Gifts, and Strings Attached

This method of resurrection is the least common in most games, but it can be the best for both immediacy, as well as for making players feel like their actions really matter (both for good and for ill).

Just take a sip... what could it hurt?

These are the subtle methods which are driven entirely by a character's own actions. For example, say that the barbarian finds an old woman being hassled in an alleyway, and drives the thugs off with a snarl and some busted heads because where he comes from you respect elders for their wisdom. The old woman gives him an ancient medallion to keep him safe, pressing it into his hands and saying that she would be safe as long as men like him existed. If he takes it and keeps it, instead of hocking it at a junk shop or giving it up, then he might find when he should be killed that he's instead brought back from the brink because of the life he saved.

This could take all sorts of forms. Perhaps the fighter defeats a fae prince, but stays his hand instead of delivering a death blow. Maybe the bard was given a tattoo by a tribal shaman as a protection from death after the bard's songs gave strength to the tribe's swords in battle. It's just possible there was something to that old story about the heirloom ring the wizard bonded with, and about how no spellcaster of his line had ever died while he or she wore it.

These methods reflect on story, and on the rewards characters might earn for doing good deeds. There are also less beneficial options.

A dying witch might spit a curse at a bloodthirsty assassin, but rather than dying the curse is to live until he's washed the blood from his hands. The greedy warrior, eager to make use of his plunder, draws the sword of the immortal warrior without pausing to contemplate that all those who have wielded it have died by their own hands according to legend. A soldier who dies with vows unfinished might rise and keep fighting, unable to rest until he's kept his word.

There are a lot of different ways to keep PCs in the game. As long as the player wants to keep playing the character, the method involved is appropriate to the situation, and it feels like a reward instead of DM pity (or the DM fixing a screw up on his or her part) resurrection can be something cool and unique to add into a character's growth. As a final note though, it is also important to ask what happened to your character in-between that moment where they died and where they came back. Being in hell, even for a few minutes, can be enough to make you change your ways when you open your eyes again.

As always, thanks for stopping in! If you want to support me and keep Improved Initiative going then stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron today! If you want to make sure you keep up on everything I'm doing then follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr!