Returning from the Dead

A few spells make returning from the dead possible.  These are raise dead, resurrection, limited wish (if used to undo the dice roll that killed the character), miracle, true resurrection and wish.  These spells are NOT available as scrolls or potions, though a rod of resurrection is a viable, albeit extremely costly item.  All information in the Player’s Handbook regarding these spells will be maintained, except as follows (and see this article concerning death in general):

Raise dead costs a base of 10,000 gp if the services are procured from a temple.  This base price may be adjusted upward or downward depending on current economics, location, party’s relationship with temple in question, and victim’s relationship with said temple.  The spell requires a four-hour ceremony whether performed in a temple or in the field.  These ceremonies are the same for game purposes, but temple ceremonies are certainly more elaborate and ostentatious.  Only one cleric is required to cast the spell, but several may be involved in a temple.  They all must be in reasonably good standing with their god, or he simply will not hear their plea.  The ceremony differs according to religion, but must be four hours long, uninterrupted.  After completing the ceremony, the spell is cast toward the end, and the victim is raised.  He must thereafter undergo bed rest for one full day or suffer exhaustion as stated in the DMG.

Resurrection costs a base of 25,000 gp if the services are procured from a temple, adjusted for the reasons stated above.  The spell requires an eight-hour uninterrupted ceremony, and only one cleric is required.  This cleric (and any others in attendance) must be in the highest standing with his god, or suffer a judgment of some appropriate kind.  After completing the ceremony, the spell is cast, and the victim is resurrected.  He must thereafter undergo bed rest for three full days or suffer exhaustion as stated in the DMG.

Miracle costs a base of 50,000+ gp if performed by a temple high priest.  Many factors are included in the difficulty of the miracle being requested, and will contribute to the ultimate cost of the spell.  The high priest simply must be impeccable in every way, or he will suffer the judgment due him.  A miracle requires no ceremony, only the sincerest, earnest, devoted prayers of the priest for the duration given in the PH.  Upon completion, the results are left solely to the DM’s discretion.

Limited wish costs a base of 20,000 gp if purchased as a service from an NPC spellcaster.  The limits are as per the Player’s Handbook, and these limits should be made known when procuring the spell.  Should the spellcaster attempt to cross the bounds of this limited spell, he suffers an appropriate ill effect (possibly a wild effect as per the chart, a baneful literal interpretation of the spell request, or mental damage of some kind).

Wish costs a base of 50,000+ gp to purchase as a service.  The limits are as per the Player’s Handbook, but as there is wide latitude for the DM to adjudicate the request, some room should be given.  This spell is given to quite literal (and not always advantageous) interpretations when its bounds are tested.  Should the spellcaster push the limits too far, attempting that which is not possible by this spell, he suffers an appropriate ill effect (a wild effect, reverse effect, worse possible interpretation, etc.) and severe mental damage.

True resurrection costs a base of 50,000 gp if the services are purchased from a temple, adjusted as above.  This spell otherwise differs in no way from the Player’s Handbook.

NOTE:  If the character does not actively worship a deity, there is a chance his soul will be floating about in the outer planes, lost and unknown of anyone.  The basis for this is that if the PC is a worshipper, then the deity actually knows of his existence, and will usher his soul to its proper place upon death.  Without this, it will take literally finding the PC’s soul on his corresponding alignment plane (and no one knows which this is, really), sending an avatar of the cleric’s deity to fetch it (not a thing to be done lightly), and bartering with the keepers of that plane to give it up (something that is not exactly free).  IF the party can find clerics who will enact the proper ceremony for a raising of this kind, the above prices will likely be doubled to cover all the extra headache and expenses the church will incur to perform the rites successfully, never mind “owing one” for the avatar’s services.

This is a contrivance on my part.  It forces the players to consider the state of their PC’s souls, and helps keep “coming back from the dead” from becoming a trivial matter.  Even the highest-level heroes should fear death.  It should be expensive to thwart, both financially and physiologically.  And there should be consequences for ignoring the deities that control the multiverse.

Questions about called shots come up often in the Lorenvale campaign.  The situation usually looks like this: a monster is engaged in melee combat with some of the party, but one of the fighters stands to the outside (for various reasons) and decides he’d like to shoot an arrow into the monster’s eye.  Or, someone might want to knock the wand from a wizard’s hand…or trigger a mechanism from a distance…or even just hit the center of an archery target.  By definition, a called shot is a “placed” hit, one that is designed to inflict extra damage (at least), but usually intends specific damage and/or incapacitation.  An effect like this shouldn’t be easy, or everyone would be doing it.  The fact that the monster is moving about erratically in the melee with an ally already poses a –4 penalty to hit for firing into melee (which is negated with the Precise Shot feat).  But to hit a specific location on that flailing target should be a much harder accomplishment.  The rules for called shots are summarized here and in the above table.

A called shot is a special attack action that takes a full round to complete, and must be announced before attempted, providing attacks of opportunity because of the focused concentration required to hit such a specific point on a target.  A Concentration check is required at a base DC of 10 if the surroundings are generally serene and a base DC of 20 if the surroundings are generally chaotic.  The DM can extrapolate from there.  If damage is dealt from an attack of opportunity, the DC increases by the amount of damage taken.  Failing the Concentration check prevents the attacker from making a successful Called Shot.  The “Improved Called Shot” feat grants a +4 bonus to this check.

The benefits of a successful called shot may be left up to the DM, or this simple system may be used.  Assume a successful hit to deal critical damage automatically and penalize the target with a specific kind of damage (e.g. blindness) according to what was being attempted (e.g. an arrow in the eye).  If the attack roll indicates a critical threat, increase the multiplier for damage dealt.  If a natural 20 is rolled, assign maximum damage on an increased multiplier and add to the specific damage any compatible result of the “Critical Hit” chart.  A natural 1 on the attack roll yields the normal results.  The “Improved Called Shot” feat grants a +4 bonus to hit.

IMPROVED Called Shot (General, Fighter)

You are gifted at aiming your blows or shots in precise locations.

Prerequisites:  Base attack bonus +6, Weapon Focus (in weapon being used).

Benefits:  +4 to hit when making a “called shot” and +4 to Concentration checks.

Normal:  Penalties for calling a shot in both melee and ranged situations are shown above.

Special:  For ranged weapons, the penalties for called shots apply per each range increment, so that within two range increments, the penalties are doubled, and within three increments, they are tripled.

Bludgeoning Non-lethal Damage

Damage from bludgeoning weapons, from maces and quarterstaffs to fists and rocks, as well as damage from falls and falling objects, etc. are treated as follows:  the rolled damage in full is normal damage, and half that number, rounded down, is also non-lethal damage.  If someone hit with an ogre’s club takes 17 points of damage, his hit points are reduced by 17, and he adds 8 points of non-lethal damage.  As always, when the hit point score equals or falls below the non-lethal score, the character falls unconscious.  The other conditions stated in the core rules that contribute non-lethal damage are not abrogated in any way, but are upheld in the Lorenvale campaign.

Clobbered

“If a character takes half his current hit points in damage from a single blow, he is clobbered.  On his next turn, he can only take a partial action, and after that turn he is no longer clobbered.”  —DMG   This rule is a variant in the DMG that we incorporate fully into the Lorenvale campaign.

Close-quarters Situations

Melee combat in close quarters (e.g. hallway, ledge, crowded room, etc.) presents added difficulty to one’s accuracy in the fight.  Generally, “close quarters” is defined as any condition where there is less than 5 feet between combatants.  In close-quarters situations, an attack roll that is 10 or more below the minimum required number to hit presents a chance that some unintentional target is struck.  DM discretion will determine the other possible targets, whether friend or foe.  To determine whether the target is actually hit, roll the attack die again against the unintended target’s AC.  The accidental target is considered “flat-footed” unless specific feats or abilities override this.  A critical hit or “natch” in this situation is applied in full.  If a “crit” miss is rolled in close quarters, its results stack with the potential for striking an unintended target.  Attacks of opportunity, cleaves and redirects may also be subject to close-quarters fighting rules at the DM’s discretion.  The “close-quarters fighting” feat negates the possibility for an errant strike (but does not negate "crit" misses), along with the rules stated in Sword & Fist.

Critical Hits/Misses with Spells

Spells that cause damage can have critical results just as much as weapons do.  When the spell is successfully cast, roll a d20 and on a natural 20 only the damage is critical and the attack modified by the “Critical Hit” chart.  The spell might deal +1 damage to each die, use the next larger die size, or even deal maximum damage…as the DM sees fit.  Similarly, if the spell misses—this occurs for touch spells, ranged touch spells and rays—roll a d20 and on a natural 1, the attack is modified by the “Critical Miss” chart.  This ruling is also useful if the player wishes to apply a “called shot” with his spell.  In this case, the called shot penalty should apply just as if the attack were by a weapon.  Note: this includes even those spells that “never miss” (e.g. magic missile); they’ll hit the intended target all right, but only if you succeed at a called shot will you hit a specific spot.

Critical Success/Failure with Skills

If a player rolls a natural 20 on a skill check, and this is a success, the player is entitled to a second roll.  If that roll is also a success, then the skill will be deemed a critical success with the outcome being extraordinarily wonderful.  A pair of successive natural 20s is automatically considered the best possible outcome.  Likewise, if the initial roll for a skill check is a natural 1, and it is a failure, then a second roll is made, and if it also shows failure, then the skill is a critical failure and the outcome particularly awful.  A pair of successive natural 1s is automatically considered the worst possible outcome.  Unlike attack rolls and saving throws, there are no automatic successes or failures with skill checks…except for the successive pair of 20s or 1s.

Damage to Specific Areas/Specific Injuries

Damage accumulated in combat is assumed to be placed randomly through the creature’s body, with no attempts made at defining where the wounds are.  Unless the player announces that he it aiming for a specific location (i.e. called shot), damage dealt will not inflict additional penalty to the victim beyond that which is normal.  However, sometimes it is necessary to target specific areas of a creature’s body.  Occasionally, a critical hit (“natch”) will indicate specific injury to the target, with applicable detriment.  In these cases, knowing the effect of specific injuries (and how to recover from them) is important.  “When a specific body part takes damage, …apply a –2 penalty to any action that the character undertakes using that portion of his body.  …This penalty lasts until the character heals, either magically or by resting.  …A character [may] make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + damage taken) to ‘tough it out’ and ignore the penalty.”  So reads the DMG.  In the Lorenvale campaign, these specific injuries cannot be cured by cure spells; it requires either one day of rest (inactivity) per hit point of damage from the specific injury (accompanied by an appropriate Heal check for attending the wounded) OR a heal or greater spell.  General wounds are healed just fine by the assortment of cure spells, but specific injuries (like broken bones, damaged organs, etc.) are not general wounds and are not measured merely by a reduction in hit points.  Analogy: cure spells are like first aid for cuts and bruises; heal, regenerate, & others are more like surgery.

Knock-back