Death and Resurrection
These rules are a modification of Matthew Mercer's rules, which can be found here: Geek and Sundry - Critical Role Resurrection These rules are meant to provide a sense of meaning behind each character death while simultaneously making death more permanent in many cases.
The Afterlife
What happens when a character dies can vary greatly depending on the class and race of a character. Be sure to take these things into consideration when determining how resurrection will work on a specific PC.
Death Domain Cleric
Consider a cleric devout to Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead and Judge of the Damned. If this character were to die, Kelemvor may not wish or even allow this soul to return to the Material Plane. Kelemvor believes that death is a natural part of life, and may prefer this soul stay with him.
Vengeance Paladin
Consider a cleric devout to Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead and Judge of the Damned. If this character were to die, Kelemvor may not wish or even allow this soul to return to the Material Plane. Kelemvor believes that death is a natural part of life, and may prefer this soul stay with him.
Resurrection via Spells
Spells such as Raise Death, Reincarnate, or Resurrection are the easiest way for a party to resurrect their fallen comrade. When a PC dies for the first time, their soul still has a strong bond to the Material Plane and can be brought back relatively easily. The first resurrection of a character has no chance of failure and will work as stated in any of the official ways to bring a character back from death.
After coming back once, however, that souls bond has been weakened. In death after the first will make resurrection much more difficult. If resurrection is attempted on a character that has been brought back once already, that player should roll 1d20 to determine the success of the resurrection.
Resurrection DC
Resurrection Example
Awhile back, in a fight against some unusually ferocious Bugbears, Lithelri was killed. Fortunately, her cleric was able to bring her back (No chance of failure on first resurrection). Unfortunately for her in the next fight she was stomped by a Frost Giant. Her party was able to find a local cleric to help bring her back, so now there are two people able to cast Raise Dead on Lithelri. The DC for this resurrection is 2 x 2 (she's died twice) + 10 = 14. Because the other cleric is also helping, lower that DC by 3. The total DC to bring Lithelri back to life would now be 11.
Hiring Help
It is likely that your party doesn't have multiple people able to cast resurrection spells. If that is the case, they should seek the aid of NPCs who can. When considering the cost of these services, use the following Adventurer's League equation:
Total Cost
Common Resurrection Spell Prices
| Spell | Cost |
|---|---|
| Raise Dead | 1,250gp |
| Reincarnate | 2,250gp |
| Resurrection | 2,490gp |
| True Resurrection | 50,810gp |
| Gentle Repose | 40gp |
Controlling acess to these spellcasting services is a great way to modify the difficulty in bringing characters back from the dead. The easier it is for the party to access these spellcasting services, the easier it will be for them to resurrect their friends.
Other Ways of Finding Help
It's likely that simply hiring someone to cast this spell may be out of the question. Whether the party spent too much at the tavern last week or these kinds of services are rare, other options for spell casting services should be available. Perhaps the local temple is having a particularly nasty Kobold problem. Maybe the local Necromancer is looking for some help clearing out his newest hideout. Whatever it may be, a side quest could always be available to either lower the cost of a spellcasting service or even pay for it in it's entirety.
These options are at the DMs discretion and will vary greatly based on the feel and locale of each game.
Revivify and Wish
There are two resurrection spells that don't follow the rules mentioned above. If by some means the party is able to cast a Wish spell, there is no roll to bring back the deceased party member. Any "punishment" for reviving this way is at the DMs discretion
If the party is able to bring back their friend with a Revivify spell, the deceased soul hasn't had a chance to completely leave the body yet. The DC for Revivify is as follows:
DC
If being revived for the first time, there is still no roll. The resurrection automatically succeeds.
Alternate Methods of Resurrection
It's entirely possible that a Warlock's patron decides that his or her pawn isn't quite finished with their duties or that a Fighter decides to make a pact with a needy God. There are many ways that gods, necromancers, or even a lich could intervene with the resurrection of a deceased character.
These options are left entirely to the DM. If you wish you could have the god/necromancer make a resurrection roll with a lower DC. If the person intervening is powerful enough, a roll may not even be required.
Despite not being brought back by a spell, you may still want to consider adding this death to the character's total deaths, in case they were to be killed again.