Raising PCs in 1e

[neco]

As a fairly new player to DnD our DM decided to have our group play 1e. In our last session one of my fellow player's character died. Seeing as I am unfamiliar with the means of raising dead PCs in 1e I was hoping that the wonderful people of this form would be able to help me out. I would just ask the DM, but he is a bit unorganized and is not sure where most of he source books outside the ones needed for our current module are. Is it similar to 3e in that there are different spells to raise them based on corpse/no corpse or is it a completely different system?

[DukeofDellot]

It's the same method, more or less.

You have three spells, Raise dead (5th level cleric) that hits recently dead, Resurrection (7th level cleric) that those that have died a while ago, and Reincarnate (7th level druid) that complicates things by changing of the race.

At least, that's what a quick scan over declares.

You do mean 1e Advanced, right?

[John Campbell]

And, I think this was also the case in 1E, but I don't remember for certain... in 2E, anyway, there's also the 6th level wizard spell reincarnation, which works much like the priest reincarnate, but has a different result table.

The divine version is funnier, though. The arcane version's table is all humanoid races, similar to the 3.5 reincarnate's table, though less strongly biased towards "standard" races, whereas the divine version has pretty good odds of bringing the formerly deceased back as some kind of small woodland animal.

[hamlet]

Keep in mind, though, that unless someone in your party is able to cast this spell themselves, you'll have to come up with a good pile of scratch to pay the priest to get it done. Or possibly get involved in an extensive quest to pay him off in another way.

Raise Dead and Ressurrection spells ain't cheap.

[Cyrion]

Once you've found your spell of choice, you'll see that most methods of raising the dead require a "system shock roll." Turn to the section on Constitution at the beginning of the PHB, and you'll find the % chance that you'll survive the experience. If you roll below that percentage you come back to life, but your Constitution is lowered by one.

[neco]

Ok thanks for the help guys, got all the info I need now, off to start operation: sidequest palooza to find high lvl cleric

[ken-do-nim]

It's the same method, more or less.

You have three spells, Raise dead (5th level cleric) that hits recently dead, Resurrection (7th level cleric) that those that have died a while ago, and Reincarnate (7th level druid) that complicates things by changing of the race.

At least, that's what a quick scan over declares.

You do mean 1e Advanced, right?

Just to be thorough, another possibility is the 8th level magic-user spell clone. It has risks if you clone someone who is still alive, but it is a pretty safe way to resurrect someone otherwise.

[Greylond]

It is also polite to use a Speak with Dead to find out if the person even wants to come back...

I had a character die three times. The party had him raised twice. On the third time he replied to a Speak with Dead with, "Nah, the afterlife is pretty good right now. Just let me Rest In Peace guys..." ;)

[EvilJames]

Just a note. If the PC is Human then all the spells will work to bring him/her back because humans have souls. If it's an elf the it needs to be Resurrect as raise dead does not help beings with no soul and elves have a spirit not a soul. I don't remember if dwarves and halflings have souls or spirits

[neco]

It looks like it would have to be Resurrect anyway, we were ambushed by shadows and our human magic-user succumbed to them, fortunately my character was able to snag a bit of him before he became a shadow. Does Resurrect still brings back people with only a partial body in this edition?

[Matthew]

It is not clear in first edition; with raise dead the whole body has to be available or the parts missing will still be absent, but with resurrection the time between death and life can be many decades and it mentions bones, so... in second edition the text was changed so that resurrection chances can be adjusted if only part of the remains are available.

[neco]

hmm, this may be more challenging than I though. Maybe I will luck out and our DM will accidentally read from a 2e sourcebook:smallbiggrin:

[Matthew]

Heh, heh; you should be okay. As a rule of thumb, second edition changes usually reflect first edition practices at Lake Geneva. :smallwink: