Returning to life without negative levels

[Chernobyl]

Hi All,

I need some GM advice for my Pathfinder campaign.

My players are heading off on an especially dangerous quest. To help them along, I'd like to give them a magic item that will allow them to bring a limited number of their fallen comrades back to life, only without permanent negative levels. This could be equivalent to a Resurrection, Raise Dead, or even Reincarnate spell. Unfortunately, all three of those impose negative levels on the target, which is something I'd like to avoid.

I thought about a Ring of Three Wishes, but I don't want them to have carte blanche to order up whatever they like. I want this magic item to be only usable to bring back dead PCs, and only a limited number of times. Does anyone know of such an item, either in the core rules or from some 3rd party sourcebook?

Assuming the answer is "no," I'll have to create my own custom magic item. Something like the following:

Staff of Greater Reincarnation
Aura strong conjuration; CL 16th
Slot none; Price 115,000 gp; Weight 5 lbs.

Description

A staff of greater reincarnation is made of polished mahogany shod in gold and carved with images of various animals. This staff allows use of the following spells:
•Reincarnate (2 charges)
•Greater Reincarnate (3 charges)
This spell functions like Reincarnate, except that the target does not suffer any negative levels.

Construction Requirements

Craft Staff, reincarnate; Cost 90,000 gp.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Chernobyl

[Jormengand]

Couldn't you use the MiC guidelines to craft an item with a limited number of uses of True Ressurection?

[Chernobyl]

Couldn't you use the MiC guidelines to craft an item with a limited number of uses of True Ressurection?

Yes, that's the sort of approach I'm looking for. I don't have the Magic Item Compendium. Can you help me stat out such an item?

Alternatively, I suppose I could just introduce a wand of True Resurrection with only five charges (or whatever) left on it.

Thanks,
Chernobyl

[Segev]

A one-shot item of True Res that didn't have any prerequisites on who could use it would be 9*17*50+25000 = 32,650 gp.

A staff (so needs a cleric or other caster who has the spell on their class spell list) of it would be 9*17*750+50*25000 = 1,364,903 gp, and would have 50 charges. That's 27,298 gp and 6 cp per charge, if you wanted to give them a partially-charged version of it.

[Khedrac]

Annoyingly the pricing on a one-shot item of True Resurrection is "No" - not "no you can't have the item" but "No - it does not have a price".

One of the rules of custom items is "is there a similar item already?" - And there is, though it does have another use too: a Philosopher's Stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/artifacts.htm#philosophersStone).
As a minor artifact this has no price. :(

Differences:
+ Can also turn base metal into gold
- Requires mixing with a cure potion to create the rue Resurrection effect.

[deuxhero]

Runeforged (Jealous) weapons can get rid of 3 negative levels a day (I like combining it with ultimate mercy, resurrect EVERYONE)

[AlanBruce]

As a DM, I gave the party a wand with 10 charges of Revivify. This is a special wand that acts exactly as the spell, except that it can be used on a fallen PC if they take longer than a round (but no more than 1 minute) to get to them. In that case, the wand consumes 2 charges.

Every day, the wand can be recharged, by having a divine caster with such spell on their list prepare and cast it onto the wand (consuming the necessary materials described in the spell in the process).

The party has seen use of it many times, and they never complain about it whatsoever. Of course, revivify doesn't bring you back to full hp. You are unconscious and liable to be struck back down, but it keeps the PCs alive.

[Coventry]

You're the GM. Do something mysterious to them before they go on the mission, such as:



The Oracle opens his one eye, and stares right through you. He screeches a single work in a language that sounds ... primal. Each of you feels like *something* happened - almost as if a curse you were unaware of had been lifted from you.

There is a slight acrid taste on your tongue.

The Oracle says. "It might hurt, but its better than the other choice. You can share if you need to, but don't waste it."


Outside of the RP context, tell them that "Each player gains 1 charge of <names> True Resurrection, usable even after death up to 1 hour after death".

Fill in <name> with some powerful entity/deity that look favorably upon them or even something random. If they complete the mission without using all of the charges, simply have the charge fade after they complete the mission.


If they call you on it, point them at the Pathfinder Mythic Handbook, and tell them that the idea sprang from the campaign options listed in there. :smallcool:

[Chernobyl]

A one-shot item of True Res that didn't have any prerequisites on who could use it would be 9*17*50+25000 = 32,650 gp.

A staff (so needs a cleric or other caster who has the spell on their class spell list) of it would be 9*17*750+50*25000 = 1,364,903 gp, and would have 50 charges. That's 27,298 gp and 6 cp per charge, if you wanted to give them a partially-charged version of it.

What's the 9, 17, 50, and 750 for?

Thanks,
Chernobyl

[Jormengand]

What's the 9, 17, 50, and 750 for?

Thanks,
Chernobyl

9 for spell level, 17 for minimum CL and 750 just because it's 750. The 50 is for the stick.

I think. I can't remember exactly.

[Chronos]

The 9 and 17 are presumably spell level and caster level. Of the other two numbers, one is presumably from the staff formula, while the other is from the fact that True Resurrection has an expensive component.

[holywhippet]

One of the rules of custom items is "is there a similar item already?" - And there is, though it does have another use too: a Philosopher's Stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/artifacts.htm#philosophersStone).
As a minor artifact this has no price. :(


That item is odd though as to use it as a true resurrection spell you have to pour it on a dead body. But one of the main points of true resurrection is not needing a body.

[avr]

Maybe I'm missing something. Is there a problem with supplying them with an item which does restoration as well?

[Chronos]

Restoration won't restore the level loss from Raise Dead et al. Nothing can, short of going out there and earning that XP back the hard way.

Well, that, or a Thought Bottle, but let's just pretend that that item doesn't exist.

[Zanos]

Restoration won't restore the level loss from Raise Dead et al. Nothing can, short of going out there and earning that XP back the hard way.

Well, that, or a Thought Bottle, but let's just pretend that that item doesn't exist.
OP mentioned it's Pathfinder. As I recall negative levels work very differently.

[Jack_Simth]

Hi All,

I need some GM advice for my Pathfinder campaign.

My players are heading off on an especially dangerous quest. To help them along, I'd like to give them a magic item that will allow them to bring a limited number of their fallen comrades back to life, only without permanent negative levels. This could be equivalent to a Resurrection, Raise Dead, or even Reincarnate spell. Unfortunately, all three of those impose negative levels on the target, which is something I'd like to avoid.

I thought about a Ring of Three Wishes, but I don't want them to have carte blanche to order up whatever they like. I want this magic item to be only usable to bring back dead PCs, and only a limited number of times. Does anyone know of such an item, either in the core rules or from some 3rd party sourcebook?It's Pathfinder. Restoration is explicitly mentioned as an option for fixing death level loss (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/special-abilities#TOC-Energy-Drain-and-Negative-Levels). Scrolls of Raise Dead + Scrolls of Restoration will do the job, if you have someone that can use them that's still alive.

[jjcrpntr]

OP mentioned it's Pathfinder. As I recall negative levels work very differently.

Ya you beat me to it. As far as I understand in pathfinder if they die they come back with negative levels that are permanent until removed with a restoration spell.

[Thanatosia]

Annoyingly the pricing on a one-shot item of True Resurrection is "No" - not "no you can't have the item" but "No - it does not have a price".

One of the rules of custom items is "is there a similar item already?" - And there is, though it does have another use too: a Philosopher's Stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/artifacts.htm#philosophersStone).
As a minor artifact this has no price. :(
That's utterly ridiculous, to say you can't price a custom magic item because it has an effect that is similar to but different from one of the multiple effects of an Artifact.

To illustrate how ludicrous that ruling is, by that ruling you can't price any magic items that have properties in any way similar to the effects of Detect Magic, Enlarge Person, Hold Portal, Light, Mage Armor, Mage Hand, Dispell Magic, Fireball, Ice Storm, Invisibility, Knock, Lightning Bolt, Passwall, Pyrotechniques, Wall of Fire, Web, Monster Summoning IX, Planeshift, Telekinesis, or grant spell resistance, because a magic item with any one of those properties is 'Similar to' Staff of the Magi.

There are TONS of artifacts out there, and they each have multiple effects, if you say you cant make any custom magic item that has any effect 'similar to' any effect created by an artifact, you might was well toss out custom magic item rules altogether, because you can find a comparison at least as close to baring any True-Resurection item on the basis that Philosopher's Stone exists to virtually anything.

The main reason Philosopher's Stone has no price and is treated as a minor artifact is because of the gold-creating property. True-resurection is perfectly pricable, but putting a price on (and thus allowing PCs to mass produce) an item that creates 1,000lbs of gold is kind of problematic.

[Firechanter]

IIRC, Wands can only contain spells of up to 4th spell level, unless that was nixed in PF as well. So it would have to be a Staff, thus requiring a Cleric or something to use it.
The good news is, you can use a Staff of Raise Dead (gives a Negative Level) and add a Wand of Restoration (removes the Negative Level), and come out much much cheaper than with a Staff of True Res.

[Segev]

What's the 9, 17, 50, and 750 for?

Thanks,
Chernobyl

The formula for pricing a one-shot item is: (spell level)*(caster level)*(50) + (any expensive component costs).

A 9th level spell (True Resurrection) requires a minimum CL of 17, and True Resurrection also costs 25,000 gp in a single diamond.

The formula for pricing a staff is: (spell level)*(caster level)*750 + (any expensive component costs)*(50). The last 50 is because there are 50 charges.

[ericgrau]

Since it's pathfinder give them staffs with resurrection and restoration on them. It's cheaper. Those are 7th and 4th level spells. So the cost per charge is 13*7*15+10000=11,365 gp for resurrection and 7*4*15+5*500=2,920 gp for restoration (15=750/50). Overall it's about 14k and a week to raise someone and remove the level. You might put 10 charges on each staff.

You could also give them scrolls: 13*7*25+10000=12,275 gp per resurrection and 7*4*25+5*500=3,200 gp per restoration.