Mad Scientist "Raise Dead" Backfire Suggestions?

[miinstrel]

Coleton: if you see this post don't read it, you cheeky monkey!

I'm starting a new E6 campaign soon. Raising the Dead is exceptionally rare (though possible), but one of my players has created a dread necro mad scientist type character.

I've given him the special ability to ATTEMPT to cast Raise Dead at anytime by expending a max level spell slot, using any random reagents he encounters/thinks up, and making a spellcraft check. Ritual takes 1 hour to cast. Results may vary. There's a heavy campaign theme of what happens to a soul upon death. Using souls as an energy source or something along those lines may be possible depending on where the campaign goes.

I'm requesting your input for the results of this ritual. I'm putting together a chart with a bunch of random results in that gray area somewhere between "nothing happens" and "actually casting raise dead". Would love some comedic suggestions too, but the overall tone of the campaign is serious with a side of comedy. Anything that does actually bring the target back to life should have some sort of notable drawback or imperfection.

Here's what I have so far:

Corpse explodes
Corpse thrashes about then falls still
Corpse animates, stands, is still for a few moments then screams and smashes its head in on something
Animate as zombie for 1d4 rounds (successive results = 1d6, 1d8, 1d10... then 1d4 minutes... etc.)
Corpse melts into goo
Corpse unable to move but jabbers loudly until killed
Only one digit or limb animates
Corpse floats at head level and follows caster (non-animate)
Corpse animates normally but mimics anything said by caster or party
Corpse animates and attacks caster
Corpse animates and will not let anyone within 5 feet of caster
Corpse animates and will not allow caster to move from his square
Corpse's heart beats but nothing else happens
Corpse catches fire
Caster's mind gets incredibly foggy, 1d3 wisdom damage
Corpse releases clouds of stink as it decomposes rapidly, all around become nauseous
Mushrooms and moss rapidly cover the body
Corpse's hair grows uncontrollably covering a 10 ft radius area over the course of an hour
Corpse lies still for 3 hours, then screams loudly for 3 rounds, then falls silent
Corpse is animated with the spirit of a demon. intelligent, free-willed, and desperately wants to stay on the material plane
Caster's body goes limp and his consciousness transfers to the zombie's body. Zombie body decomposes in X days, has to find a way out.
Cast Speak with Dead on the corpse (spell is otherwise banned in this game)
Corpse animates but not in control of caster. Attempts to return to its "normal" life for duration of the spell immediately heading to its last known home.
Corpse animates permanently, becomes a necropolitan.
Corpse does not animate, but subject returns as a Ghost.
Corpse cannot move but is able to speak as though alive for duration. Retains all memories of its life. Under no obligation to provide info and starts at indifferent attitude.
Nothing happens. Attempt attracts the attention of a Marut.
Dread Wraith is released, deals 1d6 cold damage, then is transported to a random point on the plane. Pursues the caster relentlessly.
Each part of the corpse animates independently and tears itself apart. Caster attacked by swarm of disembodied organs.
Corpse is resurrected as Raise Dead but cannot heal damage. All damage taken permanently reduces HP. HP decreases by 1 each day. Stops at 0 (incapacitated).
Corpse is resurrected as Raise Dead but caster takes an equal amount of damage whenever raised creature is hurt.
Corpse is resurrected as Raise Dead but evenly distributes negative levels equal to its HD among creatures in its presence for extended time.
Corpse animates but is deathly afraid of darkness/fire/dogs/etc.
Corpse animates, moans brains, and attempts to crack open skulls to eat brains endlessly.
Corpse animates, moans brains, and attempts to crack open skulls to eat brains. Upon succes, becomes more intelligent and picks up victim's habits and memories.
Corpse is resurrected as Raise Dead but with the wrong person's soul.
Corpse mummifies.
Corpse returns to life but with no soul. Has memories but no personality or motivation, just does what it's told. Auto fails will saves (unaffected by illusions).
Raise Dead is successful, but target has irreversible amnesia.
Corpse transforms into a swarm of flies or beetles.
Corpse's soul enters the caster's body instead.
Corpse is raised but only for one hour each day starting at the time of its resurrection.
Corpse is raised but time flows backwards as it reverts to childhood. Loses 1 year/hour.
Spirit of the corpse returns in a nearby creature or object instead.
Corpse returns and provides a strange prophecy from beyond the grave before perishing again.
Egg appears in corpse's mouth. 3 minutes later glows blue once. When moved 3 miles from the body it hatches into a full grown hawk. When the hawk dies an identical egg appears in corpse's mouth. When that hawk hatches it has human feet instead of talons making hunting difficult. When that one dies the next has human hands instead of wings. Then it can speak and remembers each of its awful reincarnations. All future deaths return it to this form 3 days later.
Ominous dark energy surrounds a nearby object and runes/seals appear on it. This is now the phylactery for a previously destroyed lich (reforms in 1d10 days). Subject is still dead.
Subject raises normally, but an eye appears on their body every day. As they acquire eyes they gain special powers. After 1 year they become a beholder.
Subject turns to stone but is actually alive. Stone to Flesh cures them as normal.
Corpse remains dead, but examining body (Heal or Search DC 15) reveals a fleshy cave system large enough to send a search party into.
Corpse vanishes (teleported to the soul).
Caster and corpse change spaces and clothing then corpse collapses without support.
Caster and corpse change spaces and clothing but corpse retains position like a statue.
Caster and corpse change spaces and clothing, and corpse tries to convince everyone that it's the caster and vice versa.
Corpse becomes partially fused to the caster. Either amputation or some sort of magic is needed to separate them.
Corpse is revived perfectly except it's fused with the faster. Either amputation or some sort of magic is needed to separate them.
Caster coughs up blood (but is fine).
Caster coughs up dust.
Caster coughs up teeth that aren't his own.
Caster coughs up a well-crafted spoon made of bone.
Corpse farts loudly.
Corpse sits up and stares at caster regardless of visibility. Anytime the caster speaks the corpse nods agreement occasionally contributing a "yes" "I agree" or "Makes sense" regardless of content or coherence of speech. It takes no other actions.
Corpse is animate but only responds to an obscure language.
Corpse is animate, insists it's not undead, loudly and poorly attempts to feign breathing, then announces that it's cold before trying to get near heat and eventually setting itself on fire.
Corpse animates and begins describing an idyllic afterlife for the caster's family. Minor inaccuracies are included that hint it's lying.
Corpse is animated, immediately whips head up to the sky and searches as if frightened. After a few moments it desperately searches for rocks or other solid objects to throw at the sky and does so for the duration.
Corpse animates normally and begins walking directly away from caster. Complies with commands but refuses to stop walking. Can gain insubstantiality to pass through walls if no way around an obstacle.
Corpse's circulatory system rips free of corpse and is animated as a floating heart with veins as extremely low strength tentacles.
Corpse's nervous system rips free of corpse, is animated as a floating brain with nerves as extremely low strength tentacles.
Corpse's circulatory and nervous systems rip free of corpse and fight each other.
The caster's flesh rots a bit, giving him a -2 penalty on diplomacy checks due to his new appearance. He also receives a +1 bonus on intimidate checks and +2 on disguise to imitate a corpse.
Corpse is raised as Raise Dead, but they are unable to create new memories. Every time they rest they forget everything since they were raised.
Corpse reanimates with caster's soul permanently. Readjust ability scores.
Corpse animates with a squirrel's soul and leaves to go climb a tree and eat nuts.
All flesh falls off and skeleton is raised with the memories and personality of the person.
The corpse changes sex, but doesn't animate.
Corpse animates but with a creepy obsessive psycho sexual thing toward the caster.
Corpse animates and assumes exact stance as caster. All of caster's movements are mimicked by corpse as closely as possible. The corpse speaks when the caster does, walks when the caster does, etc.
Corpse animates, seeks a digging tool and soil, digs an appropriately sized grave, lies down, and deanimates.
Corpse animates and begins smoking. Actually it's vapor. Corpse slowly evaporates until only dust remains. Then it begins raining.
A fissure opens and swallows the body. Caster needs Reflex DC 10 to avoid falling in.
Corpse's eyes open abruptly, bulging and bloodshot. No other effects.
Corpse's flesh begins to bloat and tumorous growths appear on the skin. Corpse quickly increases to next size category before bursting and unleashing a toxic miasma.


When the list is "finished" I will sort it by "relative level of success" and roll with any applicable modifiers. What other interesting ideas might you add to this? I imagine this will mostly be used for RP, but some practical uses may come of it too. I'll try to keep the list updated as suggestions come in. Thanks!

[Telonius]

Corpse animates, but is not in control of the caster. It attempts to return to its "normal" life for the duration of the spell, immediately heading to its last known home.
Corpse animates permanently, becomes a Necropolitan.
Corpse does not animate; subject returns as a Ghost.
Corpse cannot stand or move, but is able to speak as though it were alive for the duration of the spell. The corpse retains all of the memories it had when it was alive. It is under no obligation to give the caster any information, and starts out as Indifferent for the purposes of Diplomacy.
(Critical failure) Corpse does not animate, and the attempt to raise the dead attracts the attention of an interested party (a Marut, an Outsider opposed to undead, the deity who has charge of the soul, etc).
(Critical failure, Earthsea option) Corpse does not animate, but a powerful creature (Dread Wraith, Nightshade, Aleax, or other) is released in the attempt. It deals 1d6 cold damage before being transported to a random point on the plane. From there it will pursue the caster until one or the other is dead.

[JCAll]

If you're looking for some comedy in your seriousness, can't go wrong with a reference to BrainDead.
*Every part of Corpse is animated independently and tears itself apart. Caster is attacked by Swarm of Disembodied Organs.

[kieza]

I notice a couple of critical failure options there--what about critical successes? Suggestions follow:

--Corpse is resurrected, as raise dead, but does not heal from even minor damage: any damage taken permanently reduces the creature's max HP, and even if it goes a day without taking any damage, its max HP decrease by 1 anyways. At 0 max HP, it becomes incapacitated--alive, aware, but unable to act--but stops losing max HP.
--Corpse is resurrected, as raise dead, but whenever it takes damage, the caster takes an unavoidable, irresistable, equal amount of damage.
--Corpse is resurrected, as raise dead, but every day, it applies negative levels equal to its own hit dice, split evenly between the caster and any other creatures which spend non-negligible amounts of time in its presence. The caster always takes at least one negative level, even if large numbers of other creatures spend time with the resurrected corpse.
--As the previous option, but the resurrected creature gains an additional level (or Hit Die) for every negative level applied to the caster.



Non-critical success ideas:

--Corpse is animated, is also deathly afraid of fire/dogs/darkness/other dangerous thing.
--Corpse is animated, is irresistibly drawn to fire/dogs/small children/other dangerous or fragile thing.
--Corpse is animated, is just smart enough to be horrified by their own existence, attempts to destroy itself.
--Corpse is animated, moans "brainnsssss..." and attempts to crack open skulls to eat brains...despite deriving no sustenance from them. (Suffers no ill effects from being restrained, denied brains.)
--Corpse is animated, moans "brainnsssss..." and attempts to crack open skulls...when it manages to do so, it has no idea what to do with the brains.
--Corpse is animated, moans "brainnsssss..." and attempts to crack open skulls to eat brains...upon success, begins to speak intelligibly, picking up some of its victim's habits and memories.
--Corpse is animated, moans "brainnsssss..." and makes a beeline for the smartest person in the room...other than the caster.

[nedz]

Only the head comes back to life.
Only one limb comes back to life.
Raise Dead works - but with a different soul.
Hand drops off, becomes blackened and appears mummified.
Foot drops off.
Body levitates 3" above the surface.
Body laughs hysterically for a few minutes.

[miinstrel]

Love it! Thanks for the suggestions. Really like the "return to its normal life", "attract a Marut" and "distribute negative levels" ones. The negative levels is an interesting option given the DN focus on negative energy instead of positive. Keep em coming :)

[mikeejimbo]

Corpse seems animated but begins screaming and begging for death.

[Friv]

*) Corpse returns to life, perfectly, but with no soul. It has the memories of the person, but very little personality or motivation, and it tends to listen to whatever people tell it. The new person automatically fails all Will saves, except for those involving illusions, which can't affect it. It also automatically fails any roll against possession attempts.

[nedz]

Raise dead works but the person has amnesia
Raise dead works but the caster has amnesia

[Telok]

As part of the ritual (this variant) the corpse must be reduced to it's 'essential salts' through the application of several acids. A magic circle is drawn and the magic words are said but the spell slot is not expended. If any of the corpse was missing or any portion of the powdered 'salts' are not inside the circle the ritual results in "onlie the liveliest awefullness", a living creature of horrible appearance, low intellect, unlimited lifespan, and uncontrollable depraved beastial urges. If everything went well the victim is raised fron the dead with half of their original charisma. Anyone speaking the magic words of the ritual in reverse order in the victims' presence will return them to a pile of salts and ashes.

A person can be raised and put down in this manner an unlimited number of times. The process is reported to be extremely unplesant and victims will go to great lengths to avoid repeating the experience.

[DavidSh]

For failure:
* target is transformed into a mass of flies and beetles, both adults and larvae.

For a very rare critical success:
* target is successfully revived, and regenerates as per a D&D troll, and doesn't age.

[AMFV]

I think a good option wouldn't be to necessarily have the failures result in an unplayable character. But rather the resurrection bringing something else back with it. Something like a disease or an evil spirit. Or an unsuccessful resurrection could open a door that things from the realm of the dead could get through, depending on your respective cosmology of course.

[infinitum3d]

Corpse's soul enters the caster, and vice versa.

Corpse gets raised, caster dies.

Corpse gets raised but thinks its a chicken.

Corpse gets raised but only speaks Spanish. (Or Dwarven, unless a Dwarf, then Elven).

Corpse gets raised but is only successful for one hour each day, starting at the hour it was raised. (I.e, if it is raised at 12 midnight, then every day at 12 midnight it comes alive for one hour).

Corpse gets raised, but begins aging backwards, eventually reverting to childhood, possibly at an accelerated rate, so it loses one year for every day/hour it relives.

Corpse gets raised but can only move one body part at a time. It literally cannot walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. If it raises its arm, the legs give out. If it talks, the legs give out. If it walks, it cannot see or hear or speak. . .

Spirit of corpse returns but in the body of a nearby creature (rat, dog) or object (chair, table, sword, shield).

Spirit returns but not inside body, instead it is 5 feet behind the body (like a video game in 3rd person view).

[Bulhakov]

Corpse:

- briefly returns to life only to scream in agony and die again (maybe give a chance to survive if someone figures out to cast a heal spell or give him/her a potion fast enough)

- briefly returns to life only to give a foreboding warning / prophecy / scream of the horrors of the afterlife, dies no matter what the players do

- animates as zombie, but not under caster's control

- comes back seemingly ok, but with a demon "passenger" (could be different versions of this - from outright possession, to corruption over time)

[miinstrel]

Thanks to all again! I added several to the initial list that will fit well in the game.
Anything that actually does raise the target should definitely have a drawback as the "Raise Dead" spell should be as good as it gets.

This isn't necessarily going to be used on PCs (though it may be at some point, we'll see). I think he's planning on performing experiments in downtime / in camp while others sleep kind of thing. So the party might wake up to one of his corpses screaming bloody murder for example. Or find him being strangled by the disembodied intestine of the body or something.

[goto124]

Corpse thinks it's a penguin. It makes honking sounds, keeps diving into water, swallowing raw fish whole, and makes nests out of stone and pebbles.

Why yes I love penguins, why did you ask?

[Fable Wright]

From the subject's mouth emerges one egg. Three minutes after the experiment, it will glow blue, once, then never again. After moving three miles from the corpse, the egg will hatch into a hawk. When this hawk dies, an identical egg will form in the subject's mouth. When that hawk hatches, it will have human feet instead of talons, which make hunting a nontrivial affair. Then when that hawk dies and another egg spawns, that one will have human hands for wings and human feet. When that one dies, the next one can speak. It remembers every horrible death it was put through, does not like the form it's in now, and each further reincarnation just brings him back to this same horrible form. If the egg is crushed before hatching, a glowing green paste will ooze out. If eaten, it will pass the curse of hawkincarnation onto its devourer. Otherwise, it will reform into an egg over the course of the next three days, no matter how scattered this goop is.

From the corpse, an elemental made of earth will burst through. It can only speak in ignan, understand spoken terran, and only read aquan. It has no memories, but if the player does something suitably creative with auran, the earth elemental will crumble into dust, leaving only the fully-resurrected subject of the experiment. The same clever thing with auran will not work twice, and they will have to do a new creative thing the second, third, fourth, etc. times.

Ominous black energy surrounds a nearby object containing prayer seals, and it transmutes into a new form. Magical detection may reveal that it is a phylactery. The subject is still dead; all that the caster succeeded in doing was raising a long, long dead bona fide lich, CL 12 and all, into an E6 game. It's insane and you have its phylactery. Good luck.

Subject seems to be raised completely normally. The next day, an eye will open up somewhere on their bodies. The next day, another new eye will. As it will the day after that, and the day after that, etc. As these eyes open, the subject begins to gain new, special powers and a drastically increased intelligence. Eventually, these eyes begin to merge into larger eyes that have special powers. After one year and one day, the subject will have shed its mortal form and become a Beholder.

Subject turns to stone, but is actually alive. A Stone to Flesh spell should cure them and bring them back to normal.

[GorinichSerpant]

Corpse stays dead, however looking into any holes in the corpse reveal a fleshy cave system large enought to send a search party into.

Corpse is teleported to the soul, whether that means onto another plane, to the place the person died, or where ever the intended soul resides.

The caster and the corpse change spaces and clothing, then the corpse collapses without support.


The caster and the corpse change spaces and clothing, then the corpse continues standing like a statue.


The caster and the corpse change spaces and clothing, and the corpse tries to convince everyone that it's the caster and the caster is the corpse.


The caster and the corpse change spaces and clothing, and everyone needs to make a save to not think the corpse is the caster and visa versa, except the caster and the corpse. The corpse does want people to think it's the caster.

Corpse becomes partially fused with the caster, either amputation or some sort of magic is needed to separate the two.

Corpse is revived perfectly fine, except it's become fused with the caster. Either amputation or some sort of magic is needed to separate the two.

Everyone within a half mile radius grins against their will, it's a terrifying grin.

Everyone within a half mile radius laughs against their will, it's an evil cackle.

Caster coughs up blood.

Caster coughs up dust.

Caster coughs up teeth, that aren't his own.

Caster coughs up a well crafted spoon.

Corpse releases a fart.

[Rosstin]

these are amazing, i wish i was playing in this campaign haha

[Ijtzoi]

Corpse sits up, stares intently in caster's direction, ignoring whether or not caster is visible to it. Any time the caster speaks, the corpse nods agreement, occasionally saying something like "yes", "makes sense", or "I agree", regardless of content or coherence of speech. It takes no other action at any point regardless of stimulus.

Corpse is animated, only responds to an obscure language (any obscure language).

Corpse is animated, insists it's not undead, loudly and poorly attempts to feign breathing, then announces that it radiates heat like a living thing and seeks a means to set itself afire.

Corpse animates and begins describing an idyllic afterlife for the caster's family. Sprinkled throughout are minor inaccuracies that hint it is lying.

Corpse is animated, immediately whips head up to the sky and searches it as if frightened. After a few moments, it will begin desperately searching for rocks or other solid things it can throw at the sky and proceeds to do so for spell duration.

Corpse animates normally and begins walking directly away from caster. It will comply with any given command but refuse to stop walking away from caster for any reason. It is able to temporarily grant itself insubstantiality for the sole purpose of walking through any wall sitting opposite it from the caster, but only if there's no other way around the obstacle. If it ever reaches the world's opposite-to-caster pole, [roll second effect]

Corpse's circulatory system rips free of corpse, is animated as a floating heart with veins as extremely low strength tentacles.

Corpse's nervous system rips free of corpse, is animated as a floating brain with nerves as extremely low strength tentacles.

Corpse's circulatory and nervous systems rip free of corpse, fight eachother.

[miinstrel]

These. are. awesome. I like to think I'm pretty creative, but the playground repeatedly shows me there's always room to grow :)

[nedz]

These. are. awesome. I like to think I'm pretty creative, but the playground repeatedly shows me there's always room to grow :)

Plant grows out of the body.

[tomandtish]

Corpse begins swelling, and gradually turns brown, along with developing a lovely smell. After 30 minutes a chime sounds. Should anyone say anything Caster hears a voice:

"Didn't you cast Raise Bread?

[miinstrel]

hahaha that's good.

[Erth16]

The flesh, organs, and other such features of the corpse rapidly decompose, leaving only the skeleton. The skeleton is then animated as a 1hd skeleton that retains the memories and personality of the soul.

The caster's flesh rots a fair amount, causing him to take a -2 on diplomacy checks due to his new appearance. However he also receives a +1 on intimidate checks, and a +2 on disguise checks made to imitate a corpse.

The corpse is reanimated as Raise Dead, however they cannot make new memories, forgetting everything that happened to them between their awakening for the day and the next time they rest.

The corpse reanimates with the soul of the caster. The caster's body is now a corpse. The casters ability scores may be altered if race is changed, but otherwise the caster retains all their prior abilities.

The corpse changes gender.

The corpse is reanimated, but identifies as squirrel-kin, and leaves to go climb a tree and live with it's kin.

The corpse is reanimated, but now has gills and cannot survive more than 2d10 rounds outside of water. It gains a swim speed of 10 feet.

[nedz]

The corpse sits up and says "I a sad deer" and collapses again.

[Mando Knight]

The body is raised as normal... except that the target hates the caster for reasons unknown (besides the spell failure).

[goto124]

The corpse changes gender.

The corpse changes sex.

The corpse changes sex, but only the upper half.

The corpse changes sex, but only the lower half.

The corpse changes gender identity.

[Mastikator]

*) The spell gets hijacked by a demonic spirit, which takes control of the body and is able to exert its will on the world. (the demon is far more powerful than the necromancer)

[ThinkMinty]

I'm gonna go with comedic mid '90's-mid-'00's supernatural comedy rules.

When you create a being through magic and/or superscience, they are immensely loyal towards you, in a creepy obsessive-possessive psycho-sexual way. It happened on Batman Beyond and the Hercules cartoon and probably some other stuff.

The point is, it'll be funny, and limit the amount of undead army in play.

[Bohandas]

*The head and torso animate but the legs and arms are still dead

*Smaller legs and arms sprout off of the legs and arms in a fractal pattern

*Too much positive energy. Patient now has cancer.

*Alien hand syndrome

[Fable Wright]

*Alien hand syndrome

An alien hand begins growing out of the corpse's chest? I am okay with this.

Miinstrel, do let us know which of these wind up getting used. And preferably the DN's reactions. I think we're all curious.

[miinstrel]

Will do. First session is tomorrow night but I don't think there will be any raising in this first one. I'll post the filtered by success version of the list at some point too. Feel free to keep throwing ideas out though!

[Bohandas]

Actually, "Alien hand syndrome" means that one arm is no longer under conscious control and instead acts out the patient's subconscious desires

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_hand_syndrome

EDIT:
Though in a fantasy setting it could also simply be posessed, like in Evil Dead 2.

[Fable Wright]

Actually, "Alien hand syndrome" means that one arm is no longer under conscious control and instead acts out the patient's subconscious desires

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_hand_syndrome

EDIT:
Though in a fantasy setting it could also simply be posessed, like in Evil Dead 2.

Well, yes. I was making a joke, as a possessed alien hand growing out of a joint or chest area would also fit the thread.

[Bohandas]

*The subject's petitioner form is summoned or called

*Corpse catches fire

*Subject is revived but every non-supernatural disease or parasite that've ever had is back as well.

[Douche]

Corpse animates, moans brains, and attempts to crack open skulls to eat brains. Upon succes, becomes more intelligent and picks up victim's habits and memories.

Does the effect stack? Can the corpse eat like 50 brains and become ridiculously smart?


Also, I always liked how in some fantasy, casting Speak with Dead or Animate causes the soul to return to the body, suffering infinite pain until it is released again. Like, in this game called Arcanum, you can cast speak with dead and the targets beg you to release them, they'll tell you anything you want because you have torn them from the afterlife and back into a painful existence.

It was fun being a necromancer cuz any time someone pissed you off - making you jump through hoops before they'd tell you what you need to know for the next leg of your journey - you could just kill them and tear the soul from their body, and be all "Hey, *****, if you want this endless torture to end so you can depart to the afterlife, tell me what I want to know. BTW if you had just told me in the first place you'd still be alive"

That's why I don't like Speak with Dead in 5e. It's just, like, "Here's an imitation of the guy you just killed. It has no motive to answer you truthfully, and only speaks cryptically anyway. It doesn't even care about the future so it's not like you can threaten his family or something."

Anyway, tearing people's soul from their body would be awesome. You should add that in:smallbiggrin:

[goto124]

I... have not heard of that kind of torture.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I'm hoping the corpse at some point spontaneously turns into a large green monster with screws in the sides of its neck.

EDIT: And it runs away but later comes back to kill the mad scientist and then set himself on fire of course.

[Flickerdart]

Corpse stands up and assumes exact stance as caster. All of caster's movements are mimicked by corpse as close as possible - the corpse speaks when the caster does, walks as the caster does, etc. Corpse performs no other actions.

A single green shoot grows out of the corpse. If watered (or rained on, whatever) it will become a random type of plant.

The corpse is brought back as normal, but insists that you call it only Edward and not the name it had in life, because you cast "raised ed". Every time it says this, everyone in earshot must make a DC 10 Will save or be compelled to murder it.

The corpse is brought back to life, and ignoring all external stimuli, starts digging with the closest appropriate tool. If the corpse is indoors, it seeks to find soil. If the corpse has no tools, it will dig with its hands. When it has dug a grave-sized hole, it lies down and dies again. If the corpse is not within reach of soil (on a ship, up high in a tower, locked in a dungeon) it remains dormant until it is able to reach soil.

The corpse is brought back as normal, but dies again in a gruesome accident as quickly as possible. Perhaps it trips and falls onto a fence post. Perhaps it is run over. Perhaps an assassin mistakes it for his victim, or someone jumps out of a nearby building to commit suicide and lands on the target, killing them both. As a last resort, Orcus appears and snaps its neck.

The corpse is brought back, but the smell of roasting meat appears around it and begins to intensify. Within 1d6 minutes, the corpse begins smoking. 1d6 rounds later, it bursts into flames, which cannot be put out. The creature dies in 1d4 rounds, and its remains are consumed by the fire.

The corpse animates, but does not respond to stimuli and performs The Robot until dying of exhaustion or thirst.

The corpse begins to smoke. Soon the PCs realize that it's not smoke, but vapor - the body is evaporating. The entire body is consumed in this way (not just the liquid part). Then it starts to rain. Ew.

The ground opens and swallows the body whole, with a belch of flame.

The corpse's eyes open abruptly, bulging and bloodshot. No other change occurs.

The corpse's flesh begins to bloat. Tumorous growths appear on the skin and start growing quickly, stopping only when the body takes up a size category more than before. They begin to rot in 1d4 minutes, exuding a toxic miasma.

The corpse splits open, a new body emerging from it as though a snake or spider when moulting. Effects are similar to reincarnation but more gross.

The corpse screams, and thousands of locusts burst forth from the eyes and mouth. No other change occurs.

[ReaderAt2046]

Corpse is resurrected as raise dead, but random members of the corpse's species all over the world of total HD equal to the corpse's HD instantaneously fall down dead for no obvious reason. The caster is not necessary aware of this.

[miinstrel]

Quick bio of the Dread Necro character: he's a young gnome, in his early 60s. Is working on the thesis for his MD certificate under the guidance of a dwarven doctor at the local asylum/hospital. He's argued for an alignment of LG which I'm fine with (though I don't think he's going to manage better than LN at best... but that's a whole different conversation. I don't worry about alignment too much in my games as morality tends to get pretty grey overall.

Anyway, seems I was wrong... the DN snuck off at the end of the session to make a raise attempt on a corpse he exhumed (which wouldn't work anyway based on Raise Dead's time requirements, but I figure both the player and his character will learn that as things progress). He wound up with both of his forearms fusing with the forearms of the corpse (he still has use of his hands though...). With some significant effort he managed to rip the arms off the corpse and drug them back to the asylum to try and figure out how to remove them.

We ended the session there and I gave him this week to figure out how he wants to handle it. Haven't heard from him yet.

[Fable Wright]

Well, THAT certainly was unexpected. Not quite sure on how he'd remove those... most options I can think of would result in heavy scarring.

Further suggestion for effects:

*Corpse grows a second pair of arms identical to the caster's, fused to its own at the forearms.

[JoeJ]

Caster's physical body is destroyed, leaving their soul bound to an animated suit of armor.

[miinstrel]

Caster's physical body is destroyed, leaving their soul bound to an animated suit of armor.

Doesn't that require a second ritual immediately following the first? Besides, the corpse wasn't his mother ;).

[miinstrel]

Attempt #2 = Body quickly became covered in mushrooms, and moss. He was excited that he created life even if not exactly how he intended.

[eru001]

* Instructions unclear, corpse is now a chicken

* Corpse animates as a zombie but is now on fire

* Corpse is teleported to a random location

* corpse is teleported one mile straight up

* corpse gains velocity of d20 meters/second in a random direction

* corpse reanimates as zombie but won't stop dancing

* corpse reanimates but only accepts instructions in uncommon

* corpse reanimates as mummy

* corpse reanimates and immediately sprints at nearest hostile NPC, enfolds said NPC in Bear hug, then explodes

[Belac93]

Corpse immediately reanimates as raise dead, with a random race, class, and physical ability scores.

Starved dog bursts from the corpse, and them begins eating it. It is not aggressive.

Starved deer bursts from the corpse, and them begins eating it. It is aggressive.

The corpse is reanimated as raise dead, but every non-living thing within 20 feet of it disappears. This includes the ground.

[goto124]

The corpse is reanimated as raise dead, but every non-living thing within 20 feet of it disappears. This includes the ground.

And the clothes of anyone standing withing 20 feet of the corpse.

Where "anyone" includes the mad scientist raising the corpse.

[Bohandas]

*Corpse begins glowing

*Corpse changes color

*Caster sent to patient's afterlife

[Parvum]

Oh hey I was making a list of these for a horror campaign I had to drop. Here's what I got, though most of it applies to the creature being raised rather than the caster.

Things that could happen when people come back:
Comes back alive but inside out
Blocked from returning unless they agree to hand over their body to an outsider briefly at an undisclosed point in the future
Returns with an insatiable hunger for a non food item or raw flesh
Comes back undead
Body comes back, mind is replaced wholly with an outsider
Returns as normal for an hour, then rapidly begins to rot away. Rot spreads to those who touch them
Returns, wildlife reviles and attacks them on sight
Returns, mindless undead follow the player unless ordered to do otherwise. They do not attack or follow instructions from the character, only staring at them. If attacked or physically threatened they scatter and leave.
Same as above, but with oozes.
Carrion eaters surround them every time they wake or dwell in one place too long
Comes back normal
Comes back with a blessing
Comes back with a mission from an outsider- if they fail to perform the mission, their gift of life will be taken away.
Character returns but it wracked with visions of gruesome death in their sleep. On a weekly basis, they sleepwalk themselves into life threatening situations.
Character returns to life pregnant with the life of an outsider. If their race’s anatomy does not allow for childbirth, the creature matures inside them causing increasing pain and fatigue until it either breaks free or is surgically allowed to birth. Otherwise the character’s physiology changes to a member of their race capable of birth (though there is no immediately obvious sign of their pregnancy).
Character returns to life for one minute, then dissolves into a hostile ooze
Character returns to life mindless, following instructions of whoever raised them as a mindless undead would.
Character returns to life, but appears dead to all physical inspection. To outside observers it appears that the body was restored but the soul and mind of the creature was not. Character is paralysed until cured by magic or they die of exposure and neglect.
Vomits a swarm of stinging insects daily.
Body is restored, but character’s soul and mind are not. Character returns as a ghost at the site of their death (not where the resurrection occurred)
Body is restored, but character’s soul and mind are not.
Body is restored but it appears that the character’s mind and soul have not. Over the next hour, the character’s shadow darkens and thickens. If there is no light, a shadow appears underneath them. When an hour has passed, the shadow becomes a new, living shadow and looks for creatures to feed on. An hour after that, the character returns to life. The shadow always knows the location of the character, and loves them as a parent. The shadow has no empathy for other creatures, hurting and stealing to provide for its parent.
Body is restored but it appears that the character’s mind and soul have not. Over the next hour, the character’s shadow darkens and thickens. If there is no light, a shadow appears underneath them. When an hour has passed, the shadow animates with the character’s mind and soul. After one hour the body becomes a mindless zombie under the character’s control.


I tried to go for mostly playable options since this was going to apply to all raising and ressurection, with a bonus on the final chart depending on if they were raised in a holy site, raised before, killed by weird magic, etc...

[DCraw]

Pun Based:
* Braise Dead: I'll leave this to your imagination.
* Praise Dead: For 24 hours, all NPCs will only speak about how awesome the deceased was.
** Praise Ted: The corpse animates, but will only talk about how awesome some guy named Ted is.
* Raise Dread: Everyone within a 1 mile radius experiences crushing anxiety for 1d6 minutes.
* Phase Dead: The corpse becomes insubstantial. Optionally, the corpse also takes on a faint blue glow.
** Phase Dead: The corpse animates, glows blue, then disappears. If the corpse's experience is relevant (such as if they were a PC), from their perspective, everything takes on a slight red (or perhaps blue) tinge but they are unable to interact with anything as they pass right through it. Think Star Trek.
* Raise Dead: The corpse begins to float upwards at a rate of 1 mile per hour. Anyone attempting to hold on will have to specify at what height they let go and take appropriate falling damage. 24 hours later the corpse falls near the caster at terminal velocity.

Serious:
* The corpse animates and stares at the caster. It repeats anything the caster says after a slight delay. This delay grows shorter until it is speaking at the exact same time as the caster, and then begins copying the caster *before* the caster speaks. Once this happens, the caster's soul is transferred to the corpse. Idea adapted from the Dr Who episode Midnight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_%28Doctor_Who%29).
* The corpse animates, but needs to consciously operate each part of their body at an individual level, including their previously automatic functions. They have to actively think about keeping their heart beating, for example, and moving an arm involves willing each specific muscle to expand or contract. They gain the undead template, so forgetting to keep their heart beating won't kill them, but it should still disconcert them - and neglecting this will cause the corpse to rot. Idea taken from Reaper Man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaper_Man) by Terry Pratchett.

[Bohandas]

-The patient revives, but an extra creature drawn from either the patient's afterlife or from the astral plane bursts out through their chest as they revive, dealing extreme damage.

-The corpse rises up and begins to rapidly rotate


Pun Based:
* Braise Dead: I'll leave this to your imagination.
* Praise Dead: For 24 hours, all NPCs will only speak about how awesome the deceased was.
** Praise Ted: The corpse animates, but will only talk about how awesome some guy named Ted is.
* Raise Dread: Everyone within a 1 mile radius experiences crushing anxiety for 1d6 minutes.
* Phase Dead: The corpse becomes insubstantial. Optionally, the corpse also takes on a faint blue glow.
** Phase Dead: The corpse animates, glows blue, then disappears. If the corpse's experience is relevant (such as if they were a PC), from their perspective, everything takes on a slight red (or perhaps blue) tinge but they are unable to interact with anything as they pass right through it. Think Star Trek.
* Raise Dead: The corpse begins to float upwards at a rate of 1 mile per hour. Anyone attempting to hold on will have to specify at what height they let go and take appropriate falling damage. 24 hours later the corpse falls near the caster at terminal velocity.


You forgot: Raze Dead: The corpse is destroyed

[eru001]

Pun Based:
* Braise Dead: I'll leave this to your imagination.
* Praise Dead: For 24 hours, all NPCs will only speak about how awesome the deceased was.
** Praise Ted: The corpse animates, but will only talk about how awesome some guy named Ted is.
* Raise Dread: Everyone within a 1 mile radius experiences crushing anxiety for 1d6 minutes.
* Phase Dead: The corpse becomes insubstantial. Optionally, the corpse also takes on a faint blue glow.
** Phase Dead: The corpse animates, glows blue, then disappears. If the corpse's experience is relevant (such as if they were a PC), from their perspective, everything takes on a slight red (or perhaps blue) tinge but they are unable to interact with anything as they pass right through it. Think Star Trek.
* Raise Dead: The corpse begins to float upwards at a rate of 1 mile per hour. Anyone attempting to hold on will have to specify at what height they let go and take appropriate falling damage. 24 hours later the corpse falls near the caster at terminal velocity.




Also Taze Dead, the corpse is struck with a bolt of lightning
Ray's dead, the corpse now belongs to some dude named Ray
* Ray's dead, a corpse is now the dead body of a person named Ray
Plays Dead, the corpse turns out to have been faking it the whole time
*Play Dead, the corpse reanimates and immediately makes a perform "Broadway Play" check

[Bohandas]

*steam or smoke pours out of the corpse's ears and/or mouth

*corpse shrinks

*corpse enlarges

[Ikitavi]

If you want interesting ideas about the soul:

Perhaps the spirit doesn't return alone, and they are haunted/accompanied by the spirits of...
Their family
Their childhood pet
The spirit(s) of those they have slain

Perhaps they are spiritually awakened, and have a level in Cleric of some hitherto alien or ancient pantheon

Perhaps their memory is affected, and they remember everything from their childhood much more vividly. Or they were Judged, and are moved to atone for some early sin. Perhaps the party defeated some bandits early in their career, and the Raised party member is suddenly concerned that they made no effort to discover who really owned certain possessions, and they are inspired to seek out the victims and make restitution. This is something that works best if the player can get really into it, of course.

Perhaps something got left out, like the character no longer has a reflection or a shadow, or there is an addition to such.

Perhaps the character talks in their sleep, or something else happens to them when they normally sleep. Someone or something borrows their body while their mind sleeps.

If there soul was tapped for energy, perhaps their soul became better at somehow generating that energy. Or sucking energy from others in turn. Perhaps at parties and celebrations, perform rolls are harder because the alteration made them suck emotional energy from the parties and performances.

[goto124]

Perhaps something got left out, like the character no longer has a reflection or a shadow, or there is an addition to such.

"I have no shadow? I'll go become a rogue!"

[Braininthejar2]

* a corpse raises, but is an empty shell (effectively in a coma. Will die in several days, unless some substitute mind can be found, such as casting animate object to make it eat and drink, or getting it possessed)

* a corpse raises, with a soul of a random sleeping person from the surrounding area. The soul's original body is put in a coma

* initially nothing happens. After d6 hours the body raises with the ooze type, shambling around and attacking anyone in sight - it grows in HD by grappling people and fusing their flesh into his.

* The etheral plane (or equivalent for the setting) around the ritual site becomes clearly visible from the prime material for d6 hours.

* the ritual 'pings' etheral or undead creatures in a wide radius, attracting their attention. (the ritual itself might work or not)

* the caster is outlined by a ghostly halo for several minutes. (the ritual might work or not)

* the body raises and seems okay at first, but then starts rotting from the inside, spreading a disgusting contagious disease for a number of hours before succumbing to it itself.

* the caster throws up violently. The contents of his stomach wiggle on the ground for several rounds.

* The corpse raises, then screams loudly as its skin explodes off its body, leaving everyone sprinkled red and the subject trashing for d4 rounds before dying of blood loss and shock.

* The corpse raises, with no level loss... and some of the caster's mannerisms - the caster is drained a level as if he were the one who was raised.

* the ritual fails - instead it creates malicious paranormal phenomena (effectively, a hostile servant horde spell hinders everyone in the area for several minutes)

* the ritual fails - everyone involved suffers d6 electricity damage, leaving them with hair on end and soot-blackened faces.

* the corpse raises and seems okay at first, but then develops a craving for human flesh and increasing sociopathy. (comedic version... being in denial of the act being evil)

[Braininthejar2]

also, I couldn't stop myself from sharing this one...

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/157618/1/rainbownomicon/wherein-rainbow-dash-dies

[Braininthejar2]

* The corpse raises, biologically alive, but with its lifeforce signature reversed - it reacts to positive and negative energy effects as if it were undead.

* The corpse raises, but has its health ruined - instead of being drained a level, it advances to the next age category, with all of the drawbacks and none of the benefits.

* Silent screaming faces push out of the target's flesh for d6 rounds, the ritual fails.

* The energy of the ritual dissipates, healing everyone at the site for 3d6 - excess health becomes temporary hit points that last 30 minutes. The ritual still fails.

* the energy of the ritual dissipates, animating random organic materials ( leather belt, food rations, etc. starting with the least processed) in the area for 3d6 rounds. The ritual fails.

* the energy of the ritual is misapplied, turning the corpse into a hotbed of contagious diseases. the ritual fails.

* the corpse raises, but is scarred with scorch marks from the ritual (arcane sigils or signs of shackles, electrical burns, depending on the exact nature of the ritual)

* the corpse raises, with explosive diahorrea - the excess lifeforce from the ritual saturate the contents of his digestive tract, turning them into a random common ooze 1 minute after they are expelled from the body.

* the ritual fails, the caster uncontrollably spews angry obscenities in the target's voice for d6 rounds.

* the corpse becomes an awakened object - it can speak, but is otherwise still dead, and the personality has no connection to the original soul.

* the corpse raises, but it reeks of negative energy - it cannot hide from undead and attracts their attention in the radius of 10 metres per caster's level. It also feels undead and evil to detection spells.

* the corpse raises, taking d3 incurable drain to mental stats and gaining a half-elemental template - his flesh absorbing whatever it was resting upon when the spell was cast

* the ritual fails and the energy dissipates - the body is still dead, but its clothes become a raggomoffin, initially indifferent to the caster.

[Bohandas]

-Foreboding thunderclap

-Target appears unrevived but comes back to life 2d% minutes later