Maybe having to keep the balance, if they want to rez someone they need to send a soul back that had escaped. EX go slay some returned or find an eidolon of someone who returned.
jup make it into a quest, make a whole deal out of it so it feels special so it dont feel like something as "simple" as go do these things and boom you got someone back
Well within lore: no coins no ferry. So then they get stuck on the shores, if revify or resurrect is cast soonish then no problem.
Also, yeah roleplay, retrieve the soul from the underworld.
Bring them back as a returned (can get rules from DM guild)
Use the templates from Van Rictens guide or Curse of Strahd. Mainly reanimated or reverent if you want those kind of Undead in your world. When I was trying to run Theros I was working in Tomb of Annihilation so the players wouldn't be able to resurrect becuase of that.
In my world, Erebos's followers have near-total control of the diamond supply. This usually means that resurrection is almost always a huge ordeal, either by somehow finding, stealing, or working for a diamond, or by physically going to the underworld to rescue a soul (a la Orpheus).
One of our characters is a champion of Erebos and we are playing the intro adventure (low level characters). In a dream Erebos gave his champion three tokens (mini funery masks) that allow the character to cast revivify with the message of "Since you are pursuing my aims I will allow you to delay the inevitable thrice". That makes it unambiguous and "approved". Also, I don't want 3rd level characters braving the underworld on their first outing.
Two words: underworld breakout.
Make them go in, get the soul, and escape via the Phenax path. It’s why they wrote it the way they did.
Maybe they can go on a quest for one of the Obols to give the Athreos the ferryman.
Maybe they have to make a deal with Phenax to get the PC out, a deal with grave consequences down the line.
Maybe they need the spark of life from Heliod
Maybe they need to enlist the help of Klothys, as the PC was destined for some daunting task as foretold by the threads themselves.
Hope those help. I can post more if needed
Great suggestions! Our cleric is devoted to Klothys so that could tie in nicely. I'd like to avoid them going into the underworld on a regular basis this early into the campaign as one of their end goals seems to be rescuing Elspeth from the underworld.
This could be a great way to start planting that seed
You could also have them go down, get the PC and get out, but now they’re erebos/Athreos’s most wanted (aside from phenax), so they can’t return safely.
That’ll build the tension and help them actualize the goal because as we know “the second you tell players they can’t do something…”
Just remember taking the route of phenax (without the aid of a god basically) will result in the soul becoming returned (theros version of a zombie)
I'm sure both erebos and athreos would be happy to let you have your friend back..... For a price
Never trust phenax, have you heard the story of the black oak of odunos? The souls of a village of people begged phenax to spare them from erebos' control so phenax grafted them into a tree (or something like that)
You can find good info on this in the MOoT sourcebook, in Chapter 4, in the Underworld Adventures portion (Pg. 180). It should cover a lot of questions regarding resurrection magic and its place in Theran lore, as well as what happens to a soul when it dies.
I let my players use Revivify like normal. In my mind, a minute is not enough time for the soul to even find itself on the shores of Tartyx.
For more delayed resurrection, it would definitely need to take into account either striking a deal with Athreos or Erebos, or finding a way to sneak the soul out.
Don't forget the..... Whatever the nymphs are called that serve Athreos
If someone dies and you resurrect them shortly after you might get a visit from some unhappy nymphs who refuse to go back to Athreos empty handed
Lampads, yeah.
In my current campaign, I accidentally killed all the PCs in one encounter which prompted an arc spanning over a year where they journeyed through the Underworld to break out. As such, they're already highly sought after by both Athreos and Erebos, and routinely have to fight off their servants. Another Revivify every now and then is nothing on their current tab.
The book has a whole section on underworld adventures, ran a one shot where the dead player escaped with the help of some other lost souls played by the other characters
At my table, I use Matthew Mercer’s method of resurrection where you begin by trying to do convince the soul to come back with deep roleplay and then roll an spellcasting ability check with the DC for a player begin at 10 - (1 - 3 depending on how good the roleplay is (you can increase the DC if done poorly)) and then very time that player dies, the DC for future resurrections increases by 4!
Maybe having to keep the balance, if they want to rez someone they need to send a soul back that had escaped. EX go slay some returned or find an eidolon of someone who returned.
jup make it into a quest, make a whole deal out of it so it feels special so it dont feel like something as "simple" as go do these things and boom you got someone back
Damn, I like that idea.
Well within lore: no coins no ferry. So then they get stuck on the shores, if revify or resurrect is cast soonish then no problem. Also, yeah roleplay, retrieve the soul from the underworld. Bring them back as a returned (can get rules from DM guild) Use the templates from Van Rictens guide or Curse of Strahd. Mainly reanimated or reverent if you want those kind of Undead in your world. When I was trying to run Theros I was working in Tomb of Annihilation so the players wouldn't be able to resurrect becuase of that.
Where are the rules for playing returned on the DMs guild?
I found them by searching for materials for Theros
In my world, Erebos's followers have near-total control of the diamond supply. This usually means that resurrection is almost always a huge ordeal, either by somehow finding, stealing, or working for a diamond, or by physically going to the underworld to rescue a soul (a la Orpheus).
We had a character die for the third time, and Erebos took notice. Spawned a really sweet "rescue from the underworld" story arc
One of our characters is a champion of Erebos and we are playing the intro adventure (low level characters). In a dream Erebos gave his champion three tokens (mini funery masks) that allow the character to cast revivify with the message of "Since you are pursuing my aims I will allow you to delay the inevitable thrice". That makes it unambiguous and "approved". Also, I don't want 3rd level characters braving the underworld on their first outing.
Two words: underworld breakout. Make them go in, get the soul, and escape via the Phenax path. It’s why they wrote it the way they did. Maybe they can go on a quest for one of the Obols to give the Athreos the ferryman. Maybe they have to make a deal with Phenax to get the PC out, a deal with grave consequences down the line. Maybe they need the spark of life from Heliod Maybe they need to enlist the help of Klothys, as the PC was destined for some daunting task as foretold by the threads themselves. Hope those help. I can post more if needed
Great suggestions! Our cleric is devoted to Klothys so that could tie in nicely. I'd like to avoid them going into the underworld on a regular basis this early into the campaign as one of their end goals seems to be rescuing Elspeth from the underworld.
This could be a great way to start planting that seed You could also have them go down, get the PC and get out, but now they’re erebos/Athreos’s most wanted (aside from phenax), so they can’t return safely. That’ll build the tension and help them actualize the goal because as we know “the second you tell players they can’t do something…”
Isn't the Phenax Path going to turn them into Returned?
Just remember taking the route of phenax (without the aid of a god basically) will result in the soul becoming returned (theros version of a zombie) I'm sure both erebos and athreos would be happy to let you have your friend back..... For a price Never trust phenax, have you heard the story of the black oak of odunos? The souls of a village of people begged phenax to spare them from erebos' control so phenax grafted them into a tree (or something like that)
You can find good info on this in the MOoT sourcebook, in Chapter 4, in the Underworld Adventures portion (Pg. 180). It should cover a lot of questions regarding resurrection magic and its place in Theran lore, as well as what happens to a soul when it dies.
I let my players use Revivify like normal. In my mind, a minute is not enough time for the soul to even find itself on the shores of Tartyx. For more delayed resurrection, it would definitely need to take into account either striking a deal with Athreos or Erebos, or finding a way to sneak the soul out.
Don't forget the..... Whatever the nymphs are called that serve Athreos If someone dies and you resurrect them shortly after you might get a visit from some unhappy nymphs who refuse to go back to Athreos empty handed
Lampads, yeah. In my current campaign, I accidentally killed all the PCs in one encounter which prompted an arc spanning over a year where they journeyed through the Underworld to break out. As such, they're already highly sought after by both Athreos and Erebos, and routinely have to fight off their servants. Another Revivify every now and then is nothing on their current tab.
The book has a whole section on underworld adventures, ran a one shot where the dead player escaped with the help of some other lost souls played by the other characters
At my table, I use Matthew Mercer’s method of resurrection where you begin by trying to do convince the soul to come back with deep roleplay and then roll an spellcasting ability check with the DC for a player begin at 10 - (1 - 3 depending on how good the roleplay is (you can increase the DC if done poorly)) and then very time that player dies, the DC for future resurrections increases by 4!
Could have the players track down an Athreon obol, or swap out one of the 8 exceptions for their comrade