In a very understanding tone, :)

It's gotta be hard to coordinate all the info for the DM staff. I assume they have a forum, and all kinds of herculean efforts are made to try to stay up on things - but I imagine it's a vast sum of knowledge.

That said, I have some suggestions that will clear up any confusion about PvP and permadeath situations.

I had thought that PvP when you got fugued meant it was or should be perma. I also understand that sometimes it's up to the player when it's possible for other characters to raise/rez the deceased if it's RPed appropriately.

But I had a situation occur where it was unclear, and I spent nearly two hours in fugue, as well as several PMs exchanged to coordinate a raising when it was not possible.

Mebbe the DMs watching PvP or a character death during a DM present activity can immediately inform the player that it is perma or they are still raisable/respawnable? And let the Rockers of Socks know they might have some special ending ready to go? Maybe the latter already occurs, but the former would be a nice courtesy.

And for that matter, perhaps a Perma thread on the DM forum so that other DMs will know that a character is perma if it is unclear, or if a character is brought back and shouldn't be?

I didn't mind sitting in Fugue all that much as I was watching my Cavs piss away Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Championships, but maybe this would avoid such things in the future?

Always trying to help. :P

You should never, ever come back from PvP unless your corpse has been legitimately recovered by friends who wish to raise you. This is the only excepetion. Even then, if the corpse has been horribly mutiliated (incinerated, head chopped off etc.) it will probably be beyond the skills of any cleric, PC or otherwise.

This has been stated a million times!

I do recall that when the corpse has been incinerated that a resurrection could bring it back. Is this not the case? Or is this only the case with missing limbs, and not with incineration? Regardless, I still think it's a gray zone which I haven't seen answered a thousand times, or at least I've seen answered several different ways.

According to their original spell descriptions in the d20srd:

Raise Dead You can raise a creature that has been dead for no longer than one day per caster level.

While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life.

A creature who has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect can’t be raised by this spell.

Resurrection The creature can have been dead no longer than 10 years per caster level.

The condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of the creature’s body still exists, it can be resurrected, but the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature’s body at the time of death. (The remains of a creature hit by a disintegrate spell count as a small portion of its body.)

You can resurrect someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed.

So, I would disagree with Caddies in theory, although it is of course up to DM policy.

I would say NEVER respawn through the servant of Kelemvor after PvP.

Raise dead or Resurrection are legitimate when your friends have recovered your corpse - even if your body has been mutilated (which would require Resurrection).

EDIT: By the way - the 9th level spell "True Resurrection" you don't even need any parts the body... but it is meant to require 25,000 gold worth of diamonds.

My point was that if a DM or a nearby player doesn't tell you that your character is incinerated or horribly mutilated, you won't know and will sit around in the fugue doing nothing.

It seems odd to send a Tell to the player that killed you, "Are you destroying my corpse? Because if you don't, then the PCs that are hiding behind the building can get the body and raise me."

But if that's the way the DM staff prefers it due to not being able to watch every PvP, then we'll know.

Thanks.

In your instance, you logged out before anything was finalized, and your body disappeared. Also, you were informed at the time of the incident that is was being destroyed, so I'm not sure what you're playing at.

In a broader sense, if as a player you're unsure about what happened to your corpse, asking the DM overseeing is probably the easiest way to find out, but you can feel free to ask the person that killed you as well.

And, as noted, Raise dead works on whole bodies, and Ressurection on body parts (thumb, head, leg, etc).

I'm not sure how long I was in fugue, but it was a pretty significant amount of time. This isn't about my situation in particluar, but it made me think about it.

It seems the solution is for the player of a characer that dies in PvP or a DM event to send Tells to the online DMs asking them whether it is perma, or if they should wait around in fugue for possible rez or a Happy Ending.

Yar?

At least then they can respond, "Hold on, it's not resolved yet."

Maybe I'm master of the obvious here? Just making sure. Thanks Caddies, Metro, DM staff for your patience with silly questions like this. There's one in every class. :roll:

It seems odd to send a Tell to the player that killed you, "Are you destroying my corpse? Because if you don't, then the PCs that are hiding behind the building can get the body and raise me."

I've done that before, actually... I ended up staying online in the fugue for four or so hours as people searched for my body - for any part of my body - to resurrect.

It's a shame the druid spell 'reincarnation' isn't in NWN. The effects can be quite devastating

I assume you are referring to me <FOIG> ing you, well, I did incinerate, mutilate, remove arms, fingers and toes, spread them throughout the lower tunnels.....I just did not wanna disturb the dms with morbid figments of a my almost insane imagination. So yes, I do assume <FOIG> Killed you beyond all belief. Suffice to say, I don't even think Ressurection could of saved ya.

Just for future reference- if you do behead, immolate, dismember etc. a body of a PC, its best to let DMs know when you're doing it. Or, in the case that none are online, let one of us know in IRC so its their for posterity when issues of raising pop up.

What I still gather from this is that (in PnP) resurrection will work as long as some part of the body is still available.

Now, I don't know if this is desirable to the DM team and I can certainly see wanting to make a death more permanent, but I don't know where the line is when a body cannot be brought back. Should this just be on a case by case basis?

Its my view that if any character makes an effort to destroy or hide the corpse, it should be respected. I -think- this is the view of the DM team on the whole, too!

Thanks, I understand now. Hopefully this clarifies this in a few others' minds now as well.

Simple. Check with DMs if player getting fugued in PvP or DM quests is raisable or not. Got it.

Personally I'd like for PvP combat to not be perma unless steps are taken to prevent it. It's a significant punishment in both gold and XP, and you get to continue the rivalry with the corresponding conflict that goes with it.

What would be pretty cool would be if characters got a -1 CON hit for each raising/rez like in the old days of PnP. Has this gone by the wayside? It's been over 20 years since I PnPed, so I'm not sure.

The above hold true for Raise dead and Ressurection. Only a True Ressurection spell can save yer arse if there's no body to be had. And there isn't a priest of capable level of doing so that I'm aware of >_>

But if there's a body remaining, but it's been disfigured/mutilated/what have you, it isn't acceptable to bring it to a priest to perform a resurrection?

That is fine, so long as a DM signs off on it first, in order to make sure that there is indeed something left.

Metro_Pack That is fine, so long as a DM signs off on it first, in order to make sure that there is indeed something left.

Tip for anyone who wants to PvP someone and never have them come back: eat their remains!!

GO HALF ORCS! GO GOBLINS!...and kobolds