Death, necromancy and resurrection

[Badmojo]

First, Reading one of the KS post, it seems necromancy is in the game. YES!

 

Ok, so necromancy is in. I am really glad, I hope it is really cool and unique. With that said, it was also mentioned that there was no resurrection magic. I really do not have a problem with that, however I do think they are missing a golden opportunity to have it, but in a unique way that makes it forbidden in every kingdom.

 

I have been a fan of full metal alchemist rule of "to gain something, you have to give something of equal value" for its alchemy magic system. For bringing someone back, it should be the same. This is something no (good) priest can do, only a very few high level necromancers who keep this secret to themselves. Even those who know are very reluctant to do this, because to bring someone back to life would require a sacrifice of someone of the same level as the dead character. However, even if they pay the price, there is always a negative affect that follows the resurrected person back. Sometimes they come back...wrong, others its an outside affect. Those who try to bring someone back without the sacrifice still end up paying. Somewhere, someone the character knows will die randomly, the persons eyes burn out of their body, their flesh turns mummified, and the image of the resurrected is branded on the body so those who know about the ritual, will know who is responsible and the families/friends will come looking for the person)

 

Examples

- the character comes back as an undead being (zombie, ghoul, vampire...etc)

- The character comes back, but not alone, someone the character killed earlier comes back as well (perhaps as a monster)

- the character comes back, however, any time the character stops too long at a place, zombies/skeletons/undead start to appear

- the character has something unearthly about them and gets negatives to conversations with the living, but bonuses for those with the dead.

- etc.

 

Like I said, its not a big deal, but I thought Resurrection could be in, but made interesting and this gives a lot of seed stories in the game.

[mokona]

Sounds like an interesting storyline for an opponent of the PC.

[YourVoiceisAmbrosia]

Well what makes resurrection complicated in PE is that there is a natural cycle when it comes to souls, sort of like reincarnation. I'm guessing what happens is once someone dies, their soul leaves their body and occupies new life. However, to resurrect someone perfectly, as in not undead, you'd basically have to drag the soul back and place it back into the person you are resurrecting, either killing the new potential life that was supposed to have the soul or turning it into undead. So yeah, I'm guessing there probably is a "sacrifice life to bring it back" sort of deal, although I don't know if that's exactly how souls work.

Edited October 21, 2012 by YourVoiceisAmbrosia

[nikolokolus]

resurrection/raise dead as a dark necromantic ritual would certainly be a new take on an old standby in D&D games ... hmmm ... I kind of dig it. The negatives would need to be pretty strong: reaction modifiers with "normal" folks should be strongly negative with respect to the unnatural aura that your character emanates, perhaps the body doesn't heal as well or properly anymore? It would be interesting.

[CommissarMega]

Or perhaps you have to hunt down the new life the soul was supposed to replace and kill that instead? It would certainly not help a necromancer's reputation if his work involved killing off pregnant women or destroying entire families to be sure.

[YourVoiceisAmbrosia]

Actually, if that's how souls work that brings up some questions. Wouldn't that basically mean that global population growth is stagnant? For new life to successfully be born, someone needs to die so the soul can pass to it. Unless souls can somehow be created and/or destroyed? Or unless souls can also include plants or animals?

 

Maybe there's a massive pool of souls stored in the underworld or something, and every time someone dies, the soul is added to that pool, whereas every time someone is born, a soul is picked at random from the pool, or with divine intervention, and is sent to the new life. Then the complication, I suppose, would be being able to find and retrieve the soul from the underworld and bring it back to the original body.

Edited October 21, 2012 by YourVoiceisAmbrosia

[.Leif.]

I believe it was semi-confirmed during the final livecast that high-level mages could become necromancers or liches. I don't know if I want the Full-metal treatment of resurrection though.

[Badmojo]

resurrection/raise dead as a dark necromantic ritual would certainly be a new take on an old standby in D&D games ... hmmm ... I kind of dig it. The negatives would need to be pretty strong: reaction modifiers with "normal" folks should be strongly negative with respect to the unnatural aura that your character emanates, perhaps the body doesn't heal as well or properly anymore? It would be interesting.

 

Another negative I thought about relating to the don't heal normally. Perhaps they cannot heal normally, but they can suck out the life from others to heal their wounds, however like rouge in X-MEN it is always on. Great for combat use, but the person can never touch anybody without special protection clothing. Think of this or other negative affects that would do to a persons mind. They would probably hate their "savior" and might seek revenge to those who made him/her this way.

 

Or perhaps you have to hunt down the new life the soul was supposed to replace and kill that instead? It would certainly not help a necromancer's reputation if his work involved killing off pregnant women or destroying entire families to be sure.

 

Actually that would be pretty cool, recent dead souls are not a problem, but perhaps older souls have to be tracked to their new bodies and the new host has to be part of the Resurrection ritual. Heh, having someone chase you or one of your companions down to bring back an ancient hero/villian would be cool. Or perhaps to defeat the (insert situation), you need the knowledge/fighting skills of (insert person here), however that persons soul is in the body of a simple child/mother/father..etc. Do you kill that person to bring back the person you need?

 

Actually, if that's how souls work that brings up some questions. Wouldn't that basically mean that global population growth is stagnant? For new life to successfully be born, someone needs to die so the soul can pass to it. Unless souls can somehow be created and/or destroyed? Or unless souls can also include plants or animals?

 

Maybe there's a massive pool of souls stored in the underworld or something, and every time someone dies, the soul is added to that pool, whereas every time someone is born, a soul is picked at random from the pool, or with divine intervention, and is sent to the new life. Then the complication, I suppose, would be being able to find and retrieve the soul from the underworld and bring it back to the original body.

 

Souls are a bit of a mystery according to the devs, so maybe new souls are made, there is also souls that fracture, perhaps they divide like cells after a while, with the two halfs evolving in different ways.

[Christliar]

if you CAN be a lich and a hero, that will present many interesting character arcs and story twists. I want necromancy done right though, not the D&D model of 1 skeleton/zombie/mummy/vampire at a time which goes against the whole idea in the first place.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Christliar

[Giantevilhead]

Considering the rarity of healing magic, I'd imagine necromancy would be far more accepted in certain areas since it's much safer to use zombies or skeletons to in wars or for dangerous jobs like mining.

[Badmojo]

The main problem I have had with necromancy in most games is how limited it seemed to be. Bringing a few mindless skeletons, zombies, etc gets pretty old quick. At master level I should be able to raise a small army, yet its always just a couple who maybe are a bit stronger. Then I have not seen a zombie apocalypse like spell, an area affect where when an enemy dies near you, they automatically come back as a zombie to fight along side you until the spell ends. I know its because of the balance issue, but come on, that would be freaking awesome spell. Not to mentions it should be the peak of your ability.

 

 

One other necromancy power I really want to see is bringing back someone/something as as an undead thrall. With their abilities/intellect/skills intact, but bound to serve you. I am shocked that skyrim is the closest game to do this. Perhaps you can capture the soul (limited soul storage slots) and you can summon their remains (or use another near by body as a containter that changes to the souls host body) anytime and combine the soul/body to serve you until you release the soul.

 

Anybody read/watch naturo? I actually liked the edo tensei which creates this super undead thralls with the reanimated thralls having all their abilities/skills/intelect/personality intecat, but bound to serve the summoner. the ritual is nice, It requires a human sacrifice to perform. Something similar would be interesting.