Godless characters and Death?

[greypawn]

I've been playing a cleric of Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead... and this is how I've been explaining death. When you die, you are brought to you deity. Your deity then decides if you have been faithful or not. If they decide you have been faithful to their cause then they may let you stay with them on their plane. If they decide you have not been faithful they then send you to Kelemvor. Kelemvor then judges your life time deeds and decides where to send your soul. So a character without a deity would go straight to Kelemvor for their final judgement. Playing an atheist seems pretty funny to me since we are playing in a fantasy world where the gods have been proven real. It would be like playing a character who didn't believe in dwarfs and elves.

[greypawn]

Although thats my characters view on perma death... being brought back from the dead? You don't actually ever meet your deity. Your soul becomes lost as such an unnatural death would have violently thrust your soul from your body (which can be quite the painful explaining any xp loss). A highly skilled cleric, such as the abbot, would be able to locate your soul and bind it back into your body. Longer your body is left, more lost your soul becomes... having no body would make it extremely difficult (if not near impossible) to bring you back in a natural (not damned nor undead) way. I once told somebody IG that it depends on how you define death.. our souls are still here. Its more of an near death experience. We just need to get back to our bodies.

I don't like dismissing deaths because it seems to dismiss the use and one of the main reasons to seek out a cleric. Although I'm totally cool rolling with anybody who just wants to play it off as an injury. Just figured I'd give my input.

[Silas North]

Actually, I don't think it hurts the need for clerics at all. Clerics are still in many ways like doctors. If someone is badly hurt, it is to the clerics they turn to. An adventure goes awry, a cleric can fix those mean cuts and scrapes. It can easily be played out that a person is GOING to die if they do not get the treatment that only really a cleric can provide. True, this can get a little old too, but still better than the alternative.

[Kaeldorn]

As far as the need for healers is concerned.. I always found the free, complete healing while resting (and unlimited resting) in a 'rest area' to be a bit on the easy side. Now, I understand that most if not all of the encounters in the mod are balanced towards that so it's unlikely to change ever, but in vanilla D&D those healing magics are what keeps people alive during those rest times inbetween combats. And it makes those wounds that are inflicted on you that much more meaningful.

Anyways, I think I'm starting to derail now

What's the general concensus of DM's on the meaning of signi? Is there anything religious tied to them?

[Silas North]

I agree with you Kael lol. Rest *poof* healed IS a little on the easy side, but in the end, it is better to have it than not. Besides, many still play off as their injuries needing to be tended to as they rest or that their resting does not help them FULLY recover, but at least helps them get to the point where they are at least useful again.

I would imagine there's probably a lot of cool ideas to implement rest areas better, but they are all ridiculously complex from a programmer standpoint. You tell me if this is true Kael. I'm about as computer-literate as a monkey with his hands removed.