Clerics and the Raise Dead spell...

[GRWelsh]

I was thinking about the long term events of my current campaign, and something I keep coming back to is that when a cleric gets 225,001 XP or more he becomes a 9th level high priest with the ability to cast the spell raise dead. This is, of course, a boon to the party and is probably well earned from the vantage of point of high level adventurers. Players who have spent years working up characters are facing severe challenges for fabulous treasures, and it can't be avoided that such epic risks at times involve death... When fighting giants, dragons, demons, devils and the other great monsters of the game, that can and should happen occasionally. So, in terms of game balance, it is fair for such accomplished heroic personages to have a counter, even if it is not a sure thing like a wish. The raise dead spell is a great card to have up their sleeves. And they probably deserve to have that card, as heroes of the realm. They should have a chance to not forever lose their hard won and experienced character simply due to a bad die roll or unlucky encounter! Yet, in campaign terms, this should have a major impact that goes beyond mere adventuring. Being able to raise the dead is the sort of thing that turns men and women into saints, or central religious figures. Once it gets out that a cleric can raise the dead, this goes far beyond the lesser boons of curing wounds or diseases, warding off evil and removing curses... It would make the cleric a focal point in the campaign world, if it gets out that he can raise the dead. Simply charging for casting the spell as per the DMG isn't feasible for the good aligned cleric, either... Is he going to turn his back on the peasant who brings the broken body of his child in the hopes of having her raised, simply because the poor fellow can offer only a goat or a few copper pennies? Of course not! The good high priest will receive a never ending train of supplicants and pilgrims to his temple...

So... How to handle this?

[geneweigel]

Gary addresses it somewhat in Gary Gygax’s Living Fantasy (2003)

Health Care: Who gets it?
Even the simplest clerics can cure the problems ailing most of the common folk. However, as there are more people than clergy, there are limits to what can be done, and social class determines access to such services. Even the most altruistic religions know their limits. All the world’s problems can’t be cured—even today people suffer.
Aristocrats can expect the highest priority of treatment. They both are the “important” folk of society, and they have the most wealth, so they can contribute donations or tithes for the ecclesiastical organizations; also they might outrank the priests’ roles in society and thus can order the tasks done. Aristocrats will probably be the only people who can get access and afford to be raised from the dead, have body parts regenerated, severe curses lifted, etc. Wizards and others may also help with more optional desires that would qualify as “health care,” such as dental care orcosmetic alterations to remove scarring or make one more beautiful, and would assist in lengthening the span of life.
The middle class can expect to have access to services based on their ability to donate or their needs. They would likely be able to afford access to minor cures, disease removal, etc, but many would not be able to afford services like Regeneration, Resurrection, or Restoration. The most affluent of this class will also take advantage of wizardly services mentioned above.
The lower classes will usually be dependent on the cures they can afford based on whatever standard tithes they give to their local place of worship, as well as the altruism of the community. The tithes paid by the middle and upper classes help support the charity done to the lower classes. Because most of the population belongs to this tier, however, there will likely be more demand than supply, so the clergy will prioritize by the following factors:
Is the person in general supportive of the religion, pantheon, deity, sect, dogma, or alignment? Does the injury in question prevent the person from doing his or her normal duties, or can the victim go on without it? Was a great injustice done—was the person a victim of a vicious attack or evil spellcasters or creatures? Will it affect the needs of many (for instance, curing disease is a priority because it could spread to many people)?
In any case, restoring such elements as brain damage, lost organs or limbs, or life will not usually be available. One would have to make a pilgrimage to a great temple and hope that they could be healed, or else hope that a high level cleric would travel to their location on a visit. Great acts of charity like this are rare.
Table 2:31
Healthcare, Magical
Cost/Class*
Spell Brd Clr Drd Pal Rgr Availability
Cure Minor Wounds – 5gp 5gp – – 1,2,3,4,5,6
Cure Light Wounds 30gp 10gp 10gp 60gp 200gp 1,2,3,4,5,6
Cure Moderate Wounds 100gp 60gp 150gp 360gp 360gp 2,3,4,5,6
Cure Serious Wounds 240gp 150gp 280gp 600gp 600gp 4,5,6
Cure Critical Wounds 440gp 280gp 450gp – – 4,5,6
Heal – 660gp 910gp – – 5,6
Remove Blindness / – 150gp – 360gp – 4,5,6
Deafness
Remove Disease 240gp 150gp 150gp – 360gp 4,5,6
Lesser Restoration – 60gp 60gp – – 2,3,4,5,6
Restoration – 280gp – – – 4,5,6
Greater Restoration – 3410gp– – – 5,6
Regenerate – 910gp – – – 5,6
Resurrection – 1410gp– – – 6
Delay Poison 100gp 60gp 60gp 200gp 60gp 2,3,4,5,6
Neutralize poison 440gp 280gp 150gp 600gp 360gp 4,5,6
Purify Food and Drink – 5gp 5gp – – 1,2,3,4,5,6
1-Hamlet, 2-Thorpe, 3-Village, 4-Manorial Village, 5-Town, 6-City
* These are the minimum costs for these services. The cost for additional levels of experience, other components or higher costs due to location are not taken into consideration. The monetary values may also represent services the characters may perform for payment, at the DM’s discretion.

The underclasses—bondsmen, cotters, serfs, slaves, etc, are treated as lower-class. However, their lords and masters may have influence on the care given. A well-loved slave who died in an accident might be raised by her master, or a popular and kind serf whose daughter was struck blind might be cured based on community support and their local lord’s desire to keep the populace happy.
The criminal classes will likely be treated as the lower classes, of course—though their contributions based on wealth they’ve acquired will make the difference. A beggar depends on charity, while the cat burglar can usually pay for services. As individual deities can span all alignments and spheres of influence, it is probable that they will be a few deities who are more likely to help rogues and other criminals as part of their dogma.
Note too that healing may not be exclusively the province of the cleric, druid, or paladin. Adepts—wise people who know folklore, and those with skills in herbalism or alchemy— might also be able to help with minor cures similar to the ones that low-level clerics would have access to. This will depend on your campaign.
In short, while the general population of the Gygaxian fantasy world will have it better than that of the true Middle Ages/Renaissance, and especially in regards the D20 system, there will still be cripples, people with eye patches, people with bad teeth, scars, and lost limbs. (Although most will not be found in the gentry or aristocracy.)

[GRWelsh]

Thanks for posting that, Gene. Here, I think EGG is just reiterating and expanding on what he wrote in the DMG. In the Gygaxian fantasy world (including AD&D/Greyhawk) the clerics and other spell casters have a "pay for fee" system. That has been a part of the game for a long time: "We go to the temple to get our friend raised... We have enough money to do it!" is commonly said in D&D games. Practically speaking it is one of the ways to get wealthy PCs to part with some of their money. But to me, this has always seemed off, except for perhaps a priesthood for a god like Zilchus. This sort of thing rubs my players the wrong way when it is a good cleric and I can see where they are coming from. It seems very exclusive and businesslike. I have a player -- Eric -- who notoriously refuses to pay higher level characters for any sort of service. He has a staff of striking that he refuses to pay to have recharged, even though he can afford it. Yet, he gives freely to the beggars and poor of the countryside, and gives more than the customary tithe to his temple. He's given away thousands of gold pieces to charity yet won't pay for an identify spell. He seems to think that good aligned NPCs with the power to help others should do so without expecting something in return, and I can understand where he is coming from.

[geneweigel]

Taylor is like that but in random spurts then he turns into an accountant with 17 alchemists on standby...

The quote is on pages 99-101 of that Gary book.

Speaking of quote brain freeze. I keep getting that mixed up with the Dragonsfoot Lejendary Adventure articles on clerics day-to-day that he did. It is like clockwork every year.

Here is the link to those LA articles on Dragonsfoot in case you're interested:

www.dragonsfoot.org/la/articles/ecc_concerns.shtml

www.dragonsfoot.org/la/articles/religion2.shtml