Death! And what characters experience...

[GRWelsh]

In the DMG, characters get an XP bonus for dying, once they are brought back. What do they experience? What can they tell of their death experience?

I had some vague ideas based upon the timelines given in the raise dead and resurrection spells. There seem to be limits on how long one can be dead and brought back at different magic levels: with raise dead it is measured in days, with resurrection in years, and with wish unlimited (?). I was thinking that if a character is brought back to life right away -- less than a day -- all they may remember is viewing their dead body as if from above, and seeing the action going on around them as if from a distance, with it getting increasingly dim and foggy, as if they are fading away. If they are brought back after a longer duration, they may recall wandering around as if in a fog, seeing shades and dim shapes but feeling lost (i.e. still close to the Prime Material plane but in the Ethereal plane at that point). If even longer, they may recall hearing music or sounds and emerging from the fog to see an vast space with distant lights and objects their minds couldn't grasp (i.e. transition from Ethereal to Astral plane). If longer than a week, they felt guided by a presence to a distant light, and felt pulled to it. As they got closer, the light became like a gate, and they could see through it to some other place or realm of existence (i.e. near the Astral gate of the Outer Plane their soul is fated to go based on their alignment). If more than a month, they entered the gate into that other realm and interacted with people they knew that had died, and perhaps interacted with their deity. Those who are raised or resurrected must make a resurrection survival check. Those who fail feel like they chose to stay in the afterlife... Or feel they don't have the strength or will to go back to the mortal plane. People brought back after decades or over a hundred years feel out of place and time, but may accept being brought back to fight one last battle, correct something they couldn't do in life, or fulfill the will of their deity.

[geneweigel]

DEITIES AND DEMIGODS pages 10-11 on "Mortality and Immortality" and the other route "Divine Ascension":

MORTALiTY AND IMMORTALITY
AD&D assumes that the anima, that force which gives life and distinct existence to thinking beings, is one of two sorts: soul or spirit. Humans, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and half-elves (those beings which can have a raise dead or resurrection spell cost upon them) all have souls; all other beings that worship deities have spirits. This latter group includes (but is not limited to) elves, orcs, half-orcs, and the other creatures specifically mentioned in the NON HUMANS' DEITIES section of this work. The DM may decide on a case-by-case basis whether other creatures have spirits and worship deities; the only parameter is that monsters with spirits must have at least on intelligence rating of Low. Please note that the follOwing system is only a suggested one. Individual Dungeon Masters should use a different system if they find this one unsuitable. When a being from the Prime Material Plane dies, its soul or spirit goes to one of the Outer Planes. (See THE KNOWN PLANES OF EXISTENCE section.) Selecting which plane the soul or spirit goes to is the province of the DM, based upon the alignment behavior of the creature during its mortal life. If a human cleric died professing to be lawful good, he or she might expect to go to one of the Seven Heavens. The DM might judge some of the cleric's acts as more neutral than lawful, and decide that a more appropriate plane would be Elysium. If a being has been faithful to the teachings and tenets of its deity, however, it is likely that the soul or spirit will pass into the plane where the deity resides. Moreover, the soul or spirit will go to that port of the plane most strongly influenced by that deity; for each plane is infinite, and most planes have more than one deity residing there (Olympus, Asgard, etc.). Another difference between souls and spirits lies in what happens to them when they arrive at their destination. For souls, it is the beginning of eternity; it is on this plane that the soul will remain forever, enjoying the benefits or suffering the torments thereof. Spirits, on the other hand, may be but temporary residents of the plane. Their rewards and punishments are less than that received by souls. At some time in the future, at the will of the deity, the spirit can be returned to the Prime Material Plane - reincarnated. The new creature will not have any sort of overt memories of its former life, nor will its new form necessarily be the some as its old. If on elf becomes evil during his or her life, his or her spirit would go to one of the evil planes at death. The ruler of that plane might, a century later, decide to send the being bock as a Draw, for example; this Draw would have the some sort of good-evil choices during life as the elf hod (albeit from a different viewpoint), and conceivably could go to yet another plane upon death if he or she did not remain evil and loyal to the master of that place. The amount of time that a spirit must spend in a plane before returning to the Prime Material Plane is extremely variable. It could range from as little as ten years to a millenium or more - time is not important to a deity. (Note: The above is only a suggested method for dealing with character life-after-death. The DM may, of course, use whatever system is most appropriate to his or her campaign.) There is a time lag between death and arrival at the plane of destination. Although time is meaningless to the soul or spirit, the long journey to the proper plane can take 3-30 days of time relative to those in the Prime Material Plane. Thus the rationale for the progressive time limit on the raise dead spell becomes clear: the farther the soul has travelled on its way to its destination plane, the more powerful the cleric needed to summon the soul back to its mortal coil. The road through the Astral Plane to their destination is clearly marked for the dead, but it is not free of peril. Some monsters roam the ethereal and astral planes at will, which is why burial chambers often include weapons, treasure, and even bodyguards to protect the soul on its journey. A resurrection spell functions in a different manner from a raise dead: the cleric literally recalls the soul from the plane of its deity back into its former body, where flesh and blood have been magically restored to the bones. As this involves the cooperation of the deity on the plane where the soul was, clerics must use extreme caution in employing this spell. If a cleric resurrects a being of radically different alignment, the cleric's deity (who gave the cleric this power) may be greatly offended. Similarly, if a cleric resurrects a being of different alignment simply to serve the purposes of the cleric or his or her deity (to extract information, for example), the deity on the plane where the soul was may be highly displeased and may take appropriate action. The servants, functionaries, and minions of some deities (demons, devils, couatl, ki-rin, titans, and others) are actually spirits put into those forms for the purposes of the deity. It should be noted that the forms listed in the MONSTER MANUAL are by no means the only ones these servants can take -- some chaotic deities rule planes where no two beings have the same form! Immortality in AD&D does not confer or imply everlasting existence; in essence what the gods enjoy is eternal youth. Many of the gods can, of course, alter their forms at will and appear young or old; though this appearance is sometimes dictated by their followers (the ruler of a pantheon should appear older, wiser, and more mature than, for example, a god of mischief). Any description of gods as "young" or "old" is at best extremely relative and has no bearing on their powers. A character who obtains apparent immortality through many potions of longevity need not fear death through "natural causes" (until he or she finally drinks the potion that reverses the effects of all the previous ones), but can still be slain by normal means. When deities or their minions travel to planes other than their own, they are mystically anchored to their home plane by a metaphysical "silver cord"; this is similar to the one described for astral spell, but cannot be broken by the Psychic Wind or any other means. This cord is what pulls a spirit back to its plane of origin when its material form is destroyed. The return occurs near-instantaneously, in contrast to the trek of a soul. The energy expenditure of this is enormous, and will weaken the returning being: servants, devils, demons, and even the deities themselves. Thus Type V and VI demons must rest a century before returning unaided to the plane where they were slain (see MONSTER MANUAL); demon princes and lords, and greater devils and arch-devils require 2-8 weeks to restore their energies to a point where they can plane travel or send a servitor to another plane; and even greater deities require 1-4 weeks of rest before dealing with activities autside their home plane. During this dormant period, it will be impossible for any clerics of the resting deity to acquire or recover any spells of third level or higher; this may be interpreted with dismay by the deity's earthly followers as a bad omen, but no information will be forthcoming until the dormancy is over (and even then it's unlikely that a deity would admit to its followers that it had been defeated t ). It is important to remember that when a deity "dies" on the Prime Material Plane, the being's person and possessions fade away and disappear, though certain Items might remain (at the DM's discretion). If any servant or minion of a deity (or even the deity itself) is slain on its home plane, that being is absolutely and irrevocably dead. No power in the multiverse can restore that being, including action by other deities. In one's own plane a being is figuratively backed into a corner, with nowhere for the spirit to go upon death. All creatures are most powerful in their own territory, so it should be next to impossible for anything except another deity to slay a deity on its own plane - and direct confrontation between deities is extremely rare. Should mere characters be so brazen as to challenge a deity on its home plane, they should be dealt with severely, the god bringing to bear all the powers that the being has.
DIVINE ASCENSION
As study of the various mythologies will show, it is remotely possible for mortals to ascend into the ranks of the divine. However, there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled before such a thing could happen. First, the character in question must have advanced to an experience level that is significantly above and beyond the average level of adventure-type characters in the general campaign. (This includes all such non-player types as military leaders, royal magic-users, etc.) For example, if the average level of characters in a campaign, both player and non-player, is around 5th level, then a candidate for ascension should be something like 9th or 10th level. If the average level is something like 15th, then a character would have to be in the realm of 25th-30th level! Second, his or her ability scores must have been raised through some mighty world-shaking magic to be on par with the lesser demigods. (Should such an act be lightly considered, remember that a Wish spell is the most powerful magic that mankind can control, and such an average increase in abilities would literally take the power of dozens of wishes! Each use of that spell weakens the caster and ages him 3 years into the bargain, so they are not easy to come by.) Third, the personage must have a body of sincere worshipers, people convinced of his or her divinity due to their witnessing of and/or belief in the mighty deeds and miracles which he or she has performed (and continues to perform). These must be genuine worshipers, honest in their adoration or propitiation of the person. Fourth, the person in question must be and have been a faithful and true follower of his or her alignment and patron deity. It is certain that any deviation will have been noted by the divine powers. If all of the above conditions have been met, and the character has fulfilled a sufficient number of divine quests, then the character's deity may choose to invest the person with a certain amount of divine power, and bring the character into the ranks of the god's celestial (or infernal) servants. This process of ascension usually involves a great glowing beam of light and celestial fanfare, or (in the case of those transmigrating to the lower planes), a blotting of the sun, thunder and lightning, and the disappearance of the character in a great smoky explosion. Characters thus taken into the realms of the gods will serve their patron as minor functionaries and messengers. After several centuries of superior service and gradual advancement, exceptional servants may be awarded the status of demigod, which includes having an earthly priesthood and the ability to grant spells (of up to 5th level) to the demigod's clerics. Naturally, ascension to divinity effectively removes the character from the general campaign, as the person will become a non-player member of the DM's pantheon. The section on DUNGEON MASTERING DIVINE BEINGS applies in general to the summoning of these characters as well, as their patron deity has more important jobs for his or her servants than to continually send them when called to interfere in worldly matters.