Article Header Image Death and Dying in D&D Legends and Lore
Mike Mearls   Having written about clerics these past two weeks,
it’s a short leap to write about the terrible fate all those
cure light wounds spells try to fend off: death. Character death
has been a part of D&D since the beginning. After all, without
some sort of risk then the rewards we earn in the game are
cheapened and made hollow.  Raise the Dead  In AD&D, the raise
dead spell was available to clerics of 9th level or higher. To
give you an idea of the power of such a character, the cleric’s
advancement table only spelled out the first 11 levels—so
reaching 9th level was clearly considered quite an
accomplishment. The person being raised had to survive a
Resurrection Survival percentage chance, as determined by their
Constitution; but, so long as they hadn’t been dead for more
days than the cleric raising them had levels, they’d be fine
(albeit weakened from the ordeal). 2nd Edition added one more
small wrinkle, the loss of a point of Constitu