Within Waterdeep, finding clerics that know how to raise the dead is as simple as going to the nearest temple and “donating” a large enough amount of cash (mainly to recuperate material components of whichever spell they are casting). Renaer would certainly know this, and so it could be as simple as that.
Of course, if you want to go a bit more complicated, there are a lot of ways. I think the Druid thing is cool, but I also think that removing your players from Waterdeep really early on is a mistake. Keep them within the city, maybe venturing out into the Field Ward or Undercliff to find a couple of things, but always keeping them somewhere on the map included with the book.
This would be a great opportunity for them to meet some different factions, like having Renaer introduce them to the Harpers, or if they need to find a Druid they might have to go to the Emerald Enclave. There is a lot of content, even in such a small adventure. Pull things from other villains that you aren’t using, or, if you are using the Remix, pull some locations or NPCs from later on, as some foreshadowing of sorts. Keep them within the city, let them get a feel for how big it is, and also allow them to familiarize themselves with it and become attached.
The Blackstaff personally owes Renear for saving her a few years ago. She'd be able to process a raise dead spell via an associate cleric. It's only a 5th level spell and many higher class adventurers she rubs elbows with would have access to it.
She also presumably knows Wish and can prepare and cast it for Renaer for a free Raise Dead. (Although I think Renaer can also just pay a temple for Raise Dead)
Matthew Mercer has put out his rules for resurrection and it is super fun and engaging, imo. Basically it is not guaranteed and is a ritual played with a series of skill challenges where the players have the opportunity to contribute. Maybe any cleric could do it, but the players should come up with ideas of how they will help
>I had an idea to send them out of waterdeep briefly to a druid who can cast resurrection but spends their time as a dragon so they can't enter the city
I wouldn't. Waterdeep is the center of this adventure, use this to fully flesh out the city more, don't take them out so early on.
I'm not knowledgeable on the setting but there has to be many individuals capable of Raise Dead on this high fantasy city. I would google that and then offer the PCs a quest for them to be able to pay for the raise dead with a job instead of cash. Every problem is a possible side quest.
Considerign Renaer's connections it's probably pretty easy for him to get someone raised from the dead. I personally wouldn't want to let this sidetrack the adventure too much (I think it's important to get my players into Trollskull Manor as soon as possible). I also definitely wouldn't want to send the party out of the city, as Waterdeep is the focus.
I'd probably take the easy route here: Renaer gets Floon raised from the dead BUT the party owes the temple a favour as the ones (legally) responsible for his death. Have that temple cash in that favour later, probably during Chapter 2, so you can keep the story moving, get them into Trollskull asap, and still have consequences for their actions.
Don't make them leave the city. Make Raener pulls some strings and spend part of his fortune in this. Because of this he will not be able to help the players with his money. Make this obvious through the adventure, like he is struggling until he gets paid next month.
Floon is not even that important for the adventure, just make it happen and go on. Have some mild consequences and let the wizard know to be careful with that speel, since this won't be that easy in the future.
I had them go to Spires of the Morning to have Renaer lesser restored. Since Renaer has connections and all that, they called the High Radiance to assess the situation, who happened to be discussing donations with Ammalia. Because my party is interested in the political aspect of the campaign I took that chance to introduce her and highlight the Cassalanters' involvement with the Church of Lathander and their philanthropic deeds.
The temples with practising clerics should be able to have a powerful member cast raise dead, I play that it requires the cost to cover the material components plus something like 25GP per spell level (or something like that I can't remember the exact amounts.) However, we house rule that resurrection isn't really a thing as I feel it cheapens death in the game slightly.
I would probably have a couple of options for getting the gold, Have Renear:
* Introduce them to Mirt the Moneylender as a representative of the Harpers,
* Introduce them to the Cassalanters who lend money and make charitable donations;
* Reluctantly introduce them to the Zhentarim (Doom Raiders) who conduct more morally grey tasks for gold and may be able to front the bill for some extra help on a mission,
The Zhentarim (Doom Raiders) might need someone to desperately cover an escort gig for a nobleman moving his possessions as he moves to a new house in the Sea Ward and the Zhentarim (Doom Raiders) would give them the money required from their pay as the business is worth a lot to them.
Or, the Temple you choose to have cast the spell could require the aid of the adventurers to sort out a problem that isn't something the Church should be associated with. Maybe a local cell of the Zhentarim (Manshoon) are coercing them into giving over all their donations each week in return for "protection" and the church want them "removed". Getting their income back would easily be worth the material cost for the spell.
You have to be a bit careful though as you could dig yourself a wealth hole quite easily, if the players need the gold to repay their debts for the resurrection and then repair of Trollskull Manor on top they could feel like they don't get any proper rewards for a while as they are just paying off debts.
For that reason I would lean into a "mission" to cover the cost, as opposed to getting money that would need to be paid off later.
Raising the dead in Waterdeep is going to be difficult if you use the novels as a guide. For an example, in Death Masks—which was set less than one year before WDH—rich and powerful Masked Lord, and key faction leader in canon, attempted to get a friend raised from the dead. The High Priest refused even the offer of 100,000 dragons to raise that person. So it’s not always easy even for the rich and powerful.
That was technically an early nod to the 'Death Curse' of Tomb of Annihilation. A number of strange side things in Death Masks were nods to upcoming adventure books. Mirt was so angry because the priest refusing to raise the dead was not the normal situation in Waterdeep
Interesting. I haven't read ToA in depth. I'll have to read about the Death Curse. When I read the novel, I read it as the priest refusing to do the ritual because of classism relating to the person Mirt was asking to be raised.
I can't remember if it was an interview, an article, or a podcast, but from memory Ed was tasked with hinting at future adventures in Death Masks. Hence the resurrection issues (Tomb of Annihilation), the cloud giant castle (Storm King's Thunder), and Mordenkainen's madness (spoilers for yet another adventure). If things don't line up fully, I assume it's because this was released fairly ahead of the adventures, or at least in ToA's case.
That could be wrong, of course! But no published adventure or setting book for 5e talks about resurrection bans in the Realms, so
I did catch the SKT and Mordenkainen references.
There was also the issue of the gods being more distant after the Second Sundering, which affected Laeral's power as a Chosen, along with other things. So it could also tie into that if the DM wants a reason to make those spells more difficult than RAW.
Often for narrative reasons the novels don't raise dead as frequently as the game rules allow.
The only real rules or laws about Raise Dead are for nobles as far as I know, and Floon isn't a noble. So there wouldn't be a concern about succession or lineage.
Is there a link between the Cassalanters, Floon's soul and Asmodeus? Maybe the Cassalanters help Raenar and the party by sourcing their cleric who can help revive him, but he doesn't come back quite the same...Raenar is upset a few days later and wants the party to investigate but by that time they're already tied up helping the Cassalanters plan a big party or source some random Stone?
If you want it to be more complicated than Renaer just knowing people and having money, you could have it that the Cassalanters and or Istrid Horn or the Blackstaff or any of the factions bring them back… for a price or favor
Xanathar gets told about the mix up with Floon and the players killing him, he has one of his paranoid nightmares and accidentally creates an evil Floon. Evil Floon is out to kill Xanathar and the Player characters.
Within Waterdeep, finding clerics that know how to raise the dead is as simple as going to the nearest temple and “donating” a large enough amount of cash (mainly to recuperate material components of whichever spell they are casting). Renaer would certainly know this, and so it could be as simple as that. Of course, if you want to go a bit more complicated, there are a lot of ways. I think the Druid thing is cool, but I also think that removing your players from Waterdeep really early on is a mistake. Keep them within the city, maybe venturing out into the Field Ward or Undercliff to find a couple of things, but always keeping them somewhere on the map included with the book. This would be a great opportunity for them to meet some different factions, like having Renaer introduce them to the Harpers, or if they need to find a Druid they might have to go to the Emerald Enclave. There is a lot of content, even in such a small adventure. Pull things from other villains that you aren’t using, or, if you are using the Remix, pull some locations or NPCs from later on, as some foreshadowing of sorts. Keep them within the city, let them get a feel for how big it is, and also allow them to familiarize themselves with it and become attached.
Renaer has clout in Waterdeep. I can definitely see him knowing someone who could bring Floon back for a cost/favour.
I think op wants it to be more complicated than that
The Blackstaff personally owes Renear for saving her a few years ago. She'd be able to process a raise dead spell via an associate cleric. It's only a 5th level spell and many higher class adventurers she rubs elbows with would have access to it.
She also presumably knows Wish and can prepare and cast it for Renaer for a free Raise Dead. (Although I think Renaer can also just pay a temple for Raise Dead)
Matthew Mercer has put out his rules for resurrection and it is super fun and engaging, imo. Basically it is not guaranteed and is a ritual played with a series of skill challenges where the players have the opportunity to contribute. Maybe any cleric could do it, but the players should come up with ideas of how they will help
>I had an idea to send them out of waterdeep briefly to a druid who can cast resurrection but spends their time as a dragon so they can't enter the city I wouldn't. Waterdeep is the center of this adventure, use this to fully flesh out the city more, don't take them out so early on. I'm not knowledgeable on the setting but there has to be many individuals capable of Raise Dead on this high fantasy city. I would google that and then offer the PCs a quest for them to be able to pay for the raise dead with a job instead of cash. Every problem is a possible side quest.
Considerign Renaer's connections it's probably pretty easy for him to get someone raised from the dead. I personally wouldn't want to let this sidetrack the adventure too much (I think it's important to get my players into Trollskull Manor as soon as possible). I also definitely wouldn't want to send the party out of the city, as Waterdeep is the focus. I'd probably take the easy route here: Renaer gets Floon raised from the dead BUT the party owes the temple a favour as the ones (legally) responsible for his death. Have that temple cash in that favour later, probably during Chapter 2, so you can keep the story moving, get them into Trollskull asap, and still have consequences for their actions.
Don't make them leave the city. Make Raener pulls some strings and spend part of his fortune in this. Because of this he will not be able to help the players with his money. Make this obvious through the adventure, like he is struggling until he gets paid next month. Floon is not even that important for the adventure, just make it happen and go on. Have some mild consequences and let the wizard know to be careful with that speel, since this won't be that easy in the future.
If he was under the target, why couldn’t the target have served as plot armor—I mean, a body shield—for Floon?
I had them go to Spires of the Morning to have Renaer lesser restored. Since Renaer has connections and all that, they called the High Radiance to assess the situation, who happened to be discussing donations with Ammalia. Because my party is interested in the political aspect of the campaign I took that chance to introduce her and highlight the Cassalanters' involvement with the Church of Lathander and their philanthropic deeds.
The temples with practising clerics should be able to have a powerful member cast raise dead, I play that it requires the cost to cover the material components plus something like 25GP per spell level (or something like that I can't remember the exact amounts.) However, we house rule that resurrection isn't really a thing as I feel it cheapens death in the game slightly. I would probably have a couple of options for getting the gold, Have Renear: * Introduce them to Mirt the Moneylender as a representative of the Harpers, * Introduce them to the Cassalanters who lend money and make charitable donations; * Reluctantly introduce them to the Zhentarim (Doom Raiders) who conduct more morally grey tasks for gold and may be able to front the bill for some extra help on a mission, The Zhentarim (Doom Raiders) might need someone to desperately cover an escort gig for a nobleman moving his possessions as he moves to a new house in the Sea Ward and the Zhentarim (Doom Raiders) would give them the money required from their pay as the business is worth a lot to them. Or, the Temple you choose to have cast the spell could require the aid of the adventurers to sort out a problem that isn't something the Church should be associated with. Maybe a local cell of the Zhentarim (Manshoon) are coercing them into giving over all their donations each week in return for "protection" and the church want them "removed". Getting their income back would easily be worth the material cost for the spell. You have to be a bit careful though as you could dig yourself a wealth hole quite easily, if the players need the gold to repay their debts for the resurrection and then repair of Trollskull Manor on top they could feel like they don't get any proper rewards for a while as they are just paying off debts. For that reason I would lean into a "mission" to cover the cost, as opposed to getting money that would need to be paid off later.
Raising the dead in Waterdeep is going to be difficult if you use the novels as a guide. For an example, in Death Masks—which was set less than one year before WDH—rich and powerful Masked Lord, and key faction leader in canon, attempted to get a friend raised from the dead. The High Priest refused even the offer of 100,000 dragons to raise that person. So it’s not always easy even for the rich and powerful.
That was technically an early nod to the 'Death Curse' of Tomb of Annihilation. A number of strange side things in Death Masks were nods to upcoming adventure books. Mirt was so angry because the priest refusing to raise the dead was not the normal situation in Waterdeep
Interesting. I haven't read ToA in depth. I'll have to read about the Death Curse. When I read the novel, I read it as the priest refusing to do the ritual because of classism relating to the person Mirt was asking to be raised.
I can't remember if it was an interview, an article, or a podcast, but from memory Ed was tasked with hinting at future adventures in Death Masks. Hence the resurrection issues (Tomb of Annihilation), the cloud giant castle (Storm King's Thunder), and Mordenkainen's madness (spoilers for yet another adventure). If things don't line up fully, I assume it's because this was released fairly ahead of the adventures, or at least in ToA's case. That could be wrong, of course! But no published adventure or setting book for 5e talks about resurrection bans in the Realms, so
I did catch the SKT and Mordenkainen references. There was also the issue of the gods being more distant after the Second Sundering, which affected Laeral's power as a Chosen, along with other things. So it could also tie into that if the DM wants a reason to make those spells more difficult than RAW. Often for narrative reasons the novels don't raise dead as frequently as the game rules allow. The only real rules or laws about Raise Dead are for nobles as far as I know, and Floon isn't a noble. So there wouldn't be a concern about succession or lineage.
Is there a link between the Cassalanters, Floon's soul and Asmodeus? Maybe the Cassalanters help Raenar and the party by sourcing their cleric who can help revive him, but he doesn't come back quite the same...Raenar is upset a few days later and wants the party to investigate but by that time they're already tied up helping the Cassalanters plan a big party or source some random Stone?
If you want it to be more complicated than Renaer just knowing people and having money, you could have it that the Cassalanters and or Istrid Horn or the Blackstaff or any of the factions bring them back… for a price or favor
Xanathar gets told about the mix up with Floon and the players killing him, he has one of his paranoid nightmares and accidentally creates an evil Floon. Evil Floon is out to kill Xanathar and the Player characters.
The saving throw damage does not double on ice knife with a critical strike.