Death and Resurrection

The Final Door, The Grey Wastes, The Final Journey, and The Happy Hunting Grounds, Death has nearly as many names as it does deities. For Adventurers, death is a common companion and a constant threat. Many an adventurer takes a walk in the Valley of the Lost at some point in their career, only to be called back by a hopefully friendly priest or cleric. The Wanderers Plain is unsafe, especially for those who linger like adventurers waiting to be resurrected. Many a devious creature waits to make a deal with a soul wandering the banks of River Death, and darker powers are lurking in the Deadlands as well. The risk to the body may not be great, but to linger in the great expanse is to risk your very soul. 

Ritual of Ressurection

It is no small thing to call a soul back to the land of the living, and the more voices that call to a dead soul, the better. However, calling a soul also attracts the attention of the gods of death. If a soul fails to answer a call to return to life, it moves on to its final resting place, never to return except with a True Resurrection or Wish spell. 

• At the start of their adventuring career, a character has a Death count of 0
• Each time a character dies, its death counter goes up by 1
• When a spell returns a creature to life, the spell can be cast as a ritual, following the standard Ritual rules. At the end of the ritual, the DM makes a resurrection role as the spell is cast. The DC is equal to 10 + the death counter of the target of the spell. This number can be modified during the ritual(description below). 
• This ritual can involve up to 3 people other than the caster. As part of the ritual, these people may attempt to call out to and coax the soul back to the land of the living by making skill checks, DC set by the DM.
• For each successful skill check by a participant of the Ritual of Ressurection DC is lowered by 3.
• For each failed skill check by a participant of the Ritual of Ressurection DC is raised by 2. 
• If successful, the target returns to life; if unsuccessful, the target remains dead forever. 

Dying Heroically

Stories are replete with heroic and defiant last stands. Heroes holding back the hordes of hell or standing between their companions and a mighty monster as their allies flee. This rule allows a dying character to try and make a final stand rather than lying on the ground bleeding. The Dying condition now has the following rules. 

Dying

While a character is below 0 hit points, they have the dying condition. While Dying, a character makes a Death-Saving Throw at the start of each turn as normal. They may then take their turn as normal; however, if they do anything other than move half their speed on their turn, they automatically accrue one failed Death Save at the end of their turn.