View source for Dying is Serious (3.5e Variant Rule)

== Dying is Serious ==

With so many various ways of resurrecting people, bringing them back to life and the old "revolving door" heaven, death has become less of a grievance in Dungeons and Dragons and just more of a parking ticket. At level 9, death takes a back seat. For the mere pittance of 5,000 gold pieces and a single lost level (which will soon be reachieved, due to the XP/ECL guidelines), you can cheat death; you're out a bit of money, but that'll soon be remedied as well, so it doesn't matter. All that matters is your body be in a decent condition. At level 13, this price rises to 10,000gp and your body doesn't even have to be in a good condition. In fact, it could just be a little piece of flesh vomitted up by the now-slain creature. Just get that to your cleric and he'll heal you up a wonder! You're back and walking again after a ten-minute ritual, congratulations. Then, level 17; for the pittance of 25,000gp, you're now raised even without a body, full hit points and no level loss. 

Death has lost its meaning when the game goes beyond level 9. This mere hitch of being dead may be fine for some, but it belies the true fact of death; it's serious business. Many may not like to see their precious characters they've so become attached to die forever, they may not like it when they lose something they worked hard on, but it's that fear of permanent death that stops people from doing really stupid things, like charging in headlong to die, or get eaten by a giant flaming wildebeest with flailing tentacles of youbane.
Author	TK-Squared +
Component	V +, S +, F + and M +
Descriptor	Evil +
Identifier	3.5e Variant Rule +
Level	Cleric 4 +, Sorcerer/Wizard 4 +, Cleric 6 + and Sorcerer/Wizard 6 +
Range	Touch +
Rated By	Wildmage +, RiverOffers +, Foxwarrior +, Dragonexx + and DanielDraco +
Rating	Rated 2.2 / 4 +
School	Conjuration +
Subschool	Calling +
Summary	Make death actually mean something — no more revolving door! +
Title	Dying is Serious +