The Humble Goblin Jumper Cables

 Hey, are you playing in a campaign without a Cleric or Druid? Do you worry that if someone dies before your Paladin hits level 9, they're perma-dead?

Well, I've got just the right product for you, and it can be yours for just 400 gold!

That's right, from Steamwheedle Industries here in scenic Undermine, may I present: Goblin Jumper Cables. Just give them a spark and they'll be back from the dark!

Goblin Jumper Cables, in WoW, is a thing that Engineers can build that allows you to bring a character back from death, though it has a chance not to work and deal damage to you. Death in the MMO is, of course, far less of a problem than it is in D&D, where a dead player can just run their way back to their body from the nearest graveyard as a ghost to come back to life.

But in D&D, where dying without someone to resurrect you can mean fully being unable to play that character again, having means for your party to bring you back is very nice to have. Usually, that means having a Cleric or Druid, or at higher levels, a Paladin, Artificer, or Ranger (they get Revivify, right?) with a costly diamond that gets consumed. Or I guess a Wizard or Sorcerer with Wish.

But this uncommon magic item in the WoW book can potentially solve the issue:

Goblin Jumper Cables are an uncommon wondrous item. Once per dawn, you can attempt to bring someone back from the dead if they've only been dead for 1 minute or less (similar to Revivify). You make a DC 15 Arcana check using Tinker's Tools. On a success, the creature comes back to life with 1 HP. On a failure, they don't and you take 2d6 lightning damage.

    I just want to take a moment here:

This item, which does not require attunement, is almost plot armor for your party.

Now, if you really want a campaign where there are lethal stakes and consequences, by all means, don't give it to your party. But if you're a DM who wants a breezier campaign that's less about deadly threat and more about the players shaping their heroic journeys, this can be a great pressure valve.

Of course, it's not a guaranteed thing. Someone needs to be able to make those checks, and while a DC 15 is low enough that even someone who has dumped Intelligence can potentially succeed, we'll obviously want to put this in the hands of someone who has a better chance.

The two (current - we'll have the Psion some time next year) Intelligence-focused classes are the Artificer and Wizard. I will also note that while they're not Intelligence-based characters, Druids and Clerics who take the Magician and Thaumaturge, respectively, options at level 1, will also have quite good Arcana rolls (though it won't be that amazing without proficiency as well).

Artificers have a big leg up here - they can make these. Now, they can't actually do so until level 10 with Replicate Magic item, by which point they will be able to cast Revivfy anyway. But this is still probably worth considering given that it will save you on diamonds.

The real clutch thing would be to get one of these in tier 1, when characters are far more death-prone and also nobody, not even Clerics or Druids, can cast any resurrection magic. At uncommon, it's not that outside of the realm of what you might expect to get.

Now, here's the next question: Who is better at using these: Artificers or Wizards?

Natrually, the flavor of this screams Artificers (it's a shame that the long-speculated-about Tinker class isn't a thing in WoW, as they'd be a really direct analogue for Artificers. But I'd for sure allow people to play Artificers in an Azeroth campaign given that there's tons of examples of Artificer-like characters and lots of different forms of advanced technology).

Artificers will automatically have proficiency in Tinker's Tools. In 5.5, if an ability check involves a tool that you're proficient with and you have those tools to use with it, you will get to add your proficiency even if you don't have the requisite skill. However, if you both have the tool proficiency and the skill, you will instead get advantage with it, on top of your normal proficiency.

    Now, 5.0 Artificers also got Tool Expertise, which let them have expertise in any check involving tools that they were proficient with. But that's sadly gone from the updated 5.5 version.

So, we're going to be just proficient with this, and if we took Arcana, we'll also have advantage.

If we figure a level 1-3 Artificer is making this check, they probably have a +3 to Int, so we will have a total of +5 to the check. To hit a DC 15, we're going to need to roll a 10 or higher. That's 55%, but with advantage, it becomes a 79.75% chance to succeed on the check. So, nearly 4 out of 5 times, we'll be able to get our buddy back up and running.

Wizards in 5.5 have the Scholar feature, which gives them expertise in one Intelligence-based skill they have. While I'd bet Investigation is the more useful choice most of the time, if you pick Arcana (my Wizard has both because he took Skill Expert at 8) you'll have a +7 to Arcana checks. Thus, while you don't have advantage, you'll succeed on an 8 or higher, meaning a 65% chance.

So, at this level, this goes to the Artificer.

However, at level 5, if we assume both now have a +4 to Int, we're looking at a +7 bonus for the Artificer with advantage and then a +10 on the Wizard. That comes to an 87.75% chance for our Artificer and an 80% chance for the Wizard. Edge is still to the Artificer.

By level 9, our Artificer no longer needs these, but might want to use them instead. If we cap our Int (not guaranteed if we want some nice feats) we're talking a +9 with advantage, which gives us a 93.75% chance - but we can also Flash of Genius at this point to guarantee a success - effectively putting our bonus to +14 and thus even succeeding on a natural 1.

The Wizard, also if they fully cap Int, will have a +13 to the roll, so they still have only a 95% chance to succeed.

So yeah, these work best for an Artificer. But they're still very good to have for just about anyone.

    Again, the real power of these is the peace of mind - unless you go into an utter shitshow where multiple people die (which can happen - there's always the risk of a death spiral) you'll at least have a chance to get your friends up if the party has some of these.