[RPG] Alternatives to death in a character and narrative-driven campaign

What I've done in my Hoard of the Dragon Queen Campaign is to have "the local clerics/priests" resurrect dead characters in exchange for the assistance the party is providing the town. So, if your characters are helping the city (I haven't read the starter set, avoiding spoilers), then local authorities could provide healing in exchange. This means, however, that the character has to sit out the next mission (so, they'll have to roll a temp or something--temp could be a generic NPC, like a soldier from the local militia, sent to help the party; or they could roll another character, though it has to be a different race and class than the one that died).

If they actually have the resources to pay for the spell (as per the Starter Set Guidelines), then the character doesn't have to sit out. I think it's a fair 'penalty' without trivializing death.

More specifically, Neverwinter has traditionally been one of the largest (if not the largest) cities in the Sword Coast--undoubtedly such a service is available. The cost would be at least 500 gp, given the material components required to cast Raise Dead.

Then again, the city was presumably destroyed in the 4E lore; without having read the starter set info (I don't want to spoil it), I'm not sure about the current state of the city. This wouldn't be a random NPC; however, it need not be a "high-level cleric--" a L9 Cleric can cast Raise Dead.

About hiring spellcasters, from the PHB, p. 159:

Hiring someone to cast a relatively common spell of 1st or 2nd level, such as cure wounds or identify, is easy enough in a city or town, and might cost 10 to 50 gold pieces (plus the cost of any expensive material components). Finding someone able and willing to cast a higher-level spell might involve traveling to a large city, perhaps one with a university or prominent temple. Once found, the spellcaster might ask for a service instead of payment— the kind of service that only adventurers can provide, such as retrieving a rare item from a dangerous locale or traversing a monster- infested wilderness to deliver something important to a distant settlement.

So, you fought some Vampire Spawn, which have the annoying:

Energy Drain (Su): A creature hit by a vampire spawn's slam (or other natural weapon) gains one negative level. This ability only triggers once per round, regardless of the number of attacks a vampire spawn makes.

Those negative levels provided by the vampire spawn are temporary until after the duration specified and saving throw mechanics. After 24 hours, and after a failed save, they would then become permanent.

Negative levels remain until 24 hours have passed or until they are removed with a spell such as restoration. If a negative level is not removed before 24 hours have passed, the affected creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the draining creature’s racial HD + the draining creature’s Cha modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature’s descriptive text). On a success, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. On a failure, the negative level becomes permanent. A separate saving throw is required for each negative level.

What does this mean? The character is dead. The temporary negative level remains. The negative level would have to be removed, otherwise he'd just die again.

Raising the character from the dead would have to have a restoration spell handy to remove the temporary negative levels, the same as if it were permanent negative levels.

The temporary negative levels have a 24 hour duration. That duration doesn't wipe itself off the table by character death. If that were the case, then undead with a create spawn ability would never be able to create spawn - as their energy drain attacks would simply go away when the character died.

The only rule supporting spell effects that end upon death, without special text stating otherwise, is a spell effect that require concentration. Obviously, a spell caster can't concentrate when he's dead.

1. If the GM considers a dead¹ creature, as still a creature, cast Restoration on the dead creature. There's a little bit of precedence to back that up. Raise Dead, for example, says, Target: Dead Creature. Of course, Restoration obviously doesn't have the word dead in front of Target: Creature Touched, but, ask the GM to work with you a little. The worst he can do is say no.
2. If you don't have a Restoration spell handy, raise the dead character back to life, and the proceeding round cast Death Ward. That would make the character immune to the negative effects of the negative levels for the duration of the spell. That could afford you more time, especially with multiple castings of Death Ward.
3. Raise him from the dead at exactly 24 hours from his death. That would give the party time to rest, have that much more preparation time (i.e. hireling services from a cleric, purchases of scrolls, pray for spells, etc.) and allow the newly raised character, with the negative levels, a quick chance at a fortitude save.
4. Wait for the negative levels to expire and become permanent, and proceed to raise and restore as the rules are explicitly clearer on - probably with the assistance of higher level spell caster NPC's in a temple at the next town.
5. Make a new character.

¹_{Being dead doesn't say you become an object. It just says you are a dead character. It also doesn't say effects end when you're dead. It does say, if you are raised, you're raised in the same condition as when you died. If you have temporary negative levels when you died, and are then quickly raised, you'd still have the temporary negative levels.}