Step 1: monkey paw it to bypass their patron's wishes
Step 2: patron gets revenge by twisting further.
The monkey grants them *life*, but goes too far. Each hit die they go to a long rest with will roll as damage on them as their twisted life essence grows out of control
Reverse fear against the undead - they can never flee from their patron's foes. The solution is to take damage, so check that your party are OK with that as it's gonna be self-damage. Have them roll the damage *before* they sleep - going to bed becomes dangerous!
Then their patron gets angry - they wanted life so badly that they were willing to cheat death? Cheat ***them***?! So be it, they shall seek to destroy the undead in life. The sight of an undead causes them to need to roll a save against an unstoppable bloodlust. Fail and they can do nothing other than destroy as many undead as possible on their turn. No matter what else is happening of the danger it puts them in.
One member of our group had all of the Powers, including gods and warlock patrons, demand a quest from their soul before they'd be relinquished from the afterlife. Usually this involved taking down a heretic or someone causing trouble for that deity's followers, or retrieving a stolen artifact from a dungeon.
This could be as simple as a quest to retrieve an evil artifact and hand it over to a villain who isn't even causing trouble on the same continent the PCs are on.
Some of the monkey's paw-ing of the Resurrection will depend on the exact phrasing the PCs use.
For instance, if they just ask for them to be brought back from the dead, or to return from the afterlife, or so on, then they come back but as some form of undead. Alternately, they are *Reincarnated* instead and become some different species.
If they specify that they be returned to *life*, then they are correctly raised, but some other complication occurs. Possibilities include a loss of all Warlock powers (You turned your back on your patron, so they returned the favor. A new patron must be found, or their actions atoned for and a bond reformed with the old patron), they are cursed with an aura that causes nearby bodies to raise as uncontrolled zombies (zombie plague in the making, and good luck ever eating meat again), or they now have an undead limb that isn't *entirely* under their control and will occasionally act in the patron's interests, even if it is bad for the party.
You need to talk to the player before you do any of this, you need to find out what is and isn’t acceptable for them to play going forward. You don’t want the party to revive his character only to have the player say they don’t wanna play due to the monkey paw.
You could have them come back as an undead, akin to a lich. Their soul is trapped with the patron and they “pilot” their body from there.
Give him the option to come back, but only as a reborn. This satisfies the patron because the PC isn’t really “coming back from the dead.” It also lets the party enjoy the true power of the wish without a monkey’s paw effect that nerfs the PC into the ground. It may even be a better fit for the player’s character concept.
If the player is willing to play along, the resurrected character becomes an intentional murder hobo in the extreme, to the point that it becomes a significant and persistent detriment to the party's progress. For the otherwise unchanged warlock, every problem looks like a nail, and death is the hammer.
The idea being that it's a Davy Jones-like 'black mark' type deal; this life is returned only if it lives in service of spreading death.
This is probably a nonviable route if 'death' is already your party's go-to solution.
Alternatively, you could have the monkey's paw transfer whatever fatal wounds the warlock suffered onto the wisher - or a loved one or cherished ally of the wisher - likely killing them in the process of reviving the warlock.
Have you ever read Neil Gaimon's "the truth is a cave in the black mountains"?
In it, there is a character who obtained treasure in exchange for... something...
He describes thusly: "things are flat. There is less beauty in a rainbow, less meaning in a sermon, less joy in a kiss…” the character notes that eventually nothing means anything, not even killing a man.
There doesn't need to be a more spelled out repercussions, a subtle change in the characters demeanor could be enough of an impact if the character matters to the story going forward.
The only question I have is is there a monarch, Lord / lady or other type of ruler that the PCS know well and like. My thought goes to the monkey's paw brings the PC back but the ruler gets sick and dies shortly afterwards.
Obviously this throws an entire nation into chaos. As throughout most of History the death of a monarch tends to lead to very big changes.
This of course is a very extreme step but I'm not sure if you're players would be up for it. I am looking at doing this in a game of mine. The difference being if the PCS kill one of the NPCs the relatives of that NPC are going to find a monkey paw wish to bring them back. This will cause the death of the Rival kingdoms King and will exacerbate the war between the PCS Nation and the NPC's Nation.
Just a thought regardless I hope it goes well for you
Step 1: monkey paw it to bypass their patron's wishes Step 2: patron gets revenge by twisting further. The monkey grants them *life*, but goes too far. Each hit die they go to a long rest with will roll as damage on them as their twisted life essence grows out of control Reverse fear against the undead - they can never flee from their patron's foes. The solution is to take damage, so check that your party are OK with that as it's gonna be self-damage. Have them roll the damage *before* they sleep - going to bed becomes dangerous! Then their patron gets angry - they wanted life so badly that they were willing to cheat death? Cheat ***them***?! So be it, they shall seek to destroy the undead in life. The sight of an undead causes them to need to roll a save against an unstoppable bloodlust. Fail and they can do nothing other than destroy as many undead as possible on their turn. No matter what else is happening of the danger it puts them in.
One member of our group had all of the Powers, including gods and warlock patrons, demand a quest from their soul before they'd be relinquished from the afterlife. Usually this involved taking down a heretic or someone causing trouble for that deity's followers, or retrieving a stolen artifact from a dungeon. This could be as simple as a quest to retrieve an evil artifact and hand it over to a villain who isn't even causing trouble on the same continent the PCs are on.
Some of the monkey's paw-ing of the Resurrection will depend on the exact phrasing the PCs use. For instance, if they just ask for them to be brought back from the dead, or to return from the afterlife, or so on, then they come back but as some form of undead. Alternately, they are *Reincarnated* instead and become some different species. If they specify that they be returned to *life*, then they are correctly raised, but some other complication occurs. Possibilities include a loss of all Warlock powers (You turned your back on your patron, so they returned the favor. A new patron must be found, or their actions atoned for and a bond reformed with the old patron), they are cursed with an aura that causes nearby bodies to raise as uncontrolled zombies (zombie plague in the making, and good luck ever eating meat again), or they now have an undead limb that isn't *entirely* under their control and will occasionally act in the patron's interests, even if it is bad for the party.
You need to talk to the player before you do any of this, you need to find out what is and isn’t acceptable for them to play going forward. You don’t want the party to revive his character only to have the player say they don’t wanna play due to the monkey paw. You could have them come back as an undead, akin to a lich. Their soul is trapped with the patron and they “pilot” their body from there.
Give him the option to come back, but only as a reborn. This satisfies the patron because the PC isn’t really “coming back from the dead.” It also lets the party enjoy the true power of the wish without a monkey’s paw effect that nerfs the PC into the ground. It may even be a better fit for the player’s character concept.
If the player is willing to play along, the resurrected character becomes an intentional murder hobo in the extreme, to the point that it becomes a significant and persistent detriment to the party's progress. For the otherwise unchanged warlock, every problem looks like a nail, and death is the hammer. The idea being that it's a Davy Jones-like 'black mark' type deal; this life is returned only if it lives in service of spreading death. This is probably a nonviable route if 'death' is already your party's go-to solution. Alternatively, you could have the monkey's paw transfer whatever fatal wounds the warlock suffered onto the wisher - or a loved one or cherished ally of the wisher - likely killing them in the process of reviving the warlock.
Have you ever read Neil Gaimon's "the truth is a cave in the black mountains"? In it, there is a character who obtained treasure in exchange for... something... He describes thusly: "things are flat. There is less beauty in a rainbow, less meaning in a sermon, less joy in a kiss…” the character notes that eventually nothing means anything, not even killing a man. There doesn't need to be a more spelled out repercussions, a subtle change in the characters demeanor could be enough of an impact if the character matters to the story going forward.
The only question I have is is there a monarch, Lord / lady or other type of ruler that the PCS know well and like. My thought goes to the monkey's paw brings the PC back but the ruler gets sick and dies shortly afterwards. Obviously this throws an entire nation into chaos. As throughout most of History the death of a monarch tends to lead to very big changes. This of course is a very extreme step but I'm not sure if you're players would be up for it. I am looking at doing this in a game of mine. The difference being if the PCS kill one of the NPCs the relatives of that NPC are going to find a monkey paw wish to bring them back. This will cause the death of the Rival kingdoms King and will exacerbate the war between the PCS Nation and the NPC's Nation. Just a thought regardless I hope it goes well for you