When you fail to successfully raise a fallen companion, they come back as a zombie version of themselves! which is terrifying and wonderful. However, there's something that doesn't quite make the experience that memorable. It's handled as a minor inconvenience, and after beating up the naked, unarmored version of yourself, your body is collected and taken to get a more expensive raise elsewhere (which is all fine and dandy). Recently, my character was defeated in battle and raised as a Zombie by an MPC to be used as a weapon against my allies, a phenomenal story line, but there was just something... meh about it.
My critique is that the zombie your character gets raised as is just a neutered version of yourself. It's naked (or rather wearing vagabond rags) and unarmed. You were wearing armor, you were armed, but somehow you have broken from those things and if you're not a monk, you're easily beaten like a bowl of eggs. I really do like the raise-fail zombies, it's a great touch to a horror setting. But it isn't quite horrific since you don't have to face your friend to their best potential.
My suggestion is that the zombies come back in the armor they died in, and use the weapons they were armed with, making the rare experience that much more of a challenge, terrifying, and memorable.
