Absalom Fallen (Inactive)

Game Master caster4life

In the temple Mi’hai learned the history of the Crusades and how the brave heroes of Lastwall were a bulwark protecting Golarion against the ever-present undead scourge. He learned the healing arts and was encouraged to enroll in the Crusader War College when he came of age. The tall, gray-skinned, lanky boy often ran around in the temple’s graveyard with an oversized helmet and a wooden sword, playing at crusader with friends and telling any passersby that he was going to grow up big and strong and help them to purge the threat of the undead from Golarion forever. The bright-eyed soldiers embarking on their first tours laughed at him. The sullen soldiers debarking from their most recent tours could barely lift their eyes to greet him. But Mi’hai seemed almost not to notice the differences in their reactions, or if he did, they did not perturb him.

Years came and went and Mi’hai was accepted into the Crusader War College. He was not a particularly bright pupil, with no mind for tactics, and he never could get the hang of riding a horse without being thrown from it and nearly breaking his neck. But he was a decent shot with a bow and arrow, so the instructors taught him the basics of ranged combat while encouraging him to continue developing his healing talents. On the field of battle, they explained to him, the rearguard was important in protecting the rest of the army in retreat, and was often critical in accepting and stabilizing the wounded from the front. Mi’hai accepted this explanation and was excited for his first deployment to Virlych, Ustalav: a simple patrol to check on Gallowspire and ensure that the Whispering Tyrant was still safely locked away.

As soon as Mi’hai set foot in Ustalav, he felt that the air was different. Where in Lastwall the air was charged and metallic, almost magnetic, here it was sour, suffused with dread: the lingering taint of the reign of the Whispering Tyrant. As Mi’hai marched towards Virlych, he heard whispers echoing in his mind. When he brought it up with the chaplain, concerned that he might be losing his grip on reality, he was dismissed as simply being afraid on his first patrol. But this was routine. Nothing bad was going to happen, and if it did, then that’s why Mi’hai and the other healers were there. Still, Mi’hai heard clear voices: zealous crusaders dedicated to their cause, fearful citizens hiding from wandering bands of ghouls, jealous spouses trying to catch a lover in infidelity, greedy merchants seeking vestiges of Tar-Baphon’s ancient power. All of the voices were vying for a place in Mi’hai’s mind, and he could do little to quiet them down.

Near Gallowspire, the patrol was ambushed by an army of hungry ghouls. Although Mi’hai tried to remember his lessons in tactics, tactics quickly went out the window as horses broke ranks and trampled over crusader and ghoul alike. Mi’hai tried to shoot ghouls down, but he and his fellow crusaders were quickly overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers. Running and crying, Mi’hai tripped over what he had first thought was a branch, but which he quickly realized was the severed arm of the chaplain who had dismissed his fears days before. The ghouls were chewing on his face a few yards away. He tried to back away from the ghouls, scrambling fruitlessly through mud as he tried to rise to his feet, but one moved with unnatural swiftness and wrenched its teeth into his leg. Through the pain and fear, Mi’hai felt his muscles seize up.

The fear was overwhelming as the ghoul crawled slowly up Mi’hai’s body, seeming to want to play with its terrified food before eating him alive. But there was more than fear: more than almost anything else, Mi’hai felt angry. He felt like the reality of this horrible business should have been properly communicated to him. He was no soldier! He should not have been permitted to sign up to be willing food for a ghoul, which was all he would be now. He would never accomplish anything, never fall in love, never live! Through the anger, he only hoped that death wouldn’t hurt as much as he imagined that it would, as much as his old friends in the graveyard growing up said that it did.

And then the ghoul was gone. Through the wrenching paralysis, Mi’hai managed to strain the muscles in his eyes to open and look around. Standing near him was a towering red hulk, looking for all the world like a demon. It stood above him holding the ghoul in its hands. With a roar, expelling red mist from its mouth, it ripped the ghoul’s head from its shoulders and then smashed the head like a piece of rotten fruit. Mi’hai could not keep track as his savior disappeared from view. When his muscles finally limbered up again, he stood and looked for evidence of whomever had saved his life. But the creature was gone. And thankfully, the surviving crusaders were beginning to rally. Their captain had summoned a psychopomp—a vanth—which had almost single-handedly turned the tide of the ambush in the crusaders’ favor. With no small amount of effort, the crusaders were able to slay or drive off the remaining ghouls and begin tending to their dead and injured.

It was quite the introduction to the reality of the Lastwall Crusades, and Mi’hai wanted no further part of it, at least not as a fighter. Having barely accomplished their patrol and with diminished resources to do anything additional, they returned broken to Vigil. Even more of their numbers succumbed to ghoul fever along the way. Even Mi’hai felt himself horribly weakened by the bite of the ghoul, though he survived and eventually recovered. Mi’hai earned a small honor in recognition of his service and then secured an honorable discharge.

He retired to Vellumis, where he sought other work. He was in no position to provide counseling to his fellow, living soldiers. Instead, he thought about the grim, gruesome work of butchering his fellow crusaders after they succumbed to ghoul fever. They deserved better than that. And so Mi’hai began to train as a mortician. A mortician had tools to take care of the fallen and, with enough training, to make it difficult for the dead to be raised. And further, Mi’hai still felt those whispers in his head. When it was just one body whose whispers he could listen to, he could focus on it. He felt more confident with the dead than the living. The living had many problems. The dead usually only one thing that was keeping them from passing to the Boneyard. And it was often just wanting to ensure that their families could properly say goodbye to them. A bit of stitching to cover a wound, an application of makeup to give the dead the appearance of life, sewing the scalp back on—there were many ways that Mi’hai could help.

Mi’hai also decided to change his name: he no longer felt like a gift from the gods. He was a coward, but he was still useful. He chose another Varisian name more appropriate to his chosen career as a mortician: Dricar.

Before long, Dricar settled into a life far from the front lines of conflict in Vellumis. He saw to the important work of preparing the bodies of fallen crusaders for transport to their families all over Avistan, Garund, and Casmaron. And he helped their spirits find rest, if he could. He even began dating, although people were usually unnerved by his occupation and his frank discussion of death. It seemed like a good existence, all things considered.

It was not to last, though. In 4719 AR, the Whispering Tyrant returned and utterly destroyed Vigil. Within months, Lastwall became the Gravelands, and all of the living were trying to flee. Dricar set sail on a ship bound for Absalom. Surely the City at the Center of the World would be safe from the undead. After all, just two years prior they had weathered the Fiendflesh Siege. He and thousands of other Lastwall refugees resettled in a horrific diaspora, and Dricar set up shop in the Foreign Quarter. As someone with extensive training in anatomy, and speaking at least a few of the most common languages in the city, Dricar found extensive work, both patching up the living and tending to the dead. He even adopted a young Duskwalker named Amur, and began raising him as a single father. Prospective dates are even more thrown off by that, but Dricar thinks that Amur needs him more than Dricar needs a partner.

Absalom will be a safe place to live, won’t it?

Won’t it?

A zombie apocalypse is about Dricar’s worst nightmare. After running headlong into the undead and finding the existence very much not to his liking, he has been avoiding the undead as much as possible. But now he has a kid to take care of. Mechanically, he will probably become a mortal usher, especially if he meets and befriends a psychopomp. But he’ll be fighting such a calling, probably kicking and screaming the whole way.

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Defense
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AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+4 Dex, +4 armor, +1 shield)
hp 22 (3d8+6)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +6; +2 vs. negative energy, death effects, & spell-like and supernatural abilities of undead/sahkils; +4 vs disease while phantom is confined to consciousness
Defensive Abilities ward against corruption
Immune all abilities that would transform their bodies or souls into undead

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Offense
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Speed: 30 ft.
Melee: mwk kukri +7 (1d4+1/18-20/x2)
Ranged: mwk composite longbow +7 (1d8+1/x3)
Special Attacks: bonded manifestation (6 rounds/day), bonded senses (3 rounds/day), ghost hunter (1/day), shared consciousness save (1/day)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +6)
At Will—disrupt undead (2d6)
Spiritualist Spells Known (CL 3rd; concentration +6)
1st (4/day)—burst of adrenaline, mage armor, obscuring mist, shield
0 (at will)—detect magic, grave words, guidance, mage hand, mending, stabilize

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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 7
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 17
Feats: Precise Shot, Shoki’s Argument; EitR: Agile Maneuvers, Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, Power Attack, Weapon Finesse
Traits: Magical Aptitude, Veteran
Skills: Heal +11, Knowledge (history) +4, Knowledge (local) +6, Knowledge (religion) +8, Linguistics +5, Profession (mortician) +9, Sense Motive +9; Racial Modifiers +2 Heal, +2 Knowledge (religion)
Languages: Celestial, Common (Taldane), Osiriani, Varisian
SQ: bonded manifestation, bonded senses, etheric tether, ghost hunter, knacks, plague ward, shared consciousness, ward against corruption
Combat Gear mwk composite (+1) longbow with 50 arrows, mwk kukri, mwk chain shirt, mwk buckler; Other Gear alchemist’s fire, antidote kit, antiplague, antitoxin, belt pouch, bloodblock, boline, censer, coffee pot, doctor’s mask, doctor’s outfit, dowsing rod, grooming kit, hammer, healer’s kit, silver holy symbol of Pharasma, holy text of Pharasma (The Bones Land in a Spiral), holy water, holy weapon balm, incense (10), leeching kit, magnet, magnetized paper (7), masterwork backpack, potion of hide from undead, prognostication manual, signal whistle, soothe syrup, surgeon’s tools, talking board, taxidermy tools (i.e., mortician’s tools), twitch tonic, vial of smelling salts, wand of cure light wounds, 36 gp, 7 sp

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Special Abilities
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Phantom: A spiritualist begins play with the aid of a powerful and versatile spirit entity called a phantom. The phantom forms a link with the spiritualist, who forever after can either harbor the creature within her consciousness or manifest it as an ectoplasmic or incorporeal entity. A phantom has the same alignment as the spiritualist, and it can speak all the languages its master can. A spiritualist can harbor her phantom in her consciousness, manifest it partially, or fully manifest it. A fully manifested phantom is treated as a summoned creature from the Ethereal Plane, except it is not sent back to the Ethereal Plane until it is reduced to a negative amount of hit points equal to or greater than its Constitution score.

A spiritualist can fully manifest her phantom through a ritual that takes 1 minute to perform. When the phantom is fully manifested, the spiritualist can change the form of the phantom’s manifestation (either from ectoplasmic to incorporeal or vice versa) as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. When the phantom manifests, its hit points are unchanged from the last time it manifested, unless the phantom was slain and returned to the Ethereal Plane; in this case, the phantom manifests with half its maximum number of hit points. The phantom does not heal naturally, and can be healed only with magic or by being tended to with the Heal skill while fully manifested in ectoplasmic form. The phantom stays fully manifested until it is either returned to the spiritualist’s consciousness (a standard action) or banished to the Ethereal Plane. If the phantom is banished to the Ethereal Plane, it can’t return to the spiritualist’s consciousness or manifest again for 24 hours.

While fully manifested, a phantom can’t be returned to the Ethereal Plane by means of dispel magic, but spells such as dismissal and banishment work normally. Whenever the spiritualist is unconscious or asleep, the phantom immediately returns to the spiritualist’s consciousness. If the spiritualist dies, the phantom is returned to the Ethereal Plane, and can’t return to the spiritualist’s consciousness until 24 hours after the spiritualist is brought back to life. A phantom can’t be dismissed or banished (by a spell or any other similar effect) while it resides in the spiritualist’s consciousness, as the phantom is protected from such effects by the power of the spiritualist’s psyche.

Fully manifested phantoms can wear armor and use items (though not wield weapons) appropriate to their forms. Any items worn, carried, or held by a phantom are dropped when the phantom returns to the spiritualist’s consciousness, and must be retrieved and donned anew if the phantom wishes to use them when it fully manifests in the future.

Phantoms are self-involved, even jealous, creatures that do not play well with other summoned companions. A phantom refuses to manifest (either fully or as part of a bonded manifestation) in the presence of an eidolon or shadow summoned by the phantom’s master. Furthermore, if a phantom is manifested when such a creature is summoned, it immediately retreats into its spiritualist’s consciousness, and will not manifest again until the eidolon or shadow is dismissed.

A fully manifested phantom’s abilities, feats, Hit Dice, saving throws, and skills are tied to the spiritualist’s class level and increase as the spiritualist gains levels.

Shared Consciousness (Su): At 1st level, while a phantom is confined in a spiritualist’s consciousness (but not while it’s fully manifested or banished to the Ethereal Plane), it grants the spiritualist the Skill Focus feat in two one skills determined by the phantom’s emotional focus, unless the spiritualist already has Skill Focus in those skills. It also grants a +4 bonus on saving throws against all mind-affecting effects; at 12th level, this bonus increases to +8. Lastly, once per day, when the spiritualist fails a saving throw against a mind-affecting effect, as an immediate action she can shunt that effect into the phantom’s section of her consciousness instead. When she does so, she is not affected by the mind-affecting effect, but for the normal duration of that effect, the spiritualist loses the bonuses on saving throws against mind-affecting effects and the Skill Focus effects granted by her phantom, and can’t use this ability to shunt a mind-affecting effect into the phantom’s consciousness or manifest her phantom in any way. When a mind-affecting effect is shunted into the phantom’s consciousness, spells such as dispel magic and break enchantment can be cast on the spiritualist to end the effect’s duration as if the spiritualist were affected by the mind-affecting effect.

Plague Ward: A plague eater does not bond with a single spirit, but rather a group of spirits gathered around her psychic presence. The spiritualist can meditate on an emotional focus during her 8-hour rest and bond with a spirit from her community with a matching focus. A spirit associated with the chosen emotion links with the spiritualist and acts as her phantom until the plague eater changes her emotional focus with another 8-hour rest. The changing roster of spirits dilutes the bond between the plague eater and her community, and the manifesting phantom has a level 1 lower than the spiritualist’s level (minimum level 1).

While a phantom is confined in a plague eater’s consciousness (but not while it’s fully manifested or banished to the Ethereal Plane), it grants a +4 bonus on saving throws against disease. At 12th level, this bonus increases to +8. In addition, the phantom grants the plague eater the Skill Focus feat in one of the skills determined by the phantom’s emotional focus. This skill is chosen by the plague eater the first time she confines the phantom tied to that particular emotional focus. Once this choice is made for a given emotional focus, it cannot be changed. This alters phantom and shared consciousness.

Etheric Tether (Su): At 1st level, a spiritualist can force the phantom to manifest in an area around her by pushing the phantom’s consciousness though the veil of ethereal essence, allowing it to fully manifest in either ectoplasmic or incorporeal form. Whenever her manifested phantom takes enough damage to send it back to the Ethereal Plane, as a reaction to the damage, the spiritualist can sacrifice any number of her hit points without using an action. Each hit point sacrificed in this way prevents 1 point of damage dealt to the phantom. This can prevent the phantom from being sent back to the Ethereal Plane.

This tether is limited. When the phantom is fully manifested, it and the spiritualist must remain within 50 feet of one another for the phantom’s manifestation to stay stable with little to no concentration on the part of the spiritualist. The spiritualist can stretch the limited tether, but only when the phantom is in ectoplasmic form. When a spiritualist starts her turn and her ectoplasmic phantom is more than 50 feet away from her (but closer than 100 feet), the spiritualist must concentrate on the link as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity or the ectoplasmic phantom immediately returns to the Ethereal Plane and cannot be summoned from that plane for 24 hours. This concentration can be interrupted as if it were a spell. Treat this effect’s spell level as equal to 1 + 1 per 10 feet farther than 50 feet that the phantom is from the spiritualist (maximum spell level 6th). If the tether is interrupted or the check fails, the phantom immediately snaps back into the consciousness of its spiritualist master.

If the ectoplasmic phantom is ever more than 100 feet away from its spiritualist, or the incorporeal phantom is ever 50 feet away from the spiritualist or outside of line of effect from the spiritualist for more than 1 round per spiritualist level the spiritualist possesses, the tether is automatically broken; the phantom immediately returns to the Ethereal Plane and can’t be summoned from that plane for 24 hours.

Bonded Senses (Su): At 2nd level, as a standard action, a spiritualist can share the senses of her manifested phantom, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling everything her phantom does. She can use this ability a number of rounds per day equal to her spiritualist level, but those rounds do not need to be consecutive. There is no maximum range for this effect, but the phantom and the spiritualist must be on the same plane. The spiritualist can end this effect as a free action.

Bonded Manifestation (Su): At 3rd level, as a swift action, a spiritualist can pull on the consciousness of her phantom and the substance of the Ethereal Plane to partially manifest aspects of both in her own body. When she does, she uses this bonded manifestation to enhance her own abilities while the phantom is still bound to her consciousness. For the spiritualist to use this ability, the phantom must be confined in the spiritualist’s consciousness; it can’t be manifested in any other way.

During a bonded manifestation, the phantom can’t be damaged, dismissed, or banished. A spiritualist can use bonded manifestation a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + her spiritualist level. The rounds need not be consecutive. She can dismiss the effects of a bonded manifestation as a free action, but even if she dismisses a bonded manifestation on the same round that she used it, it counts as 1 round of use.

When a spiritualist uses this ability, she must choose either ectoplasmic or incorporeal form. When she makes this choice, she gains all of the abilities based on the form she chooses and her spiritualist level.

Ectoplasmic Bonded Manifestation: When a spiritualist uses this ability and chooses ectoplasmic form, she gains an ectoplasmic shield that protects her without restricting her movement or actions. She gains a +4 shield bonus to Armor Class; this bonus applies to incorporeal touch attacks. The ectoplasmic shield has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance. At 8th level, the spiritualist also sprouts a pair of ectoplasmic tendrils from her body. Once per round as either a swift or a standard action (spiritualist’s choice), the spiritualist can use one or both tendrils to attack creatures within her melee reach (using the attack bonus and damage dice of her ectoplasmic manifested phantom) or to manipulate objects. She can even use that action to have one tendril make an attack and the other manipulate an object, as long as that object can be manipulated with one hand. At 13th level, the phantom’s ectoplasm clings to the spiritualist like a suit of armor. This grants the spiritualist a +6 armor bonus to AC without imposing an armor check penalty, an arcane spell failure chance, or any reduction in speed. At 18th level, the spiritualist can take a full-round action to attack all creatures within her melee reach with her tendrils (using the attack bonus and damage dice of her ectoplasmic manifested phantom). When she does, she rolls the attack roll twice, takes the better of the two results, and uses that as her attack roll result against all creatures within her melee reach. If the better attack roll threatens a critical hit, the spiritualist chooses one target that she hit to confirm the critical hit against. The other attacks that hit are considered normal hits rather than critical threats.

Incorporeal Bonded Manifestation: When a spiritualist uses this ability and chooses incorporeal form, she becomes shrouded in a haze of insubstantial mist, granting her concealment against ranged attacks. At 8th level, the spiritualist can better affect incorporeal creatures with melee attacks; her unarmed strikes and melee weapon attacks are treated as if they had the ghost touch magic weapon special ability. At 13th level, the spiritualist can take a standard action to become invisible (as the invisibility spell) the start of her next turn. At 18th level, the spiritualist gains the incorporeal subtype and a fly speed of 30 feet (good) while using this form of bonded manifestation.

Racial Traits

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Defense
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AC (ectoplasmic) 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural) or AC (incorporeal) 16, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 dodge, +2 deflection)
hp 14 (2d10+2)
Fort +4/1 (+6 Lust), Ref +5/2 (+1 Anger/Lust), Will +3/0 (+5 Dedication)

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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +5 (1d6+1)
Special Attacks Anger: 1d8+2; Desperation/Kindness/Lust +4, Greed/Zeal 19-20/x2

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Statistics
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Str 12 (15 Anger), Dex 15 (12 Anger/Lust), Con 13 (16 Lust), Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 15
Feats Weapon Focus (slam) (except Desperation/Kindness); Emotional Foci Powerful Maneuvers (Anger), Iron Will (Dedication), Combat Reflexes (Desperation), Stealthy (Fear), Deft Maneuvers (Hatred/Whimsy), Deceitful (Jealousy), Antagonize (Remorse), Endurance (Suffering)
Skills Intimidate +7, Perception +5; Emotional Foci Acrobatics +7 (Despair, Desperation, Hatred, Pride, Whimsy, Zeal) or +6 (Anger); Appraise +4 (Greed) or +3 (Jealousy); Bluff +9 (Jealousy) or +7 (Lust); Climb +6 (Suffering); Diplomacy +7 (Dedication, Kindness, Lust, Remorse); Disguise +4 (Jealousy); Escape Artist +9 (Fear) or +7 (Desperation); Heal +5 (Kindness, Suffering); Sense Motive +5 (Dedication, Remorse); Sleight of Hand +7 (Greed), Stealth +9 (Fear) or +7 (Despair, Hatred, Pride, Whimsy); Survival +5 (Anger, Zeal)
Languages link
SQ link, share spells, damage reduction, phase lurch; various abilities depending on emotional focus

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Special Abilities
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Darkvision (Ex): The phantom has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.

Link (Su): A spiritualist and her phantom share a mental link that allows for communication across distances (as long as they are on the same plane). This communication is a free action that can be performed even when it isn’t the spiritualist’s turn, but the spiritualist and the phantom must both be conscious to communicate in this way. This allows the spiritualist to give orders to her phantom at any time. Magic items interfere with a spiritualist’s connection to her phantom; as a result, the spiritualist and her phantom share magic item slots. For example, if the spiritualist is wearing a magic ring, her phantom can wear only one magic ring. In the case of a conf lict, the items worn by the spiritualist remain active, and those worn by the phantom become dormant. The phantom must possess the appropriate appendages to utilize a magic item.

Share Spells (Su): The spiritualist can cast a spell with a target of “you” on her phantom (as a spell with a range of touch) instead of on herself. A spiritualist can cast spells from the spiritualist spell list on her phantom even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the phantom’s type (outsider). This ability does not allow the phantom to share abilities that aren’t spells, even if they function like spells.

Full Manifestation Forms
Each time she fully manifests her phantom, the spiritualist must choose whether to manifest the phantom in either ectoplasmic or incorporeal form.

Ectoplasmic: When the spiritualist manifests her phantom in ectoplasmic form, the phantom gains the following abilities.

Damage Reduction: A phantom manifested in ectoplasmic form has DR 5/slashing. When the spiritualist reaches 5th level, the phantom gains DR 5/magic. At 10th level, the damage resistance increases to 10/magic. At 15th level, it increases to 15/magic, and at 20th level, the damage reduction becomes DR 15/—.

Phase Lurch (Su): A phantom in ectoplasmic form has the ability to pass through walls or material obstacles. In order to use this ability, it must begin and end its turn outside whatever wall or obstacle it’s moving through. An ectoplasmic phantom can’t move through corporeal creatures with this ability, and its movement speed is halved while moving through a wall or obstacle. Any surface it moves through is coated with a thin, silvery mucus that lingers for 1 minute.

Incorporeal: When the spiritualist chooses to manifest the phantom in incorporeal form, the phantom appears within 30 feet of the spiritualist as a ghostly apparition. It gains the incorporeal subtype, including a deflection bonus to AC equal to its Charisma modifier. Since it isn’t an undead creature, it takes no damage from holy water or positive energy. Unlike other incorporeal creatures, an incorporeal phantom can’t attack corporeal creatures, except to deliver touch-attack spells using the deliver touch spell ability. An incorporeal manifested phantom can make slam attacks against other incorporeal creatures as if it were in ectoplasmic form.

Cookie: Level 3 Ghoran Iron Chef

Zriak'rie (aka "Cookie") began his life in the nation of Nex, serving with distinction in the Nexian army as a capable and powerful infantry soldier in his early life. Although he was a ghoran, he liked and trusted the humans around him, forming strong bonds within the Nexian military. He was deployed to contain a rebellion in the Shattered Range, where the military cut off food imports from Geb in order to starve out the rebels. This strategy worked, but in the fighting Cookie was captured by the Nexian rebels. Close to starvation and already outlaws of the Nexian government, the rebels had no problem breaking the law against consuming Ghoran flesh, and began to use Cookie as their food source in a gruesome display of ongoing cruelty, lasting for weeks until Cookie could transfer his consciousness to a planted seed and escape. Although his body was reformed, his mind was scarred by the PTSD of the experience, and he was discharged with honors from the military when it became clear that he could no longer perform his duties.

Cookie's experience led him into an obsession with food and cookery. Having been traumatized by starving men, he theorized that there was only one way to keep himself safe: make sure that everyone around him is well-fed enough that they will feel no need to consume him. He immigrated to Absalom (bringing only his soldier's armor with him as a keepsake) with his closest friend Nethelhaim to study under the greatests chef he could find - and in a nation with ample food security. Soon he and Nethelhaim started their own restaurant, Cookie's Gourmet, with Cookie providing the cooking and Nethelhaim providing the business expertise. It quickly became popular both due to the high quality of the food and the oddly low prices. Cookie, after all, is willing to cut into his profits, if it means the people near him are decidedly not hungry...

Cookie is now a successful chef and restaurant owner, although he drinks often to cope with his PTSD. It was on a particularly drunken night while returning to his restaurant that he encountered his first zombie, which did what zombies do, and attacked Cookie with the intention of consuming him. Cookie killed it with a meat tenderizer, then went to his room, and strapped on his armor. It would seem that he was no longer safe from predation... and he'd have to fight to make himself safe again.

"No... not again. Never again. I cannot let this happen."

Cookie is a heavy armor melee frontliner/tank in combat who focuses on sundering manufactured or natural weapons and armor with his oversized kitchen implements (a two-handed meat tenderizer and a giant rolling pin) in order to debuff monsters for the rest of the party to finish off.

Outside of combat, Cookie is proficient in crafting and repairing weapons and armor, and is very good at providing good food and drink for everyone. His signature recipe, brown-sugar crusted red meat with roasted potatoes, increases the party's constitution and fortitude saves, and reduces the duration of negative effects on them. He can also re-work found weapons and armor into other types so that folks can more easily use them.

Cookie is fairly guileless and emotionally open, albeit suspicious of others, especially humanoids in the grips of starvation. Since he knows from experience that he might become prey to them, he considers them to be an existential threat, and his relative lack of guile means he disguises this fear very poorly. He's obsessed with the food security of his immediate community as a matter of self-preservation and terrified of finding himself in the midst of a humanoid famine. He drinks often to cope with the memories of his capture or with the stress of current situations. He isn't terribly bright at all and often struggles to understand complex topics that aren't related to soldiering, equipment maintenance, or cookery.

Another favorite of Cookie's is Mert'lel, a wood elf ranger. Besides the fact that he helps keep his restaurant safe, he has also sworn an oath to only ever eat raw meat, to be closer to and better embody the red tooth and claw of nature. Eating Cookie's beef tartare may not be *exactly* in the spirit of that oath, but it's close enough, and Cookie is willing to pay him handsomely for security, since, after all, he's the only human guaranteed to not betray and eat Cookie.

6th level

Standard WBL (16,000 gp) plus a +1 gauntlet with the Training weapon enhancement (combat feat not yet chosen). You will be given the gauntlet in character by the party so it wouldn't make sense to be part of your backstory. Pre-crafting is ok but magic items are crafted for a cost of 75% of market value, which cannot be lowered. Also, the party already has some magic item creation feats so talk to me a bit if you want to take an item creation feat.

Note that gp, as such, cannot really be spent anymore so don't have those leftover in your starting equipment. However, we do work in terms of "gp-equivalents" for the purposes of crafting. So your character could have 1000 gp-equivalents leftover in your equipment flavored as raw materials like cloth, chain links, alchemical ingredients, what have you. In general, I will only sometimes give annoying reminders that something is gp-equivalents, not gp but mostly just different flavor of the same idea.

All Paizo-allowed classes and races (up to 20 RP) allowed. Only unchained versions of classes are allowed. Spheres of Power and Might tentatively allowed on a case-by-case basis.

Emerging guns and know that I often feel that guns compromise the medieval fantasy feel. So, if your character uses guns, you’ll need to really feel like you fit into a medieval fantasy story in a well-grounded way.

Two traits from this very limited list or ask permission if you want one of your traits to be from elsewhere than that list.

Hero points will be in use except you do not gain them simply for existing/levelling. I will hand them out frequently for good RP, helping manage the loot list, keeping a PC chronicle/notes of what’s happened, helping edit the wiki that holds our rules, etc.

The Leadership Feat is allowed to be taken at level 5 but the cohort and followers can only be used in base defense, which is a significant part of the game. These minions cannot be taken adventuring outside the base.

Other details, such as EitR and how to calculate hp, can be found at our wiki.

2. Forgemaster cleric focused on melee fighting, buffing allies weapons, and casting fireball.

3. Universalist wizard with a bard cohort.

4. Summons-focused (monster tactician) archer inquisitor.

5. Phantom thief rogue focused on tons of skills and funky ranged trip stuff.

I think parties get along best when everyone has a niche and a turn to shine. So some suggested party roles that could be compatible with the above could be
1. Medium to do weird things and awesome party buffs.

2. Focused melee tank. Our melee guys are solid but not tank builds, specifically.

3. Lightning blaster. The party recently discovered that electricity is important against these zombies but they don't quite understand why or how yet.

4. In-combat healer.

You don't have to make a build to fit one of these. You might come up with something that complements the existing party even better. And, in general, I'll weight a good backstory and solid promise as a play-by-poster a bit more heavily than mechanical fit with the current party.

1. How did your character acquire their skills and values?

2. What does your character think is important in life?

3. What does your character look like?

4. What are some of your characters quirks?

5. Who does your character care about the most? (Hint: “no one” is usually a bad, Edgelordy answer to this question).

6. What is your character’s biggest flaw? What about their biggest strength of character?

7. What are some ways you see your character developing as they struggle to survive a zombie apocalypse and decide whom to trust?

8. How has your character survived the first seven days of the zombie apocalypse?

Note that the party has an existing base that they are pretty attached to. So if your backstory addresses question 8 in a way that means your character has a base they are unwilling to leave, this would be a bit of an issue. We could always resolve it by me declaring that your base gets overrun just before you join the party but that's not necessarily ideal.

As you might expect, we spend a lot of time in Absalom. I am using this map of the city for PCs to refer to and say “We explore F7” or whatever. The party's base (second slide) is in E7 of Absalom (first slide). They've been adding barricades which are displayed on the roll20 version of that second slide map.

The game started on Erastus 10 and it is now Erastus 17. I owe the PCs some downtime soon because there has been a lot of non-stop action (hence they've gained 3 levels since Erastus 10).

Example: You could play an absent-minded but community-oriented apothecary (alchemist) who spends most of their days tinkering with herbs to make poultices and potions. Most of your formula book could be little utility spells and healing spells. Maybe your character has never made a bomb before but, when pressed, they could try to recall something they read in an odd book and concoct a makeshift incendiary. Since they've had a few days surviving the apocalypse now, perhaps they've greatly sharpened these survival skills.

The party’s goals will involve trying to build a safe place for themselves and others to survive as well as trying to figure out if anything can be done about this zombie apocalypse. Make sure your character is someone who is aligned with these goals. Evil alignments may possibly be allowed if they fit with these goals and will play well with others, e.g., a NE necromancer who believes in the circle of life and death and preserving the community by any means necessary, even if that involves employing the dead to protect against the dead. Such a character would need to deal with some serious stigma and suspicion from others but is an example of a concept that could be workable. A CN thief who just wants to steal from or sleep with everybody would not fit very well in this campaign.

Further, I’m fine with powerful characters (who also have good flavor) but I prefer power to be team-friendly. Not everyone should be a support character but even a fighter can help protect others, e.g., with combat reflexes and reach. I will look a little more favorably on a hyper-optimized buffer, healer, etc., than on a hyper-optimized archer.

Violence: Unsurprisingly, there will be a lot of violence and some graphic description, e.g., of what is done to or by a zombie. Further, harm will come to a wide spectrum of people, including children, and there will be some evil people. However, I won’t include any graphic descriptions of harm to children or graphic descriptions of torture.

Frequently, things beyond these parameters will come up. I will try to communicate often and I hope the players will as well.

Lots of details like loot, XP, etc are tracked on google sheets. PCs will need to share some of this work with me, e.g., marking your capital spent or gained and dividing up loot I drop in the found loot list.

Gameplay and discussion are hosted in our discord server.