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My level-1 Cleric needs to hide the nature of a zombie from the rest of the party and preferably pass it off as a human being.
Detailed story below for those interested
She is obviously a heretic, but she has the excuse of being insane ever since her only child died. She fervently believes that the Great Goddess granted her prayer of bringing her child back to life, though with a twist. She accepts her child's "condition" as a test of her resolve. She believes that she needs to take good care of her undead child until she gets the Great Goddess' approval through her devotion (and adventures), ie can cast Resurrection on her child.
Her Corpse Companion is her child. It is currently a Zombie with 1 HD.
She needs to hide her child's undead state from any and all, but especially from fellow adventurers as she does not feel safe letting her child leave her side because it would dramatically increase the risk of discovery (and consequent destruction of her child).
My current ideas are :
- Disguise skill
- Profession : Mortician skill
- Bluff skill
- large cloak/ heavy clothing
- leper wraps
- perfumes
- lead-lined cloak if a Paladin is in the party
Ideas and comments welcome
There are so many things wrong with this man.
What are you going to do when it starts moaning "Braaaaains"
Wouldn't a lead lined cloak be heavy enough to encumber the thing even worse then it's staggered condition to the point of uselessness.
Why would Pharasma tolerate this or even have granted the animate dead spell to begin with. I get the whole heretic thing, but heresy is usually against church dogma. You're talking about breaking a rule the goddess holds as a sacrosanct herself. I can't see her giving your character spells any longer.
I can see the whole "this is so cool" player aspect of this but
what are you going to do if it gets killed again?
I think you need to chalk this up to cool idea but not playable.
Oh and it's not just paladins that have a problem with undead. Any good alignment should have problems with it.
so is this a small zombie? Like halfling sized?
How would you describe or explain away it's lack of social interaction?
How does lead keep the paladin from detecting the zombie??
What about the use of the detect undead spell? what if the party uses that?
I think non detection is something you need.
I personally don't think A)this would fly or B) that Pharasma would allow this at ALL, period.
IF you character is insane, why would the other party members travel with her, and the creepy slow moving cloaked midget?
A Perception check that beats the disguise check will defeat this.
there is really NO way to keep it from the party. Maybe to sneak it through town. but not from long term exposure.
I might suggest engaging your would be GM in the prospects of him creating a mirror spell to the, "detect undead" spell that conceals undead. I swear it actually existed, but I can't find it and it.
You might also take up Imbue Aura as I'm not sure what the rules surrounding a risen undeads own alignment are, but it'd be a useful way of throwing off paladins without the need of heavy cloaks.
Also, Gentle Repose for keeping that recently deceased look.
Since you're likely going to be the only one in the group with points invested in Heal you might be able to pass it off as a rare magical condition or curse that causes upper brain activity decay as well as physical decay like that of being, well...kinda dead.
What are you going to do when it starts moaning "Braaaaains"
If it's a vegetarian zombie, it'll moan "Graaaains".
As for how to keep it from the rest of the group, take the Monty Python approach: "He's not dead. He's just resting."
ah yes he's just Pining for the fjords. He's Ulfen you know.
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Thank you for your comments. I gather that I need the highest possible Bluff I can get for my PC.
GM fiat helps a lot with the will of the Gods.
Also, my PC may be mistaken about the identity of the Great Goddess. After all there is another Goddess with great interest in Death (and Undeath) who might be interested in stealing a priest (and maybe a whole congregation) from Pharasma.
Her insanity is not that obvious. Basically she is a very comforting, if a bit abusive, mother-type with any and all, except when her child is threatened in which case she switches to a much more ruthless and dangerous personality.
On the long-term, my Cleric will have demonstrated several times her usefulness to the other PCs (by healing them mostly but also taking care of hurt children and villagers). When she feels that they trust her (and she trusts them), she will tell them the truth of her tragic tale and beg for their help.
And if the child gets killed again (destroyed in fact), she will have to raise another one. I believe she has probably done this before, even if her dominant motherly personality does not remember it. Which would make the Resurrection even more interesting as the child will not recognize her as mother.
um.. is the GM okay with you taking over his campaign like that?
Some are, some aren't.
Here is some info on Pharasma
All the above posters have great ideas and are correct... the God you choosen would NEVER allow a Cleric to keep an undead child. Just calling yourself a Heretic means that Pharasma has dropped you as a Cleric... so pick a different God.... Also Pharasma Clerics tend to not fear death so to speak as its an end of one journey and the beginning of another. The lost of a child is sad but a Cleric of Pharasma would be understanding of such things (of course you stated that she is mentally unbalanced now,ect so I guess that part of her training is out of the window)
Losing your God can be roleplayed in the beginning if you wish but you will have no spells or powers. While Pharasma herself might not do anything(she rarely shows emotion) her Church would go after you and your Zombie Child (they would destroy it in a second). So not only do you start a campaign as a Cleric with no powers or spells, but concealing an undead child to boot PLUS you have to deal with a party that may or may not even help you, since you will be worthless to them most of the time. Unless you have nice friends as party members and an understanding DM, I just do not see this happening.
Also Commanding undead through channeling is prohibited by Pharasma.. so all those feats and high Charisma would be wasted.
I do applaud your effort and backstory however... it makes for a very interesting tidbit to talk about in tonight's game.
The only thing worse than being a Cleric of Pharasma with an undead child is being a Cleric of Cayden Cailean that does not DRINK BEER
Oh and btw, I don't think command undead lets you telepathically order your undead around. Don't you think it's going be pretty obvious something is wrong when you have to tell it what to do all the time.
Oh i see, the undead lord archetype gives you some ways around this.
But it still says it follows commands.
What are you going to do as you level? Just keep a zombie? It's going to dies constantly.
Let's say your zombie(let's call him Tim) dies in a fire, how much sense will it make for you to find another Tim with the same afflictions.
Oh hey guys.. I know my child Tim was torn to shreds by the Dire Ape last week, but look.. i have another child.
I think you are asking the other players to stretch verisimilitude a bit too far.
Separatist and Undead Lord don't stack...
They both modify the Domain ability.
Undead Lord requires Death(Undeath) domain...and you don't gain a second domain to swap for separatist.
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And what if... it's actually gay zombie?
@OP
Well, you could cut of his tongue and say that he can't speak.
Disguise would help around with masking his undead state.
You will have problems with spells that auto detect undead or evil creatures tho. I wouldn't play this cleric with paladin or cleric of good deity in your party.
Sigh... these things rarely turn out well. I'd say "good luck" but since I actually think this sort of thing tends to create more problems than fun, I think that's a vain hope.
Put it in a set of full plate that is welded shut and can't be seen into . Then tell the party its your metal golem .
i'd say grab a wand or somesuch of gentle repose (as well as doing all those other things you listed). look into masking the undeadness of the child via spells or other magical effects. fully cover the body (robes/bandages/mask), treat it as a tome-minion, or a kid that passes the ammo in zombie-survival shows.
also, aren't you not allowed to resurrect something that is currently undead? i'd love to see how your character handles their eventual endgame: meeting pharasma, only for her to tell you you must destroy your child (so she can raise said child, not that she's revealing that).
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Just as a side note to this conversation, there's an interesting Paizo blog related to Pharasma and having a death deity who doesn't play nice with the traditional domains. It includes Pharasma-friendly alterations to the domain spell lists.
Of course if she's really receiving her spells from Urgathoa and only claims to be a Pharasma cleric, that might be something else entirely.
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As an alternative or suppliment to gentle repose try to get hold of some Ungent of Timelessness to help with preservation. When you hit second level spells think about undetectable alignment.
Also, Mister Jacobs may not approve, but the JuJu Oracle Mystery allows you to create neutral mindless undead, and intelligent undead who share your alignment. Maybe a dip there would be worth the effort?
Plus... think about joining the Whispering Way... all the cool (wannabe) undead kids are doing it these days! ;)
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Well, I like the idea that the source of her cleric powers is lying about being Pharasma. There are all sorts of nasty things out there that are willing to give out powers and eager to find a pliable, broken mind.
The fact you have to tell the kid everything can be covered up on the character's part. Saying the the child is traumatized (death tends to do that) and being one of "those" mothers ("Timmy, don't do this, Timmy don't do that, Timmy, stop picking your nose, Timmy, stop eating that little boy's brains"), you could come off as simply an over protective mother. I could even justify a lack of bluff entirely since she honestly believes in her delusion.
I think that maybe you should get a horse drawn carriage. Something simple and inconspicuous, and too small and crowded with possessions to let anyone else in. Have the zombie child stay in there "resting because he is sickly." Keeping it out of sight will help hide things. Plenty of strong smelling herbs and medicines could hide the smell and help with the cover. It probably won't help with magical detection (others have already given good ways of getting around that), but would would at least stop people from getting too curious.
A bag of holding might work for containing/perserving him.
a non evil worshipper of a more evil deity and the insane character THINKS she is worshipping pharasma, might work. Would need eschew materials so a divine focus was not required. (wrong holy symbol, couldnt cast spells)
a high bluff score won't help against PC's you can't Bluff or intimidate PCs. Those kinds of skills are limited only to modifying the reactions of NON Player characters.
I think it's an awesome idea personaly. A lot of people are saying, "No, it can't happen, the rules say this."
However, some of us are lucky enough to have GMs that work with us around the rules when we have a fun concept that doesn't break the game, and the other players are in on giving it a go.
People are making a lot of assumptions. This may be a neutral part, in which case, people may not care that it's an undead. He already said that she might actually be worshiping another god.
I don't think bluff is going to be required since your character believes that it is her child. Bluff is to convince others that you aren't lying... if you don't think you're lying, why would you need to convince them otherwise?
Is your child going to be a small undead or a full size undead? If small, maybe have it ride around on a pony or mule behind you wherever you go? I can see that as being believable. Keeping the child mounted so he doesn't tax himself following the party.
What happens if you go into a dungeon? Will you be taking your child with you or leaving him behind to "tend" the mounts and keep the camp?
Good luck with it, sounds fun!
Edit: As a way to get around a holy symbol if you don't actually worship Pharasma, maybe look into the Birthmark trait.
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My vote for the character's 'real' power source (like we get to vote... ;) ) would be Ruzel: Infernal Duke of blasphemy, humour and undeath. He's got the Death, Evil, Law, and Trickery Domains and his favoured weapon is a kukri. As a devil he is, of course, Lawful Evil. (Inside back cover of Book of the Damned Volume 1: Princes of Darkness)
Obviously the undeath part of his portfolio would fit, but I think both the blasphemy part (the Cleric is completely going against Pharasma's teachings in the worst possible way, but doesn't even know it herself) and humour part ('cos of both giving the finger to Pharasma, and - let's be honest here - Timmy the undead 'very special needs' child is going to be all sorts of funny... in a black humour type manner which seems fitting with an infernal duke) fit also.
I've run into two "Pharasman Heretic Death Lords" in PFS. The usual response is that the players have to have alternate characters of similar levels handy, because if they run into a GM at a con who objects to Pharasmans summoning or animating undead, Bad Things Happen.
I play a Pharasman Paladin/Shadowdancer. With her Shadow Companion bound to her. At the time I started the character, Inner Sea World Guide had not yet been published, and which Golarion deities definitively did and did not have Paladins had not been defined. You couldn't be a Paladin of an Evil or Chaotic god...but until it got defined further, it had been open to interpretation. (Paladins, unlike Clerics or Inquisitors, do not have to worship any deity, let alone one within one step of LG.)
Now, technically, she's a Lay worshipper of Pharasma who gets her Paladin abilities from Somewhere Else. I still play her as though she's a Pharasman communicant, and downplay her religion at the whim of the table I play at.
Here's her journal and justifications.
The transition from Paladin to Shadowdancer happens after Haunting of Hinojai, including some interludes in the Plane of Shadow. The Shadowling's entry into the narrative starts at The Green Market entry.
players often come up with brilliant concepts and ideas for a pc. This is one
BUT It is totally unsustainable though and will overshadow eveything
undead available to pcs area really powerful. There are just tons of issues that become non issues with undead in the party.
So may things that challenge pcs become irrelevant
we have just had this discussion in JR part 3
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I once had a Summoner who tried to disguise hhis Eidolon. As GM I even helped.
He left the table one day when I hit the Eidolon too hard and it left the plane. The player was so upset about his idea being destoyed that he left the table.
I learned from that. Your disguise will sooner or later end and you need to come clean with the other members of the group. Don't start if you don't have a plain b) for this day.
Of course if she's really receiving her spells from Urgathoa and only claims to be a Pharasma cleric, that might be something else entirely.
or might be getting her power from urgathoa, but being completely off her rocker, still thinks she worships pharasma
players often come up with brilliant concepts and ideas for a pc. This is one
BUT It is totally unsustainable though and will overshadow eveythingundead available to pcs area really powerful. There are just tons of issues that become non issues with undead in the party.
So may things that challenge pcs become irrelevantwe have just had this discussion in JR part 3
** spoiler omitted **
i'm not sure what youre talking about. seems no different than having any variant of summoner in the party (only much more limited). given that its better to kill stuff and animate it, rather than creating your own, you essentially become a demented pokemon trainer.
also yeah, undead are efficient. that said, how does the caravan thing bypass everything? bandits wont waylay it? PALADINS wont waylay it? worshippers of pharasma wont waylay it?
You don't have to feed or water undead horses.
You don't have to feed or water undead horses.
and they dont take penalties form exhaustion and such, i know. hence efficient. 'still doesnt prevent outside forces from intervening.
also having a high-speed horseback battle between a team of clerics/paladins and an undead chariot caravan would be a shame to pass up on. DM could model it pretty easily as a "chase".
While undead can easily be valuable resources to a party, that is the way people typically use undead, which is more like one would treat a cheap robot. This is a distraught mother who believes that if she cares for her child properly, her god will allow a resurrection. For her deception, she must convince everyone that he is still a living, if sickly and mentally disturbed, child. Depending on how crazy she is, she might forget he is undead and still treat him as such. Heck, I'd worry that it would get a distended stomach because she still tries to feed him.
Basically, for gameplay purposes, her child might as well be an actual small child. Just with a dark secret, that is readily shown if anyone ever took a proper look into the kid's face.