Build me a Mortician

[rgrove0172]

Im working on some locations within Ridonport for a current game and had an idea for an Elvin mortician who uses a few simple spells to clean up and help preserve dead before they can buried. Her achemical practices also provide magical ingredients to those she trusts. Im invisioning a once pretty powerful individual who turned to a more simple life after some traumatic event.

Alamriel's Sepulchre is the name of the character and her establishment.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

What level should she be? Are you at all expecting she'll fight against or alongside the PCs? How should her ability scores be determined? Is a gestalt allowed? Is anything off-limits?

[Rynjin]

Well, your options are really Cleric, Oracle, Witch, Sorcerer, or Wizard since I assume you want Gentle Repose.

Personally I might go with Witch since you want an alchemy bent as well, and the Cauldron Hex is a good 'un for that (Brew Potion and +4 to Craft:Alchemy) along with the Int focus. Probably has the Death patron. Good flavor wise and gives her a bunch of spells that definitely give off the "I used to be a badass and can kill you with a thought, but now I just wanna be left alone. But if you f!!& with me I will MESS YOU UP." vibe.

[lantzkev]

Vivesectionist alchemist archetype, or a cleric with repose domain (or inquisitor with it?)

[rgrove0172]

I was considering a Cleric of Pharasma as she operates outside the city's "Mort Wardens", who are the official tenders of the dead. I wanted to give her a feel of authority yet charity as she cares for those who cannot afford the inflated fees of the city government.

She is just a fixture at the moment, a bit of color while the PC attend a funeral but there is a side plot brewing that might bring them into conflict with her and her secret past.

Hmm, a witch huh? Id rather go with the priestess angle I think, although from a strictly mechanics point of view I suppose it doesnt matter, whatever fits best.

[The Shaman]

Well, the witch has a patron and somewhat different spells, but nothing says she can´t be a witch that effectively acts as a cleric. Devotion is not limited to divine casters, and she may even be recognized and accepted in the church hierarchy (or not). The cleric is an ok option, but they tend to be a bit short on skill points for the job. Oracles would work better, but I´m not sure there is a nice mystery for the job... life feels a bit weird her, and bones tends to be a bit too focused on raising undead, not preventing them.

I would have gone with an alchemist, but I am not sure they can get gentle repose and the other staple anti-undead measures on their list without some houseruling.

[Tangaroa]

Alamriel as a cleric

[Douglas Muir 406]

A recurring NPC in my last campaign was a gnome necromancer. He worked as a mortician / undertaker with a side business as an information broker.

An undertaker who's a necromancer? Hey, who's going to do a better job? And his alignment happens to be LN -- he's eccentric, but absolutely trustworthy. He has a very rigid code: if you give him a body to prepare for burial, he does that. (And very well, too). He's not turning any bodies into undead unless he pays for them first -- that side of the business is related, but separate.

He gets plenty of raw material for necromancy by dealing with the poor. Grandpa's dead, and the family has no money for a proper funeral? The gnome will do him up right, so that the whole neighborhood admires it... and then take Grandpa's corpse as payment, to be rendered into pieces for a skeleton, carrion golem, or what have you. But only if that's the deal! If you're paying full price, he'll prepare your corpse properly, provide a decent burial in a good coffin, and never look back. (In fact, he's very aware of issues related go ghouls, grave-raiding corpse robbers, and the like. And very good at preventing such unlawful interferences. He's wiped out at least one ghoul pack before it could get going, and turned a couple of tomb raiders in to the authorities. Really, he just hates that sort of thing.)

Also, sometimes people just need to dispose of a body, you know? And when that's the case, don't you want to deal with someone of proven trustworthiness? So he has contacts with both organized crime and the authorities -- lawful neutral, not lawful good. Hence the "information broker" sideline.

And, yeah, he's got a back room full of undead.

I don't have his stats at hand, but IMS he was something like Bard 1 / Exp 1 / Necromancer 7. (He started down the common-for-gnomes bard track before finding his true calling.) Max ranks in Profession (undertaker). Spells were built around information and defense rather than combat per se. He was never an antagonist for my PCs... more of a recurring NPC and occasional source of useful information. (You can guess what sorts of payment he wanted.)

Doug M.

[Rynjin]

Lemme guess, he charged an arm and a leg.

Eh? Eh?

I'll show myself out.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

lantzkev wrote:

Vivesectionist alchemist archetype, or a cleric with repose domain (or inquisitor with it?)

*ZZZZZZZZT!* WRONG! The correct answer would be: Reanimator.

Reanimator Alchemist (which can dovetail, as my Organized Play Alchemist does, with Chirurgeon, for what it's worth) was my first thought when I saw rgrove0172's initial request, but yeah, that whole gentle repose issue...on the other hand, it's a powerful NPC in a home game, so you'd have no trouble saying she researched and developed her own gentle repose formula in the manner the core rules already describe, which she injects into bodies the same way Reanimators inject their special formulae into corpses already...or, you know, not that different from how real-world embalmers do what they do. Rynjin does make a good point about Witches and the Cauldron hex...but I think I'm onto something, wouldn't you say?

@Douglas Muir 406: Hmm, about that character of yours...you sure he wouldn't be better off as a venerable-aged Githzerai named Dhall? It's just that reading your description kind of gives me this crawling sensation in the back of my skull....

[Rynjin]

Y'know, I thought there was an Alchemist archetype that had it but I just wasn't sure.

That's probably your perfect match, though I do think the Witch is a good one too, with a bit more raw power behind it if you wanted her to come out of retirement at some point.