Gravedigger

 

Gatherer, embalmer and keeper of the dead, your constant companion in life is the stench of rotting flesh. You've spent countless hours cutting, sewing, and burying bodies, be they a lowly criminal or an old man dead from the plague. Criminals, courtesans, peasants and politicans all flee your presence, seeking the safety of closed doors and peaked curtains, fearful that they may be the next to ride upon your sullen cart.

Skill Proficiencies: 2 of Religion, Nature, Stealth, Medicine

Tool Proficiencies: Vehicles (Land)

Languages: None

Equipment: A shovel or pick, a set of ragged clothes and a belt pouch containing 5 gp.

Suggested Characteristics

Whether through necessity of one’s station in life; a streak of morbidity, or a greed for the possesions of the dead, gravediggers are a motley assortment. Classes, cultures and mindsets vary wildly in them. No two gravediggers are alike, one may be a quiet, morbid mortician while another is an eccentric experimenter, stitching flesh and bone together in their spare time.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I have trouble when interacting with the living, and prefer the quiet soil of a graveyard.
2	I etch my signature into the tombstones of people I bury.
3	I frequently speak with the dead, and occasionally the dead speak back.
4	I have a deep reverence for graves, and grave sites.
5	I take a small token or trophy from every body I inter.
6	I care not for material goods, they will not save you from the worms.
7	I am secretive about my past and rarely make friends, if at all.
8	I have the utmost respect for the deceased, and their legacy.

d6	Ideal
1	Respect. All are equal before death, and all deserve equal respect. (Good)
2	Tradition. The funeral rites and traditions are the strongest bind between generations, and must be upheld. (Lawful)
3	Nature. Everyone and everything is part of the cycle, and all must return to the dirt eventually. (Neutral)
4	Usefulness. The dead are merely a tool, I merely preserve them for others to use. (Evil)
5	Chance. Life is one giant gamble. Whether you die in a glorious last stand, or from choking on a apple seed, it doesn't matter how life ends. It can all end in a moment, so do what you must. (Chaotic)
6	Knowledge. Death has much to teach, and we must learn. (Any)

d6	Bond
1	Desecrating a grave is a personal insult to me.
2	My desire for interaction with the living makes me loyal to a fault.
3	I became a gravedigger to hide my royal heritage.
4	I took up this mantle to ensure those in my village never become a necromancers puppet.
5	My religious faith is absolute. It protects me from the powers of death and decay.
6	I owe my life to my mentor, who took me off the streets and taught me this accursed trade.

d6	Flaw
1	I always strip the dead of any valuables before I bury them.
2	My obsession with death goes well beyond what is considered healthy.
3	I am obsessed with antique items buried with the dead.
4	Death is inevitable, and I will do nothing to halt its march.
5	I have no qualms using my position to cover up murders and other crimes.
6	A life of being a social outcast has made me suspicious what the intentions of the living are.