Coroner/Medical Examiner

You confront death not with fear, but with curiosity and respect. Where others turn away, you lean closer, seeking the truths that only the silent can tell. Perhaps you were trained by a detective agency, a physician’s guild, or a temple charged with tending the dead. Maybe you’ve witnessed too many lives cut short and swore to give voice to the voiceless. Or perhaps your fascination with anatomy and mortality has always driven you into places others would not tread. Whether you serve justice, knowledge, or compassion, you walk the line between life and death, uncovering the secrets written in wounds, bones, and breath.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Medicine, Investigation, or Insight

Tool Proficiencies: Healer’s kit, calligrapher’s supplies, herbalism kit

Equipment: A healer’s kit, herbalism kit, a book of anatomical sketches and case notes, a set of common clothes, and 10 gp

Suggested Characteristics

Coroners and medical examiners are shaped by constant exposure to death, mystery, and the fragile line between the two. Some become clinical and detached, others deeply reverent, and a few develop a dark sense of humor to cope with their work. Use the following tables to supplement your background’s suggested characteristics or to inspire those of your own design.

d12	Personality Trait
1	I remain calm in the face of blood, gore, or death, seeing them as part of life’s cycle.
2	I have a dry, morbid sense of humor that often surprises or unsettles others.
3	I keep a silent ledger of every life I’ve examined, and I cannot forget any of them.
4	I treat the living as I treat the dead — objectively, and sometimes a little clinically.
5	I am endlessly curious, always asking “why” and “how,” even in dangerous situations.
6	I keep meticulous notes, sketches, or records of everything I observe.
7	I feel a deep respect for life and death alike, and rarely take either lightly.
8	I tend to distance myself emotionally from others to protect myself from loss.
9	I am fascinated by unusual injuries, diseases, or magical phenomena and cannot resist investigating them.
10	I often speak bluntly, stating facts others might find uncomfortable or harsh.
11	I see patterns in chaos that others cannot, which sometimes makes me seem eccentric or strange.
12	I have a habit of silently cataloging people and events as if they were specimens or case studies.

d12	Ideal
1	Every body has a story to tell; it is my duty to uncover it. (Lawful)
2	Life and death deserve dignity, no matter who they belong to. (Good)
3	I work to ensure the guilty cannot escape the consequences of their actions. (Lawful)
4	Knowledge drives me — every wound and corpse is a puzzle to be solved. (Neutral)
5	I seek to ease suffering whenever I can, in life or in death. (Good)
6	Emotions cloud judgment; I must remain impartial to uncover the truth. (Neutral)
7	If I can save even one life, I have redeemed the lives I could not. (Good)
8	Chaos breeds mistakes; meticulous procedure is the path to understanding. (Lawful)
9	Understanding death may reveal the secrets of life itself. (Neutral)
10	I defend the living from the same fates that befall the dead. (Good)
11	My skills were given for a purpose — I must use them fully, without hesitation. (Lawful)
12	Life and death are intertwined; both deserve acknowledgment and respect. (Neutral)

d12	Bond
1	I owe everything to the mentor or agency that trained me in my craft.
2	An unsolved case from my past haunts me, and I will not rest until I find closure.
3	I owe much to my vanished mentor. I seek to continue their work even as I search to find them.
4	Someone once escaped justice because of my failure; I am determined it won’t happen again.
5	I carry a token from a patient or corpse whose story I never finished.
6	My companions are more than allies — they are the only people I want to protect from death.
7	I am bound by a personal oath to uncover hidden truths, no matter the danger.
8	I have made a promise to a loved one to prevent unnecessary death or suffering.
9	A particular family, organization, or city trusts me to handle their secrets and tragedies.
10	I feel a responsibility to educate others about life, death, and the consequences of their actions.
11	I am committed to exposing corruption, deceit, or malpractice wherever I find it.
12	I secretly hope that understanding death fully might allow me to save someone I could not before.

d12	Flaw
1	I sometimes treat the living with the same cold detachment as the dead.
2	I am obsessed with mysteries and can’t let a case go, even at great personal risk.
3	I speak bluntly and without tact, often offending those around me.
4	I struggle to form deep bonds, fearing loss or betrayal.
5	I occasionally cross ethical lines in the name of research or discovery.
6	I rely too heavily on logic, dismissing emotions and intuition as irrelevant.
7	I have difficulty letting go of past mistakes, haunting myself with every failure.
8	I am prone to overanalyzing, delaying action while seeking perfection.
9	I sometimes become fascinated by gruesome or macabre details to the point of distraction.
10	I fear losing control when confronted with death I cannot explain.
11	I can become obsessed with proving myself or my findings, ignoring others’ perspectives.
12	I am haunted by the faces of those I could not save, and it affects my judgment.