Gravedigger#

Necromancers who start with a shovel. A gravedigger works spirit, poison and rot, raises the dead to fight beside them and keeps the souls of the fallen to spend, which the Mage Spire forbids and most temples preach against.

How it plays#

A gravedigger rarely fights alone. From level 0 they raise corpses and summon a zombie, and every ten levels the summons add a new servant, up to a flesh golem at level 100. Intelligence leads. Charisma backs it, because the dead have to be told what to do and the living have to be talked out of burning you.

Between servants, a gravedigger poisons, blinds, silences and slows, and soulcraft gathers the souls of the fallen. A gathered soul gets spent: burned for damage, worn as a shield or fed to a servant. Gravediggers have the least health of any class, tied with the mageling, so the dead stand in front.

Gravediggers are one of the the weaves classes. Every ability, level by level, is under Abilities.

The road to Liche#

A gravedigger takes a new title at levels 100, 200, 300 and 400. A title can be declined; Five titles says what that means.

1. Level1
   Rank 1: Gravedigger

   Your class's own name. You earned it by doing the work, and nobody has to grant it.

2. Level100
   Rank 2: Ritualist

   A ritualist may claim the bodies of the executed and the unclaimed dead in any province that hasn't outlawed it. On paper, that's most of them.

3. Level200
   Rank 3: Warlock

   Warlocks may keep a bound spirit in a city without registering it. The temples have been trying to change that for two hundred years.

4. Level300
   Rank 4: Necromancer

   A necromancer's raised dead are their property under Narsian law, and Narsis has a market for them.

5. Level400
   Rank 5: Liche

   The last title. Nobody agrees whether a liche is still alive, so no court on the surface will try one.

Where they train#

Corvin Ashe has dug graves in the Fallen Kingdom for forty years, mostly for Maygonites who went into the ruins and didn’t come out whole. The spirits of old Esthar leave his cottage alone. Nobody has asked him why.

Find Corvin Ashe at a sexton’s cottage among the barrows of the Fallen Kingdom, in Esthar. Any trainer can take your training points, but titles are bestowed here. Where the classes train maps all fourteen.

How it shows#

None of this changes a roll. It’s how the people around you can tell what you are, if you let them.

• Flies won’t land on you, and dogs bark until you leave.
• Your hands are always cold, and smell faintly of turned earth however often you wash them.

How gravediggers see magic#

Gravediggers work spirit and the two seams spirit makes with its neighbors: the gray of rot where it meets earth and the gold of radiance where it meets fire. They feel magic as a pulse along lines that connect them to things. Every tradition, and what the scholars say underneath them.

Races that start closest#

The races whose starting scores sit nearest a gravedigger’s intelligence and charisma. Any race can be a gravedigger; the class finder and the race finder rank all of them.

Goblin The same two stats the other way around, and goblins have no fear of the dead. INT 12 · CHA 12 · AC 13 Sprite Intelligence 12 leads, and the dead talk to people who keep quiet. INT 12 · CHA 10 · AC 5 Pixie Pixies are tiny, all women, and as old a people as the elves. INT 11 · CHA 11 · AC 5 Orc Orcs are the children of daemunai and the giants of old. INT 11 · CHA 9 · AC 15

Rodes that suit#

A rode is the one path of trials a character walks from level 20. These are the ones that do the most for a gravedigger; the rode finder ranks all fourteen.

Knowledge Intelligence is a gravedigger's primary score, the one every skill it uses adds. The rode takes it past where training stops. Built for it · +1 to +5 INT Cognition A gravedigger's summons and curses all draw on willpower. Built for it · 1d4 to 1d20+10 willpower Influence Charisma backs a gravedigger's intelligence. The rode takes it past where training stops. Helps · +1 to +5 CHA

Tradesguilds that suit#

A character belongs to two tradesguilds at most. These are the ones whose work fits a gravedigger; the guild finder ranks all eleven.

Alchemy Gravediggers study death, and alchemy is the trade that knows exactly how much of what causes it. A natural fit · hall in Menusia Sigildry Plenty of what a gravedigger digs up is glass, clay or magical, and sigildry knows what to make of all three. Works well · hall in New Saellem Leatherworking Gravediggers aren't squeamish, which is most of what skinning takes. Works well · hall in Amari

What others say#

The empty graves

Graves Corvin dug himself are open in the Fallen Kingdom, from the inside, and their dead are walking north toward the Inner City in a line. Something is calling them, and Corvin wants to know who’s using his dead before the Grand Temple decides it was him.

Abilities#

A class teaches its abilities in disciplines, a handful of related abilities learned as you level. Most open at level 0 and add one every ten or twenty levels. The heroic disciplines open at level 50 and run to 100.

A cost in willpower or stamina is paid each time you use the ability. A passive works all the time, and a toggled ability stays on until you turn it off. Every ability starts at 0 efficacy and gets better with practice, as Levels explains.

PoisonsNecromancyRitualsSoulcraftCorruptionSpectral controlSummons

Poisons#

Spirit thrown as venom: sap, poison mist, bio, tendrils that leap between enemies, whispers of poison, and infections that stop wounds healing. 6 abilities, levels 0 to 50

SapLevel 0 · 25 willpower

Chance to stun enemy for one round, and does 1d8+INT mod spirit elemental damage.

Poison MistLevel 10 · 40 willpower

Deals 1d20 spirit elemental damage and then another 1d4 for 2 rounds.

BioLevel 20 · 50 willpower

Deal 2d20 spirit elemental damage.

Poison TendrilsLevel 30 · 40 willpower

Reach out and attack an enemy, the closest enemy nearby within 15yd, and the 2nd closest enemy nearby the target all for 1d10 spirit elemental damage.

Whispers Of PoisonLevel 40 · 50 willpower

Deal 1d6 spirit elemental damage for 2 rounds to target.

InfectLevel 50 · 35 willpower

Infect wound to prevent healing, lasts 8 rounds.

Necromancy#

Afflictions: blind, silence, slow, shatter and encase, and leech, which drinks a target's health. 6 abilities, levels 0 to 50

BlindLevel 0 · 20 willpower

Blind target for 1 round for every 20 player levels.

SilenceLevel 10 · 20 willpower

Prevent target from using spells for 1 round for every 20 player levels.

SlowLevel 20 · 20 willpower

Slow targets attack rating by 10 for every 50 player levels.

ShatterLevel 30 · 30 willpower

Break random bone in targets body. 1d4: 1:leg, 2:arm, 3:hand, 4:failure.

EncaseLevel 40 · 35 willpower

Prevents target from moving for 2 rounds or until attacked.

LeechLevel 50 · No cost

Takes 10 health from enemy and returns it as willpower.

Rituals#

Raising and keeping the dead: raise dead, animate dead, a shield of corpses, and spells that strengthen, revive or consume your own servants. 6 abilities, levels 0 to 50

Raise DeadLevel 0 · 20 willpower

Raise a soulless creature from a corpse to command.

Animate DeadLevel 10 · 20 stamina

Moves a soulless creature.

Corpse ShieldLevel 20 · 10 willpower

Forces target undead to protect caster from next attack.

Empower UndeadLevel 30 · 30 willpower

Gives target undead +10mhp/10lvls.

Revive UndeadLevel 40 · 25 willpower

Reassembles target destroyed undead to refight for the character.

Consume MinionLevel 50 · 5 willpower

Gives player a 10% of his base hp pool.

Soulcraft#

Gathering the souls of the fallen and spending them: to burn a foe, shield yourself or feed a servant. 7 abilities, levels 0 to 50

Gather SoulLevel 0 · Passive

Nearby deaths increase health by 1d12+6+intelligence modifier.

Absorb SoulLevel 0 · Passive

Nearby deaths increase stamina by 1d12+6+intelligence modifier.

Shackle SoulLevel 0 · 25 stamina

Prevent target from moving for 5 rounds.

Soul BurnLevel 20 · 30 stamina

Deal 3d12+intelligence modifier spirit damage to target.

Release SoulLevel 30 · 30 willpower

Stun target for 3 rounds by temporarily separating their soul from their body.

Soul ShieldLevel 40 · 20 stamina

Increase elemental resistance and reduce elemental amplitude by 30.

Infuse SoulLevel 50 · 20 stamina

Decrease elemental resistance and increase elemental amplitude by 30.

Corruption#

Rot: deteriorating flesh, plague, life funneled from enemies to you, acid and boiling blood. 6 abilities, levels 0 to 50

DeteriorateLevel 0 · 30 willpower

Causes bleeding damage (2d20) and wounds the target.

PlagueLevel 10 · 30 willpower

Infects target with transferable disease and opens 1d4 wounds/20lvls.

Funnel LifeLevel 20 · No cost

Gives 10 of players life to friendly target.

Acidic GeyserLevel 30 · 100 willpower

Strong elemental blast 20/20lvls earth and 20/20lvls air and 20/20lvls.

BoilLevel 40 · 20 willpower

Causes targets current disease and wounds to append double damage for 3 rounds.

CorruptionLevel 50 · 50 willpower

Forces target to protect player from attacks for 2 rounds.

Spectral control#

From level 60: tearing souls from the living, consuming them, and commanding death itself. 5 abilities, levels 60 to 100

Tear SoulLevel 60 · 100 willpower

Deal great damage to those who are nearing death.

Consume SoulLevel 70 · No cost

Deal damage to self in order to increase damage and chance to hit others for 5 rounds.

Command DeathLevel 80 · 50 willpower

Dc1/5wp-INT mod to push non-sentient soul from body and have held spectral command the target shall lose 1d20+char level damage on fall.

AbandonLevel 90 · 10 willpower

Spectral enters frenzy and explodes, dealing 3d20 and causes plague in 8yd radius.

OverflowLevel 100 · 20 willpower

Spectral feeds on enemies life for 2d20, upon death is given to nearby party in hp.

Summons#

A new servant every ten levels, a zombie at level 0 to a flesh golem at 100. 11 abilities, levels 0 to 100

Summon ZombieLevel 0 · 10 stamina

100 health+10/10lvls 1d4 unarmed +1hitroll/lvl +1damroll/5lvls (melee).

Summon Skeleton MercenaryLevel 10 · 20 stamina

110 health+10/10lvls 1d10 slash +1hitroll/lvl +1damroll/5lvls (melee).

Summon Skeleton TrackerLevel 20 · 30 stamina

80 health +10/10lvls 1d6 pierce +1hitroll/lvl +1damroll/5lvls (30yd range).

Summon Skeleton NihilistLevel 30 · 40 stamina

70 health +10/10lvls 1d8 fireball or 1d6 frostcone +1damroll/5lvls (30yd range).

Summon Zombie LordLevel 40 · 50 stamina

120 health + 10/10lvls 1d8 exotic +1hitroll/lvl +1damroll/5lvls (melee).

Summon Skeleton SavantLevel 50 · 60 stamina

120 health +10/10lvls 1d12bash +1hitroll/lvl +1damroll/5lvls (melee).

Summon Skeleton RangerLevel 60 · 70 stamina

90 health+10/10lvls 1d10pierce +1hitroll/lvl +1damroll/5lvls (30yd range).

Summon Skeleton WizardLevel 70 · 80 stamina

80 health+10/10lvls 2d10 magic missiles or 1d20 chain lightning +1damroll/5lvls (30yd range).

Summon SchillaLevel 80 · 90 stamina

100 health+10/10lvls 2d8 armor piercing +2damroll/5lvls (melee).

Summon Mud GolemLevel 90 · 100 stamina

120 health +10/10lvls 1d20 armor piercing +3damroll/5lvls (melee).

Summon Flesh GolemLevel 100 · 100 willpower

110 health+10/10lvls 1d10armor piercing +3damroll/5lvls +5 health regen/round (melee).

Proficiencies#

What the class can wield, wear and speak from the start, and the extra attacks it learns as it levels.

Weapons

Basic piercing

Armor

Light armor and medium armor

Languages

Common and infernal

Extra attacks

Second attack at level 30 and third attack at level 65

Combat puts these to use: weapons and extra attacks under Attacking, armor and parry, shield and dodge under Defending.

Magical Aptitude

Grants DC 18-INT mod to add 10 elemental or sub-elemental resistance against magical attacks. once per round.