Newbie to the game: Non-Evil Necromancer

[blackstaff67]

Does he even want the job?  If not, a good High Aspect may be, "God help me, I'm the new Servitor of Death" or "Servitor of Death in Spite of himself"

Works for Senior Council member McCoy, works for me.

[Mrmdubois]

Pretty much anything with Pratchett's Death in it is pure gold.

As it turns out he's only the Death of the Discworld and thus an emissary of the Death of Everything.  So you could run with an idea like that too for your high concept.  He also could "split" off smaller and smaller emissaries like the Death of Rats.

[Oblyss]

Pretty much anything with Pratchett's Death in it is pure gold.

As it turns out he's only the Death of the Discworld and thus an emissary of the Death of Everything.  So you could run with an idea like that too for your high concept.  He also could "split" off smaller and smaller emissaries like the Death of Rats.

That's a really neat idea, my GM is also a huge discworld fan. And you're definitely thinking along the lines I am, I want my character to become the new "Death" for the setting, now. Your idea is interesting because it'd suggest while she might be the "Death" for the setting, she'd have another Death above her as her boss for lots of different realities. Keep's the emissary servant position while giving them a station of importance of being Death's personification.

This is of course only for the European/American version of it, and things such as Valkyries(Nordic psychpomps respectively) and the like would exist alongside her in their own realms and lore positions.

I had been a little unsure who to make her boss out to be, but your idea would work really well. I'm sure my GM would love it being a big Discworld fan, so definitely thanks.

Does he even want the job?  If not, a good High Aspect may be, "God help me, I'm the new Servitor of Death" or "Servitor of Death in Spite of himself"

Works for Senior Council member McCoy, works for me.

Hah! That's a neat thought, I'm not sure yet really. I probably still have a few weeks before it starts to come up in game, I'll have to see what kind of dark situation my GM throws me into and how they depict the job offering. Really the position doesn't seem all that bad to me the player but who knows. I'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

She currently has a warden looming in the background out to get her so, this might be just the thing to give her some social armor against him trying to get her killed. It'd also give her a new power source to stop using Kemmler magic which would make the White Council happy.. I uh think. I imagine they'd prefer the natural workings of Death to Kemmler's works.

[JDK002]

As far as the IoP, if you really want a scythe you could pull an "incredible vanishing weapon" ability into it. 

One of my players has a custom IoP called a Hellfire Sword.  Narrativly these swords were made by the fallen during the rebellion against The White God.  It has a stunt folded into it that allows the sword to materalize in the players hand, but not "call" it to her if she's disarmed.

You could also play with the physical nature of the item.  Say two small hand scythes, similar to kamas, that link together as sort of a double bladed staff if you really wanna play it up haha.  If you have ever played Darksiders 2 you'll know where I'm getting this from.  xD

[Oblyss]

As far as the IoP, if you really want a scythe you could pull an "incredible vanishing weapon" ability into it. 

One of my players has a custom IoP called a Hellfire Sword.  Narrativly these swords were made by the fallen during the rebellion against The White God.  It has a stunt folded into it that allows the sword to materalize in the players hand, but not "call" it to her if she's disarmed.

You could also play with the physical nature of the item.  Say two small hand scythes, similar to kamas, that link together as sort of a double bladed staff if you really wanna play it up haha.  If you have ever played Darksiders 2 you'll know where I'm getting this from.  xD

Hah nice, yeah I noticed some things like that around here. I think I'm gonna run with the Mantle of Death idea though. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Mrmdubois]

So your character is/was a mortal who becomes the personification of Death for the Dresdenverse.  Reminds me of Mort from Pratchett.  Basically Death wanted a vacation so he hired Mort to be his replacement.  Even if that isn't how your character became the new Death there isn't anything to say the old Death isn't still around somewhere.  Which could be good for plot hooks as he mentors or makes troubles for your character.

[Oblyss]

So your character is/was a mortal who becomes the personification of Death for the Dresdenverse.  Reminds me of Mort from Pratchett.  Basically Death wanted a vacation so he hired Mort to be his replacement.  Even if that isn't how your character became the new Death there isn't anything to say the old Death isn't still around somewhere.  Which could be good for plot hooks as he mentors or makes troubles for your character.

Yeah, that's near exactly along the lines of what I was thinking. Of course they aren't going to be getting super powerful from it or anything, and it's only for the one specific version of Death I figure. I'm still not 100% how my GM is going to run it but I had figured along the lines of what you said, that either the old Death is, dead, retiring, on vacation and it's my char's job now. They'll have to answer to Death's old Boss along with maybe the Old Death themselves, being mentored by them. Or if they're dead, maybe first order of business is investigating who killed them. In which case, Azrael would be a great choice for Death's Boss I think, since we've personally seen Angels in Dresden files. Though, maybe they don't go around showing themselves off to be an angel and just keep it to themselves.

Like you said, all of those options have some good plot hooks to some degree. I think the old Death being alive and retiring is my favorite choice.

[Haru]

So your character is/was a mortal who becomes the personification of Death for the Dresdenverse.  Reminds me of Mort from Pratchett.  Basically Death wanted a vacation so he hired Mort to be his replacement.  Even if that isn't how your character became the new Death there isn't anything to say the old Death isn't still around somewhere.  Which could be good for plot hooks as he mentors or makes troubles for your character.

Actually, the story from the book would make for a great introduction to death for your character.

(click to show/hide)

Mort is supposed to take a beautiful young woman, but instead he falls in love with her and spares her life. Since she was supposed to die, reality starts collapsing around them.

Oh, and the name is a variation on the German word "Mord", I think, meaning "murder". I'm not sure Pratchett intended that, but it's still a cool fact, I think.

Oh, there is also "Reaper Man" from Pratchett, where Death is sent into retirement. There are quite a few cool things there, that might give you some ideas as well.

[Oblyss]

Actually, the story from the book would make for a great introduction to death for your character.

(click to show/hide)

Mort is supposed to take a beautiful young woman, but instead he falls in love with her and spares her life. Since she was supposed to die, reality starts collapsing around them.

Oh, and the name is a variation on the German word "Mord", I think, meaning "murder". I'm not sure Pratchett intended that, but it's still a cool fact, I think.

Oh, there is also "Reaper Man" from Pratchett, where Death is sent into retirement. There are quite a few cool things there, that might give you some ideas as well.

That's all really interesting hah, wow. Will definitely have to look into it thanks.

[Mrmdubois]

Like I said, anything with Pratchett's Death is pure gold.

Actually, Death's grand daughter is an interesting example to draw from as well because she basically does what your character is doing on a sporadic but consistent basis.  In her downtime she nannies and teaches history classes and is fantastically unconventional and awesome at both.  Helped by the Death super power package which got in her jeans (Spelled it right) from birth.

[Oblyss]

Hah, yeah I can see it. I might have to pick up the Discworld stuff next after I finish Side Jobs. Audio books makes school work a lot more bearable.

Edit: Welp nevermind. My Gm had already approved the idea when I asked "So my char can be the new death?" but is now saying it's not what they intended from the start, so probably just scratching the entire thing. Mechanically it's the same thing, but they are just figuring on my char being labeled a servant of Death. And my GM isn't one to compromise.

[Mrmdubois]

That would still seem to allow you to pull ideas from Mort and Susan.

[Oblyss]

That would still seem to allow you to pull ideas from Mort and Susan.

Yeah but my GM wasn't really interested in the ideas I'm afraid and it just wasn't sounding as neat at the point, but I've been talking to them about other ideas and I think we're close to settling on one.

I still have to talk to them but I think I have a 'winner' idea this time, as in one they'll accept. We just gotta hammer out some details, which at this point I am not concerned about and the GM can rule what they like and I will just be happy to have an idea done.

I'm still not 100% on the main idea, but currently I am thinking one of these two ideas.

The Grey Knight
The Black Knight

The GM wants something with some lore backing it, otherwise I would jump at the Grey Knight idea, it just sounds great to me. The black knight is fun too, but I've just leaned more towards the whole "Grey" theme in recent years. Sadly, there's just nothing in legend about something like that, so my GM probably won't be up for it, I'll have to wait and see later today. Though The Black Knight on the other hand has a decent bit of legends and historical value to them. And even in the legends it was more of a title than a person, so that's a plus.

One problem is, what kind of job would either of these knights have. Who would be their boss?

Well there's all sorts of ways to go with that, maybe the Erlking, or maybe they don't have an existing boss, and instead have a longterm mission.

Maybe it's the mantle of a longdead court and they are the new protector, or ruler, of it and it's their mission to resurrect the court. In a sort of "Hey kid, here's a burnt down Denny's restaurant, if you fix it it's yours."  Sort of deal. Just some thoughts on one way it could go.

And on the Item of Power, I found a great one to go with whatever sort of Knight I make. One I never hear mentioned much but I think sounds really neat to use, "The Vorpal Blade". And I'd love to hear any stat suggestions on that.

Thank you again, for all the various input thus far!

[Mrmdubois]

A grey knight exists in all kinds of literature, you just have to slap the title onto the myths, legends or literature that you're drawing from.  Lancelot was a grey knight, King Arthur's strongest, most loyal and also incredibly flawed for example.  I might be misunderstanding what you mean when you say grey though, elaborate please?

[Oblyss]

A grey knight exists in all kinds of literature, you just have to slap the title onto the myths, legends or literature that you're drawing from.  Lancelot was a grey knight, King Arthur's strongest, most loyal and also incredibly flawed for example.  I might be misunderstanding what you mean when you say grey though, elaborate please?

No I believe you understood perfectly, and that's a great idea. I didn't think about just giving titles to existing lore. Your example actually fits in really well with my plan for this title's position. Arthurian legend is one of my favorites, and was the one I had in mind. I was sort of thinking of The Grey Knight being Camelot's version of their "Winter Knight". Of course they have a number of knights just hanging on every corner. There would be the knights of the round table who answer only to Arthur, and are considered the most noble of his knights. And then his Grey Knight is more of his personal enforcer, and considered the least noble, though still is forced to follow Arthur's code of valor unless specifically ordered otherwise.

And I'd say for fun's sake they are considered one of the knights of the round as well. That's the basic idea I've got now anyway. It'd also help lead my character away from the kemmler history they have might make the Council a little less freaked out, somewhat.

Edit: Yeah cool, thanks a bunch Mrmdubois. My Gm seems on board with this Grey Knight idea now. We worked out most the details on why and how it'll happen, except for why my char will agree to it.