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« on: September 04, 2010, 06:10:50 AM »
So I wanna offer one of my players a fancy new template, sort of a Prestige Class if you will. I'd like some help fine tuning.
The Caretaker
Not all powers are ancient, and not all bargains were struck before time was time. There are, occasionally new things under the sun. At least new in certain places. King Solomon was a drunk, and a man so indebted he became the only white man owned by an African American in Lexington, KY. During the cholera outbreak that killed a quarter of the city and ran off another quarter, Solomon stayed behind and dug graves, allegedly being able to beat back the water contaminant because, as a drunk, he never drank water. He became a hero and local legend, and the extra bodies made Lexington Cemetery, already home to some of the most distinguished dead of the region, a place of history.
Solomon actually never died. Nor was it his drinking habits that saved his life. He became the Caretaker. Working tirelessly and selflessly and bond was struck, wordlessly, naturally, between Solomon, the heart of the city, and the dead. In the cemetery, Solomon is practically immortal. His body can recover from any wound or illness, even the ravages of time. He communes easily with the spirits of the cemetery, and has little difficulty with them anywhere else for that matter. And if the spirits ever get restless, his shovel, endowed with some extra spiritual weight, has little problem keeping them in line. But this power, as all power, comes with cost. Solomon's strength is tied to the land, tied to the city, tied to the cemetery. The further from these bounds he travels, the more vulnerable he becomes. Outside of the city, he'll even begin to age normally. But Solomon has always been a simple man, always been a homebody, needing only a jug and a job. He's never left the city. Not in nearly two hundred years. But Solomon has a feeling that his time might be up. And that another Caretaker must be named.
So that's what I want the template to be, story wise. Those are the functions. To restate; some sort of invulnerability tied to his proximity to the cemetery, and, if necessary the city itself, the ability to commune with, and sense the proximal dead, the ability to get them to notice him effortlessly, and his magic shovel which can affect any incorporeal creature (possibly even blamps in mist form?).
What I'm thinking to accomplish the invulnerability is either:
The closer to the cemetery the greater the recovery: mythic inside, inhuman and furthest useful range.
OR
Feeding Dependency: The further away from the cemetery, the more Hunger Stress it costs.
I'm also considering allowing him to buy strength and or toughness (but not speed, wouldn't make sense), but that's a buy-in.
The ghost stuff will be innate to the template as it's not actual ectomancy per se, since he's not actually using thaumaturgy. Also, he can't control or manipulate spirits, just talk to them, and he doesn't have to "get them to acknowledge him" like it says in the book. He's "on their wavelength" so to speak. The shovel's just a shovel (though maybe a Weapon: 3 shovel just for yucks), but I'm considering a Stunt that's something like "It's an extension of my will" that lets him roll his Fists to use it instead of Weapons.
What do you guys think?
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