Death

The God of Death is, naturally, a terrifying figure whom man regards as an enemy, an unavoidable doom.

But this doesn't mean that death-gods are evil. Most, in fact, are true neutral. A death-god can be the King of the Land of the Dead, the Grim Reaper who cuts down the living, or the Guide of the Souls who helps the departed spirit on to its reward or next existence.

Priests of the death-god are often agents who must "help" people on to the afterlife, especially if such people have successfully thwarted Death in the past. This duty may take the form of assassination, or of mercy-killing. In some campaigns, spirits sometimes escape the afterlife and return to the land of the living; the death-god's priests must hunt them down and capture them for return to their proper place.

Death-gods are equally likely to be male or female.

The priests of this god are on good terms with the priests of Ancestors, Community, Darkness/Night, Disease, Justice/Revenge, Life-Death-Rebirth Cycle, and Time. Priests of this god are sometimes (at individual DM discretion) allies of the priests of the philosophy of Evil, but this is actually not common, regardless of how scary the god of Death might be. The priests of this god dislike the priests of Fertility and Healing, and (at the DM's discretion) Strength.

Alignment: The deity is usually completely neutral. His priests may be of any alignment: Some will be evil-doers who serve him by sending souls to him as fast as possible, while others could be good priests guiding their followers to their inevitable destiny. The flock can be of any alignment, but the evil ones will specifically be followers of evil priests.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 9. Wisdom 16 means +10% experience.

Races Allowed: Dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, halflings, humans.

Nonweapon and Weapon Proficiencies: Nonweapon Proficiencies Required: Religion. Nonweapon Proficiencies Recommended: Reading/Writing. Weapon Proficiencies Required: Scythe. Nonweapon Proficiency Group Crossovers: Priest, General.

Duties of the Priest: Guidance. Vigilance against any being which is unnaturally keeping Death at bay. The key word here is unnaturally, meaning in defiance of the gods. Wizards using potions of longevity are okay, until they reach an age of three hundred or so, at which time these priests become their enemies. Healers who cure injury and disease are accepted, unless they stumble onto some technique or magic that allows them to imbue immortality. Even priests who can resurrect or reincarnate are acceptable, because if the gods didn't want them to be able to, they wouldn't have given them the ability to do this.

Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Weapons Permitted: Battle axe (usually styled as a headman's axe), dagger/dirk, knife, lasso (often tied in the fashion of a noose), scythe, sickle, stiletto, sword/khopesh, sword/short. Armor Permitted: None; no shields. All together, these constitute Medium combat abilities.

Other Limitations: Priests of the god of Death must remain celibate. They need not remain chaste.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Astral, Charm, Divination, Protection. Minor Access to Guardian, Necromantic, Sun, Weather. Option: Evil priests can substitute major access to Healing for major access to Protection, but can only use the reversed versions of the Healing spells.

Powers: Inspire Fear (Designing Faiths chapter). Command Undead (same as the evil Cleric ability). The priest of the Death-god does not have to be evil in order to use this power. This is a rare exception to the rule that only evil priests can command undead.

Followers and Strongholds: The followers are received at 8th level, and consist of three third-level priests and six first-level priests of the same order, plus special agents whose class is determined by the specific aspect of the god; these agents consist of one fifth-level character, two third-level characters, and four first-level characters. If this is a fearsome, terrifying god of death, these agents will be thieves who act as assassins. If it is a god of the collection of the dead, one who escorts the dead souls to their final rewards, the agents will be specialist wizards: Necromancers. If it is a god of rulership, one who presides over the afterworld, they will be fighters. The priest may take the following on adventures: Two priests and three agents of his choice. The priesthood will pay for half of the cost of stronghold construction at 8th level.

Possible Symbols: Gates, Gravestone, Scissors, Scythe, Shroud, Skull.

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