Gantha the Graverobber--Character foir Review

[SKJAM!]

Gantha the GraverobberPlayer: NPC

Val	Char	Cost
12	STR	2
14	DEX	12
15	CON	10
10	BODY	0
11	INT	1
10	EGO	0
13	PRE	3
10	COM	0
2	PD	0
3	ED	0
3	SPD	6
5	REC	0
30	END	0
24	STUN	0

6" RUN02" SWIM02" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 34

Cost	Power	END
20	Purifying Light: Elemental Control, 40-point powers
7	1) Hands of Burning Light: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2 1/2d6 (40 Active Points); Only vs. diseases, disease-related beings and diseased beings Power loses about half of its effectiveness (-1), No STR Bonus (-1/2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2)	4
10	2) Disease, Be Gone!: Dispel 11d6, any disease-related power one at a time (+1/4) (41 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2)	4
14	3) Weaken the Grip of Disease: Suppress 6 1/2d6, any Disease-based power one at a time (+1/4) (41 Active Points); Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2)	4
10	The Goddess Protects Me From My Enemies: Life Support (Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents)	0

Powers Cost: 61

Cost	Skill
3	AK: Campaign Kingdom 12-
3	Breakfall 12-
3	Bureaucratics 12-
3	Climbing 12-
3	KS: Diseases and their treatment 12-
2	KS: Precepts of the Healing Goddess 11-
5	Paramedics 12-
2	PS: Healer 11-
3	Streetwise 12-
6	WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons, Off Hand, Staffs
9	+3 with Elemental Control

Skills Cost: 42

Cost	Perk
1	Fringe Benefit: Monk
2	Reputation: Crusader against disease (A medium-sized group (Worshippers of the Healing Goddess)) 11-, +2/+2d6

Perks Cost: 3

Cost	Talent
10	Divine Favor

Talents Cost: 10

Val	Disadvantages
20	Hunted: Minions of the Disease Gods (one at a time) 11- (As Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Harshly Punish)
15	Hunted: Priests of the Healing Goddess 11- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching)
15	Psychological Limitation: Hates Disease (Common, Strong)
25	Psychological Limitation: Will Never Lie (Very Common, Total)

Disadvantage Points: 75

Base Points: 75Experience Required: 0Total Experience Available: 0Experience Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 150

Height: 1.66 m	Hair: Brown
Weight: 70.00 kg	Eyes: Blue

Appearance: Gantha is on the short side, and looks scrawny, the reslut of a undernourished childhood. His hair is short, and arranged in the proper priestly fashion; he is clean-shaven. Gantha is seldom seen without his healer's robes, and if in a dangerous area will be wearing sturdy armor as well.Personality: Gantha is a firm believer in the healing goddess' core values of mercy, cleanliness and healthy living. But this does not prevent him from defending himself with all his might if he's attacked. His most obvious personality trait is that he never lies. He can refuse to answer a question, but everything he speaks must be true to the best of his understanding, and he will always distinguish fact from opinion or hearsay.Quote:"Rest easy now. I believe I know what is necessary to do."Background: Gantha was orphaned at an early age when his parents and siblings succumbed to plague. With no near relatives, and not yet old enough to work, the boy was kicked out into the streets to fend for himself. He joined a group of other homeless children and managed to scrape by.

 

The epidemic that took Gantha's family was just the start of a series of outbreaks in his home city. The disease was resistant to the normal spells of the healing goddess' priests. It could be treated, but that treatment was expensive, and catching the disease once did not immunize you against re-infection. The healing goddess' temple grew in wealth and power, though most of the priests were too busy to appreciate it. Many of Gantha's friends died from the plague, but no one cared, because they were penniless trash.

 

At last, Gantha came of an age where he could find employment. Knowing as he did how prevalent disease was in the city, he thought that perhaps the temple of the healing goddess would be hiring. As it happened, he arrived just as one of the acolytes was being dismissed for having caught the plague and concealed it until too late. The officious priest who'd done the firing asked Gantha, "Would you like a job?"

 

Being a truthful sort, Gantha said "Yes." The outgoing acolyte, pausing in his coughing, cursed Gantha, and gave him the epithet "Graverobber," which Gantha has borne ever since.

 

The first few months of Gantha's life in the temple were much like any other acolyte's. He fetched, carried, learned the basics of the religion and non-magical healing, and tended the sick.

 

But then one day as he was retrieving some rare herbs he'd been sent for, Gantha found himself in a part of the temple he'd never seen before. Strange and inhuman noises were coming from behind a door that stood just a little bit ajar. Curious like any teenager, Gantha peeked inside.

 

He soon wished he hadn't. The room was dominated by a large diorama of the city. Gantha recognized several of the landmarks. Suspended above the diorama by a set of chains that seemed rigged to move it anywhere over the diorama with ease was a hideous, malformed creature that combined the ugliest aspects of rat and worm. The creature seemed to be wounded; every so often a drop of ochre ichor gathered and dropped on the diorama below.

 

Gantha remembered seeing such a creature illustrated in one of the sacred texts. It was a disease demon! But what was it doing here, in the temple of healing? Certainly nothing good. He pulled a chain to swing the demon away from the diorama, intending to then call a priest to investigate. But something he'd done caused the binding to weaken, allowing the demon to break loose.

 

Worse, the demon was between Gantha and the door, and Gantha didn't have a weapon. Being a religious boy, he did the only thing that came to mind and prayed to the healing goddess for help.

 

*Do you really wish my help, Gantha? Are you willing to pay the price?* came a calm voice inside his head as Gantha ran from the demon's snapping teeth.

 

"As I am a truthful man, I do, and am!" shouted Gantha.

 

*Very well. I take your ability to deceive.*

 

Gantha's hands suddenly glowed with light, and he felt his confidence rising. He whirled on the demon and struck at it. "Begone, unclean thing!" The light ate into the creature, killing it.

 

It was at this point that other people arrived, attracted by the shouting. They witnessed Gantha destroying the demon, and several acolytes cheered. But a senior priest sank to his knees, moaning, "No, why wasn't the guard at the door? Everything's ruined now...."

 

While another senior priest tried to shut the first up, a tumult was heard from the infirmary. Eventually it was discovered that every sufferer from the plague that had haunted the city for so long had spontaneously gone into remission.

 

After much investigation, it was proved that several of the senior priests had secretly summoned the disease demon and created the diorama ritual in order to make themselves wealthy and powerful. They'd managed to conceal their loss of healing magic for years! With the loss of much of their management structure, the temple of the healing goddess had much to do to redeem themselves in the eyes of the people. Gantha did his best to aid them, as he was now endowed with a fraction of the goddess' power directly.

 

Since then, he has become a full-time healer, fighting disease wherever it raises its ugly head.

Powers/Tactics: Gantha is a trained healer who works for the temple of the healing goddess. He does not have the standard array of healing spells, but rather has a set of specialized abilities to fight disease. His touch harms beings who are diseased or disease-related, and can remove disease within a victim. He can even suppress the effects of disease at a distance.

 

He's had some training in basic combat techniques as well.

Campaign Use: Gantha the Graverobber was my player character in a PBM campaign run by Robin Laws many years ago; I've taken him a bit further down the road. He's a variant healer-type for campaigns that need one. To make him more powerful, give him some regular healing spells as well; if he's too powerful, take off the weapons skills and combat levels. He'll only hunt minions of the disease gods, and even then will usually work with his temple to deal with them.

 

_Plot Seeds_

 

"Saving Princess Rita": A politically powerful person, best if you can make it the player characters' patron, has a child who has come down with a mysterious illness. The local medical personnel are baffled, so it's time to call in a specialist, Gantha the Graverobber. But it had better be quick, the victim doesn't have long to live.

 

"The Only Truth is Death": Gantha recently treated a corrupt official, whose fever made him babble some unpleasant facts that the official would prefer remain hidden. As Gantha never lies, there's only one way to ensure his silence. Player characters may be hired as either assassins or defenders.

 

"And Who Will Speak For the Mosquitos ?": Gantha has come to a small, isolated village, and discovered that the cause of frequent disease outbreaks is the nearby contaminated swamp. By a happenstance of geography, this particular swamp is placed such that it could be relatively easily drained, making it harmless. But his attempts to convince the villagers to do this have met with opposition from the local druid-type, who believes that this will disrupt the balance of nature. The village is divided against itself, tempers are flaring, and it would be very helpful if someone with a level head helped negotiate the situation.

[Frenchman]

Re: Gantha the Graverobber--Character foir Review

 

Cool, I like him.

 

If you want a few more points, you should add Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2) to the EC, netting you 7 more to increase your dispel with, since most diseases have 100+ active points, so mayby you should consider buying it with cumulative.

[SKJAM!]

Re: Gantha the Graverobber--Character foir Review

 

A good point; I've made some adjustments for the Hero Designer version I've attached.