PRIEST-CLERIC KIT

Undertaker

Description:  Undertakers live apart from civilization, keeping mostly to the 
temples and monasteries of their faith, separated from the world of the living.  
They pray for and meditate upon the dead, occasionally emerging from their 
religious communities, always in ceremonial white (NG), gray (N), red (LN), or 
black (NE) robes, to perform funerary rites for persons of importance or high-
ranking members of the faith or to perform urgent quests or missions for their 
divine patron, which often involve laying a troubled spirit to rest.  In a way, 
Undertakers serve as mentors and guides for the spirits of the dead, and they 
also often provide shelter and information to adventurers whose interests 
coincide with their own, including those who wish to visit the spirits of the 
dead in the Outer Planes.  Sometimes a lone Undertaker will wander the world, 
seeking personal enlightenment and spreading the faith of his or her deity while 
also preaching the divinely ordained segregation of the Living and the Dead.  
Those who thwart this natural order (specifically undead creatures or living 
people who have cheated death too many times) do so at the risk of being paid a 
cheerless visit by one or more somber-faced Undertakers seeking to restore the 
divine balance.

Undertakers can be humans, aasimars, tieflings, half-elves, or dwarves.  They 
must have a very balanced and dispassionate outlook on the world, requiring them 
to have at least one neutral component in their alignment; however, chaotic 
individuals simply cannot maintain the nearly monastic self-control and even 
temperament required of a Undertaker.  A Undertaker must have at least a 16 
Wisdom and 9 Intelligence.

Weapons & Armor:  Undertakers can wield any weapon normally allowed to priests 
of their faith, and in addition they can always wield the following weapons:  
knife/dagger (any), scimitar, scythe, sickle, or staff.  Undertakers must wear 
their ceremonial robes at all times and are forbidden from wearing armor, though 
they may use shields.

Special Benefits:  Death Lords gain spell access and granted powers as do other 
Clerics of their faith, 

Ceremony:  As a typical Cleric, although a Undertaker learns a much smaller set 
of rituals than normal:

1st	burial
3rd	consecrate item
5th	special vows
7th	consecrate ground
9th	rest eternal

Each Ceremony is the same as for a Cleric, save for the last-named:

  Rest eternal is performed upon the body of a deceased being, by means of which 
    the soul or spirit of the creature is hastened in its journey to its final 
    resting place.  If this ceremony is successfully completed (Ceremony/Ritual 
    check required), then animate dead, raise dead, reincarnate, and 
    resurrection spells will have no effect whatsoever upon the body, though a 
    wish spell can restore the creature to life.

Church Affiliation:  Undertakers are afforded a certain degree of respect within 
their church and so can request shelter for themselves and other companions as a 
Cleric could, but no other benefits of Church Affiliation are gained.

Necromantic Mastery:  All Undertakers gain access to all spells of the 
Necromantic sphere, and all spells from that sphere take effect as if the 
Undertaker was  two levels higher than his or her actual level.  Undertakers are 
also permitted to use standard or reversed versions (e.g., raise dead/slay 
living) of Necromantic spells regardless of normal alignment restrictions on 
such spells, though good-aligned Undertakers will generally do so only when on 
official missions to deal with creatures who have previously cheated death.  
When a Undertaker casts a raise dead or resurrection spell, the deceased 
creature automatically succeeds in his or her Resurrection Survival roll.

In addition to the above, a Undertaker of 9th level can use a special enhanced 
version of speak with dead once per week.  With this ability, the Undertaker 
need only know the name of the deceased in order to summon its spirit, 
regardless of the amount of time spent in the underworld or whether any portion 
of the creature's remains are available.  The spirit can be summoned only once 
(ever) with this ability by any given Undertaker, but it receives no saving 
throw to resist interrogation and must answer six questions truthfully.

Undead Bane:  Much of a Undertaker's study is dedicated to the eradication of 
undead creatures, who are seen as an abomination and a direct violation of their 
deities ordained separation of life and death.  As a result, all Undertakers are 
able to turn undead as if two levels higher than their normal level; this 
applies even with respect to evil Undertakers, who will always attempt to turn 
or destroy undead, not command them).  Undertakers are also well-versed in the 
habits, strengths, and weaknesses of undead creatures of all types, gaining free 
knowledge of the Necrology proficiency but without the usual -4 penalty.  In 
addition, they gain a +1 bonus to their proficiency score for every three levels 
of experience (rounding up).  Because they are so jaded in matters of life and 
death, they are never subject to fear caused by undead creatures (including 
fear-type spells used by undead spellcasters).

Undertakers are very skilled in combat situations against undead creatures, 
gaining a +1 bonus to hit and to saving throws vs. undead attacks; likewise, 
undead creatures save at -1 against his or her spells.  Also, a Undertaker can 
never be turned into an undead creature by any means.  Any attack that would 
cause him or her to become undead will merely kill him or her instead, and being 
slain by undead will never result in a Undertaker rising as undead.

Upon attaining 5th level, a Undertaker performs a Ceremony (special vows), at 
which point he or she must select one specific type of undead creature as his or 
her personal specialty.  Typical choices for this are powerful undead such as 
wights, mummies, wraiths, spectres, ghosts (including banshees), vampires, and 
liches, as weaker undead types provide unchallenging nemeses at higher levels.  
The choice of a specific enemy is permanent and cannot be changed after the 
Deathslayer has been created.  A Undertaker's encyclopedic knowledge of that 
particular undead creature means that Necrology proficiency checks with respect 
to undead creatures of that type are instantaneous and automatically successful.  
When fighting his or her nemesis undead, all of the above bonuses vs. the undead 
are doubled.  Hence, all spells cast vs. undead carry a -2 saving throw penalty, 
attack rolls gain a +2 bonus, undead turning is at four levels higher than 
normal, and the Undertaker gains a +2 bonus to saving throws vs. attacks by his 
or her chosen undead type.

Special Hindrances:  Undertakers are absolutely relentless in the pursuit of 
their divine calling and their study of the applications of the arts of 
necromancy, often to the exclusion of all else.  At least one spell of every 
level that a Undertaker can cast must come from the Necromantic sphere.  Spells 
that are cast from other spheres take effect as if the Undertaker was two levels 
lower than his or her actual level.  It is important to note that in no case can 
a Undertaker of any alignment ever create any type of undead creature, nor will 
he or she tolerate comrades doing so.  Undertakers consider it their highest 
calling to seek out and destroy undead whenever and wherever possible.  Undead 
opponents will always be attacked in preference to living targets, and a 
Undertaker's nemesis undead type will be attacked in preference to any other 
undead type, regardless of tactical circumstances.  A Undertaker who does not 
follow this code of conduct loses any experience points that he or she would 
have gained for that encounter.

Undertakers have little interest in the affairs of the world and for 
interactions with the living, adopting a monastic lifestyle that they feel 
prepares them for the coming existence in the afterlife and as an example to 
other faithful followers.  They never marry, and part of their special vows at 
5th level require that a Undertaker remain celibate or risk losing his or her 
powers.  Undertakers eat only simply prepared food (the blander the better) to 
remind them of the drab fare in the netherworld.  In addition, at least one day 
a week must be spent in utter seclusion and meditation, abstaining from food, 
drink, or contact with other living creatures (when making long overland 
journeys, they will simply keep apart from their companions).

Undertakers will never attract henchmen or followers of any sort, and they do 
not gain the standard Cleric ability to Inspire.  They will never found churches 
or monasteries or build permanent structures of any sort.  They will also never 
retain monetary wealth, donating any excess beyond very simple needs to their 
temple or among NPC members of their flock.  Although they can and do retain 
some personal possessions and magical items, these must always have a plain 
appearance.

Bonus Proficiencies:  Necrology
Required Proficiencies:  Ceremony/Ritual, Religion
Preferred Proficiencies:  Alertness, Ancient History, Astrology, Awareness, 
Blind-fighting, Chanting, Demonlogy, Etiquette, Heraldry, Languages (Ancient), 
Night Vision, Reading/Writing, Spellcraft, Sixth Sense
Forbidden Proficiencies:  any Rogue