Undertaker (5e Background)

Undertaker/Thanatologist

You have spent your life in service of preparing, interring and protecting the dead. You tend to the dead, preparing corpses in a manner in keeping with your craft and preferred by the family of the deceased. The handling of the dead is taboo in many societies, so the undertaker's role is to do what others would not- many find themselves shunned by common folk. Though undertakers may be ridiculed and ignored, they are a necessary part of their communities.

Usually due to this line of work, those in your profession tend to be haunted by something so terrible that they dare not speak of it. You’ve tried to bury it or run away from your own, to no avail. Whatever this thing is that haunts you can’t be slain with a sword or banished with a spell. It might come to you as a shadow on the wall, a bloodcurdling nightmare, a memory that refuses to die, or a demonic whisper in the dark. The burden has taken its toll, isolating you further from most people and making you question your sanity at times. You must find a way to overcome it before it destroys you.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose four from among Arcana, Investigation, Religion, Medicine, Insight, Nature or Persuasion

Tool Proficiencies: Undertakers Tools and one more from among Painter's Supplies, Carpenter's Tools, Disguise Kit

Equipment: A hammer, a shovel, a set of common clothes, an Undertakers Tools, a scroll case in which you carry your medical notes taken from your studies, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp.

Harrowing Event

Prior to becoming an adventurer, your path in life was defined by one dark moment, one fateful decision, or one tragedy. Now you feel a darkness threatening to consume you, and you fear there may be no hope of escape. Choose a harrowing event that haunts you, or roll one on the Harrowing Events table.

d10	Harrowing Event
1	A monster that slaughtered dozens of innocent people spared your life, and you don't know why.
2	You were born under a dark star. You can feel it watching you, coldly and distantly. Sometimes it beckons you in the dead of night.
3	An apparition that has haunted your family for generations now haunts you. You don’t know what it wants, and it won’t leave you alone.
4	Your family has a history of practicing the dark arts. You dabbled once and felt something horrible clutch at your soul, whereupon you fled in terror.
5	An oni took your sibling one cold, dark night, and you were unable to stop it.
6	You were cursed with lycanthropy and later cured. You are now haunted by the innocents you slaughtered.
7	A hag kidnapped and raised you. You escaped, but the hag still has a magical hold over you and fills your mind with evil thoughts.
8	You opened an eldritch tome and saw things unfit for a sane mind. You burned the book, but its words and images are burned into your psyche.
9	A fiend possessed you as a child. You were locked away but escaped. The fiend is still inside you, but now you try to keep it bottled up.
10	You did terrible things to avenge the murder of someone you loved. You became a monster, and it haunts your waking dreams.

Feature: Burial Rites

You are familiar with the religious rites, funerary services, and corpse treatments of most societies. Your experience often results in you having unquestioned access to unsavory places, such as crime scenes and morgues, and your presence in a cemetery or graveyard, or a church or temple attached to such, will not be questioned, so long as your actions or behavior are respectful. In some cases, your medical and anatomical expertise may be called upon to determine the cause and time of death.

Alternate Feature: Corpse Preparation

As an undertaker, you've become familiar with humanoid anatomy. People who are aware of your talents tend to be wary of you. Despite this, work is rarely scarce. Higher end families are more than willing to pay top dollar to make sure their family is taken care of, even after death. Should a murder victim turn up, the crown might be persuaded to give you a few coins for your help in attempting to identify the body. Additionally, other undertakers might be willing to give you a free room in return for your help with the embalming progress.

Alternate Feature: Mourning Affinity

You have a connection with those who are in mourning. Those family & friends, or others who have had a loved one pass, or even those who have found a body, will feel comfortable in your presence. They can sense you understand what they are going through. You can talk people in this situation regardless of if they are homeless or nobles. These people will all act as though you are a friend unless you have acted against them and they know it.

Suggested Characteristics

Just like people, undertakers motivation and demeanor can vary wildly. They can be the calm serene type that loves to help the bereaved with planning the funeral, or they can have an unnatural fascination with death and be socially awkward

d8	Personality Trait
1	This is a vile existence that I have been cursed into!
2	I am horribly awkward in social situations.
3	I often get lost in my work because it enthralls me so!
4	The dead are the only people I really like.
5	What some call morbid, I call a good day's work.
6	I've seen what death does to a person. A gloom hangs over me.
7	I enjoy the unease and discomfort others feel around me. That's true power!
8	I respect life and death. Both are beautiful in their own way.

d6	Ideal
1	Kind. I take pride in helping a grieving family lay their loved one to rest in a respectful manner. (Good)
2	Manipulate. The body is a grand cathedral and I enjoy nothing more than exploring and manipulating it. (Evil)
3	Honor. Caring for those that have passed on is a sacred honor. (Lawful)
4	Due. It’s not pretty or glamorous but somebody has to do it. (Any)
5	Trust. The dead are the only people you can count on. (Neutral)
6	Peace. Death is just a new beginning and I help the deceased take the next step. (Good)

d6	Bond
1	The graveyard I've worked in most of my life is very special to me - it's very comforting.
2	I try to stay friendly to every family I've led funerals for.
3	My shovel is my greatest companion.
4	I pray to my god every night to help my clients find peace.
5	The local executioner is my best friend.
6	I've already dug my own grave back home. I hope to enter it later than sooner.

d6	Flaw
1	My profession makes people uncomfortable around me.
2	The ways I've seen people die have made me superstitious about the strangest things.
3	My sense of humor can be described as depression, demoralizing, or just depraved.
4	I've woken up in empty graves that I've dug myself, and I'm not sure why.
5	I'm haunted by the time I saw a person I buried dig themselves out of their grave.
6	My sense of fashion is about on par with those that I bury.

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