DCC/Character Generation/Death-Slaves

The death-cult monastery as well as the "daughters of hope" serves as places from where killed characters can be replaced. If an unlucky player has lost his or her PCs in the course of the adventure, the judge can allow the party to recruit some of the Servus Mortem to their side. Believing it to be their best chance of escape from the crypts, these miserable wretches offer to join the party, becoming PCs under the players' control.

When and how often
The number of recruitment events should be kept to a minimum. Ideally, only once or twice; once at the death-cult monastery and once at the daughters of hope. However, if the players enjoy the adventure despite having all their characters killed over and over again, the Judge should of course give them the opportunity to finish the adventure with fresh faces!

The players should wait to recruit new characters until one or more players are left with no PCs at all. These players should then be allowed to recruit up to three new characters each. At this time, any other player with fewer than three characters may choose to recruit at least one new PC; and a player will all three characters still alive may choose to replace one character with a new recruit (the old character joining either the death-cult or the daughters). This way, every player should be given the chance to select from a total of four characters, even if they have avoided any fatalities.

Procedure

 * 1) Begin by generating ability scores as usual.
 * When recruiting from the daughters of hope, and the d7 + Strength modifier roll results in a stereotypical male, you might want to start from scratch (re-roll Strength etc).
 * 1) Determine ethnicity and gender.
 * Do not generate an Occupation just yet
 * 1) Instead, roll d30 twice and pick the result you like best. Subtract your Luck modifier from the result you pick (minimum 0). This determines the number of years that character has been trapped in the crypts.
 * If the character has served a long time, and you wish to avoid an old character, you may decide the character was born here. Such a character has obviously never seen the outside world; role-play him or her accordingly.
 * 1) The longer you have served as Servus Mortem, the heavier the mental toll has been. Characters serving for a decade or longer has effectively retained no useful skills from any former occupation. Consult the below table to determine your Occupation and your Equipment.
 * 2) Give your new character a name, an alignment, hit points and XP.
 * Characters with the Servus Mortem Occupation gain no regular starting money or items; they start play with what they chose on the below table.
 * In particular, death-cultists and daughters of hope may start the game without any weapons training (except unarmed).
 * Note that XP is individual in the DCC game. New recruits start at 0 XP.

Servus Mortem occupation
For you, civilization is but a fading memory or perhaps only a fable. You do not get an occupation, and you do not retain the skills or equipment of your former life. Instead you have gained basic spelunking skills, and you could pass for a funeral director's assistant. You rely more on sound than sight, and you are quick to hide from danger. If you start with a crude weapon, your desperation makes you effectively trained in its use.

Ability Loss
Against all odds you have survived below the surface, but not without the squalid conditions taking its toll even among the strongest of the Servus Mortem. If you have been trapped for five or more years in the crypts, you must deduct the indicated number of ability points from your scores. You get to choose how many points to take from each ability, as long as the total adds up to the indicated number. Example: if you have served 13 years, you could decide to decrease your Strength by six points, or you could deduct two each from Intelligence, Personality and Luck.

This loss is only semi-permanent! While the lost ability points cannot be healed while you remain in the crypts, should you survive to see the sun outside again, this loss will then be considered temporary ability damage (i.e. can be healed normally). This applies even to Luck, which normally follows different rules. For this reason, you need to make a note of which ability points you decided to lose this way.

Equipment
The variety of items available to a character serving as Servus Mortem is quite limited. The number of items you start play with is indicated by the table. Take your picks from the following list (you can only pick one of each listed item; and each player can only ever pick one of each stolen item for all his replacement characters):


 * clothing
 * loincloth
 * tattered rags (your Personality modifier is effectively limited to 0 or lower while wearing these)
 * funerary wrappings† (as padded armor; your Personality modifier is effectively limited to 0 or lower while wearing these)
 * sandals
 * mantle


 * general equipment
 * smelly wax candle
 * shred of food
 * makeshift water skin
 * urn (choose contents: empty, incense, resin, oil, or ash)


 * weapons
 * sharp rock (as dagger)
 * blunt rock (as club)
 * femur bone† (as mace)

If you do not start with a weapon, you are considered trained only in unarmed combat.


 * stolen items (limited to one of each type, per player)
 * funerary silver coin† If placed under the tongue of a newly fallen 0-level ally, allows that character to make a Luck check to survive per Recovering the Body (page 93 of the rulebook). This item is single-use, and becomes a regular coin worth 1 sp after use.
 * death mask† You may project confidence at your enemies - increase your Personality modifier by +1 for purposes of calculating AC while wearing light/no clothing (unarmored). Should you survive to exit the crypts, make a Luck check: on failure, the mask crumbles to dust.
 * human skull† If clearly presented towards your enemies as your action, a number of foes equal to d6 plus your Personality modifier are forced to make a DC 12 Will save or shake from fear: they suffer a -4 penalty to attacks for one minute (if they stay to fight at all). This item is single-use, the skull crumbles to dust upon use.
 * prayer bands, leathery† This item offers a measure of protection to the defenseless - you may add +1 to saving throws while wearing light/no clothing (unarmored). Should you survive to exit the crypts, make a Luck check: on failure, the bands crumble to dust.
 * prayer beads, knuckle-bones† This item grants hope to the wretched - increase your Personality modifier by +1 for purposes of raising morale. Should you survive to exit the crypts, make a Luck check: on failure, the beads crumble to dust.

†) several items on the list represents the looting and disturbing of graves, which may carry wicked and debilitating curses. The decision to equip a character with such items is left up to each player. Make a DC 5 Luck check; failure indicates the character's sacrilegious usage of the item has inflicted a curse upon the character (roll 1d3: 1. Curse of Misfortune's Father, 2. Curse of the Shattered Soul, 3. Curse of Fortune's Slave). This check is made only once, when the item is first used by the new character in play. Only a single curse can result from these minor items; stop checking once a curse is indicated for a given character.