Parent Pages: Religions : Openers of Death's Door
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The Openers of Death's Door, also known as Death's Doormen or simply the Doormen, are a secretive cult of Death worshipers with a fondness for black clothes, shovels and scythes. Little more is publicly known.
Central to their beliefs is that death must not be interfered with in any way. The very idea of raising the dead offends them to the very core.
Their main purpose is to end any form of unnaturally prolonged life. This doesn't include constructs, such as Golems, other than Flesh Golems.
First, they assist others to die when the time comes, by metaphorically opening the door for them. They're most often called upon to end the suffering of loved ones that simply don't know how to let go. They also perform this “service” for undead, by destroying them. They have a particularly strong hatred for sentient undead.
Second, they do their best to stop others from raising the dead. In extreme cases, they may actually kill those responsible and/or the “victims”, as they refer to those that have been brought back.
There is also a deranged sect of this religion that ritually murders members of Unaging races, such as Faerie Elves. They find the existence of immortals (including Gods walking among mortals) offensive.
If raised from the dead, they're likely to murder those responsible, followed by ritual suicide.
Armed with special, battle ready shovels or scythes and wearing black armor, these warriors work to combat undead. They gain the ability to sense any kind of unnaturally extended life, including all forms of undead. They're also resistant to the attacks of undead.
This is Detect (Unnaturally Extended Life, Common; Divine, -10%) [18] and Resistant (Undead Attacks, Occasional; Divine, -10%) [9]. The required Disadvantage is Vow (“Prevent raising the dead, kill undead”) [-10]
They usually specialize by a particular type of undead or train as assassins. The assassins get sent by the priests to kill high-profile targets that have been raised from the dead multiple times. They're usually tasked to ensure the target stays dead, permanently.
Many work as grave diggers, where they can protect the dead from being interfered with.
In addition to the abilities of the holy warriors, the priests also gain Magery (Divine, -10%), with an emphasis on Necromancy. They will not ever, under any circumstances, raise the dead. In addition, they also gain a form of True Faith that repels any sort of unnaturally extended life, as well as any Unaging creature. They all have a perk known as Death's Doorman that allows them to assist the dying in finding their way to death's embrace. Finally, they have Social Regard (Feared) 2, due to their close association with death.
They follow the same Vow as the holy warriors. They often perform funerals.
Death's Doormen can be played as a surprise twist in an adventure. The PCs might first encounter them as allies, fighting undead. Later, as the PCs are trying to raise a victim of those undead (possibly even a PC) from the dead, they'll attack in order to prevent them from doing so.