GRAVE ROBBER
An opportunist who steals from burial sites.
ABILITY ADJUSTMENT: Strength +1, Dexterity +1, Constitution +1, Charisma -1 (Physical strength, coordination, and a strong stomach are essential to the Grave Robber's trade. Unfortunately, spending too much time around corpses can erode social skills.)
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Appraising, Handle Locks and Traps (+1), Iron Constitution(+1),
Fighting the Dead (+1), Night Vision
WEAKNESSES: Criminal Entanglements, Secret Life
HIT DICE: d6
TYPICAL EQUIPMENT: A shovel, a hammer, a dozen coffin nails, a crowbar, a saw, a knife, garotte, 1 set of rugged clothing, a book of anatomy, old rags, a vial of rat poison, 1 set of fine but stained clothing pilfered from a recent grave, a piece of stolen jewelry, a human hand, a wheelbarrow, a loaf of black bread, a bottle of gin, a wooden stake & mallet, 100-500p
Graves are an underdeveloped resource. Of course, most people have irrational prejudices against exploiting the potential wealth to be had by raiding the resting places of the dead. Not so with those intrepid and enterprising people who answer to the name “Grave Robbers”. They understand that the stench of decay is really the smell of money, and if the dead really wanted to keep their treasures they would do something about it. Unfortunately, the dead sometimes do.
Often, corpses are worth even more than the objects with which they are buried! In the Ghastly Age, surgeons are prohibited by law and custom from acquiring sufficient bodies to advance anatomical knowledge through the practice of dissection. Fortunately, the brave and selfless Grave Robbers step up, and charitably help medical science. For a reasonable fee, a Grave Robber will provide surgeons with the flesh they need to practice their art. Often, surgeons take up the trade of grave robbing themselves, cutting out the middle man.
It is not only the newly-dead that can be of use to the living. For example mummified corpses from certain ancient cultures are said to become a wonderful panacea when ground to a powder and dispensed by a quality apothecary. Powdered mummy is also used by painters to create certain colors, and as a preservative. Obtaining such “mumia vera” is a major source of income for those Grave Robbers willing to travel to exotic lands, whose populations are only too happy to serve up their ancestors so that some philandering nobleman might be cured of his syphilis.
It must be noted that, contrary to popular belief, not all Grave Robbers are men of low birth. In fact, many are gentlemen, who realize that when certain ancient and primitives people buried treasures with their dead, they meant for those riches to be later claimed by well-bred men from a superior civilization.
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