Completed my first attempt at a playbook – The Revenant. Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Completed my first attempt at a playbook – The Revenant. Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Completed my first attempt at a playbook – The Revenant. Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The Revenant

You’ve heard the stories of what lies beyond the Black Gates. You laugh because you’ve seen what’s waiting on the other side. You took your Last Breath and died. You may have been a victim, or maybe you deserved it. Either way, you stepped across the final threshold.

Turns out there’s something you need to do before you rest. A wrong that must be righted, revenge to be had, or justice to be served. Whatever it is, you’ve been sent back to get the job done. You’ve been given a second chance on life, but you’re not the person you were before. You’ve tasted death and brought some of it back with you. 

There’s hell to pay, and you’re here to collect.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1EUlsM_TKUHMTByREdfQjlfdVE/edit?usp=sharing

22 thoughts on “Completed my first attempt at a playbook – The Revenant. Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.”

  1. Could you tell us more about what kind of role this guy would play in the game? Coming back from the dead as a ghost seems more like a CC to me.

  2. To me, this would make a cool compendium class. Anyone can return from the Gates – Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Wizard, etc., and gain the properties of the CC by having unfinished business.

  3. Thanks for the responses.

    I was thinking that the Revenant doesn’t necessarily know why he’s been sent back. It’s something he needs to figure out. He doesn’t necessarily know how he died or what he’s supposed to do make things right. Those details would unfold as the game progressed. Kind of like solving your own murder. I should write that into the “flavor text” of the class.

    I agree that this would make a nice CC. Maybe I’ll make a CC version of it, too.

    The group for which I DM is wrapping up a long-running D&D 3.5 campaign, so I haven’t tried the class in play yet. I’d like to start up a DW campaign soon – maybe as soon next week.

    Aside from the base class vs. compendium class issue, do the mechanics of the moves seem okay?

  4. “Justice For All” needs reworded I feel. Does it mean you get 2d8 damage when you lose your ghostly friend, or when you are acting on his murder while he was alive? What if your ghostly companion died of natural causes or at her own hand?

  5. Michael Verstelle

    How about something like this?

    JUSTICE FOR ALL

    When you act to right a wrong from your ghostly companion’s past, you Hack and Slash for b2d8 damage.

  9. Krusty Wightbred

    One Foot in the Grave allows the character to become incorporeal when and if they choose. So they could be phasing in and out, so to speak, throughout an encounter. Go ghostly to get behind someone, and then switch back to corporeal to attack. Or go ghostly when a volley of arrows is headed your way. Or go ghostly to pass through a locked door, and then switch back to corporeal to unlock it.

    Definitely needs to be taken for a test drive in a game.

  10. Here’s version 1.1.

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1EUlsM_TKUHTEhfd2VwUkVIWk0/edit?usp=sharing

    It has some minor revisions, and it’s on a new playbook sheet with space for a Death Move a la Grim World. Here’s what I have for a first draft of a Death Move:

    DEATH: PASS THE TORCH

    It cannot end like this, with so many questions left unanswered, so much revenge left untaken. When you die, your soul enters the body of the one who caused this death and sends his soul beyond the Black Gates. His body is now your body – until your quest for justice is complete. Work with the GM to choose an appropriate playbook for your new body.

    Not really feeling it. What if the character just fell off a cliff or suffered a really bad paper cut?

    Any suggestions?

  15. OK, You rolled 10+ for help from beyond.  The ghost comes and sticks around. then you choose Touch from beyond: The ghost does 1d8 damage. 

    How often can the ghost do this? Since he sticks around, does it mean he can just kill everybody you want him to kill? 

    Thanks!

  16. Wynand Louw

    When you gain a ghostly companion by using Spirits in the Material World, you can ask him for help with Help from Beyond. He’ll continue to help you until you roll 6- on Help from Beyond, or choose “After your ghostly companion provides the assistance, he returns to the afterlife” when rolling 7-9.

    If you keep rolling 10+, then yes, he can keep dealing damage (or helping in other ways).

    I was trying to make it work like a spell for a wizard/cleric. They can keep using a spell unless they roll poorly. In this case, you can keep asking your ghostly companion for help unless you roll poorly.

    Maybe I should rewrite the 10+ result for Help from Beyond as:

     “*On a 10+, choose one form of help, and the ghostly companion sticks around. You can ask him form help again.”

    and change the 7-9 option to:

    “After your ghostly companion provides the assistance, he returns to the afterlife. He cannot help again until you commune with Spirits in the Material World.”

    Thoughts?

  18. Jeff Tatem Glad you like it. Let me know how it goes. My group is in the middle of an extended D&D3.5 campaign, so I haven’t had a chance to play test the playbook. Any feedback from actually game play would be greatly appreciated. I think I have a version 2.0. Will post soon.

  19. Here’s the link to The Revenant v2.0:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1EUlsM_TKUHUXNWOE5NVXkwekU/edit?usp=sharing

    And here’s some new flavor text about the playbook:

    The Revenant

    There are few things you know for sure, and many questions left unanswered. You know you died, and crossed through the Black Gates. But how did you die? Were you a victim, or did you get what you deserved? Did you die peacefully in your sleep, or did you suffer the mother of all paper cuts? Whatever the cause, you stepped across the final threshold – and made some new friends on the other side.

    Turns out there’s one more thing you need to do before you can rest. You’ve been sent back to do something, but you’re not exactly sure what it is. A wrong that must be righted? Revenge to be had? Justice to be served? 

    At least those new friends you made are willing to help.

  22. Jeff Tatem

    Thanks. I’d love to see what would happen in a game where a player playing a Revenant was killed by the BBEG and ended up taking over the BBEG’s body.

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