• Name: Kelmevor
• Allegiance: Unaligned
• Portfolio: Death, Burial, Fatalism, The Dead
• Titles: Lionsbane, Lord of the Dead, Lord in the Earth, Judge of the Damned, The Great Guide, The Silent Keeper, The Black Hound, Master of the Bone Spire, He Who Must Be,
• Symbols: A skeletal arm holding the scales of justice; A silhouette of a black dog; A tower of bone on a black field; A jawless skull weighing down a scroll
• Worshipper Alignments: Any
• Core Doctrine: Death is but a part of life: Fear it not, Evade it not, View it not as evil.
  • Edicts:
    • Treat all the dead with respect.
    • Comfort all those who mourn the fallen.
    • Destroy the undead wherever they are found.
    • Keep the places of the dead inviolate and well tended.
    • Ensure that the belongings of the dead pass to their next of kin.
    • Help others to die with dignity at their chosen and appointed time.
  • Anathema:
    • Defiling, despoiling, or looting a tomb of any kind.
    • Looting a dead body (even the body of an enemy).
    • Leaving a dead body unburied (even the bodies of foes).
    • Creating any sort of undead creature by any means.
    • Casting any spell from the Necromancy school or Necromantic sphere.
• Allied Faiths: Helm, Mystra
• Enemy Faiths: Cyric, Hoar, The Blessed Afflictor
• Pesudonyms: Chronepsis (among Dragons), Dumathoin (among Dwarves), Jergal (historic), Myrkul (historic), Naralis Analor (among Elves), Nergal (historic), Osiris (in Mulhorand), Urogalan (among Halfings)

Base Requirements

• Races: Any
• Classes: Cleric
• Ability Requirements: Leadership 12
• Alignments: Non-Chaotic
• Starting Cash: By class

Proficiencies

• Weapon Slots: By class
• Allowed Weapons: Clubbing Weapons Group
• Allowed Armor: Any Armor or Shields
• Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: none
• Required Weapon Proficiencies: none

• Non-weapon Slots: By class
• Available Groups: Spiritual, Academic, and Martial
• Bonus Proficiencies: Burial Customs, Necrology, Religion
• Required Proficiencies: none
• Recommended Proficiencies: none
• Forbidden Proficiencies: none

Priest Spheres:

• Major: All, Astral, Combat, Creation, Plant, Protection, Summoning, Wards
• Minor: Divination, Travelers

Overview: As the newly-made Lord of the Dead, Kelemvor has consolidated his position. The clerics of Kelemvor are priests who specialize in consecrating graves, maintaining the knowledge of burial customs, and comforting the bereaved. The secondary task of Kelemvor’s clergy is to battle all manner of undead, halting the spread of animated bodies (skeletons and zombies), and putting the undead souls to rest (ghouls, wights, spectres, etc).

Despite his long-time enmity with Cyric, Kelemvor has remained firmly neutral regarding the Day of Black Sun and the events which followed. Even Gods must die, and Kelemvor stands in judgement on the dead, not their killers.

Description: Clerics of Kelemvor dress in elegant but somber robes of dark blue and light grey, and they wear silver circlets on their brows. Kelemvor’s holy symbol is prominently displayed on a neck chain. Any weaponry that they carry must be hidden within the folds of their robes, as mourners are unsettled by the sight of brandished weapons.

Role-Playing: Death is but a part of life, and clerics of Kelemvor try to teach this to the living. Death is not to be feared, although it is not also to be prematurely embraced either. Death is simply the end of the normal mortal cycle.

All souls have the right to a decent burial regardless of their actions in life; a cleric of Kelemvor does not judge the dead-—that is the duty of the gods. Every corpse must be treated with dignity, from the lowliest guttersnipe to the mightiest king, since respect for the deceased bespeaks respect for the Lord of the Dead.

The undead are an abomination against that proper cycle of life and death. If given a choice of attacking orcs or wights, the cleric of Kelemvor will choose the wights without hesitation. And despite this anger against undead, the cleric also has Kelemvor’s compassion for restless souls. While the mindless undead are dispatched casually, there is pity for the spirits in even the most evil undead.

The extremely intelligent and powerful undead, such as vampires and liches, are the ones that even a cleric of Kelemvor can have a hard time feeling pity for them. Lichdom is a premeditated act, and full-strength vampires are extremely foul entities, thus earning a greater share of the cleric’s enmity. The cycle of life demands that mortals die, not prolong their lives unnaturally through necromancy and other foul magic, and a cleric of Kelemvor simply wishes to further that cycle.

Special Abilities:

• Clerics of Kelemvor can both turn and command undead, and do so at one level higher than their actual cleric level and affect twice the normal number (4d6).
• Clerics of Kelemvor have access to a special application of the bless spell. When cast on a grave, the grave itself can turn away undead at the same level as the casting priest. The body buried in that grave also cannot become undead. The bless lasts for one year per level of the priest.
• Clerics of Kelemvor are immune to the paralytic touch of ghouls and ghasts. Furthermore, they get a saving throw vs. spells to defend against the level-draining abilities of spectres, wraiths, and wights, and the Strength-draining attacks of shadows.
• Clerics of Kelemvor can identify any type of undead on sight. If the undead is somehow magically disguised, the cleric can make an Necrology check. Succeeding the roll tells the cleric that there is “something not quite right” about the disguised being in question.
• Clerics of Kelemvor can also detect undead within 60-ft. along one particular direction at will. Each attempt takes one round.
• A cleric of Kelemvor’s damage rolls are unaffected by damage restrictions against specific undead. For example, they can use edged weapons against skeletons without any damage penalties or reduction.

Special Disadvantages:

• Clerics of Kelemvor may never cast any spells from the Necromantic sphere or the Necromancy school, and they cannot use any magic items which duplicate these effects.
• Once every other tenday, a cleric of Kelemvor must slay at least one undead creature. Failure to do so results in a -1 penalty on all attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, proficiency checks, initiative rolls, and surprise rolls until he does so.
• Clerics of Kelemvor and Necromancers most definitely do not get along, even if their alignments are exactly the same. The difference is a philosophical one-the clerics wish to stop all undead and preserve the natural balance of death, while necromancers see undeath as a way to extend a lifetime. As a result, each class has a -4 reaction penalty on interactions with the other.

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