« [app; lifeaftr]

[deathfindsaway]

Player Information
Name: Alex
Age: 24
Contact: cancerously, discord: cancerously#6043
Current characters: N/A

Character Information
Name: Kravitz
Series: The Adventure Zone
Appearance: Coming from a podcast medium, Kravitz has no "canon" appearance; his only visual note is that he appears as a "tall, dark, and strikingly handsome dark-haired man, wearing a fancy suit covered by a long black cowled robe". For his appearance here, I'm going mostly off of this design and this design, so dark skin, lots of long dark hair, and red eyes. He also has a form where he appears only as a skeleton in a black hooded robe, and a final appearance where he can be reduced to just his soul, a white corona of light.
Age: No canon age, but likely over a thousand years old. Appears in his mid to late 20's.
Canon Point: Episode 58, after he tries to call the Raven Queen from within the Stockade.

Canon History: There is a wiki section here but this isn't great so I'm gonna give a quick write-up. Since this is also a podcast medium and it's hard to reference stuff, transcripts of all the episodes can be found here.

There's very little we know about Kravitz' life pre-canon; we know he was "given a pretty difficult choice when I was faced with the career of being a bounty hunter for the goddess of death" and that it wasn't his dream- he states he wanted to be an orchestral conductor. Regardless, canon gives the implication that he's been doing this job for quite a long time, is pretty proficient at it, and does not dislike his position or status.

His first appearance in canon is during the Crystal Kingdom arc in episode 30, when Kravitz was dispatched to bring back the soul of a woman named Maureen, who was revived from the dead by her son. Kravitz' job revolves around the capturing of souls who have escaped from the Astral Plane, or the plane of death, where they'll be placed in the Eternal Stockade, which is basically Ghost Jail for people who commit necromancy crimes. While hunting through Lucas' lab for Maureen, he comes across a significantly better bounty- Merle, Magnus, and Taako. Each of them have died multiple times and are not in the Astral Plane (especially Merle, with a whopping 57 deaths), and Kravitz decides this is a much better use of his time. However, he did not account for the fact that the boys are, in fact, the worst. After failing his first fight with them due to some holy magic, Kravitz impersonates Merle's god, Pan, and convinces him to grab a virulent crystal that causes the loss of his arm. He takes an opportunity later when they are stunned by Lucas to attack them again, but ends up run off from some vore-based antics. I honestly wish I was joking. When he returns again, he finally confronts the boys about their death counts, and is overtaken while distracted in his Anger Zone by a large collection of souls from the Eternal Stockade.

With Kravitz incapacitated, the souls escape into a being called Legion into the Prime Material Plane, and are thankfully swiftly handled by our intrepid heroes. As thanks, Kravitz agrees to destroy the contracts he has on the boys, under two conditions- that they helped save the world, and that since they had never gotten to the Astral Plane, he has no need to bring them back (the strict depiction of his job). He also agrees to call off the contract on Lucas, stating that "he thinks his necromancy days are far behind him". However, Maureen is an escaped soul- she has to go back. She comes without struggle, even though Lucas is less than pleased. Finally, Magnus asks Kravitz to take a message to his late wife- another favor he obliges. He then departs with a strict warning to the three boys- no more rule breaking. No more Mr. Nice Death.

Unfortunately, as we have previously mentioned, our main characters? Terrible.

Kravitz arrives back in the podcast about ten episodes later, in episodes 49 and 50 of the Eleventh Hour/Interlude arc. During the Eleventh Hour arc, the main three were combating an issue with a closed time loop, in which every hour everyone in the town of Refuge- including the boys- died a rather grisly death and were brought back to life. Seeing as they did exactly what he said not to fucking do a few months prior, Kravitz once more had precedent to bring them in, but decided to let them explain themselves to see if they could get this straightened out. He had what is described as a long talk with Taako (who happened to arrive home to their apartment on the Bureau first), but when he was called away for a job, he gives Taako his Stone of Farspeech frequency to find a time to meet up again to get the full story.

Instead of having what he thinks is going to be a strict business discussion about the laws of life and death, Taako reserves spots for them both at a wine and pottery class at an establishment called the Chug 'n Squeeze. Surprisingly, this conversation still happens amongst the flirting, and with a surprising amount of honesty from Taako, Kravitz admits he does not have an active contract on anyone in Refuge. However, he'd need to make a case to the Raven Queen for the three of them, and asks him how much death they should be expecting in the future. Taako responds that it should be an "average amount of death", making a case for them as an outlier, but it's hard to say if this was a convincing argument because the wording was right or because Taako did it while pressed to Kravitz' back and helping him make a pot with their hands touching like Fantasy (movie with the pottery ghost). Regardless, as they leave, Kravitz asks about the nature of this meeting (asking if this was for "business or pleasure"), but before they can get into any of the fun bits Kravitz begins to sense a great and powerful undead presence. As he searches, Taako notices his Umbra Staff charging up a fire attack and pointing itself towards Kravitz, with Taako manages to redirect before any damage is done. Concluding that Taako's umbrella must be cursed (as Taako insists he doesn't know any liches, ha ha ha), he departs, distracted-- but not before asking Taako if they're going to speak again.

The next time Kravitz appears, it's about eight episodes later, in episode 56 at the end of the Suffering Game arc. As part of a twisted game meant to kill our heroes, a lich named Edward has removed Magnus' soul from his body to possess him and kill Taako and Merle. Taako casts a spell that allows him to throw his soul to stop Magnus from disappearing, but because Magnus is a wayward soul, a portal opens to the Astral Plane to collect it. However, the Astral Plane does not look as it should- instead of it's normal features, all that shows through is an inky, black, tar-like substance moving in sticky waves. Just before they're rescued, they can see Kravitz break the edge of the sea, struggling and choking to stay above water. He sees them for just a few moments, and believes them dead before he's once more dragged under.

Two episodes later, we see Kravitz break the top of the inky blackness again, managing to escape to lock himself in the Stockade. The black substance is revealed to be the Hunger, an entity that destroys worlds, though Kravitz is unaware of its origin or the scope of what is happening. He tries to open a rift but is blocked, and when he attempts to contact his god, The Raven Queen, he is met with silence.

So for now, he is safe. But he is trapped. And he is alone.

Personality: To sum him up, Kravitz is one part steadfastly dedicated to his job and role, and one part a big fucking dork of a man literally too gay to function.

To the nature of his position and that side of his personality, Kravitz is steadfast in the persona he uses to play his part as a Reaper. He is stringent on rules and limitations, holds himself to fairly high regard, and can come off as arrogant and intimidating- entirely on purpose. He is, in fact, surprised when the boys aren't scared of him, breaking a conversation once to say "Boy, you're not intimidated by me at all, are you?" Regardless, he has a clear dedication to his role and to the laws he upholds with it, but he also understands edge cases, and can be sympathetic. He's probably best described as tough but fair; he's shown that he can accept deals, such as his agreements with the boys to get out of their contracts in Lucas' lab and the conversation he has with Taako concerning Refuge. He also tends towards being stringent only on rules he knows are necessary or fair- he won't force someone into a rule just because it is law. He wants to create the best outcome- in the finale, when Kravitz sees no other option of making it to the Prime Material Plane, he makes a deal to let the souls in the Stockade out to fight the Hunger, despite it being his exact job not to do that. That said, he has little sympathy for those who challenge him, and certainly isn't above taunts and fights when someone is against him- he mockingly taunts Merle as the virilant crystal takes over his arm, and jabs at the boys during their encounters. He's not above being an absolute ass, but he's never needlessly cruel; these traits only come out when he's challenged, and when he is certain the other person is in the wrong. (Of course, occasionally, that definition of 'wrong' can be a little stringent to his personal beliefs).

On the other hand, Kravitz as a person is an absolute goofball. He uses accents as he hunts down his bounties, makes fake machine gun noises, and tosses jokes when he's comfortable. He breaks down from a charming and stoic man very quickly into "THIS IS SOME SICK SHIT" when thrown off guard, and has much more of a personality to show. His reactions are large and very human, combating mistakes with high embarrassment and affection with extreme sap. He doesn't repress these when doing his job, but it's much more of a holding them back- he has a persona and an image he wants to uphold. In addition to this, he's been largely cut off from society and normal behavior with others, and boy, does it show. He's awkward and direct in his vocal patterns and has very little sympathy even in emotionally tense situations- Magnus stops him to deliver a message to his dead wife, and Kravitz cracks a joke in response. On the other hand, this directness can lead to a more emotional response, like where he breaks through Taako's discussion of his job to ask why he would put himself through such things.

There are of course, subtleties and others where these things meet. Through his interactions with the boys, he's starting to find himself as less of a tool and more of a player in the world; going from these two things being separated into one person, who is just as capable of reaping souls as he is meeting his boyfriend for dinner. Above all, the key thing to take here is that Kravitz cares. The reason his role is so important to him is because he truly wants the world to thrive, and knows that someone must do the tough job to ensure these rules stand. The reason he ends up sympathetic to the boys, despite their propensity towards Death Crimes, is because they too are reaching towards the same goal. And ultimately, despite his stumbling into jackassery or his messy handling of other people, he wants to see the world balance, so it can continue to grow.

Abilities: This is a little extensive, so I'm gonna go into his full abilities and THEN go into suggested nerfs, for ease of not skipping anything.

• Body info and form manipulation: Kravitz is classed as an undead. This means he's pretty dang hard to kill and objectively fairly powerful. He has three main 'forms' he can take through this. First, he has a mortal appearance (as described above); while this form looks perfectly alive, his skin is cold to the touch like a corpse, and he lacks a heartbeat or a need for anything that would keep a live body, well, alive (such as breathing, eating, or sleeping). His second form is that of a skeleton, donned in a black robe. This is mostly for intimidation and being a spectre of death. Both of these forms are fairly resistant to damage, and certainly more than your average human or skeleton enemy. His third form is simply a white ball of light- this is his soul, the only part of him that isn't a manifestation. He can use this to possess other forms temporarily (such as robot bodies, dead things, ect) or create a form out of nearby objects; in the Crystal Kingdom arc, he's able to pull together clumps of crystal to create a massive golem that he uses to fight. He also, later in the arc, uses it to possess an uninhabited robot body. With these different forms usually come more speed and strength, though his more human looking form is much stronger than a typical living person.
  • As a note, none of this makes him impossible to kill or invulnerable; if a body he has possessed or manifested takes damage, pieces will be removed until he is physically unable to hold a form. When this occurs, he'll revert to the light ball soul by choice, which can be physically hit and destroyed. Also, because he's undead, he has a weakness to radiant damage.
• Rifts: Utilizing his scythe, Kravitz can cut rifts in the air in space and time to step between different areas in the same or different planes; he can bring objects or people with him, toss objects through, and he can control the size of the rifts and close them at will.
  
• Summoning: Other items of Kravitz' are as noncorporeal as he is; this includes just about everything on his person, including his clothes, his scythe, his tome of undead knowledge, quills, and his raven feathers. Others can feel and interact with these items, and they can be removed from him and still exist (Kravitz hangs his cloak on a coat rack at one point in canon, and it remains there even when he is not concentrating on it). He can also dispel all of this at will.
  
• Flight: Kravitz has been shown to hover in all of his forms, at at one point later in canon does fly off into the air without the need for wings or other accoutrements.
  
• Knowledge: Utilizing his tome, Kravitz can gain knowledge on current contracts available from the Raven Queen, as well as the person in question's death status- if they have died before, and if so, how many times. He can also innately tell when something in the vicinity is undead, even if it isn't visibly so (though he has been shown he is unable to pinpoint the exact location of the undead thing with this sense). This is what he uses when he notices the lich activity during his and Taako's date; obviously, it isn't foolproof, and can also register for lower levels of necromantic activity (such as curses).
  
• Magic and other spellcasting: D&D wise, Kravitz is likely classed as a warlock, and through his pact with the Raven Queen gets access to a couple of abilities that closely resemble established spells.For simplicity, I'm going to class them using these rules and depictions. The most notable of these are:
  • Awakened Mind: As detailed in the D&D 5e rulebook: "Your alien knowledge gives you the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language." We see Kravitz use this in canon when he occupies forms without mouths (such as the crystal golem); additionally, he has used this (or a similar power) to cause his voice to come out of the boys' Stones of Farspeech to project in a room. He has used this to project into the mind of a character he possibly cannot see (however, it's hard to say if he was 'seeing' in his light ball form and therefore hidden somewhere much smaller, or possessing an object in the room).
    
  • Darkvision: Kravitz can see in dim light within 60 feet of him as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. He can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. He's shown to move without needing light in canon, so this is likely our closest association.
    
  • Telekinesis: Kravitz is shown to be able to manipulate objects without needing to hold them; he makes a piece of crystal float in front of Merle, for example, and when inhabiting a body he can throw pieces of it as attacks or summon other pieces of it towards him. There isn't much of a limit to this- because of the limited amount of times we've seen it used in canon, it's most likely there isn't a restriction on what this can be used on. As far as durations of the spell, for simplicity's sake, he has a limit of 1,000 pounds and a range of 60 feet. Additionally, it is harder to keep his grip if the item is struggling/being moved, or if he is attacked or loses his concentration.

AND NOW, FOR SOME NERFS. I'll go down the line in the same order and discuss each ability and what I'd like to toss/keep. Feel free to suggest additional nerfs if necessary.

• Body info and form manipulation: For the purposes of Lifeaftr, Kravitz is no longer going to be undead- he's going to have to learn how to go back to being a mortal like everyone else. This means he's going to lose access to his skeletal and soul form, and be stuck in his human (though now flesh) body. That said, possibly to his benefit, he'll lose his weakness to radiant damage. On the other hand, he'll gain his weakness to everything else damage, so it balances out.
  
• Rifts: I'd like Kravitz to be able to keep his rift ability, but with limitations. He wouldn't be able to make a rift outside of the island he's currently residing on, and it would have to be somewhere he's travelled to before and knows well enough to visualize in his mind. If the area has significantly changed, for example, or has moved a distance, he wouldn't be able to connect. It also should be noted he's obviously limited in size to what he can cut with his scythe in a single swipe (in a rip; he couldn't, for example, do it in a circle to smash two worlds together, ect).
  
• Summoning: His clothes will likely become corporeal, along with his Stone of Farspeech, but I'd like him to keep this! This would just extend to his previously summon-able items; he wouldn't be able to add new items to that inventory, or summon anything he gains on the island.
  
• Flight: This is just gone, in tandem with now having a physical body. Ground boy now.
  
• Knowledge: Obviously, this is up to player discretion to provide this knowledge, so it won't be foolproof in Lifeaftr; however, I would really love to let him keep this just because it will drive him completely and utterly insane for the lack of ability he'll have to do a damn thing about it. For the sake of putting a clean cap on the range of this, we'll say he can't sense any necromantic activity or undead presence outside of 30 feet of him.
  
• Magic and other spellcasting: I'd like him to keep his Awakened Mind ability (though it is obviously constrained by D&D spell rules), along with his darkvision (as this is typically a racial trait). His telekinesis I'd like him to keep, but will obviously be constrained to the limitations detailed above.

I'm willing to discuss further nerfs, but I think the loss of his undead status is going to be the most jarring to him and a big adjustment to the island. Let me know if I need to edit anything else!

Inventory: His clothes (a well-tailored suit with a black hooded cloak over top), his Stone of Farspeech, a few feathers for communicating with the Raven Queen, his summoned tome of knowledge along with his quill, and his scythe (technically).

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