application - driftfleet

[deathcouture]

OUT OF CHARACTER:
Name/Handle: Maggie
Contact: reveris (plurk is the same)
Reference: MYSELF
Other characters: Eithan, Escha, Jayden

IN-CHARACTER:
Character name: Kravitz
Character journal: deathcouture
Series name: The Adventure Zone (Balance Arc)
Canon notes: Canon point is sometime after the Day of Story and Song - aka the world is saved and things are leveling out for the most part, but most later-later on epilogue stuff hasn't happened yet.

Species: "Human". Undead, likely. He is a bounty hunter for The Raven Queen, and we know something ~happened~ for her to approach him about that at all. We do not know details. He does have a skeletal form, and his hands are icy cold to the touch, so... we have theories.

History: Here is his wiki page. If you need more info, hit me up.

Personality: In some cultures, Kravitz is known as the Grim Reaper... for very good reason. Kravitz is intimidating. Like, really intimidating. More specifically: Kravitz is intimidating on purpose. He's a very stylish, poised man who wears nice suits and carries a downright menacing scythe, so of course that's already intimidating by default, but he goes and just ups the ante with how stylish and poised he presents himself. As a bounty hunter for the Raven Queen, tasked with keeping the order between life and death, he also has an even more intimidating skeletal form, complete with stereotypical black hooded cloak. Anyone meeting Kravitz for the first time under normal circumstances is of course going to be intimidated. (Unless you're part of a trio of lovable idiots, but hey, can't win 'em all.)

It's not just his good (or terrifying) looks and general air of "smooth operator" that gives this impression - he's built an entire outer layer of personality around maintaining that sort of foreboding superiority. His words are smooth, but still straight to the point. He puts on an air of arrogance, especially if he knows something that you don't. He's also a stickler for rules, standards, and the balance of life and death - it's, you know, kind of his job. He's not entirely without sympathy, but if you're on the receiving end of his ire - or unlucky enough to have the Raven Queen sending him after you - you wouldn't know it.

But all of that is, as mentioned, on purpose. Kravitz has very carefully crafted that "persona" in order to do his job well, and honestly, it is the real him most of the time, since... most of the time, his life is his work. "Workaholic" isn't so much an understatement for Kravitz as much as it is a universal truth. His life - un-life? afterlife? unclear - is his job. And for the longest, longest time, he was alone. Granted, he didn't necessarily mind it, but it certainly helped to shape who he is today. In his current canon point, he's still getting used to the idea of 1) having people who care about him and who he cares about in return, and 2) having actual coworkers, and we see those flashes of awkwardness when in social situations he's otherwise completely unaccustomed to. He stammers his way through a lot of conversations with the very forward and abraisive Taako, until he gets to know him better and feels he can actually relax. He answers a serious question from Magnus with a weird joke, which he immediately walks back before giving an actual answer. And as for suddenly getting to work with Lup and Barry as a squad instead of just reaping souls on his own? He's pretty happy about it! If still not at all used to it.

Keep digging (it won't take much digging, trust me) and you'll find even more awkwardness, dorkiness, and other, ah, less than suave character traits. Catching Kravitz off-guard is tough to do, but that probably explains why when it does happen, it's like he goes all the way up to eleven. He can go from debonair reaper-man to "That is some sick shit!!" pretty darn quick when faced with... well, in this particular example, aforementioned trio of lovable idiots. He also can get very angry when pushed consistently enough, as shown when he went from controlled insistence right into shouty-rage just before everything completely went sideways in Lucas' lab. He's perfectly capabe of witty little clapbacks (especially when annoyed), and he even has a weakness for gambling. That's about as human as it gets, right?

Though he may pretend otherwise, he actually isn't without sympathy. Kravitz may be a "rules lawyer" in many ways, but he also understands nuance -- boy, does he understand nuance especially at the end of canon. He shows mercy to an escaped soul after she aids Taako, Merle, and Magnus in Lucas' lab. He pleads the boys' case to the Raven Queen when they need a little bit of a "get out of death free" card for a little while (which they very much take advantage of -- thaaanks, Griffin). And in the end, even though Lup and Barry are liches and therefore the very thing that Kravitz is supposed to strike down on sight... they're his companions now. So really, he's not as much of a stickler as he pretends to be~ But don't go around telling people that. Please.

At the end of the day, Kravitz may present himself as a scary, intimidating, charismatic gentleman who ushers souls to the afterlife while mercilessly hunting down those who would try to defy the balance between life and death, but he's just... human, underneath all of that glamor. An awkward, dorky human, who doesn't quite handle his less flattering emotions that great yet - but he's getting there. His heart is in the right place. He wouldn't be doing this job if he wasn't, after all.

Abilities:
The Adventure Zone is a DnD 5e podcast. We also know that Griffin had plans for Kravitz to have a side-by-side fight with one of the heroes, which would have probably revealed a lot more about his abilities -- namely his class. ... ... Problem is, that never happened. So we have no idea what class he is!!

That being said, I'm going with him being a warlock, based on his service to the Raven Queen and the particular way we do get to see him in combat. DnD abilities can get into some crazy powerful territory, and Kravitz is no exception, given his position as the freakin' Grim Reaper as well as basically being a boss fight. And guardian of the prison for bad souls. And hella experienced as he is. Etc. For RP purposes, I plan to go mainly by "rule of cool" and/or "rule of funny" when it comes to his abilities, as that's far more interesting to me than being all-powerful and potentially game-breaking. If any extra power caps are needed anyway, let me know.

Here are some highlights on what he can do, including bits from the link above as well as other shit we've heard Kravitz do in canon:

→ His weapon of choice is a scythe. I'm mean, and I'm not letting him have it. He can regain it later~
→ He can use his scythe to make portals, which he uses to pass between planes of existence. He won't be able to do that in Drift Fleet at all, though~
→ Levitation. In canon, he can hover a couple feet off the ground - and can even straight-up fly off, if he feels like it. He did do that once or twice. It's mostly just an intimidation tactic~
→ Multiple forms. Besides his human form, Kravitz also has (1) a skeletal form, where his appearance becomes that of a skeleton in a long, hooded black cloak -- basically stereotypical Grim Reaper vibe -- that seems to have the same "stats" as if he were in his human form; and (2) a soul form, which is just... a ball of light. Y'know. His soul. He doesn't really make much use of that one, only when he needs to possess robots or golems made of crystal, as one does. Not something he'll use much.
→ He has a form of telekinesis and can levitate things with magic. I will limit it to reasonable weight and distance, and only objects that he can see. Must also be things that aren't alive/sentient.
→ His darkvision allows him to see in dim light as if it were normal light, and to see in the dark as if it were dim light, for ~60ft.
→ His pact with the Raven Queen also gives him access to a tome containing a lot of information/knowledge -- especially pertaining to life/death things re: current people the Raven Queen has put bounties on. He won't have this in the Fleet at first. I might let him regain it, idk.
→ He has access to a lot of spells, plus a few extra due to his pact with the Raven Queen (in the link above). Any massively powerful spells will be significantly nerfed based on in-game circumstances. Otherwise, it's business as usual. ( Besides, Taako and Lup kinda have the market cornered re: chaotically destructive and ludicrously powerful magic anyway~ )
→ He also appears to have an innate sense for dead/undead things/people. THIS WILL BE OPT-IN and I plan to make a permissions post for it!! But I'd like for him to retain the ability to just ~tell~ when something fishy is going on re: death.
→ HE CAN PLAY THE PIANO! He wanted to be a conductor when he grew up, but... well, death finds a way. Literally. Queen of.

Augment Skillset: Communication! ♥
Sample: TDM toplevel here