Bone Croupier
Level 5Abilities
A creature with void healing draws health from void energy rather than vitality energy. It is damaged by vitality damage and is not healed by vitality healing effects. It does not take void damage, and it is healed by void effects that heal undead.
Frequency once per day Trigger A creature within 30 feet of the bone croupier attempts a check but hasn't rolled the check yet Effect The bone croupier pulls on the threads of luck that bind all things. The target rolls twice, and then the bone croupier decides which result applies. If the bone croupier chooses the lower roll, this is a misfortune effect; if the bone croupier chooses the higher roll, it's a fortune effect; if they're the same, the croupier decides which trait to apply. If this ability is expended, the bone croupier rolls 2d6 at the start of each of their turns, recharging the ability if the sum is 7 or 11.
The bone croupier designates an adjacent living creature to roll the bones. The chosen creature finds a pair of dice in its hand and is compelled by fate to roll them; it can and must roll the dice even if its hands are full or it is unable to act. The creature rolls 2d6 Roll the Bones, adding them together to determine the effect. • 7 or 11 (healing, vitality) The target regains 15 vitality healing HP. • 2, 3, or 12 (void) The target takes 30 void damage. If the target is Dying, this damage increases its dying condition by 2 instead of 1. • Any Other Roll (void) The target takes 15 void damage.
Description
For many, gambling is just fun and games, but for some, it can become a bad habit or even a life-consuming addiction. Bone croupiers take the meaning of "life-consuming" to its literal extreme. These gamblers' lust for cards and dice couldn't be sated in life, so in undeath they haunt the shadowy corners of gambling halls and continue their search for that next hit of adrenaline.
For bone croupiers, gaming takes on a different flavor; with nothing left to lose, these undead turn their attentions toward others, cajoling and palavering normally casual gamers into committing themselves to ever-higher stakes. Before they know it, these unsuspecting victims have called in decadesold favors and put liens on their homes in the hope of winning back just a fraction of the pot. By then, the bone croupier has already claimed their prize-to this undead chiseler, any earnings are incidental, and the real prize is encouraging others to lose their own.
Bone croupiers often enshroud themselves in thick layers of cigar smoke or voluminous robes to mask their undead nature, but they almost always wear wicked grins at the table. This smile is no ruse or part of their poker face, however-the truth is that bone croupiers truly delight in games, regardless of whether they win or lose, and despite their incredible skills of deception and trickery, most simply can't disguise their unbridled mirth.