Playing a Petitioner

Introduction

I've been toying with the idea of writing up rules to play a petitioner for a long time.
After all, as the Players' Guide to the Planes states, deaders are by far the most numerous bashers on the Outer Planes.
Yet this same source book turns down the possibility of petitioners as player characters, assuming that playing a basher uninterested in plane tripping has not enough appeal.
Well, on the contrary, I think playing a petitioner is the ultimate role-playing experience.
See, what makes deaders so peculiar is their willingness to completely base their behaviour upon their beliefs.
Planars may belong to factions and be damn proud of it, but most cutters do not abide to their faction's philosophy 100%.

Of course, petitioners do not leave their home turf for dungeon crawls or inn brawls, and they do not gain experience points, so playing a petitioner is an experience best left to the true role player.
On the other hand, this might provide hours of enjoyable "story telling"-like adventures, philosophical chats, and a real insight in what makes PlaneScape such an interesting setting: belief.

Character Creation

As stated in the PlaneScape source books, deaders are 'weak' when compared with the powerful planar adventurers.
They are usually 0- or 1st-level bashers, and do not have the equipment a plane walker might have piled up in the course of his trips all over the multiverse.

Rules for petitioner character creation:

Attributes: 9-12 (roll 1d4+8 for each)
Level: 0
Alignment: same as plane (or same as deity if in a realm)
Outlook: usually same as in life (but see 'Special Traits' below)
Age: always young adult, except for peculiar cases (sages look older, etc.)

Then each petitioner character is awarded a certain amount of trait points (see Table I) in order to buy special traits.

Table I: Trait Points
Kind of petitioner	Trait Points Allowed
Of No Power	1 point
Of Demi-Power	1 point
Of Lesser Power	1 point
Of Intermediate Power	2 points
Of Whole Pantheon	2 points
Of Greater Power	3 points

These special traits are used to flesh out the characters and to give them special abilities; after all, not all petitioners are alike.
Each special trait costs one trait point.
Examples of special traits (DMs are encouraged to expand):

1st-level (usually fighter or thief) instead of 0-level
+3 to any one attribute
unusual outlook (animal head, wings, size L, etc)
additional non-weapon proficiency (even from unallowed group)
unarmed combat damage capability (claws, fangs, talons, tail)
peculiar immunities (heat, cold, magic, etc)
detection powers (lie, law/chaos, good/evil, magic, etc)

Of course, the DM should restrict any of the previous traits.
Animal heads are more appropriate for Egyptian petitioners, and human- looking deaders cannot have a 'fang' attack.
The various immunities and detection powers should strongly depend on any given petitioner's power. Magic-related traits, for instance, are more in tone for a petitioner of Azuth than one of, say, Mielikki.

Please keep in mind that the character creation rules described in this paragraph only apply to 'normal' petitioners. Larvae, manes, lemures and such have their own stats and should not be used as PC's.

Adventures

Of course, deaders cannot have the same kind of adventures as other characters.
First of all, petitioners usually never ever leave their home plane.
This is paramount. If a petitioner dies outside his/her home plane, his/her soul is lost, so petitioners (except the dwarven petitioners of Clanggedin) are reluctant to leave their home turf.
Still, you may have them live exciting adventures: instead of having the PC's roam the planes, have the PC's guard their realm/layer against invading armies, unwanted visitors, unscrupulous planewalkers, etc.
The best places for PC petitioners probably are Arcadia and Baator, where there is a good structure, many different areas for encounters, and so many things to guard from intruders.
You may also stage the occasional foray into a neighbouring layer/plane.
Petitioners might leave their home plane with many others of their ilk (Modron marches, Greek petitioners from Arborea visiting Hades, Norse petitioners from Ysgard visiting Hel or travelling on Yggdrasil...). These are rare occasions to discover the planes and to freely role-play without the burden of hack n slay. After all, this is one of the most pleasant aspects of the PS setting: touring the planes and marvelling at their beauty.

Also, it is better to avoid mixed parties. Petitioner characters should form 'all-deader' parties, all from the same plane (yet not necessarily from the same realm; after all, some diversity IS needed).

Role Playing a Petitioner

Petitioners lose all memories from their previous life.
That's the rule, but actually I'd say they keep some knowledge of the culture they lived in. For instance (I guess it's in the original PS box), an Oriental PC who dies becomes an Oriental petitioner. In the same way, a dwarf PC who dies becomes a dwarven petitioner, an Egyptian PC who dies becomes an Egyptian petitioner, etc.
The DM may go so far as to allow them a "dream memory" of their waking life... a sort of déjà vu that allows them to intermittently recall memories and desires of the past.
Generally, the order of clarity is something like this
1) Instincts...very strongly recalled, including old habits and speech patterns.
2) Desires...strongly recalled... if you were a person who thirsted after knowledge, you still do so, although death changes some people.
3) Memories...intermittent...some days they come in flashes and are almost real again, other days they are gone. Reminders of a petitioner's old life tend to make them surge up again.
4) Abilities...faint...you may have been a great mage, but unless it was an essential part of your soul, most abilities are gone unless empowered by a Power.

Level Advancement

There is no level advancement for deader PC's. One plays a petitioner for the sheer pleasure of pure role playing.
On the other hand, the various source books do mention several 3rd level petitioners, although it is clearly stated that they are most rare. The DM may sometimes award xp's when the petitioner PC's act in communion with their plane's alignment, when they show particular devotion, etc.
For instance, killing a chaotic intruder on Arcadia should yield no xp's; on the other hand, convincing him to stop roaming the planes and join the Harmonium should yield several xp's.
The DM should secretly keep track of these exceptionally-awarded xp's for each deader character; advancing a level should be a once-in-an-afterlifetime event, involving complex ceremonies, the patronage of a proxy, and so on.

Factions and Sects

As anyone can notice by looking at the description of the NPC's in the PlaneScape source books, many petitioners belong to Sigil's factions.
Since a deader's life is so much centred on belief, a petitioner character involved in a faction should really "live" according to his or her faction's tenets.
Also, not all factions might be good choices for a petitioner PC... the most extreme ones are certainly the best choices, again because of the belief factor (pun).
Since petitioners are based on the Outer Planes rather than Sigil, as Sects are, membership of a sect might also be a better choice than membership of a faction. Sects tend to be more focused than factions on a given single goal, which may be the same as the petitioner PC's.
Sects are detailed in the Planes of ... boxed sets and in the Scripta Planorum.

A Deader adventure hook
Petitioners FAQ

to the index of the Scripta Planorum.