Captain Barnaby 'Barnacle' Bloom — The Scourge of Scurvy

Ability Scores

STR

14

+2

DEX

10

+0

CON

16

+3

INT

18

+4

WIS

12

+1

CHA

14

+2

Combat

Armor Class: 15; Loxodon Resilience (12 + Con mod)
Hit Points: 51; Hit Dice: 7d6
Initiative: +0
Speed: 25 ft.
Proficiency: +3
Passive Perception: 14

Attacks

Dagger of the Galley+51d4+2 piercing

Ray of Sickness+72d8 poison

Personality

He speaks with a booming, operatic baritone and constantly gesticulates with his trunk. He hums minor-key sea shanties while deboning fish and frequently 'threatens' his silent skeletons with a second death if they over-reduce a sauce.

Ideal

Perfection. 'A dish without the proper balance of heat and acid is a crime more heinous than mutiny.'

Bond

His velvet-lined Obsidian Spice Case; it contains rare seasonings gathered from four continents and three planes of existence.

Flaw

He possesses a 'volcanic' temper that erupts instantly if he detects even a hint of staleness in a rare ingredient.

Backstory

Barnaby was once the most feared galley-master on the Azure Sea, serving aboard the 'Salted Wound'. His life changed the day a month-long doldrum saw half the crew succumb to scurvy and starvation. As he watched his precious barrels of coriander rot while men begged for hardtack, Barnaby had a revelation that bordered on the divine: the living are simply too high-maintenance for a serious kitchen. He spent the next decade pilfering arcane scrolls from raided merchant vessels, teaching himself the delicate art of reanimation not for conquest, but for labor efficiency.

He now captains the 'Salty Marrow', a vessel where the deckhands are bleached white and the only smell coming from the hold is the mouth-watering aroma of slow-roasted pork and exotic resins. Barnaby has transitioned from a marauder to a culinary explorer, traversing the most dangerous corners of the world to find the legendary 'Ghost-Chili of the Nine Hells' or the 'Salt of the Sunken Stars'. To Barnaby, a skeleton is the perfect sous-chef; they have no taste buds to steal samples, no stomachs to growl, and they never, ever complain about the humidity.

His defining moment occurred when he successfully animated his former Captain to serve as a perpetual rotisserie turner. He realized then that death wasn't an end, but a career change. Now, he roams the coastal markets, a mountain of teal silk and ivory, terrifying spice merchants with his trunk-based quality inspections and his theatrical, thunderous demands for unadulterated saffron.

Abilities & Actions

The Sanguine Sous-Chefs (Undead Thralls)

When Barnaby casts Animate Dead, he can target an additional corpse. His undead creations have an extra 7 hit points and add +3 to their weapon damage rolls. These skeletons wear tattered chef whites and are proficient with cook's utensils.

Obsidian Spice Spray (3/Day)

As a bonus action, Barnaby taps his signature spice case. He chooses one undead he controls within 30 feet. The undead is coated in a reactive magical dust. The next time that undead takes damage, the dust explodes in a 10-foot radius. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Constitution save or be blinded by stinging pepper until the end of its next turn.

Sensitive Trunk (Passive)

Barnaby has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks that rely on smell. He can perfectly identify any ingredient in a dish or detect any poison within 10 feet just by scent.

Grim Harvest (Kitchen Edition)

Once per turn when Barnaby kills a creature with a spell of 1st level or higher, he regains HP equal to twice the spell's level (three times if it's a Necromancy spell). He describes this as 'reclaiming the caloric essence' of his enemies.

DM Notes

Barnaby should be played with the intensity of a world-class chef mixed with a pirate king. Dialogue: 'You call this cumin? This smells like the sweat of a bilge-rat's armpit! Begone before I use your marrow for my next consommé!' Gesture: He uses his trunk to delicately pluck a single grain of spice from a bag to inspect it at eye level. Reaction: If a player offers him a truly unique or rare ingredient, his hostility vanishes instantly into a state of scholarly, wide-eyed awe.