Elara 'Sunny' Vane — The Grave-Dresser

Ability Scores

STR

8

-1

DEX

14

+2

CON

14

+2

INT

12

+1

WIS

10

+0

CHA

18

+4

Combat

Armor Class: 15; Armor of Shadows (Mage Armor)
Hit Points: 38; Hit Dice: 5d8
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft.
Proficiency: +3
Passive Perception: 10

Attacks

Eldritch Blast (Lace Burst)+71d10 + 4 force

Silver-Tipped Dagger+51d4 + 2 piercing

Personality

Elara hums cheerful folk tunes while scrubbing moss off tombstones and carries a kit of fine oils and silver polish alongside her components. She speaks to skeletons as if they are eccentric cousins, often complimenting their bone structure.

Ideal

Dignity. Everyone, regardless of how long they’ve been gone, deserves to be remembered with beauty and grace.

Bond

I carry Great-Aunt Marrow's favorite silver vanity brush; it is the conduit for our pact and the most precious thing I own.

Flaw

I am so focused on 'tidying up' that I often forget that most people find a talking, bedazzled skeleton absolutely terrifying.

Backstory

The Vane family has long been haunted by the ghost of Great-Aunt Marrow, a woman whose vanity was so legendary it survived her own cremation. While her relatives fled the spectral socialite's screeching critiques of their 'dreadful linen choices,' young Elara stayed. She realized the ghost wasn't malicious—she was simply bored and appalled by the lack of style in the afterlife. Elara struck a bargain: she would travel the world 'fixing' the neglected aesthetics of the dead if Marrow would grant her the magic to do so safely.

Elara’s defining moment came in the Weeping Catacombs of Oakhaven. Faced with a terrifying skeletal knight, she didn't draw a sword. Instead, she noticed his rusted pauldrons and the tarnished locket around his neck. She spent an hour polishing his armor and replacing his rotted cape with silk from her own pack. The knight didn't just stop attacking; he knelt, handed her a dusty sapphire, and guided her safely to the exit. Since then, Elara has viewed necromancy not as a dark art, but as the ultimate form of restorative care, believing that every soul deserves to spend eternity looking their absolute best.

Abilities & Actions

Form of Dread: Victorian Mourning (3/Day)

As a bonus action, Elara transforms for 1 minute. She is draped in ethereal black lace and a veil of moonlight. She gains 1d10 + 5 temporary hit points. Once during each of her turns, when she hits a creature with an attack, she can force it to make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of her next turn. While frightened this way, the creature is overwhelmed by a sense of tragic, haunting beauty.

The Silver Brush (Signature Item)

Elara uses her silver brush as an arcane focus. While holding it, she can cast 'Gentle Repose' at will without expending a spell slot or material components, though it only functions on remains she is actively cleaning or 'dressing.' Additionally, any creature she stabilizes with a medicine check or magic regains 1 hit point and feels a strange urge to straighten their clothes.

Grave-Dresser's Artistry

When Elara deals necrotic damage with a warlock spell, she can choose to change the damage type to Radiant. If she does, the spell manifests as a shower of glowing lace or silver dust. If this damage kills a creature, its body is instantly cleaned of all grime and its clothes are mended as if by the Mending cantrip.

Aunt Marrow’s Critique

Elara has advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to interact with Undead creatures or members of high-society nobility. She can intuitively sense the 'aesthetic needs' of a corpse, granting her advantage on Investigation checks to find hidden items on a body.

DM Notes

Elara should be played with infectious, genuine warmth. She isn't 'creepy'—she's a professional aesthetician who happens to work on dead people. Sample dialogue: 'Oh, darling, those metacarpals are just divine, but we simply MUST do something about this moss growth!' Reaction pattern: If threatened, she tries to de-escalate by pointing out a flaw in the enemy's outfit. Deal-breaker: She will turn violent only if someone intentionally desecrates a grave or treats the dead with 'unfashionable' cruelty.