From LSWiki

The Reapers Overview

As a member of the most elite warriors in the service of the dark Lord of Death, you recieve a number of powers in exchange for service to your dark lord. The primary purpose of a Reaper is to bring death upon the living, especially to those who most attempt to preserve it. In this regard, your master Thanatos requires that all of his servants continuously exercise their powers against the forces of good in the land.

In exchange for loyal service and worship, Thanatos grants myriad abilities to his chosen warlords. A listing of the abilities you gain as a Reaper can be found in the file 'help powers', the code required by Thanatos in 'help restrictions', and information about divine favor, or elan, is found in 'help elan'.

Powers

[- The Reapers -- Powers Ability -]-

The warriors in the service of Thanatos gain a number of benefits for their devotion, most notably their ability to invoke their master to aid them in the slaying of their enemies. Besides their powers dealing with the invocation of Lord Thanatos, his Reapers recieve a demon weapon bound to their soul upon entry to the Reaper's service and those Reapers who uphold his law best receive other enhancements - 'help bonuses' details these.

The the Reapers have the following special abilities:

Slaughter Slay a mortally wounded enemy.
Rend Slash your enemy with unholy claws.
Drain Draw the life force from your enemies.
Smite Call down Thanatos' wrath against your enemies.
Flood Flood your spiritual form with excess elan.
Weakness Bring great frailty to your enemies.
Envelop Cloak yourself in the Reaper's Cloak.
Ectomorph Enter willingly into Lord Thanatos' realm.
Return Return from the dead.
Invoke Call the presence of Lord Thanatos to your aid.
Consecrate Create an altar to Thanatos.
Disperse removes the shadows surrounding you caused by envelop.

Restrictions

-[- The Reapers -- Restrictions Ability -]-

The powers of an elite servant of Thanatos come at a price. The warrior must provide blood in the service of Lord Thanatos, as the warm blood of dying innocents is the primary physical symbol of his unholy might. To this cause, the Reaper must not use weapons of the blunt variety, as they kill without taking forth the lifeblood that Thanatos so loves.

The Reaper must uphold the dictates of Thanatos, and therefore keep his alignment to evil, lest he be ignored by the Reaper.

Lord Thanatos asks that his highest servants be pious to his cause, and offer their rewards of battle to their master, and will remove his presence from those who would refuse the Reaper his dues.

As a result of the bond that the Reaper forms with his greatest servants, those who fight valiantly for Lord Thanatos are known to take great offense to objects of holiness, as their presence can cause the Reaper much pain, and even interfere with his ability to contact his patron. Standing on holy ground has a similar effect on Thanatos' highest knights.

Elan

[- The Reapers -- Elan Ability -]-

Those with as strong a bond to Lord Thanatos as his Reapers connect to him on a very deep level. The measure of this bond is 'elan', divine favor. The amount of elan possessed by a Reaper is what provides the raw power required to activate the powers granted by the Reaper. The maximum amount of elan that can be possessed by a Reaper at any one time is determined by his level, skill in invocation and necromancy, and the unholiness in the area - places already nearer to the evil Thanatos represents can be more easily inundated with his power, and as such, the Reaper has more power there, and even gains more by carrying items of an unholy nature.

Elan is spent in many invocations of Thanatos' power, and is primarily gained through sacrifice. Note that each Reaper produces a certain natural amount of elan - the Reaper's elan level always approaches this, as the excess will flow off into the surrounding environment, or the warrior's raw, natural unholiness generates elan up to this amount.

The command 'elan' will display your current amount of elan and whether this amount is rising, falling, or steady.

Bonuses

-[- The Reapers -- Bonuses Ability -]-

Those who are particularly devoted to their lord recieve a small fragment of his unholy might infused into them, making them even better at their chosen task. This infusion empowers the Reaper in the manner of bonuses to the warrior's strength and constitution, and to the skills of anatomy, unarmed, follow, and pole arms. Note, though, that only those who uphold the highest of the Lord Reaper's virtues recieve these bonuses, and even then, cannot use their master's power when in the presence of holiness.