diff --git a/templates/book_chapter.yml b/templates/book_chapter.yml
index b2b1b2e..4ded955 100644
--- a/templates/book_chapter.yml
+++ b/templates/book_chapter.yml
@@ -323,6 +323,7 @@ steps:
 
   - type: rag_write
     asset_id: "character-state"
+    source_step: 4   # PASS 3 character-state extraction; explicit to avoid last_text() falling back to chapter text
     max_chars: 4000
 
   - type: document