A thing you can do is to reserve a special picture number (let's say 50) and modify slightly the
Sprite_Picture script section. Search for
self.z = @picture.number and replace it by this:
CODE
ch = RPG::Cache.character($game_player.character_name, $game_player.character_hue).height / 4
self.z = @picture.number == 50 ? $game_player.screen_z(ch) - 1 : @picture.number