Unmortal

There were three, maybe four of the poor sods. Said they were dragon hunters, of all things. Humans born after the Greater War never have understood how dangerous Orpheus can really be. They set out, a company of would-be heroes ready to tame the whole planet themselves. Weeks passed, and we all started thinking those Freebooter fools would never return alive. We were very nearly right. Pale as the grave, he was, eyes shining with the golden fires of life itself. He'd died, alright. They all had. But one had come back; one had looked Sister Death in the eyes and told her he was not yet finished."

--Lanyal Khoon, owner of the Spike and Spindle inn.

Death is no bar to the iron-willed. Those claimed by the many dangers of the Cardinal Planes may sometimes defy the grave, and seize the raw stuff of life to attain a unique state of being known as unmortality. These unmortals are distinguished from the common undead by the fact they are kept walking and undecaying in the lands of the living by the same wellspring of vitality which drives all life and which is anathema to the undead: the Positive Energy Plane.

Conquerors of Death

No one returns from the grave unchanged. Unmortals are created when someone is too stubborn to perish, and this tenacity carries on into their state of superanimation. While the memories and personality from the unmortal's previous life are retained in their revivified condition, these traits are amplified with a boldness and exuberance which may not have been present before. The confidence of an unmortal is far from unfounded, as they have survived death itself.

With this confidence, however, comes what some may consider to be arrogance or foolhardiness. Someone who has died once and returned as an unmortal may never do so again, but many unmortals live heedless of this peril, and throw themselves into danger and adventure with the conviction that there is nothing left for them to fear.

Champions of Life

Unmortals live by the words of the poet Buchanan:

Whosoe’er shall conquer Death,

Tho’ mortal man he be,

Shall in his season rise again,

And live, with thee, and me!

And whosoe’er loves mortals most

Shall conquer Death the best,

Yea, whosoe’er grows beautiful

Shall grow divinely blest.

While this scripture was originally meant to mourn the passing of Baldur, it has since been misappropriated to epitomize the goal of most every superanimated creature on New Earth and Orpheus alike: to protect life in all its forms, and in doing so become worthy of their unmortality.

However, not all unmortals are driven by bravery and selflessness, for the Positive Energy Plane drives evil souls as well as good. More than one archvillain in history has evaded

the clutches of Sister Death and gained unmortality. Evil souls thus empowered by superanimation defend no life but their own, and are amongst the most nefarious figures in the history of either planet.

Playing an Unmortal Character

Unmortality is an incredible and powerful gift, and one which must be earned. To the DM's discretion, the "Unmortal" template presented on the following page may be applied to a player character before a campaign begins, but DMs who rule otherwise must establish conditions for how and when unmortality is achievable. For example, a player who rolls one or more critical successes on a death saving throw may qualify for unmortality. At any rate, a creature or character must be reduced to zero hit points before it can roll to become unmortal.

Unmortal Template

A beast, humanoid, giant, dragon, or monstrosity can become an unmortal. When a creature becomes an unmortal, it retains all its statistics except as noted below.

Resitances. Unmortals gain resistance to necrotic and radiant damage.

Revivified. An unmortal does not require air, food, drink, or sleep, but due to the nature of unmortality, it will often revel in these things regardless, enjoying with zeal what most living creatures take for granted.

Life Incarnate. Due to their attunement to the Positive Energy Plane, unmortals heal an additional 1d6 hit points when recovering from damage or when being healed magically. Once per long rest, unmortals may also stabilize when reduced to zero hit points.

Death's Bane. Unmortals gain advantage on attacks made against creatures of the undead type.

Pseudolich Template

A beast, humanoid, giant, dragon, or monstrosity can become a pseudolich. When a creature becomes a psuedolich, it retains all its statistics except as noted below.

Resistances. A psuedolich is resistant to shock and radiant damage.

Construct Nature. While technically a living and breathing being, a pseudolich is a construct not dissimilar to flesh golems, and as such does not require air, food, drink, or sleep.

Storm of Life. As a bonus action, a pseudolich may channel its artificial life force into a melee touch attack which deals 1d10 shock damage and an additional 1d4 radiant damage.

Tenuous Tether. A psuedolich gains disadvantage on attacks made against it which deal necrotic damage.

Assembly Required. A pseudolich cannot recover hit points naturally or magically, and must be repaired by a trained reanimator in a process which takes twenty four hours and costs 1,000 gp in components.