Undead Names
While most undead lack sentience, those who are lucky (or unlucky) enough to have it will choose a name for themselves. An undead with their sentience gained from being freed from a necromancer will usually not remember their past life, but those that do tend to keep any name that they recall, even if it wasn't their own. For those that don't recall a name, an undead will adopt a nickname given to them by their former master or current companion.
The following two sets of examples are names that an undead might have.
Servant Names. Thrall, Bondsman, Autonomous Drone, Vassal, Minion
Nicknames. Fleshrag, Skullface, Ashheart, Rotskin, Boney, Cuddles
Undead Traits
Your undead character has a number of traits in common with other undead.
Age. Undead do not age from the time they are created, since necrotic energies sustain their corporeal forms.
Alignment. Undead that are awakened to sentience have similar or the same alignment as they did in their past life.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Past Life. Choose another living race besides this one. Before your death, you were a member of this race and appear as an undead version of it. Your size and height are the same as they were in your past life as a member of that race. You do not retain any special abilities or racial features from your chosen race.
However, you do retain a tool proficiency, to represent your previous occupation before you became an undead.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Undead. Your creature type is undead, and you are affected by spells and affects that affect undead. For example, you can be targeted by turn undead and you cannot benefit from healing from spells that affect undead.
Due to your undead nature, you are immune to the poisoned and disease, and you are immune to poison damage. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food or drink if you wish.
Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state, but resting in this way is otherwise identical to sleeping. Magically induced sleep can cause you to enter this inactive state.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice that you knew in your past life.
Subraces. There are many differing kinds of undead. Choose a subrace for your undead character.
Skeleton
Grinning skull and dry bones, skeletons are a grim reminder of mortality. Generally raised as a simple minion, skeletons that regain their sentience ironically tend to be much smarter than their other undead counterparts. The tragedy is that their lack of a tongue greatly inhibits their speaking ability, but many find ways around this inhibitor through methods both mundane and magical.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Mute. You cannot speak through normal means, however, if you were to attempt to cast a spell with verbal components, the verbal components instead become somatic components. This does not prevent you from casting a spell that specifically asks you to speak verbally, such as the message cantrip.
Skeletal Frame. Your body is entirely made of bones, and you have vulnerability to bludgeoning damage. Additionally, you can precisely manipulate individual parts of it at will. Whenever both of your hands are unoccupied, you can use a bonus action to rearrange the bones in your body, or to return your body to its original configuration. When you rearrange your bones, choose one of the following options, any of which are considered to occupy both of your hands:
Bone Bash. You remove an arm and use it as a weapon. While used as a weapon, you have proficiency with your arm, which is a melee weapon with the finesse property that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
Bone Pick. You remove a hand, and hold it in your other hand as if it were a set of thieves' tools. This hand is capable of picking locks, cutting glass, and any other function thieves' tools could achieve. Bone
At your DM's discretion, you can use this trait to perform other tasks, such as juggling your own bones, or removing your skull to look around a corner or over a wall. Your bones lose their animation if they are further than 5 feet from the majority of your body, and must be reattached before they are once again a part of you. If your skull loses animation, you are blinded and deafened until a skull is affixed to your body.
Broken Bones
Though they can be used for a variety of tasks, a skeleton's own bones are especially precious to them, as they represent the entirety of their body. If a bone is lost or broken, it can be replaced with the same bone from another humanoid of similar stature. The bone must be cleaned and properly prepared first, taking an hour of effort, and then attached to the skeleton's body.
Wight
Trapped between life and death, wights are twisted, pale reflections of their former selves, brought back to life through their vanity or desires. All wights have an insatiable hunger for life, but they do not require the life energy of the living to sustain themselves, as their desire is more akin to an addiction. It is believed this is caused by the fact that draining a victim gives them a feeling of mortality, reminding them of what it felt like to be alive.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.
Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
Deathly Resistance. You are resistant to necrotic damage.
Life Drain. When you take the attack action, you can replace one or more of your attacks with a special melee attack. You are proficient with this attack and you use your Strength modifier for it's attack rolls.
On a hit, the target takes necrotic damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
If a creature is reduced to 0 hit points from this attack, you have advantage on the next ability check you make in the next hour. You do not gain this benefit if the creature was an undead or construct. You can benefit from this effect once per long rest.
Revenant
Spirits of vengeance inhabiting a fleshy form, revenants are almost indistinguishable from zombies. The one thing that differentiates them is a glint of intelligent hatred in their eyes. When a mortal dies and their will is strong, sometimes they are raised back from the dead to enact their vengeance against those who wronged them in their life. Generally, this is done through a covenant with a god of vengeance, or through the mortal's own thirst for vengeance manifesting as a revenant.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Constitution score is increased by 2, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Vengeful Tracker. Before your death, you swore vengeance against someone or something that wronged you. You know the general direction of the creature you swore vengeance on at all times, even if the creature is on another plane of existence. Should the chosen creature die by your hand or another's, you instantly know, and your DM chooses another creature responsible for wronging you for this feature to apply to. Should no such creature exist, you instantly die.
Vengeful Glare. As an action you target a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. On a failed saving throw, the creature becomes restrained for 1 minute. If the creature is a creature that you have sworn vengeance against, they have disadvantage on this saving throw.
The affected creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the condition on itself on a success.
You can use this ability once, and regain use of it on a long rest.
Detect Balance Score
This is a scoring system to compare the balance of a race and compare it to other races.
Base Undead
Speed = 0
Past Life = 1
Flavor +0
Tool Proficiency +1
Darkvision = 1
Undead = 5
Trance +2
Doesn't need to eat or breath +4
Poison damage and condition immunity +5
Cannot be healed -4
Humanoid + Undead -2
Language = 1
Common +0
Choice of Language +1
Total = 8
Skeleton
Ability Score Improvement = 12
Mute = 5
Cannot speak -1
Ignores verbal components +6
Skeletal Frame = -36
One physical vulnerability -40
Built in Thieves' Tools +1
1d6 Natural Weapon +2
Finesse +1
Total = -19 + 8 = -11
Wight
Ability Score Improvement = 12
Sunlight Sensitivity = -3
Deathly Resistance = 3
Medium Resistance +3
Life Drain = 5
1d6 Natural Weapon +2
Necrotic damage +1
On kill, gain advantage on an ability check once per LR +2
Total = 17 + 8 = 25
Revenant
Ability Score Improvement = 12
Vengeful Tracker = 4
A frequently useful, or powerful feature
Vengeful Glare = 4
A frequently useful, or powerful feature
Total = 20 + 8 = 28
Racial Feat
If your DM allows the use of feats from chapter 6 of the Player's Handbook, your undead character has access to the following special feat.
Turn Resistance
Prerequisite: 6th level
Your sentience and the distinct fact that you still have a soul makes you more resistant to effects that would turn or affect other undead creatures. You gain the following benefits.
-
Your Wisdom score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.
-
You have advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead.