Fighting amidst a horde of goblins, a half-orc warrior collapses, a dozen spears piercing their back. Yet, the goblin's cheerful victory turns to swift horror, as a brilliant, divine avatar appears from the corpse of the slain warrior, ready to continue his fight.

A pale halfling fires arrows at the wight, the poison cutting even through the undead's resistances, and corroding the necrotic soul of the entity.

A dragonborn in full-plate armor stands toe to toe with a twisted manticore, his bone greatsword pulling magical power from the corpses that litters the manticore's lair.

The deadwalker draws power from their previous deaths, and can cheat death in many ways. However, living in the grey realm between life and death, deadwalkers attract spectral manifestations of their inevitable end called a Wardens, which follows them around and which they can channel sinister magic through.

Hit Points

• Hit Dice: 1d10 per deadwalker level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per deadwalker level after 1st

Proficiencies

• Armor: Light, medium, shields
• Weapons: Simple, martial, scythes
• Tools: None

• Saving Throws: Strength, Wisdom
• Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Deception, Intimidation, Insight, Investigation, or Perception.

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a scythe or (b) a martial weapon
• (a) a longbow and 20 arrows or (b) a martial weapon
• (a) a leather armor and a simple weapon or (b) scale mail
• (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
• A shield and a shovel.

Memento Mori

You have cheated death before, either through luck, stolen time, or a fell bargain, and you are left with a magical item as a reminder of that encounter. Choose one Memento Mori, which are all listed at the end of the class description. After completing a long rest, you can reform all of your Memento Moris in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you, after which your previous Memento is destroyed. Certain Mementos cannot be taken until you reach a given deadwalker level.

You create additional Mementos at higher levels, choosing the same or different Forms when you do so. See the Memento Mori column of the Deadwalker Table for how many you can create at at time. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you may change out one Memento Form you have with another that you could have chosen at the level you chose the old Memento.

Grave Echoes List

Blown to Bits. You were killed by an area of effect ability or spell- such as a dragon’s breath or a fireball spell. You gain proficiency in the Arcana or Sleight of Hand skills, and you can use a bonus action to disperse into a thin swarm of dust and move up to 5 feet to an unoccupied space before turning back into your regular form. You have resistance to all damage while a swarm of dust in this way, and can move through openings no smaller than 1 inch wide without squeezing. If you would turn to your normal self in a space you could not fit in, you are ejected back to where you began your movement.

Caught Unawares. You were killed outside of battle or while surprised. You gain proficiency with the Investigation or Stealth skills, and when you roll Initiative and are not surprised, you can use your reaction to target a creature within 30 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Wisdom Saving Throw or be surprised.

Cut Down. You were killed in battle by a melee weapon attack, such as a sword, spear, or a monster’s claws. You gain proficiency with the Athletics or Insight skill, and you instinctually know if a creature you can see within 30 feet of you is hiding a weapon on their body or has a natural weapon they have lot revealed yet. This ability does not reveal what the weapon nor how many are hidden, just that it is present. Magical focuses or components are not considered weapons for this ability.

Out of Air. You suffocated to death or died from natural hazards- such as by drowning, being crushed by earth or falling. You gain proficiency in the Nature or Survival skills, you no longer need to breathe to survive, and you can dig through loose dirt or ground with your bare hands as if you had a shovel, gaining a burrowing speed of 10 feet in such places.

Hunted from Afar. You were killed in battle by a ranged weapon attack, such as a bow, crossbow, or ballista. You gain proficiency with the Acrobatics or Perception skill, and you are resistant to damage from ranged weapon attacks that were made with disadvantage. This effect does not apply to ranged weapon attacks from silvered or magical ammunition or from magical weapons.

Struck by the Elements. You were killed by an attack or spell which dealt acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage. You gain proficiency with the Nature or Medicine skill, and you know absorb elements as a deadwalker spell. You can cast it without using a spell slot if it is triggered by the damage type which killed you, even if it is not normally a damage type the spell can be used to resist.

Spellstruck. You were killed by a hostile spell or magical effect. You gain proficiency with the Arcana or Religion skills, and you can sense any creature with the Spellcasting or Innate Spellcasting feature within 30 feet of you who is not behind total cover. You only sense that creature’s presence, not the kind of spellcasting they possess.

Archery

You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

Dueling

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Great Weapon Fighting

When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

Protection

When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Pact Warrior

You learn two Warlock cantrips of your choice, which count as Deadwalker spells for you. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these cantrips.

Spell Slots

The Deadwalker table shows how many spell slots you have. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level. To cast one of your deadwalker spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a spell slot. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a short or long rest.

For example, when you are 5th level, you have two 2nd-level spell slots. To cast the 1st-level spell inflict wounds, you must spend one of those slots, and you cast it as a 2nd-level spell.

The Angel

You are watched over by a guardian angel- a celestial entity that has latched onto you to keep you alive for some divine purpose. While this creature is undoubtedly holy, it may not be an actual angel- just as often, these Wardens are the spirits of devout clerics, enigmatic coatls, or lingering prayers given ethereal form.

The Ghost

You came back from death, but something came back with you- and continues to cling to your extended life with cold hands. The lingering spirit who follows you might be a stranger, someone you knew, or even a dark reflection of yourself. Regardless, it lurks by, either seeking company, or waiting for its chance to inhabit a living vessel...

Expanded Spell Choices

At 3rd level, the being of ultimate law who acts as your Warden allows you to choose the following spells to prepare or cast with your Grey Arcanum. These spells are added to the deadwalker spell list and considered deadwalker spells for you.

Reflective Armor

At 7th level, whenever yourself or a creature within 30 feet of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to add your Wisdom modifier (min. 1) to that creature’s Armor Class until the end of your next turn. While they have this bonus their Armor Class, their first attack which hits on a turn deals additional force damage equal to half your deadwalker level (rounded down).

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, recovering all expended uses after you complete a long rest or whenever you die.

Adamantine Soul

At 11th level, your Warden turns critical hits against it into normal hits. While your current hit points are equal to or less than half of your maximum hit points, you also have this trait.

Clockwork Destiny

At 15th level, as an action ou can designate a single you see within 120 feet of you and manipulate their destiny to either doom or fortune, choosing one of the options below:

Doom. The creature may make a Wisdom saving throw, resisting this effect on a success. On a failure, they are afflicted by doom accented with a tolling, ethereal bell for 1 minute. During this time, that creature cannot benefit from advantage, and whenever you see them make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, you can choose to use your reaction before the roll to influence it. When you do so, if the roll on the d20 was a 9 or higher, it is considered a 8. A creature immune to divination magic is immune to this ability.

Level 1

Level 5

Grim Hound

Your Memento manifests as an unnatural, shadowy hound known as a Grim, which accompanies you as an ally. See the Grim Statblock for its statistics. Your Grim acts on your Initiative, at the end of your turn, and uses your proficiency bonus (PB) in several places in its statblock. When you take the Attack action, you can replace one of your attacks to command your Hound to take an action in its stat block- otherwise, it can only take the Dash, Dodge, or Disengage actions. You can command all of your Grim Hounds in this way, if you have multiple Grim Hounds, by using your Action to command them.

As an Action on your turn, you can summon a destroyed Grim back to life in a space within 5 feet of you, where it has hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier plus half your Deadwalker level, rounded down (min. 1). You can use this action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses after completing a long rest. If your Grim is killed by radiant damage or by a silvered or magical weapon, then you cannot summon it back until you complete a long rest.

Shadow Phylactery

Your Memento manifests as a shadowy jewel or arcane focus. While holding your Memento, you or any creature with the Spellcasting or Pact Magic trait can cast spells of 3rd level or lower that you have prepared, using their spell slots. They use their own Spellcasting ability for the spell, though it is considered a Deadwalker spell when they cast it.

Additionally, whenever you die, you can choose to recover one expended deadwalker spell slot or an expended use of your Grey Arcanum. Once you use this aspect of this phylactery, it fades into flickering shadow and is destroyed.

Song of the Spreading Horde

Your Memento manifests as a music box or bottle which produces terrible screams of the dying when you open it. While you are holding this music box, you can cast animate dead using a deadwalker spell slot, casting it as a deadwalker spell. You can cast animate dead in this way once per long rest.

A zombie or skeleton created by a deadwalker spell you cast or one of your deadwalker abilities has a special trait while you hold this Memento- whenever they hit a creature with a weapon attack, that creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against disease, against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature becomes infected, and gains one level of exhaustion. Once infected, they cannot be infected again until they are cured. At the end of each short or long rest they take while infected, they must make this save again or gain another level of exhaustion. A creature who dies while infected by this disease rises in 1 hour as a zombie, if they are humanoid, or a shadow, if they are not. These undead are not under your control, but they will not harm a creature holding the song of the spreading horde or who are within 10 feet of someone holding it.

Blade of the Black Cat

Your Memento manifests as a shadowy simple or martial weapon, with glints of shadow magic floating around it. Attacks made with this weapon are considered magical for the purposes of ignorning damage resistances and immunities.

Additionally, whenever someone would make an attack roll at disadvantage with this weapon on that turn, they can use a bonus action on a turn to make another weapon attack with it at disadvantage.

As an action, you can destroy your blade of the black cat to confer its blessing to another weapon that you touch. It gains the properties of the blade of the black cat (apart from its ability to confer its blessing) until you take a long rest.

Blank Mask

Your Memento manifests as a blank, grey mask. As a 1 minute ritual, you can place the mask to the face of a humanoid who died within the last 10 minutes before you began the ritual. The mask rips the face off the corpse and absorbs it, and the mask shifts to become a macabre representation of the absorbed face. You can only store one humanoid face in your mask at a time.

While you are wearing a mask with a stored face, you can cast alter self at will, without using a spell slot, but you can only to change your form to match the body of the stored face. When you do so, the mask turns invisible until alter self ends.

Additionally, as an action, you can destroy this mask to cast a special version of the simulacrum spell instantly, without using a spell slot. Simulacrum cast in this way creates a duplicate of the humanoid whose face you stored in your mask, it requires your concentration or the spell ends, and lasts for 10 minutes.

Call of the Macabre Carnival

Your Memento manifests as a dark calling card with image of a demonic clown or acrobat. While holding the card, you have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) and Charisma (Performance) checks.

As an action, you can crush the card to summon a twisted, illusory carnival in a 100 foot cube centered on you, which remains stationary for 1 hour. Inside the carnival, on illusory platforms, translucent, illusory clowns and mimes theatrically act out the last death to occur in a given 5-foot space within the last 10 years, though they are prone to highly dramatizing the death if it was too mundane or boring. Additionally, when you create the carnival, you can create any number of illusory, opaque domed tents that fill at least a 10 foot radius within the area. A tent must be able to fit in the room or space it is created in.

Inside a tent, invisible but semi-corporeal spectators fill the inside, making it difficult terrain to move through. As a bonus action on your turn, you can designate a twisted performance to occur inside a tent you can see. Each creature inside the tent who does not have truesight must succeed on a saving throw, whose type is determined by the kind of performance you choose, or take 4d8 psychic damage, or half as much on a successful saving throw. If you choose a performance type that represents the way that an illusory clown or mime that is inside the tent is acting out a recent death, the damage increases by 2d8.

You can use this bonus action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses after a long rest.

The performances are as follows:

• Animal Tamer. Requires a Constitution saving throw. One or multiple actors try to get an illusory beast or other monster to bend to their will, and are promptly torn to shreds.
• Escape Artist. Requires a Dexterity saving throw. An amateur or foolish escape artist tries re-enacts how to escape fire, lightning, traps, or other binds- and fails horribly.
• Tragic Soliloquy. Requires a Wisdom saving throw. A lone actor regales the audience of a chilling tale of cold-blooded murder, madness, or betrayal.

Angel Warden

Medium celestial, your alignment

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• Armor Class 14 + your PB (Natural and Shield)
• Hit Points 5 + six times your deadwalker level + your PB (the warden has a number of d10 hit dice equal to your deadwalker level)
• Speed 30 feet

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
13 (+1)	14 (+2)	13 (+1)	10 (+0)	16 (+3)	15 (+2)

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• Saving Throws Wis +3 plus PB, Cha +2 plus PB
• Skills Insight +3 plus PB, Religion +0 plus PB, Medicine +3 plus PB
• Condition Immunities Charmed, frightened
• Senses Darkvision 60 feet, passive Perception 13
• Languages Celestial, all languages you knew

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Emergency Revival. If the angel warden is reduced to 0 hit points, its deadwalker is restored to life with 1 hit point. The angel cannot use this ability if it had already brought its deadwalker back to life with a ritual since their last long rest.

Lingering Smites. If your deadwalker had any deadwalker spell slots left when they died, the angel deals 1d6 additional radiant damage with its attacks per spell slot left.

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Actions

Multiattack. Starting at 5th level, the angel warden may make two Holy Blade or Divine Bolt attacks.

Holy Blade. Melee weapon attack: +3 plus PB to hit, reach 5 feet, one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage, plus your Wisdom modifier (min. 1) radiant damage.

Divine Bolt. Ranged spell attack: +5 plus PB to hit, range 120 feet, one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) radiant damage, plus your Wisdom modifier (min. 1) radiant damage.

Ghost Warden

Medium undead, your alignment

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• Armor Class 13 + your PB (Natural)
• Hit Points 3 + five times your deadwalker level + your PB (the warden has a number of d8 hit dice equal to your deadwalker level)
• Speed 30 feet

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
5 (-3)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	13 (+1)	16 (+3)	13 (+1)

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• Saving Throws Dex +3 plus PB, Cha +1 plus PB
• Skills Intimidation +1 plus PB, Stealth +3 plus PB
• Condition Immunities Exhaustion, grappled, restrained, paralyzed, prone, unconscious
• Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from non-silvered, non-magical weapons; necrotic, poison
• Damage Immunities Psychic
• Senses Darkvision 60 feet, passive Perception 13
• Languages All languages you knew

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Undead Nature. The ghost warden does not need to drink, eat, sleep, or breathe to survive.

Dead Knowledge. The ghost warden adds its proficiency bonus to any ability check or attack roll it makes if there is a corpse within 30 feet of it who was proficient with the relevant weapon, skill, or tool proficiency. The deadwalker’s dead body and a corpse being possessed by the ghost warden both count for this ability.

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Actions

Multiattack. Starting at 5th level, the ghost warden may make two Drain Touch or Enervating Ray attacks.

Drain Touch. Melee spell attack: +3 plus PB to hit, reach 5 feet, one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 3) necrotic damage, plus your Wisdom modifier (min. 1) necrotic damage.

Enervating Ray. Ranged spell attack: +5 plus PB to hit, range 120 feet, one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) necrotic damage, plus your Wisdom modifier (min. 1) necrotic damage.

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