Sneak Attack (1/Turn). The chaingeist deals an extra 10 (3d6) damage when it hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of the chaingeist that isn't incapacitated and the chaingeist doesn't have disadvantage on the attack roll.
Incorporeal Movement. The chaingeist can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the chaingeist has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Rattling Chains. The chaingeist has disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
Scream of Anguish. If the chaingeist scores a critical hit, it takes 7 (2d6) psychic damage, and each other creature within 10 feet of it must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of the chaingeist until the end of its next turn.
Spectral Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) force damage.
Description
Chaingeists are the tormented spirits of murderers who serve their time in undeath, as their lives were not payment enough for their crimes.
Judgment of the Masses. Mass murderers and other criminals who commit atrocities in life can never be sure to find solace in death. For if they die by the hand of an executioner or while imprisoned, the society they betrayed carries enough hatred in their collective unconscious that the criminal is pulled back from the dead as a chaingeist.
Spectral Blade and Chains. A chaingeist is often visually similar to a specter except that it is able to manifest a spectral version of the murder weapon used by the individual in life. It uses this weapon with a sort of low cunning and merciless brutality that shows no regard for life - for the chaingest truly abhors the living.
The namesake of the chaingest lies in the chains that cover its body and drag it down, causing it to be slower than other incorporeal undead. As much as the chaingeist hates life, it rarely gets the opportunity to sneak up on the living, as the chains rattle violently with any movement.
Eternal Pain. The chains that cover the chaingeist are not merely a physical hindrance, for any pain or anguish caused by the chaingest upon the living is also felt by the chaingeist itself. However, even this pain is not enough to keep the chaingeist from acts of barbarous violence, which only drives the chaingeist into an endless cycle of rage and pain.
Swayed, not Made. Although a chaingeist is (almost) never created by a necromancer, there exist rituals for swaying them and directing their hatred towards specific individuals. If a necromancer can get hold of a piece of chain used to hold the individual in life, this ritual confers complete control of the chaingeist upon the caster. However, the necromancer must carry this piece of chain with them at all times, for the chaingeist will turn upon them the moment it leaves their person, with even more hatred than usual.
Broken Chains. There are rumors of a ritual which involves breaking the chains linked to a chaingeist, while murdering a living humanoid in the same manner for which the chaingeist was condemned in life. While risky, such a ritual is said to also break the spectral chains holding back the chaingeist, thereby turning it into a Wraith.
Manifestation of Loss. Both agents of the law and living conspirators of a criminal brought back as a chaingeist have noted that the handiwork of a chaingeist often does not match that of the murderer as they were in life. Some therefore postulate that a chaingeist is not actually made from the soul of a condemned dead, and that it is instead a manifestation of the pain felt by a society that has lost its members to murder and betrayal. Such a notion is hard to prove, but many scholars agree that any collective capable of raising the dead as an eternally tortured spirit would be perhaps just as capable of conjuring one out of their own feelings of grief and fear.
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