If a revenant had a class, like Wizard, would they still have the abilities they had while alive. For example, could revenant cast spells as they did when they were alive?

@Ryuma. Sir Godfrey Gwilym in the Curse of Strahd campaign is a revenant NPC character that can help the party and has access to Paladin spells he knew in his lifetime. So I'd say it's fair to say the same would go for a Wizard who became a revenant.

Would he, or is it based on the body he took? I am playing him as he hunts down a body with certain criteria to what he wants, say he wants a melee person, or a Archer, then he would hunt a body that was skilled already with it.

 Revenant doesn't appear for me in the create monster lists so that I can modify it.  Anyone else have this problem?  

Quote from Ryuma >>

If a revenant had a class, like Wizard, would they still have the abilities they had while alive. For example, could revenant cast spells as they did when they were alive?

 In Dungeon of the Mad Mage, there is a Revenant who specifically does not have access to his cleric spells, although his Holy Symbol had been stolen from him.

Quote from Meldroth >>

Quote from Ryuma >>

If a revenant had a class, like Wizard, would they still have the abilities they had while alive. For example, could revenant cast spells as they did when they were alive?

 In Dungeon of the Mad Mage, there is a Revenant who specifically does not have access to his cleric spells, although his Holy Symbol had been stolen from him.

In that case perhaps that Revenant is only able to cast spells if it is his holy symbol. It could have been a strong value he held in life. Now in undeath it is twisted, he might believe he is betraying his God if he used any other.

- Note this is just a backstory reason I came up with. Not a actual part of the module as far as I know.

“A revenant forms from the soul of a mortal who met a cruel and undeserving fate. It claws its way back into the world to seek revenge against the one who wronged it. The revenant reclaims its mortal body and superficially resembles a zombie. However, instead of lifeless eyes, a revenant’s eyes burn with resolve and flare in the presence of its adversary. If the revenant’s original body was destroyed or is otherwise unavailable, the spirit of the revenant enters another humanoid corpse. Regardless of the body the revenant uses as a vessel, its adversary always recognizes the revenant for what it truly is.“

Also; “If its foe is too powerful for the revenant to destroy on its own, it seeks worthy allies to help fulfill its quest.”

Seems like a random encounter with a revenant wouldn’t necessarily be hostile.  Perhaps it would strike up a conversation; “Are you lot off to kill Count Chocula?  I’d quite like to tag long, if you please?”

If your players are anything like mine, they'll have built up a sizable kill-count to draw revenants from.

That being said, i do think that revenants can only be formed by someone with very strong will and conviction (exemplified by their high Charisma score).

Does anyone know why the Revenants deal 2d6 with their fists, and 2d10 with a two-handed longsword attack (as in 'Curse of Strahd')?  I understand that they are CR 5 but it seems excessive, and there's no listed reason.

I've heard this somewhere...DOOM PERHAPS!?

Quote from SaltimusMaximus69 >>

“A revenant forms from the soul of a mortal who met a cruel and undeserving fate. It claws its way back into the world to seek revenge against the one who wronged it. The revenant reclaims its mortal body and superficially resembles a zombie. However, instead of lifeless eyes, a revenant’s eyes burn with resolve and flare in the presence of its adversary. If the revenant’s original body was destroyed or is otherwise unavailable, the spirit of the revenant enters another humanoid corpse. Regardless of the body the revenant uses as a vessel, its adversary always recognizes the revenant for what it truly is.“

Also; “If its foe is too powerful for the revenant to destroy on its own, it seeks worthy allies to help fulfill its quest.”

Seems like a random encounter with a revenant wouldn’t necessarily be hostile.  Perhaps it would strike up a conversation; “Are you lot off to kill Count Chocula?  I’d quite like to tag long, if you please?”

Yah.  Honestly, if a Revenant is after you specifically, you’re probably the bad guy in this situation.

The most likely conflict would be mistake identity, if the PCs assume it for a generic, evil undead.

Yeah, that sounds about right 

In Frigid Woe module, what sort of hostility would it have towards the party, if at all? My party would basically get two-shot by this thing, they are at lvl2. Could they talk to it and compromise or persuade it not to attack?

As long as they haven't pissed it off it has no real reason to attack them. I don't know the module in question, but a revenant only really wants the specific person that it's after and wouldn't randomly attack your party unless they stood in its way.

Here’s a question. Would it be reasonable to, with a DM’s consent of course, for a necromancer to create a Revenant with the Create Undead spell? I have an idea for a character story of a necromancer who wants to become a lich, but is afraid of all of the powerful artifacts in the world that have anti-undead properties (Holy Avenger, Sword of Kas, etc) So prior to his transformation into a lich, he assembles small groups of intelligent undead that can pass for mortals to gather information on the locations of such artifacts, and seeks to destroy them.

Holy avenger isn’t an artifact.

Well, not “artifact” artifacts, I meant to imply very powerful anti undead weapons/items.

as a DM, i would not say that it is reasonable. a Revenant is technically an undead but the flavor of the Revenant is that its a burning soul, not a zombie. I would say that a necromancer couldn't create a burning, vengeful mortal soul with create undead. also consider that if the Revenant dies, its soul lingers on. so create undead would not only be able to make a very powerful zombie, it would make a very powerful zombie army that could never die for up to a year that had a target for revenge (idk how you would even determine that)

Hmm, fair enough. Guess I’ll have to make a bunch of Wights that have Hats of disguise ^_^

Would a revenant living in the corpse of a non-human gain any benefits from that corpse's biology? For example, would a revenant in a dragonborn corpse have a breath weapon? Would a changling corpse retain its shapeshifting? Would an aaracokra corpse be able to fly? Etc.