Homebrew Drowned Species Details

It's not known what circumstances cause a living creature to become one of the drowned, a rare variant of sea zombie that regains its consciousness and some semblance of life upon reanimation. Unlike their fully undead counterparts, the drowned don't require necromantic magic to return to the Material Plane. Instead, the soul of a humanoid who died drowning spontaneously returns to its remains following an indeterminant period of residing in its place of death. Further distinguishing them from standard sea zombies, the drowned may arise from those who found a watery grave within a swamp, lake, or even sufficiently deep river, rather than being limited to just the ocean.

The drowned are assumed by many to share the hatred of the living typically harbored by sea zombies, and they are the first to be blamed when the remains of travelers, fishers, or merchant caravans are found along paths near inland bodies of water. And while this is a not-uncommon tactic employed by drowned brigands, the majority of these sapient pseudo-undead are content with a more mundane existence. Some can be found working on aquacultural farms in isolated archipelagos, while others have established undersea settlements that act as stopping points for sea elves, tritons, merfolk, and other maritime wanderers. Their unique nature and the uncertain cause of their resurrection, however, prompt many drowned to take up the life of a wandering adventurer.

Drowned Traits

As a drowned, you have these special traits:

Ancestral Legacy

If you replace a species with this lineage, you can keep the following elements of that species: any skill proficiencies you gained from it and any Climb, Fly, or Swim Speed you gained from it. If you don't keep any of those elements or you choose this lineage at character creation, you gain proficiency in two skills of your choice.

Bottom Treader

If you do not have a Swim Speed, you sink to the bottom of any body of water. You take no penalties to your movement or weapon attack rolls due to being underwater. Additionally, you can tolerate the effects of being underwater at a depth greater than 100 feet, regardless of whether or not you have a Swim Speed.

Darkvision

You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Deathless Nature

You have escaped death, a fact represented by the following benefits:

• You have Resistance to Poison damage. You also have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Poisoned condition.
• You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
• You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a Long Rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in an inactive, motionless state, during which you retain consciousness.

Restless Dead

Despite your undeath, you still have a spark of life left in you. You have Immunity to effects that turn Undead.