Homebrew Awakened Undead Species Details

Death comes for all things in a variety of ways. There is also a variety of ways as to which the dead may come back to life. Necromancy, curses, and unfinished business is only a few of a myriad of ways for the dead to taste the semblance of life they once had. Almost all undead are for the most part former empty husks and shells are their past selves but for a lucky few they retain their former selves and are free, these are the Awakened Dead.
 
Dead and Reborn Typically having no lands to call their own, undead with an awakened sense of self are usually perpetual foreigners, wanders in a land and often a time they do not belong to. Compounding matters, most mortal cultures carry with them an instinctual fear of death and the dead, and many associate necromancy specifically with dark tidings. This forms a wall of (often well-earned) prejudice and hatred that sentient undead find themselves up against, and many undead choose to hide their necrotic natures behind clothes, masks, and pungent perfumes when journeying into civilization. Depending on composition, humanoid undead typically range a wide gamut from 20 to 300 pounds, and may possess empty eyes, a colored flame-like magical animus in their sockets, or harrowed, surprisingly mortal eyes burning with an inner fire. Hair (if they have it at all) is usually lank, dark, and wrought with grime and gravedirt that no amount of cleaning will fully remove.
 
Service and Freedom Undeath is effectively immortality, a strong reason why many mortal spellcasters of a certain moral bent consider it a viable alternative to actually dying. Still, it is not immortality without a price; senses and emotions dull, food and drink no longer have taste, and often an undead state comes alongside a subservience of will and unthinking toil beneath a merciless and malevolent master. Some undead are born into freedom, while others earn it or have it thrust upon them. Regardless, all undead that are not bound greatly cherish their liberday, as the reminders of what could easily happen were they not fortunate enough to possess free will abound throughout history. Many awakened undead consider it their sacred duty to free other mindless undead, or simply to dispatch them wherever they may be found. The reasoning is straightforward enough: a final rest awarded to all mortals is greatly preferential to eternal slavery to the likes of a short-sighted, megalomaniacal spellcaster.
 
Fallen Home, Forgotten Past For many awakened undead, the past is a distant homeland to which they may never return, holding names and faces now partially-forgotten, and loves and lives as dead as they are. The anguish of this loss is enough to drive many mad, but others use this rage and pain as a source of power and drive, carrying them further on the road to whatever dark destiny awaits. Frequently, entire countries, customs, and cultures an undead may be familiar with no longer exist, and the sentient dead behaves or speaks in an antiquated fashion because of this. These undead may find it more difficult than usual to relate to modern mortals, usually leveraging what companions they find to bridge this epoch-long communication gap
You are undead

Hybrid Creature

You have two creature types: humanoid and undead. You can be affected by a game effect if it works on either of your creature types.

Remnants of Life. 

You have advantage against turning and other anti-undead effects. Additionally, if something affects both living and undead creatures, make a Wisdom or Charisma saving throw (your choice) against the effect's DC; if you succeed, you may choose whether it affects you as living or undead. (On a failure, it affects you as the caster intended.)

Appearance

 Your undead nature is easily apparent to anyone looking at you, unless you are trying to disguise yourself. You have disadvantage on Deception (Wisdom) checks when trying to hide your physical appearance. When not trying to disguise your nature, you have advantage on Intimidation (Charisma) checks. 

Knowledge from a Past Life

You temporarily remember glimpses of the past, perhaps faded memories from ages ago or a previous life. When you make an ability check that uses a skill, you can roll a d6 immediately after seeing the number on the d20 and add the number on the d6 to the check. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Deathless Nature

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

Undead Nature. Your undead nature grants you a number of benefits and drawbacks:

  • You have advantage on saving throws against disease, poisoned, being, frightened .
  • You have resistance to poison, necrotic.
  • You have advantage on death saving throws.
  • You don’t need to breathe, eat, or drink.
  • 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. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.

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