Homebrew Revenant Species Details
Revenants are souls of the dead returned to a semblance of life by the Raven Queen, but they do not appear as undead horrors. When the Raven Queen reincarnates souls, they exist as her special creations. In this way, such souls are always marked as representatives of the Raven Queen’s power.
A revenant has a body that is slender for his or her height, but this form possesses an uncanny toughness that contradicts the apparent build. Revenants have the same range of complexions as humans, but a revenant’s skin is ashen and the features are sunken. Eyes are most commonly solid black with a single point of red light in place of a pupil, but other eerie eye colors—including yellow, white, silver, and gold—are not uncommon, although they always share the same fiery red pupil. In most cases, the eyes lack an iris and pupil, and some glow with a ghostly light. Revenant hair typically ranges from black to white. They can grow facial hair, and males often have beards or mustaches that accentuate their dreadful countenances.
A revenant’s face and skin clearly set a member of this unique race apart from other humanoids. A revenant’s visage has a masklike quality that can be disturbing to normal mortals. Rough, dark scales appear on the flesh near the ends of a revenant’s limbs, marking the revenant as one of those the Raven Queen allowed back into the world of the living. Revenant digits end in strong, black fingernails or toenails that resemble claws.
Each revenant is unique, but ties to the Shadowfell draw most to dark colors and clothing that can help them escape notice. Whether because of dark humor or as a warning to others, their clothing and gear bear symbols that are reminders of death or duty. Revenants use raven feathers, bones, chains, grave markers, and skulls for decoration.
Revenant Traits
Returned from the land of the dead by the Raven Queen, your revenant character has these traits.Relentless Nature
Your DM assigns a goal to you—typically, one related to your character’s death. The goal must be a specific task you can complete, such as slaying an enemy or liberating an area and its people. Until you fulfill that goal, you gain the following benefits:
• If you are below half your hit point maximum at the start of your turn, you regain 1 hit point.
• If you die, you return to life 24 hours after death. If your body is destroyed, you reform within 1 mile of the place of your death at a spot determined by the DM. If your equipment was also destroyed, you do not regain it.
• You know the distance and direction between you and any creature involved in your goal, such as a person you seek vengeance against or someone you pledged to defend. This awareness fails if the creature is on another plane of existence.
Undead
Raised from the dead as a being of undeath, you count as an undead creature for all spells and abilities that affect the undead. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish. Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
Ability Score Increase
Two of your ability scores each increase by 1. Your Constitution also increases by 1.
Age
As an undead creature, you do not age.
Alignment
For souls with such a strong will to defy death itself that they crawl their way back into life. When deciding the alignment for your revenant consider how their death would have affected their previous alignment. Did an otherwise lawful character become mad with revenge becoming chaotic? Or maybe their chaotic natural was neutralized in their death and they become humbled. Was the crawl out of the afterlife hard or did it come easy? These are both things that should be considered when playing a character whose death affected them in such a literal way. Generally, characters will shift towards a chaotic alignment once they become revenants.
Size
Revenants vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision
As a creature born of the Shadowfell, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Revenants typically speak the language they knew in their previous life.
Comments