Homebrew Forsaken Species Details

Death offered no escape for the scores of humans killed during the Lich King’s campaign to scour the living from Lordaeron. Instead, the kingdom’s fallen were risen into undeath as Scourge minions and forced to wage an unholy war against everything. . . and everyone. . . that they once held dear.

Undead humans and elves freed from the Lich King’s control, the Forsaken are a strange and dark force. Hailing from the twisted, skittering darkness of Undercity, the Forsaken are nominally allied with the Horde but serve only themselves.

Under the Lich Kings crusade, the elven Ranger General Sylvanas Windrunner fell in combat. Prince Arthas raised her as a banshee and compelled her to follow his command. When the Lich King’s power waned in the incidents surrounding the Frozen Throne, Sylvanas harnessed her fury and tore herself free from his skeletal grasp. She freed many other undead as well, and recruited powerful allies from the Burning Legion and the surrounding ogre clans. Sylvanas dubbed her new force the Forsaken, and the undead established their capital in the labyrinthine crypts beneath Lordaeron’s capital city. Their sprawling, subterranean realm now called Undercity.

Necessary Alliance

The Forsaken originally became allies of the Horde out of necessity and convenience. They have no love for orcs, tauren or any other living creature, but they need time to strike against the Scourge and allies to help them do it. The Forsaken claim that they joined the Horde to prove their desire to leave their evil ways behind, but no one really believes this. The Horde accepts the forsaken’s help, as they do indeed have a common enemy: the Scourge. The Horde is leery of the forsaken’s tactics, however, and keeps watchful eyes on them.

Though initially the Forsaken alliance with the Horde was one of pure convenience, in recent times it appears that their position in the faction has begun to solidify and many, though not all, of the Forsaken appear to be more or less loyal to the Horde now.

Enduring Cadavers

Forsaken, unsurprisingly, look like dead people. Their skin is gray and rotting, showing bone and flesh in places. Their pupil-less eyes glow with dim, white ghostlight. Their muscles are withered, making them scrawny. Their movements are slow but jagged. Necromantic magic keeps them preserved, but natural decay still proceeds, just at an extremely slow rate compared to normal.

Forsaken culture is strange, a perverse combination of the lives they once knew as mortals and the mindless slavery they experienced in the Scourge, colored by white-hot rage toward the Lich King and an almost equally intense devotion to their queen. Some Forsaken attempt to reclaim their humanity by acting in kind and helpful ways. Others allow hatred to fester into cruelty and rage.

Never sleeping, eating or falling ill, abandoned by those they once loved, the Forsaken have a brutal set of priorities. A great portion of their efforts focus on dark alchemy, and the Royal Apothecary Society commands great power in Undercity’s oily tunnels. The apothecaries constantly send Forsaken on missions to gather odd materials for their twisted experiments. Rumors tell that the undead creatures are working to create a plague that will exterminate the Scourge and every living being on Azeroth.

Forsaken Names

Most forsaken keep the human or blood elven name they had when they were alive. If a forsaken cannot remember their name, or simply wishes to change it, they make up a suitable name or read one from a headstone. Some invent surnames that imply their desire to eradicate the Scourge or about their undead nature.

Converted from, and all credit given to:
Lead Designer: Jih 
Writing & Editing: Jih, Tangerine 
Reddit Names: Jihia, TangerineThunder

Forsaken Traits

Your forsaken character has a variety of abilities stemming from their close relationship with death.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Forsaken do not age, as they are undead. The age they were when brought back as forsaken is the age they will be until destroyed.

Alignment

Forsaken alignment varies, though most tend to become more chaotic and very few keep to good after decades of being an undead.

Size

Forsaken size reflects that of their living counter-parts. Many getting more hunched over with the decades. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Darkvision

Forsaken can see normal 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.

Will of the Forsaken

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and frightened, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Touch of the Grave

Forsaken don't need to sleep. Instead, they enter a semiconscious state of the afterlife for 4 hours a day. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

You also have two creature types: humanoid and undead. You can be affected by a game effect if it works on either of your creature types. In addition, you gain the following traits:

• You don't require food or water.
• You have resistance to poison and necrotic damage, and advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.

Cannibalism

For 1 minute, you can cannibalize the corpse of a humanoid that has been dead for less than 1 hour. When done, you regain a number of hit points equal to your level + your Constitution modifier. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short rest

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and understand Abyssal.