Homebrew Abyss Walker Species Details

A being built from the void itself, the Abyss Walkers are seen as nothing more than a story to tell gullible children. You know better. You are a watcher of the void and a guardian of the Abyss. Shape Shifting between your victims and hiding in plane sight, the idea of a Abyssal assassin can terrify the most powerful and ruthless mob bosses.                                            -Adrian the Careful, Paranoid loser 

The Abyss Walkers are said to be dead humans who's soul has been infused with the eternal abyss and given the strength to return to the material plane to posses there old body. This process happens without the hosts knowledge or consent, so most Walkers won't even know what they are until their hunger strikes.

Eternal hunger

As the Walkers original soul slowly loses power, it will hunger for more. Every time a Walker is within 10 feet of a sentient being when they die, a fragment of its soul gets captured by the Abyss Walkers. This fragment will return the Walkers soul to power and keep a tiny memory of the dead creature ingrained within the Abyss Walker. The Walker must eat a soul at least once a month to survive.

True form

If the Abyss walker is forced into a fight then they will release there true form. The true form of an Abyss Walker can vary greatly depending on how long you have been one. After a few years your true form will slowly transition into a inhuman and shadowy figure. This process takes a few hundred years to fully complete, but once it is done your form will be one of a giant shadow monster. Until then you retain the size and appearance of whoever you were before the void rebuilt you.

Mistake of Life

Becoming a Abyss Watcher is a seemingly random occurrence. The only common link between all Watchers is that they died at the scene of a massacre and they were killed with the wish spell. Even ignoring those two conditions it is still an exceedingly rare occurrence. This causes some to think that they were chosen by the void, and others believe that they were the product accidentally bleeding into this world.

Forever Walking

 The Walkers will never age after there initial transformation into the shadow monsters they end up as. This causes most Abyss walkers to forget who they were before there eternal hunger for souls began. Most end up walking around aimlessly until they get hungry and try to kill someone who is to powerful for them. Some Abyss walkers are able to stay active and participate in adventurers 

 

Abyss Walker Traits

Abyss Walkers often struggle to retain there old humanity by justifying there kills as a necessary evil for the betterment of the world. Remembering who there were before they accidentally became immortal can be a life changing event for a old Walker

Dark stride

Once every long rest you can use an action to enter "Stride Mode". While in Stride mode you cannot attack or cast spells in any way. You gain a flying speed of 30 and can walk through solid objects as difficult terrain. If you end your turn inside of a solid object you take 5 bludgeoning damage. Any healing affects do damage instead. Stride mode ends after 5 minutes or you dismiss it as a bonus action

Void speak

Void speak is a special language that all Void Walkers understand instinctively. It sounds just like rhythmic Whistling and humming so most people wont realize it is a language. If someone has reason to suspect you are trying to communicate then they can roll a DC 19 intelligence check. On a success they realize that you are speaking some type of language but not what language it is or what is being said. On a failure they don't notice anything. An Abyss Walker can also choose to teach a party member Void during a long rest. If you do this consistently over the course of a week then you can choose five words to teach them. If you repeat this process over the course of a year then they become fluent.

Everyone's Face

The soul fragments a Walker collects allow it to temporarily transform the Abyss Walkers into any sentient soul they have eaten. As an action they can transform there appearance to be of any sentient being they have seen die (Once per short rest). They don't gain any of that creatures feats or abilities, but they do share its size. The Walker also gets access to any memory's that the being wouldn't try to hide (ex. names of friends, ware they lived, what food they liked) but don't see any memories the person would try to hide (ex. where the mcguffin is hidden). This last for half an hour or until you dismiss it as a bonus action. Killing anything with a soul will add an extra half hour to the duration of the transformation.

 

Ability Score Increase

Your wisdom and dexterity are increased by 2. You Constitution is decreased by 1.

Age

Abyss Walkers become fully transformed a few hundred years after they originally die. After that they stop aging all together.

Alignment

Abyss Walkers tend to be more chaotic as they must kill to survive. 

Size

Abyss Walkers can be the size of whoever they are transformed into, or when in there true form they are large.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language that you knew before transforming. If you didn't know any other languages then you can pick one that you have learned. You can also speak Void.