Homebrew Awakened Species Details
"Rise, creation, follow my command, Come and be my undead right hand. Follow my orders, you will live, Do them well, and you shall outlive. Outlive all those who you come from, And to death you will not succumb. And if I die you will be free, And roam the land for all to see. For all to see, and fuel their fears, All to see, but not see your tears."
Awakened skeletons are the re-animated corpses of humanoids, that have been fully decomposed. Their flesh is gone, leaving nearly white bones magically held together by some sort of necromantic spell or similar effect.
From the graves they rise
As long as there has been humanoids, there has been those dying. The dead sometimes rise, however, either from a necromancer bringing them back, magical energies left in the area, or some other effect bringing the bodies of what was once-dead back to life.
Awakened
To reinstate his foothold in his domain or to spite Kelemvor, Myrkul a god of death bestowed his gift (or curse) on many of undead or dead skeletal bodies. This process was known as the awakening creating sentient undead skeletal humanoids able to think and act on their own free will.
A Lost Perspective
Awakened can live for aslong as they can maintain their connection to a necromantic force. Because of this timelessness, the awakened often are driven mad or develop other mental illnesses such as memory loss.
The awakened once were living creatures before their current unnatural form. For this reason they typically awake completely new to this world sometimes have memories of before they were awakened serving a necromancer or wondering the halls of tombs. Rarely some awakened start to find pieces of a memory they once had when they were living creature, these memories often cause more harm than good as a mix of memories and sometimes personalities can happen.
Dead But Not Forgotten
The undead do not have their own societies, and typically try to live in whatever society they had previously been in. Most-if not all-of the time, skeletons are cast away from the society, or even attacked on sight.
To Wander and Adventure
Awakened take up adventuring out of multiple reasons. Since they are so long-lived, they often spend their time recovering their past selves, serving a necromancers, or just trying to fit in. They often try to fin-in in human society, but rarely welcomed. Awakened enjoy man thing's normal humanoid do: playing music, telling stories, crafting and adventuring.
Awakened Names
Awakened names are often based off the humanoid they were before death. Such sources of these names usually come from the necromancer that summoned them or the gave stone where they awoke from. Those who aren't born with names often go by nicknames usually given by other humanoids.
Male Awakened Names: Darvin, Dorn, Evendur, Gorstag, Grim, Helm, Malark, Morn, Randal, Stedd
Female Awakened Names: Arveene, Esvele, Jhessail, Kerri, Lureene, Miri, Rowan, Shandri, Tessele
Nickames: Bones, Dead, Gravewaller, Grim, Marrow, Necro, Rhotten, Stiff, White
Awakened Traits
Awakened skeletons are the re-animated corpses of humanoids, that have been fully decomposed. Their flesh is gone, leaving nearly white bones magically held together by some sort of necromantic spell or similar effect.Ability Score Increase
Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age
The awakened don't actually mature, they resemble the state they were upon death. Over time their skeletal structure may decaying without necromantic power and eventually can lose connection causing an end to the awakened state. Because of this the awakened do not have a childhood or become teenagers and are born straight into adulthood. Typically awakened last anywhere from 100 to 1000 years and sometimes forever based on their connections to the necromantic powers.
Alignment
Thanks to their necrotic nature they usually associate as lawful evil but as awakened their minds are open to free thought. Because of the newly awakened mind its not uncommon to find an awakened of any personality.
Size
Awaken heights are typically the same as humans or the face the were before their death. Typical awakened range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have skeletal builds weighing under 100 pounds even for the largest builds.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision
Due to undead nature 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.
Death Touched
You know the chill touch cantrip and can cast it at will. Your spellcasting ability for this spell is your Charisma.
Undeath
Raised from the dead and becoming a being of undeath, you count as an undead creature for all spells and abilities that affect the undead. You are immune to disease poison damage and the poisoned condition. You treat your exhausting as if you were one level less. You do not need to eat, drink or breath.
Slumber
Awakened don’t need to sleep. Instead, they go into a deep, quiet state, for 4 hours a day. While in this state they lose the ability to awaken until the 4 hour process is over. While in this state you can have visions; but don't actually dream. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
All Bones
Because of the necrotic energy linking your body together you can restore any limb after it being detached or destroyed by simply finding a suitable replacement, then using your action to attach it.
Once per day, you may, as an action, collapse your form into a pile of bones. While you remain motionless, you are indistinguishable from a normal pile of bones. In this state, you are prone and your speed is 0. As an action you can return to your proper form.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and one language of your choice. This language can be something you innately know from your past life, gained from the necromancer who made you, or developed after your awakening.