Undead Lord

The Undead Lord is a master of death, a wizard who has transcended the living form to embrace the eerie powers of the undead. By tapping into necromantic magic, this subclass allows you to walk the boundary between life and death, adopting powerful undead forms to enhance your resilience and adapt to new challenges. While other wizards rely on their arcane power to stay alive, you thrive within the grasp of undeath itself, becoming a fearsome figure in the world of mortals and monsters alike.

Level 3: Undead Form

Upon choosing this subclass at 3rd level, you gain the ability to temporarily take on an undead form, giving you the resilience and traits of various undead creatures. You can transform into any undead creature with a Challenge Rating up to your wizard level plus your proficiency bonus. This form can't have a fly speed, Legendary Actions, or Legendary Resistance. In this form, you retain your intellect, personality, and memories, allowing you to use your spellcasting and wizard abilities as usual. Your appearance and essence change, however, and for all intents and purposes, you are considered an undead creature.

Each long rest, you can reshape this undead form into any eligible undead of your choosing, giving you versatility in your role.

While in your undead form, you gain the Armor Class, speeds, senses, resistances, immunities, actions, and reactions of the undead you assume, making you a force to be reckoned with. You retain your own mental and physical stats, but can use the undead’s higher skill or saving throw bonuses where applicable, offering enhanced survivability and adaptability. 

 

Rules While in undead form. While in a form, you retain your personality, memories, and ability to speak, and the following rules apply:

 

What You Get From The Form: Armor Class; Speeds(walking, swimming, etc…); If a skill or saving throw modifier in the Undead stat block is higher than yours, use the one in the stat block; Damage resistances, Immunities, Condition Immunities, Senses, Actions, and Reactions.

 

Game Statistics. You keep your game statistics; Hit Points; Hit Point Dice; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores; class features; languages; and feats. You also retain your skill and saving throw proficiencies and use your Proficiency Bonus for them, in addition to gaining the proficiencies of the creature. 

 

Species: You keep your original species ability score boosts and abilities however, you are considered Undead instead of Humanoid, etc…

 

Healing: You are considered undead for the purpose of being healed.

 

Spellcasting: You can cast all of your prepared spells in your spell book as normal with spell slots. If your undead form has innate spell casting then those spells are considered prepared for you at all times but not the spell slots and you gain unlimited use of at-will spells as the creature would.

Level 3: Undead Fortitude

At 3rd level, your connection to undeath infuses you with an unnatural resilience. When you finish a long rest, you gain temporary hit points equal to your maximum hit points. These temporary hit points last until you finish another long rest, forming a buffer that shields you from harm and reinforces your mortal shell against even the most devastating attacks.

However, your mastery over life and death extends beyond mere resilience. If you are slain, your body withers and disintegrates, scattering into dust or ectoplasm depending on your undead form. But death is only temporary for you; in 1d10 days, your essence reconstitutes, materializing your body next to your spellbook, which serves as an anchor to your existence—a phylactery in all but name.

When you return, you are fully restored as though you had completed a long rest, with all hit points, spell slots, and abilities renewed. This rebirth comes at a cost, however: while reassembling, your consciousness remains dormant, leaving you vulnerable and unable to affect the world until your revival is complete.

This feature also has limits. Each time you resurrect in this manner, your connection to undeath strains your mortal tether. If you die in this way multiple times, discuss with your DM the potential effects on your physical form, psyche, and ties to life.

Level 6: Unleashed Undead Form

As you delve deeper into the dark arts, you unlock the power to assume forms of undead creatures that possess legendary resistance and actions, allowing you to shake off attacks or spells with ease. However, you can’t use the legendary actions yet.

Once per long rest, your undead form’s legendary resistances are restored, further reinforcing your formidable resilience.

Level 10: Greater Undead Form

With your growing mastery, you gain access to undead forms that can fly. At 10th level, your undead form options expand, allowing you to soar through the skies with creatures of dark majesty. Whether it’s an ethereal ghostly drift or the wings of a vampiric horror, this newfound mobility lets you strike and evade with ease.

Level 14: Legendary Undead Form

Your power over undeath reaches its peak, enabling you to fully embody the legendary actions of your chosen undead forms. Once transformed, you gain access to these abilities, resetting your legendary actions at the start of each of your turns in combat. As an Undead Lord, you now wield all the terror and power of legendary undead, solidifying your place as a master of the necromantic arts.