CubeB
2014-10-19, 08:41 PM
This is my first ever attempt at homebrew, let alone 5e Homebrew, so forgive me if anything is wild or out of place.
This thread is written from the in-character perspective of Mortimer Blake, my long running Wizard character, attempting to write a tome cataloging some of the more approachable forms of the undead. The end result is... irreverent? Hopefully entertaining, in any case.
The Book of the (Not-So) Dead
By Mortimer A. Blake - Arcanist
"UNDEAD are once-living creatures brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse" - Except from The Manual of Monsters - 5th Printing.
...That's kind of a rude assessment, isn't it? Undead are monsters. I mean, sure Liches have to feed souls to their phylacteries, and vampires have to drink the blood of the living, and Ghasts consume the flesh of the-
Okay, so maybe the Monster Manual isn't wrong. But it has a very, very limited perspective on undeath. See, when most people think about the undead, they've got this very limited spectrum of ideas as to what that undead thing might be like. Usually they picture something like a Lich; this big, powerful monster that wants to bring death to the living, and lurks in some murky tomb somewhere. I've got a few relatives like that, and it makes family reunions super awkward. Otherwise, they think of the cheap cannon fodder that necromancers conjure up to use as meat (or occasionally meatless) shields. Or (worst of all), they see undeath as the result of some supernatural disease or curse.
But it's not all like that. See, undeath is more than just a condition of the body. It's a sort of... metaphysical condition. At the risk of sounding preachy, it's a condition of the soul. Zombies and other unintelligent typically don't have souls, at least not in any recognizable condition. People like liches? Their soul is so warped with negative energy that it takes an act of supreme magic to restore them to anything resembling life.
But somewhere in the middle, there's a kind of undead that isn't as warped or twisted. In some cases, they aren't warped at all. The catch all term for this is the Gravetouched, but no one really calls them that. Usually they just refer to them as "undead", "dead guys", or "OH GODS KILL IT".
I've managed to categorize four basic categories of Gravetouched, who all share a few basic traits. They tend to vary wildly after that.
Necropolitans are the most common kind of Gravetouched. They're individuals that have (willingly or unwillingly) been turned into immortal undead.
Dhampir are (technically) still-living mortals that have somehow been touched by Vampirism, either through a vampiric relative, a pact, or a brush with an actual vampire.
Deathless are an unusual kind of undead that is animated by Positive, rather than negative energy. (My old Necromancy Professor is rolling in his grave over this. Literally.) They're eternal guardians of ancient tombs, and tend to be fierce enemies of other undead.
Eidolonoi are a kind of Ghost that has managed to manifest a semi-corporeal, ectoplasmic body.
Gravetouched Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: Gravetouched add 2 to their Constitution Score.
Age: A Gravetouched does not truly age, unless they are a Dhampir. Even then, they are extremely long lived. It is not uncommon for a Gravetouched to (un)live 300 years or more.
Alignment: Gravetouched tend to be the same alignment they were in life, though there is a slight bias toward evil among all but the Deathless (who are predominantly good).
Darkvision: Gravetouched can be identified by the eerie glow in their eyes. They gain Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Size: Gravetouched are Medium sized, even if their Past Lives were larger or smaller. This may or may not be an explicit physical transformation, depending on the Gravetouched in question.. ("I asked my instructor why this was, but he just muttered something about Rilmani and 'Game Balance' and shooed me away". - Mortimer)
Speed: Gravetouched have a base speed of 30 Feet.
Languages: A Gravetouched's languages are determined by their Past Life feature. See below.
Past Life: All Gravetouched, even Dhampir, have something called a "Past Life". The race they were (or would have been) before they were touched by Undeath. Choose any playable race, with permission from your DM. You count as that race for the purposes of skills, feats, magic items, spells, and other mechanical effects that depend on race. You gain that race's known languages, but do not gain any other features.
("For some reason, only the more common, civilized races tend to become Gravetouched. You never hear of Trolls or Dragons turning into one of these things... or if they do, they end up as something a bit more powerful than the average adventurer.")
Marked by Death: A Gravetouched exists between life and death. They do not breathe, and need to rest for only four hours a night in a state of torpor. If a spell has different effects on living and undead, you may choose to be considered Undead if it the spell would benefit you. You are still affected by spells and effects that specifically target Humanoids, however.
A Gravetouched may be healed by a cure wounds spell, cannot be turned by a Cleric or commanded by a Wizard, and is unaffected by a Protection from evil/good spell, as well as similar spells that target the undead. They can still be detected by detect evil/good, or a Paladin's divine sense.
Reanimation: Gravetouched (excluding Deathless) have difficulties being raised by traditional life restoring magic. Revivify, raise dead, and ressurection have no effect on a Gravetouched.
A spellcaster who has prepared (or can otherwise cast) certain necromancy spells may use those spells to reanimate a gravetouched. These spells have the casting time, material costs, and range of an equivalent life-restoring spell as outlined, save for the fact that all diamond components are replaced with Onyx.
Animate dead resolves as revivify
Create undead resolves as raise dead
A Gravetouched subjected to reincarnate is affected as normal.
A Gravetouched subjected to true resurrection returns to life as a member of the race outlined in its Past Life.
A Deathless may return to life as a Deathless when subjected to any life-restoring magic (save reincarnate) , but may choose to return as a member of its Past Life race when subjected to resurrection or true resurrection.
Subrace: A Gravetouched chooses between the necropolitan, dhampir, deathless, and eidolon subraces.
Necropolitans
http://i.imgur.com/x4TZ7r2.jpg
A resident of Nocturnus, on the Shadowfell
Necropolitans are the most common type of Gravetouched; a mortal who has died, yet (through mortal and divine intervention) is still animate.
Most Necropolitans are citizens of the city of Nocturnus, deep within the Shadowfell. Pilgrims from across the planes travel there in search of the secret to eternal life through undeath. There is, in fact, a ritual to become a Necropolitan. The ritual of crucimigration. It involves using cursed nails to pin a petitioner to a wooden pole, and leaving them to die. The necromantic magic in the nails transforms them into a Necropolitan as the last breath leaves their bodies. The ritual is most commonly performed by priestesses of the Evening Glory (goddess of love and undeath), though a few necromancers out in the planes know the secret to granting someone eternal (un)life. I've witnessed a few of these ceremonies. They're like some bizarre combination between a wedding and a funeral. People are in black gowns, and preserved flowers are everywhere, and the refreshments are horrible.
Rarely, an individual will rise as a creature similar to a Necropolitan without the aid of a ritual. Sometimes this is due to a necromantic aura tainting the land they were in.Sometimes it's due to divine intervention (The Raven Queen is known to raise undead in this way, sometimes). Sometimes it's because the person died with some horrible, unfinished business. Sometimes it happens for no apparent reason. The technical term for these people are Revenants, but the Manual of Monsters seems to have co-opted that term, so I've marked them here to avoid confusion.
I've heard a rumor that on the plane of Eberron, there is a nation that turns their soldiers into intelligent undead, not like Necropolitans. I'd love to get a chance to visit it myself, even if it does mean having to find a way in. Planes like that are so tricky to get into...
Necropolitan Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: A Necropolitan's dexterity increases by 1.
Tomb-Tainted Soul: Necropolitans are powered by negative energy. They are resistant to Necrotic Damage, but vulnerable to Radiant Damage.
Unnatural Resilience: A Necropolitan has advantage on saves against the poisoned, paralyzed, stunned, and exhausted conditions.
Gravemind: A Necropolitan's mind is dead, and therefore lacks some of the biological hooks that a spellcaster can use to manipulate them. They have advantage on saves to resist the charmed and frightened conditions.
Never Say Die: Necropolitains have already experienced death once. Most are reluctant to do so again. A Necropolitan who is reduced to 0 hit points but is not killed outright may instead be reduced to 1 hit point. They must complete a long rest before they can use this ability again.
Dhampir
http://i.imgur.com/4a5P2f5.jpg
Not everyone with vampiric blood is pretty.
Vampires are unusual among undead, in that most of their... er...
Most of the biological... I mean... the organs... and...
...Basically, a Vampire is already mostly alive, unless they're starving or something. That means vampirism interacts in weird ways with mortals. In short, it's possible to contract vampirism without actually dying. This can happen in a few ways. Sometimes, an individual manages to just barely survive a vampire's bite. Or maybe their parent was bitten by a vampire while they were in the womb.
There's a legend out there of a line of nobles called the Vryloka that made a pact to gain vampiric power, tainting their entire line with vampirism.
And... er. Sometimes, if they've had enough blood, a vampire can... you know. Have... intercourse.
...I'm sorry, I just find the entire idea of having sex with a vampire to weird to even consider. I mean, do you know where all their blood has been?
Anyway, Dhampir are the result of this mingling of the mortal and the undead. They resemble tall, pale versions of their past life races. Dhampir tend to sit between two extremes: either they're exotically beautiful or look like hideous monsters. They crave blood (though they can consume mortal food), and their eyes tend to entrance the minds of those who look into them for too long. Not that you'd want to look too long at bat-face up there...
Dhampir Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: A Dhampir's Charisma or Strength increases by 1. Dhampir are either unnaturally attractive, or strong and monstrous.
Tomb-Tainted Soul: A Dhampir is touched by negative energy. They gain resistance to Necrotic Damage, but are vulnerable to Radiant damage.
Sunlight Sensitivity: A Dhampir has disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Wisdom (Perception) rolls when they, their target, or the object they are attempting to see is located in bright light.
Bite: A Dhampir may use this ability on a humanoid, giant, or beast that they have successfully grappled, or which is otherwise restrained, incapacitated, or willing. This is a melee attack in which the Dhampir is proficient. The Dhampir deals 1d4+Str piercing damage, plus 1d4 Necrotic Damage. A creature who takes no piercing damage from this attack also takes no necrotic damage. The Dhampir recovers HP equal to the necrotic damage dealt. The necrotic damage increases by 1d4 at level 5 (2d4), level 11 (3d4), and level 17 (4d4). They must complete a long rest before they can use this ability again.
Bewitching Gaze: A Dhampir may use the friends cantrip on anyone they make eye contact with.
Deathless
http://i.imgur.com/IvOuvHS.png
EVERYTHING I KNOW IS WRONG!!!
Deathless... confuse me. A lot. I mean, on the surface they look exactly like any other kind of undead. Occasionally they look a bit more blue, but then a lot of undead are blue. Blue is normal color for something that doesn't breathe.
But these guys. These guys are weird.
See, most intelligent undead are created when you infuse the soul with energy from the Plane of Negative Energy. That sort of reinforces the soul (albeit in a warped form), allowing it to bypass all of the biological functions of being alive.
Some crazy elves or something have figured out how to do that with positive energy. The shiny kind.
...Well, it's not just elves. I mean, if it were just elves, I could write it off as some crazy elf things. But some powers have taken to doing it as well. Even "I-Hate-Undead-Raaaah" Pelor has granted a few champions eternal (un)life for some divine purpose. I suppose I can see why. I mean... they don't age, and they're hard to kill, and... it's just...
How does it even work? Can they attack a Dustman? Why are they still corpse looking? Is there a Deathless Vampire that donates blood? NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANYMORE!
...Sorry. Calm. Calm...
Anyway, most laymen can't tell the difference between a Deathless and an ordinary rotter, at least until it becomes clear that the smiting doesn't really work. Just because you're powered by shiny goodness doesn't mean that Joe Commoner won't grab his torch and pitchfork when you show up.
Deathless Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: A Deathless's Wisdom increases by 1. Being metaphysically connected to the Upper Planes does that to a person.
Fountain of Life: The Positive Energy that animates a Deathless is connected to the very forces of life itself. A Deathless is resistant to Radiant Damage. In addition, they may cast the Spare the Dying cantrip. Wisdom is the ability modifier for this spell.
Heart of Light: The Deathless may cast the light cantrip, but only centered on themselves. This grants them a vaguely ethereal quality to their appearance. Certain Deathless use this ability to make themselves appear less threatening to the living. It doesn't always help.
Deathless Resilience: A Deathless has advantage on saves against the poisoned, paralyzed, stunned, and exhausted conditions.
Deathless Reanimation: A Deathless may be raised by normal life-restoring magic, as outlined in the Undead Reanimation racial trait.
Eidolon
http://i.imgur.com/FGI4ubC.jpg
Some people are just too stubborn to stay dead.
Somewhere out in the Great Wheel, there is a city called Manifest where the Ethereal, the Shadowfell, and the Prime Material intersect in this weird way. The end result is that the souls of the dead... don't really leave. They linger as these sort of psuedo-ghosts, eventually learning how to manifest bodies of ectoplasm.
Anyway, at some point over the past few shakeups of the entire fabric of magic, someone has figured out a way to replicate this effect outside of Manifest, using a sort of spiritual anchor called a Manifest Stone. The end result is that in some places, the restless dead don't have to settle for jangling chains and making spooky noises. They can move around, (sort of) feel things, and are pretty much completely solid entities. Granted, they still look like ghosts. But they're not. They're Eidolonoi. It's very technical. I don't care that literally every commoner calls them ghosts. READ THE MONSTER MANUAL, PEOPLE. ...Once you... become literate... I guess?
Being an Eidolon isn't a Healthy Alternative to Lichdom as some berks in Sigil try to advertise. An Eidolon still has one foot in the grave, and doesn't have the positive or negative energy of a true undead to hold them in place. The call of What Comes Next is a strong one, and an Eidolon has to struggle against it every day. Most of them cope with weird vices. Things to remind them what being alive is like. It's kind of sad...
Oh, I should mention that sometimes an Eidolon can form naturally. In this case, the manifest stone isn't a magic item, but some sort of trinket or object the Eidolon holds dear. I'm not entirely sure how it happens, though.
Eidolon Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: An Eidolon's charisma score increases by 1.
The Calling: An Eidolon must struggle every day against the lure of the afterlife. Choose one of the following options.
The Bond: The Eidolon must spend at least one hour each week directly engaging with their Bond. This could mean actively pursuing the fulfillment of your bond, spending time with or near the object of your bond, or performing some other action related to your bond. If an Eidolon's bond is somehow fulfilled, they may choose a new Bond or switch to a Vice as appropriate. If the Eidolon's bond is rendered invalid or unfulfillable somehow, they must immediately begin making saves versus The Calling until they can establish a new Bond or Vice. This is mostly a roleplaying challenge. Work it out with your DM!
The Vice: The Eidolon craves the sensations of life. Choose a particular sense, such as taste, touch, or sight. You crave a particular, unusual sensations relating to that sense. You may crave unusual foods, or particularly strong drinks, or sensations of intense (specific) pain. An Eidolon must engage in their Vice for at least one hour each week. This vice typically costs 1 gp per week to fulfill.
An Eidolon who does not engage in their Vice or Bond for more than one week must begin making Wisdom Saving Throws (DC 15) for each week they do not engage with their bond. With each failed saving throw, your form grows more translucent. If you fail three of these saves before engaging with your Vice or Bond, your connection to the mortal world is severed. You immediately and irrevocably pass on to the afterlife, and no magic short of Divine Intervention can return you to life. Engaging with your Vice or Bond resets the count of failed saves to zero, and prevents you from having to make a Save vs. The Calling that week.
Manifest Stone: Each Eidolon has a small magical core known as a Manifest Stone, located where their heart would be if they still lived. When the Eidolon is reduced to 0 hit points, their ectoplasmic form melts and retracts into their Manifest Stone, which glows with a warm light until the Eidolon is healed (and remanifests) or dies (in which case the stone goes cold and cracks). The Manifest Stone interacts with certain spells in the following ways.
Animate dead, create undead, reincarnate, true resurrection, and all forms of healing magic treat the Manifest Stone as the Eidolon's body for the purposes of healing them or restoring them to unlife. See the Undead Reanimation trait.
Imprisonment, when cast on an Eidolon, can be used to trap them inside their Manifest Stone. The Eidolon does not need to make Calling saves while under the effects of this spell.
A rare variant of magic jar exists in which an Eidolon can trap a living soul inside his or her manifest stone, taking control of the victim's body. The victim immediately manifests as an Eidolon. This is a trick occasionally used by evil eidolon to escape The Calling.
Ghost Touch: An Eidolon's melee attacks all count as magical for the purposes of overcoming a Ghost, Specter, or similarly incorporeal creature's damage immunities.
Haunting: An Eidolon may cast the thaumaturgy and mage hand cantrips, using Charisma as their casting stat.
Sculpt Visage: An Eidolon typically looks translucent, and often resembles the state they were in when they died. Often, they bear marks of horrific injuries they suffered before their demise. An Eidolon may attempt to hide their ghastly nature by reshaping their ectoplasmic form. This functions as the Disguise Self spell, save for the fact that the spell is Concentration based, has no maximum duration, and does not change the corporeal equipment that they are wearing. Charisma is the spellcasting ability for this effect.
Unnatural Resilience: An Eidolon has advantage on saves against the poisoned, paralyzed, stunned, and exhausted conditions.
A Gravetouched's past life should not be a race that the DM would be unwilling to allow in play, and should make a reasonable amount of sense. You don't want a Gravetouched Tarrasque in your party, do you?
A Gravetouched with a Small Past Life may or may not grow when becoming Gravetouched. Probably not. Imagine a giant undead Kobold. It is purely a mechanical balance thing. If you'd prefer to play as a small Gravetouched, you can go ahead. I just didn't know if I should allow that because I'm not sure what it would do.
I realize there is no equivalent of resurrection for Gravetouched, and that the raise dead equivalent is a level later. Typically, raising a dead character is an RP thing, rather than a "I pay this much gold to the Cleric" thing. Being able to raise Gravetouched with Necromancy is just a flavor perk. If you don't like it, feel free to ignore that racial trait.
The Necropolitan Subrace was inspired by Libris Mortis, the Revenant Race from Heroes of Shadow, and also a very creative player in a 4e game who played a Karrnathi Skeleton.
The Dhampir subrace was inspired by the Vryloka, the Dhampir race from Pathfinder, and a desire to not be a total goth weeaboo.
The Deathless Subrace is primarily found in the Eberron campaign setting.
Eidolonoi are from Ghostwalk, with some heavy tweaking. So they pretty much aren't from Ghostwalk at all anymore.
I may have failed some knowledge checks.
This thread is written from the in-character perspective of Mortimer Blake, my long running Wizard character, attempting to write a tome cataloging some of the more approachable forms of the undead. The end result is... irreverent? Hopefully entertaining, in any case.
The Book of the (Not-So) Dead
By Mortimer A. Blake - Arcanist
"UNDEAD are once-living creatures brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse" - Except from The Manual of Monsters - 5th Printing.
...That's kind of a rude assessment, isn't it? Undead are monsters. I mean, sure Liches have to feed souls to their phylacteries, and vampires have to drink the blood of the living, and Ghasts consume the flesh of the-
Okay, so maybe the Monster Manual isn't wrong. But it has a very, very limited perspective on undeath. See, when most people think about the undead, they've got this very limited spectrum of ideas as to what that undead thing might be like. Usually they picture something like a Lich; this big, powerful monster that wants to bring death to the living, and lurks in some murky tomb somewhere. I've got a few relatives like that, and it makes family reunions super awkward. Otherwise, they think of the cheap cannon fodder that necromancers conjure up to use as meat (or occasionally meatless) shields. Or (worst of all), they see undeath as the result of some supernatural disease or curse.
But it's not all like that. See, undeath is more than just a condition of the body. It's a sort of... metaphysical condition. At the risk of sounding preachy, it's a condition of the soul. Zombies and other unintelligent typically don't have souls, at least not in any recognizable condition. People like liches? Their soul is so warped with negative energy that it takes an act of supreme magic to restore them to anything resembling life.
But somewhere in the middle, there's a kind of undead that isn't as warped or twisted. In some cases, they aren't warped at all. The catch all term for this is the Gravetouched, but no one really calls them that. Usually they just refer to them as "undead", "dead guys", or "OH GODS KILL IT".
I've managed to categorize four basic categories of Gravetouched, who all share a few basic traits. They tend to vary wildly after that.
Necropolitans are the most common kind of Gravetouched. They're individuals that have (willingly or unwillingly) been turned into immortal undead.
Dhampir are (technically) still-living mortals that have somehow been touched by Vampirism, either through a vampiric relative, a pact, or a brush with an actual vampire.
Deathless are an unusual kind of undead that is animated by Positive, rather than negative energy. (My old Necromancy Professor is rolling in his grave over this. Literally.) They're eternal guardians of ancient tombs, and tend to be fierce enemies of other undead.
Eidolonoi are a kind of Ghost that has managed to manifest a semi-corporeal, ectoplasmic body.
Gravetouched Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: Gravetouched add 2 to their Constitution Score.
Age: A Gravetouched does not truly age, unless they are a Dhampir. Even then, they are extremely long lived. It is not uncommon for a Gravetouched to (un)live 300 years or more.
Alignment: Gravetouched tend to be the same alignment they were in life, though there is a slight bias toward evil among all but the Deathless (who are predominantly good).
Darkvision: Gravetouched can be identified by the eerie glow in their eyes. They gain Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Size: Gravetouched are Medium sized, even if their Past Lives were larger or smaller. This may or may not be an explicit physical transformation, depending on the Gravetouched in question.. ("I asked my instructor why this was, but he just muttered something about Rilmani and 'Game Balance' and shooed me away". - Mortimer)
Speed: Gravetouched have a base speed of 30 Feet.
Languages: A Gravetouched's languages are determined by their Past Life feature. See below.
Past Life: All Gravetouched, even Dhampir, have something called a "Past Life". The race they were (or would have been) before they were touched by Undeath. Choose any playable race, with permission from your DM. You count as that race for the purposes of skills, feats, magic items, spells, and other mechanical effects that depend on race. You gain that race's known languages, but do not gain any other features.
("For some reason, only the more common, civilized races tend to become Gravetouched. You never hear of Trolls or Dragons turning into one of these things... or if they do, they end up as something a bit more powerful than the average adventurer.")
Marked by Death: A Gravetouched exists between life and death. They do not breathe, and need to rest for only four hours a night in a state of torpor. If a spell has different effects on living and undead, you may choose to be considered Undead if it the spell would benefit you. You are still affected by spells and effects that specifically target Humanoids, however.
A Gravetouched may be healed by a cure wounds spell, cannot be turned by a Cleric or commanded by a Wizard, and is unaffected by a Protection from evil/good spell, as well as similar spells that target the undead. They can still be detected by detect evil/good, or a Paladin's divine sense.
Reanimation: Gravetouched (excluding Deathless) have difficulties being raised by traditional life restoring magic. Revivify, raise dead, and ressurection have no effect on a Gravetouched.
A spellcaster who has prepared (or can otherwise cast) certain necromancy spells may use those spells to reanimate a gravetouched. These spells have the casting time, material costs, and range of an equivalent life-restoring spell as outlined, save for the fact that all diamond components are replaced with Onyx.
Animate dead resolves as revivify
Create undead resolves as raise dead
A Gravetouched subjected to reincarnate is affected as normal.
A Gravetouched subjected to true resurrection returns to life as a member of the race outlined in its Past Life.
A Deathless may return to life as a Deathless when subjected to any life-restoring magic (save reincarnate) , but may choose to return as a member of its Past Life race when subjected to resurrection or true resurrection.
Subrace: A Gravetouched chooses between the necropolitan, dhampir, deathless, and eidolon subraces.
Necropolitans
http://i.imgur.com/x4TZ7r2.jpg
A resident of Nocturnus, on the Shadowfell
Necropolitans are the most common type of Gravetouched; a mortal who has died, yet (through mortal and divine intervention) is still animate.
Most Necropolitans are citizens of the city of Nocturnus, deep within the Shadowfell. Pilgrims from across the planes travel there in search of the secret to eternal life through undeath. There is, in fact, a ritual to become a Necropolitan. The ritual of crucimigration. It involves using cursed nails to pin a petitioner to a wooden pole, and leaving them to die. The necromantic magic in the nails transforms them into a Necropolitan as the last breath leaves their bodies. The ritual is most commonly performed by priestesses of the Evening Glory (goddess of love and undeath), though a few necromancers out in the planes know the secret to granting someone eternal (un)life. I've witnessed a few of these ceremonies. They're like some bizarre combination between a wedding and a funeral. People are in black gowns, and preserved flowers are everywhere, and the refreshments are horrible.
Rarely, an individual will rise as a creature similar to a Necropolitan without the aid of a ritual. Sometimes this is due to a necromantic aura tainting the land they were in.Sometimes it's due to divine intervention (The Raven Queen is known to raise undead in this way, sometimes). Sometimes it's because the person died with some horrible, unfinished business. Sometimes it happens for no apparent reason. The technical term for these people are Revenants, but the Manual of Monsters seems to have co-opted that term, so I've marked them here to avoid confusion.
I've heard a rumor that on the plane of Eberron, there is a nation that turns their soldiers into intelligent undead, not like Necropolitans. I'd love to get a chance to visit it myself, even if it does mean having to find a way in. Planes like that are so tricky to get into...
Necropolitan Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: A Necropolitan's dexterity increases by 1.
Tomb-Tainted Soul: Necropolitans are powered by negative energy. They are resistant to Necrotic Damage, but vulnerable to Radiant Damage.
Unnatural Resilience: A Necropolitan has advantage on saves against the poisoned, paralyzed, stunned, and exhausted conditions.
Gravemind: A Necropolitan's mind is dead, and therefore lacks some of the biological hooks that a spellcaster can use to manipulate them. They have advantage on saves to resist the charmed and frightened conditions.
Never Say Die: Necropolitains have already experienced death once. Most are reluctant to do so again. A Necropolitan who is reduced to 0 hit points but is not killed outright may instead be reduced to 1 hit point. They must complete a long rest before they can use this ability again.
Dhampir
http://i.imgur.com/4a5P2f5.jpg
Not everyone with vampiric blood is pretty.
Vampires are unusual among undead, in that most of their... er...
Most of the biological... I mean... the organs... and...
...Basically, a Vampire is already mostly alive, unless they're starving or something. That means vampirism interacts in weird ways with mortals. In short, it's possible to contract vampirism without actually dying. This can happen in a few ways. Sometimes, an individual manages to just barely survive a vampire's bite. Or maybe their parent was bitten by a vampire while they were in the womb.
There's a legend out there of a line of nobles called the Vryloka that made a pact to gain vampiric power, tainting their entire line with vampirism.
And... er. Sometimes, if they've had enough blood, a vampire can... you know. Have... intercourse.
...I'm sorry, I just find the entire idea of having sex with a vampire to weird to even consider. I mean, do you know where all their blood has been?
Anyway, Dhampir are the result of this mingling of the mortal and the undead. They resemble tall, pale versions of their past life races. Dhampir tend to sit between two extremes: either they're exotically beautiful or look like hideous monsters. They crave blood (though they can consume mortal food), and their eyes tend to entrance the minds of those who look into them for too long. Not that you'd want to look too long at bat-face up there...
Dhampir Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: A Dhampir's Charisma or Strength increases by 1. Dhampir are either unnaturally attractive, or strong and monstrous.
Tomb-Tainted Soul: A Dhampir is touched by negative energy. They gain resistance to Necrotic Damage, but are vulnerable to Radiant damage.
Sunlight Sensitivity: A Dhampir has disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Wisdom (Perception) rolls when they, their target, or the object they are attempting to see is located in bright light.
Bite: A Dhampir may use this ability on a humanoid, giant, or beast that they have successfully grappled, or which is otherwise restrained, incapacitated, or willing. This is a melee attack in which the Dhampir is proficient. The Dhampir deals 1d4+Str piercing damage, plus 1d4 Necrotic Damage. A creature who takes no piercing damage from this attack also takes no necrotic damage. The Dhampir recovers HP equal to the necrotic damage dealt. The necrotic damage increases by 1d4 at level 5 (2d4), level 11 (3d4), and level 17 (4d4). They must complete a long rest before they can use this ability again.
Bewitching Gaze: A Dhampir may use the friends cantrip on anyone they make eye contact with.
Deathless
http://i.imgur.com/IvOuvHS.png
EVERYTHING I KNOW IS WRONG!!!
Deathless... confuse me. A lot. I mean, on the surface they look exactly like any other kind of undead. Occasionally they look a bit more blue, but then a lot of undead are blue. Blue is normal color for something that doesn't breathe.
But these guys. These guys are weird.
See, most intelligent undead are created when you infuse the soul with energy from the Plane of Negative Energy. That sort of reinforces the soul (albeit in a warped form), allowing it to bypass all of the biological functions of being alive.
Some crazy elves or something have figured out how to do that with positive energy. The shiny kind.
...Well, it's not just elves. I mean, if it were just elves, I could write it off as some crazy elf things. But some powers have taken to doing it as well. Even "I-Hate-Undead-Raaaah" Pelor has granted a few champions eternal (un)life for some divine purpose. I suppose I can see why. I mean... they don't age, and they're hard to kill, and... it's just...
How does it even work? Can they attack a Dustman? Why are they still corpse looking? Is there a Deathless Vampire that donates blood? NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANYMORE!
...Sorry. Calm. Calm...
Anyway, most laymen can't tell the difference between a Deathless and an ordinary rotter, at least until it becomes clear that the smiting doesn't really work. Just because you're powered by shiny goodness doesn't mean that Joe Commoner won't grab his torch and pitchfork when you show up.
Deathless Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: A Deathless's Wisdom increases by 1. Being metaphysically connected to the Upper Planes does that to a person.
Fountain of Life: The Positive Energy that animates a Deathless is connected to the very forces of life itself. A Deathless is resistant to Radiant Damage. In addition, they may cast the Spare the Dying cantrip. Wisdom is the ability modifier for this spell.
Heart of Light: The Deathless may cast the light cantrip, but only centered on themselves. This grants them a vaguely ethereal quality to their appearance. Certain Deathless use this ability to make themselves appear less threatening to the living. It doesn't always help.
Deathless Resilience: A Deathless has advantage on saves against the poisoned, paralyzed, stunned, and exhausted conditions.
Deathless Reanimation: A Deathless may be raised by normal life-restoring magic, as outlined in the Undead Reanimation racial trait.
Eidolon
http://i.imgur.com/FGI4ubC.jpg
Some people are just too stubborn to stay dead.
Somewhere out in the Great Wheel, there is a city called Manifest where the Ethereal, the Shadowfell, and the Prime Material intersect in this weird way. The end result is that the souls of the dead... don't really leave. They linger as these sort of psuedo-ghosts, eventually learning how to manifest bodies of ectoplasm.
Anyway, at some point over the past few shakeups of the entire fabric of magic, someone has figured out a way to replicate this effect outside of Manifest, using a sort of spiritual anchor called a Manifest Stone. The end result is that in some places, the restless dead don't have to settle for jangling chains and making spooky noises. They can move around, (sort of) feel things, and are pretty much completely solid entities. Granted, they still look like ghosts. But they're not. They're Eidolonoi. It's very technical. I don't care that literally every commoner calls them ghosts. READ THE MONSTER MANUAL, PEOPLE. ...Once you... become literate... I guess?
Being an Eidolon isn't a Healthy Alternative to Lichdom as some berks in Sigil try to advertise. An Eidolon still has one foot in the grave, and doesn't have the positive or negative energy of a true undead to hold them in place. The call of What Comes Next is a strong one, and an Eidolon has to struggle against it every day. Most of them cope with weird vices. Things to remind them what being alive is like. It's kind of sad...
Oh, I should mention that sometimes an Eidolon can form naturally. In this case, the manifest stone isn't a magic item, but some sort of trinket or object the Eidolon holds dear. I'm not entirely sure how it happens, though.
Eidolon Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase: An Eidolon's charisma score increases by 1.
The Calling: An Eidolon must struggle every day against the lure of the afterlife. Choose one of the following options.
The Bond: The Eidolon must spend at least one hour each week directly engaging with their Bond. This could mean actively pursuing the fulfillment of your bond, spending time with or near the object of your bond, or performing some other action related to your bond. If an Eidolon's bond is somehow fulfilled, they may choose a new Bond or switch to a Vice as appropriate. If the Eidolon's bond is rendered invalid or unfulfillable somehow, they must immediately begin making saves versus The Calling until they can establish a new Bond or Vice. This is mostly a roleplaying challenge. Work it out with your DM!
The Vice: The Eidolon craves the sensations of life. Choose a particular sense, such as taste, touch, or sight. You crave a particular, unusual sensations relating to that sense. You may crave unusual foods, or particularly strong drinks, or sensations of intense (specific) pain. An Eidolon must engage in their Vice for at least one hour each week. This vice typically costs 1 gp per week to fulfill.
An Eidolon who does not engage in their Vice or Bond for more than one week must begin making Wisdom Saving Throws (DC 15) for each week they do not engage with their bond. With each failed saving throw, your form grows more translucent. If you fail three of these saves before engaging with your Vice or Bond, your connection to the mortal world is severed. You immediately and irrevocably pass on to the afterlife, and no magic short of Divine Intervention can return you to life. Engaging with your Vice or Bond resets the count of failed saves to zero, and prevents you from having to make a Save vs. The Calling that week.
Manifest Stone: Each Eidolon has a small magical core known as a Manifest Stone, located where their heart would be if they still lived. When the Eidolon is reduced to 0 hit points, their ectoplasmic form melts and retracts into their Manifest Stone, which glows with a warm light until the Eidolon is healed (and remanifests) or dies (in which case the stone goes cold and cracks). The Manifest Stone interacts with certain spells in the following ways.
Animate dead, create undead, reincarnate, true resurrection, and all forms of healing magic treat the Manifest Stone as the Eidolon's body for the purposes of healing them or restoring them to unlife. See the Undead Reanimation trait.
Imprisonment, when cast on an Eidolon, can be used to trap them inside their Manifest Stone. The Eidolon does not need to make Calling saves while under the effects of this spell.
A rare variant of magic jar exists in which an Eidolon can trap a living soul inside his or her manifest stone, taking control of the victim's body. The victim immediately manifests as an Eidolon. This is a trick occasionally used by evil eidolon to escape The Calling.
Ghost Touch: An Eidolon's melee attacks all count as magical for the purposes of overcoming a Ghost, Specter, or similarly incorporeal creature's damage immunities.
Haunting: An Eidolon may cast the thaumaturgy and mage hand cantrips, using Charisma as their casting stat.
Sculpt Visage: An Eidolon typically looks translucent, and often resembles the state they were in when they died. Often, they bear marks of horrific injuries they suffered before their demise. An Eidolon may attempt to hide their ghastly nature by reshaping their ectoplasmic form. This functions as the Disguise Self spell, save for the fact that the spell is Concentration based, has no maximum duration, and does not change the corporeal equipment that they are wearing. Charisma is the spellcasting ability for this effect.
Unnatural Resilience: An Eidolon has advantage on saves against the poisoned, paralyzed, stunned, and exhausted conditions.
A Gravetouched's past life should not be a race that the DM would be unwilling to allow in play, and should make a reasonable amount of sense. You don't want a Gravetouched Tarrasque in your party, do you?
A Gravetouched with a Small Past Life may or may not grow when becoming Gravetouched. Probably not. Imagine a giant undead Kobold. It is purely a mechanical balance thing. If you'd prefer to play as a small Gravetouched, you can go ahead. I just didn't know if I should allow that because I'm not sure what it would do.
I realize there is no equivalent of resurrection for Gravetouched, and that the raise dead equivalent is a level later. Typically, raising a dead character is an RP thing, rather than a "I pay this much gold to the Cleric" thing. Being able to raise Gravetouched with Necromancy is just a flavor perk. If you don't like it, feel free to ignore that racial trait.
The Necropolitan Subrace was inspired by Libris Mortis, the Revenant Race from Heroes of Shadow, and also a very creative player in a 4e game who played a Karrnathi Skeleton.
The Dhampir subrace was inspired by the Vryloka, the Dhampir race from Pathfinder, and a desire to not be a total goth weeaboo.
The Deathless Subrace is primarily found in the Eberron campaign setting.
Eidolonoi are from Ghostwalk, with some heavy tweaking. So they pretty much aren't from Ghostwalk at all anymore.
I may have failed some knowledge checks.