Ghost Dragon
2015-04-22, 05:44 AM
Hey all, a player of mine wanted to be an ex lich or death knight, so I came up with this as a playable race. Credit to other internet homebrewers from reddit and other sources as I pillaged them for the basis of this. Please look for balance issues. Cheers.
Mortis Traits
Your Mortis character has an array of racial abilities, the result of your soul and your host body combining after death.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Since the Mortis are, at their most basic level, souls bound to a soulless shell, they can continue to exist as long as the shell remains mostly whole, though this shell does eventually give way to the passage of time. This has granted the race a level of longevity rivalling that of elves. The oldest members of the Mortis are almost 1000 years old, and continue to age to this day.
Alignment. Surviving the passing of time is accomplished differently for each individual, and with the impact of how one came to be a Mortis, such individuals can vary greatly from one to another, displaying aspects of good and evil, chaos, law and neutrality in equal measure.
Size. Unlike other races, the Mortis vary in weight and size from one individual to the next. Members of this race are small or medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft.
Darkvision. Either by magic or other means your eyes have become attuned to darkness. 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 grey.
Shards of the Past. You have proficiency in the History skill.
Mortis Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against disease, being paralyzed or poisoned, and you have resistance to necrotic damage.
Death's Legacy. Although undead, having a soul does bring some semblance of life back to your body. Healing spells effect you normally, and you are not affected by class features, spells, magic items or anything else that specifically targets undead. You need to absorb organic material that could be consumed by a living being. This is done via 5 minutes of meditation, where at the end one pound of organic matter you have within 5 feet of you is transformed into arcane energy that is then absorbed through either your skin, eyes, nose or mouth. This counts as eating normally for one day. You can survive twice as long without sustenance a as a human, and you can also hold your breath indefinitely as long as you aren't incapacitated.
Torpor. Mortis don't need to sleep. Instead, they distribute absorbed arcane energy throughout themselves to maintain their undead bodies by entering into in a torpor for 4 hours. While in torpor you do not dream but remain semiconscious. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit a human does from 8 hours sleep. You can also choose to enter this state indefinitely, negating the need for you to absorb arcane energy for sustenance. In this way, if your body holds out, you can survive for centuries, at the DM's discretion.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and one other language.
Subrace. All Mortis were some type of undead first, before a soul was re-joined to the shell that is their body. The main two sub races are derived from the origin of ones shell, whether intelligent or mindless undead. Choose one of these subraces.
Returned Mortis
As a Returned Mortis, you are one of only a few whose soul re-joined to you old body after you where transformed into a lich, death knight, or some other intelligent undead. How this occurred is a mystery known only to you. Perhaps you tired of immortality and reclaimed you soul through ritual, or a God made you whole again for some great task you must complete. In any case, as your previous incarnation required a great feat of magic to accomplish, you continue on using your intellect and the natural affinity you have to magic as your preferred tools.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Extra Languages. You can speak, read, and write two extra languages of your choice.
Soul Bound Mortis
As a Soul Bound Mortis, your soul was bound to an mindless undead body, usually a ghoul, ghast or wight. This could have been through magic gone awry, a twist of fate or a desperate attempt to raise you back to life after your undead transformation was already complete. Your body is physically superior to that of the Returned Mortis.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Undead Toughness. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.
Unnatural Leap. As part of your movement and after a 10-foot running start, you can long jump up to 25 feet.
Mortis Traits
Your Mortis character has an array of racial abilities, the result of your soul and your host body combining after death.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Since the Mortis are, at their most basic level, souls bound to a soulless shell, they can continue to exist as long as the shell remains mostly whole, though this shell does eventually give way to the passage of time. This has granted the race a level of longevity rivalling that of elves. The oldest members of the Mortis are almost 1000 years old, and continue to age to this day.
Alignment. Surviving the passing of time is accomplished differently for each individual, and with the impact of how one came to be a Mortis, such individuals can vary greatly from one to another, displaying aspects of good and evil, chaos, law and neutrality in equal measure.
Size. Unlike other races, the Mortis vary in weight and size from one individual to the next. Members of this race are small or medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft.
Darkvision. Either by magic or other means your eyes have become attuned to darkness. 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 grey.
Shards of the Past. You have proficiency in the History skill.
Mortis Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against disease, being paralyzed or poisoned, and you have resistance to necrotic damage.
Death's Legacy. Although undead, having a soul does bring some semblance of life back to your body. Healing spells effect you normally, and you are not affected by class features, spells, magic items or anything else that specifically targets undead. You need to absorb organic material that could be consumed by a living being. This is done via 5 minutes of meditation, where at the end one pound of organic matter you have within 5 feet of you is transformed into arcane energy that is then absorbed through either your skin, eyes, nose or mouth. This counts as eating normally for one day. You can survive twice as long without sustenance a as a human, and you can also hold your breath indefinitely as long as you aren't incapacitated.
Torpor. Mortis don't need to sleep. Instead, they distribute absorbed arcane energy throughout themselves to maintain their undead bodies by entering into in a torpor for 4 hours. While in torpor you do not dream but remain semiconscious. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit a human does from 8 hours sleep. You can also choose to enter this state indefinitely, negating the need for you to absorb arcane energy for sustenance. In this way, if your body holds out, you can survive for centuries, at the DM's discretion.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and one other language.
Subrace. All Mortis were some type of undead first, before a soul was re-joined to the shell that is their body. The main two sub races are derived from the origin of ones shell, whether intelligent or mindless undead. Choose one of these subraces.
Returned Mortis
As a Returned Mortis, you are one of only a few whose soul re-joined to you old body after you where transformed into a lich, death knight, or some other intelligent undead. How this occurred is a mystery known only to you. Perhaps you tired of immortality and reclaimed you soul through ritual, or a God made you whole again for some great task you must complete. In any case, as your previous incarnation required a great feat of magic to accomplish, you continue on using your intellect and the natural affinity you have to magic as your preferred tools.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Extra Languages. You can speak, read, and write two extra languages of your choice.
Soul Bound Mortis
As a Soul Bound Mortis, your soul was bound to an mindless undead body, usually a ghoul, ghast or wight. This could have been through magic gone awry, a twist of fate or a desperate attempt to raise you back to life after your undead transformation was already complete. Your body is physically superior to that of the Returned Mortis.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Undead Toughness. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.
Unnatural Leap. As part of your movement and after a 10-foot running start, you can long jump up to 25 feet.