Revenant race - have you seen it in a game?

[Alerad]

I started DMing Curse of Strahd this week, with the DH intro adventure. One of my players originally wanted to play Revenant, but I didn't allow it for the current campaign (we have the Monster hunter and Inquisitive archetypes though).

It seems too powerful to me, in role playing sense. The general feel of the adventure is very creepy and mysterious feel, if you play an immortal being which comes back to life no matter what I think you lose concern of what's about to happen to your character.

Another thing is its final goal. Do you always give them a task which is related to re end game? If the revenant fulfills another, smaller quest, that can effectively put them out of the rest of the adventure.

Has anyone played with a Revenant and what are your thoughts?

[Slipperychicken]

It seems too powerful to me, in role playing sense. The general feel of the adventure is very creepy and mysterious feel, if you play an immortal being which comes back to life no matter what I think you lose concern of what's about to happen to your character.


In the monster manual, revenants that don't finish their quests crumble to dust and die a year and a day after their death (and a revenant that does crumbles immediately). That means you can give them a somewhat tight schedule to do their thing.


Also, nothing says a revenant comes back with his stuff. If his enemies kill and loot him, he can say goodbye to that +1 longsword. Same goes for his full plate, his gold, his horse, his spellbook, and all his pricey spell foci.

[RickAllison]

In the monster manual, revenants that don't finish their quests crumble to dust and die a year and a day after their death (and a revenant that does crumbles immediately). That means you can give them a somewhat tight schedule to do their thing.


Also, nothing says a revenant comes back with his stuff. If his enemies kill and loot him, he can say goodbye to that +1 longsword. Same goes for his full plate, his gold, his horse, his spellbook, and all his pricey spell foci.

So be a Monk, then!

[brainface]

It's a rather inherently unbalanced race with a lot of potential roleplay hooks and fun appeal. If trust your players not to abuse it, if death really isn't a big deal, or if you appreciate the challenge of trying to work around a guy who can commit noble sacrifices every day until he fulfills his goal, let them play one.

I'd say they'd be great in a lot of campaign styles and needlessly disruptive in others.

[Jakinbandw]

The whole come back to life in 24 hours is pretty much just flavour when you think about it.

If a character dies, how long do you make the player wait before they can roll a new character? Usually the next time they are in town, which means leaving the dungeon and heading back. Usually about a day. They don't get to keep any items, so even there it's not a big deal.

The whole never dying, and dies when they complete their goal thing is really just fluff when you consider it.

[DracoKnight]

The whole come back to life in 24 hours is pretty much just flavour when you think about it.

If a character dies, how long do you make the player wait before they can roll a new character? Usually the next time they are in town, which means leaving the dungeon and heading back. Usually about a day. They don't get to keep any items, so even there it's not a big deal.

The whole never dying, and dies when they complete their goal thing is really just fluff when you consider it.

This is why I allow revenants in my game. They're not actually broken. And actually, it limits a player to playing the same class - so if they wanted their character to die, so they could bring in a new more useful class - it's really limiting. It's fluff disguised as mechanics.

[Tanarii]

If a character dies, how long do you make the player wait before they can roll a new character? Usually the next time they are in town, which means leaving the dungeon and heading back. Usually about a day. They don't get to keep any items, so even there it's not a big deal.
Does the revenant also start at level 1?

[Slipperychicken]

So be a Monk, then!

Time to introduce stakes beyond the character's life, like NPCs who may be hurt if the PCs are down for a while (including other people who share the PCs' goals and protect innocents in their absence), or a macguffin that falls to the players' hands.


Does the revenant also start at level 1?

In my experience, my DM just has new characters start at the party average. So if you have two level 7s, a level 6, and a level 8, then new PCs start at level 7.

[Jakinbandw]

Does the revenant also start at level 1?

I suppose if you run a campaign where if the party is level 16 and one of them dies they have to survive cr 16 monsters while being level 1, then they could be very powerful.

Of course if I was running a game where I was allowing that much disparity in the characters levels I would give players full freedom. They would get to decide their level, stats, and when they leveled, and run a very strong Role Playing game, where interactions between characters mattered more than dice rolls.

However I suspect most GM's don't force their players to be completely useless and pointless in combat because they had bad luck, or they wanted to give their character a heroic last stand rather than run like a coward.

On the other hand, if you accept that you roll 3d6 in order, and take what the dice give you and if one person rolls all threes, and the other all 18s and you don't care...

...Then why does it matter how strong or weak the reverent is?

[Tanarii]

In my experience, my DM just has new characters start at the party average. So if you have two level 7s, a level 6, and a level 8, then new PCs start at level 7.
Okay, so how much it's flavor vs a real mechanical ability it going to depend on the DM then.

[Slipperychicken]

Okay, so how much it's flavor vs a real mechanical ability it going to depend on the DM then.

Absolutely. I know some games kick you all the way back to level 1, or make you start a level lower, or incur some other penalty, so it would be a strong power in those ones.

[Jakinbandw]

Absolutely. I know some games kick you all the way back to level 1, or make you start a level lower, or incur some other penalty, so it would be a strong power in those ones.

Yeah, but really those games don't care about balance between different characters anyway, so it doesn't make any difference.

[Tanarii]

Yeah, but really those games don't care about balance between different characters anyway, so it doesn't make any difference.I'd think it'd make a pretty huge difference to the player.

[Steampunkette]

I'm running CoS with a Revenant. It hasn't negatively impacted play, though it has been great for RP!

And he has died twice in 4 levels. Both times were dramatic and fun. His back story is an adventurer who died fighting Strahd and must destroy him.

[Alerad]

I'm running CoS with a Revenant. It hasn't negatively impacted play, though it has been great for RP!

And he has died twice in 4 levels. Both times were dramatic and fun. His back story is an adventurer who died fighting Strahd and must destroy him.

Thanks, this is actually useful.

As I said, I'm not worried about the mechanical part, since rolling a new character is the same (I don't kick the players all the way to level 1). My biggest concern is knowing you are an immortal and changing playstyle to overly suicidal, whereas the adventure tries to instill fear and creepiness.

I'm actually considering letting people come back as Revenants if their character dies in the adventure.

[Steampunkette]

He has turned suicidal, twice.

Both times when confronted by the Devil.

The rest of the time he stays back from combat like a good spellcaster!

Meanwhile the other party members have come to understand that, yes, I will kill them. I will have Strahd turn them and make them Vampire NPCs. I will have him dominate the party cleric and force him to flee the battlefield before Strahd turns to the one who killed his Nightmare mount to strike him down.

Everyone else is, now, keenly aware that I have no compunction ending their character's life in a violent manner...

And it has made one hell of a an impact, even if it saved the party some diamonds or town time.

[Kryx]

What book is the Revenant race in?

[JakOfAllTirades]

What book is the Revenant race in?

This Unearthed Arcana article. (http://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/UA%20Gothic%20Characters.pdf)

[Kryx]

This Unearthed Arcana article. (http://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/UA%20Gothic%20Characters.pdf)
Thanks for the link! My Dragonborn had his soul sucked in via Soul Bind last session. This will work pretty nicely!

[Alerad]

He has turned suicidal, twice.
Meanwhile the other party members have come to understand that, yes, I will kill them. I will have Strahd turn them and make them Vampire NPCs. I will have him dominate the party cleric and force him to flee the battlefield before Strahd turns to the one who killed his Nightmare mount to strike him down.

That's actually kind of awesome. Have other party members died so far? Have you returned with a Dark Gift?

[Steampunkette]

Four of them have hit 2 failed death saves before succeeding the third or having the Cleric cast Spare the Dying on them.

No one has -quite- died except the Revenant.

:D

[JackPhoenix]

As Planescape: Torment showed, there are fates worse than death. The Revenant will soon curse his immortality when he's buried in a cave-in, or even just a plain old box six feet under and no way to destroy his body so he can get out. I wonder how long 'til he's driven mad by being revived only to suffocate few minutes later...and again...and again...and again....

[Belac93]

Well, I'm DMing a PBP with all revanents on this forum. Hasn't gotten so far yet though. One character got a hole blasted in his chest by a quasit's claws, but he was back up pretty quickly from regen.