Converting my paladin/warlock to Undead?

[follacchioso]

Hello,
I'm thinking of converting my half-orc paladin to an undead, but I would like to hear some second opinions first.

A bit of background first. My character was originally a paladin of Torm. Last year, for personal reasons, I had to stop playing with the group, so my DM and I decided to send the character into a solo adventure. In short, the paladin found a very ancient and evil artifact, and tasked himself with protecting it with all his strengths. He gained protection from an Archfey in the process, and obtained invocations for disguising himself and for never sleeping. He has been fighting, hiding and escaping since then.

Next week I have the opportunity to come back with this character, and I thought that to add a bit of flavour, he may come back a bit altered by his quest. More specifically, he would be a bit dead. At a certain point during his quest he may have been beaten, but refused to give up, and returned as an undead revenant.

I would use the Revenant race from the Gothic UA (https://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/UA%20Gothic%20Characters.pdf).

No healing: The main thing that worries me is the lack of healing options. The regeneration 1HP/round would allow me to come back from unconscious status, and bring me to half HPs between combats. However, no magic healing would work

Revenant race: The UA doesn't include description for Half-Orcs, however I would take inspiration from this fantastic Awakened Undead material: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/3xrbs9/awakened_undead_race_v03_final_playable_skeletons/
In short, I would lose all the Half-orc traits (I may ask the DM to keep Intimidation), but keep the +2Strength and +1Cos.

Other undead drawbacks: Being undead has a lot of disadvantages, and there are lots of spells and abilities which inflict more manage to them. Anything in particular I should be worried about?

Pact of the Chain or Pact of the Blade: I really cannot decide which pact to choose... Improved Familiar may be good given the backstory, as I have been going solo for a long time. Moreover I really need advantage of Perception. However I would also need a better weapon..

[Vogie]

He gained protection from an Archfey in the process, and obtained invocations for disguising himself and for never sleeping.

Pact of the Chain or Pact of the Blade: I really cannot decide which pact to choose...

Aspect of the Moon requires Pact of the Tome, so this doesn't make any sense. It literally says "To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as reading your Book of Shadows and keeping watch" in the invocation text. You would've already chosen.


Other undead drawbacks: Being undead has a lot of disadvantages, and there are lots of spells and abilities which inflict more manage to them. Anything in particular I should be worried about?

The main issue would be the interactions with healing spells (that is, you don't heal) and a fellow PC Cleric's "Turn Undead" Channel Divinity will hit you as well. Divine Sense & Detect Evil & Good will find you, Dispel Evil and Good will banish you, True Resurrection will return you as a non-Revenant.

You are immune to Cause Fear, Horrid Wilting, Antilife Shell and Hold Monster, so that's nice. Not Hold Person or Fear, though.

[follacchioso]

Aspect of the Moon requires Pact of the Tome, so this doesn't make any sense. It literally says "To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as reading your Book of Shadows and keeping watch" in the invocation text. You would've already chosen.

Thanks for the answer. I must have done that with an old version of that invocation. In any case, it's not such a strong invocation to justify strict requirements - moreover, as an undead I would probably change it, given that undeads do not sleep that much.

[Man_Over_Game]

Thanks for the answer. I must have done that with an old version of that invocation. In any case, it's not such a strong invocation to justify strict requirements - moreover, as an undead I would probably change it, given that undeads do not sleep that much.

Nothing in the Revenant UA says it's classified as Undead, or that it can't be healed using magic, which implies those are rules that your DM made up for your character. If that's true, make the case that, as one of the perks of being undead, you follow the same sleep/food rules as a Warforged.

[follacchioso]

I was looking at the spells in the manual, and it seems that the "Aid" spell doesn't say anything explicitly against not having an effect on Undead. Other healing spells (e.g. Cure Wounds) specify it explicitly. Is there anything else that should prevent it to work on Undead creatures?

[RogueJK]

While it's not quite as easy as healing normal living characters, Undead still have options for healing...

1) There are a few healing spells that work on undead. Most healing spells have a caveat about how they won't work on undead or constructs, but that is not present in the descriptions of Aura of Vitality, Goodberry, Heroes' Feast, Regenerate, or Life Transference.

2) Undead can regain HP using HP-stealing attack spells like Vampiric Touch or Enervation.

3) Undead can regain HP from someone using a Healer's Kit with the Healer feat on them. (Brings to mind a Dr. Frankenstein-style mad scientist stitching an undead creation back together.)

4) Undead can regain HP using healing potions.

5) Undead can regain HP from resting, like any other character. See https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/19/undead-short-rest/

6) It's not quite "healing", but Undead can also receive Temp HP from spells like Aid, Armor of Agathys, or Heroism, or from the Inspiring Leader feat.