Undead

A state of being where dead creatures are resurrected in a half-dead, half-living conditions. There are numerous methods for summoning undead, few of them good.

Causes

Creating an undead takes an incredible amount of magic energy to accomplish, such that most undead are the creations of deities or powerful spellcasters. King Nikolaj Baratov was resurrected as a skeleton by the god Rexfur, and for several months Amara Fireheart was resurrected as a wight by the monstrous deity known as the Sunken God.

Symptoms

Upon turning undead, a creature gains several unique traits and characteristics:

• You don't require food, water, or sleep, although you require rest to reduce exhaustion and still benefit from finishing short and long rests.
• Ageless: You don't age, and effects that would cause you to age don't work on you.
• Cling to Life: When you make a death saving throw and roll 16 or higher, you regain 1 hit point
• Revenance: You retain your creature type, yet you register as undead to spells and other effects that detect the presence of the undead creature type
• Unsettling Presence: As an action, you can unsettle a creature you can see within 15 ft. of you. The target has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes within the next minute. Constructs, undead, and creatures that can't be frightened are immune to this feature. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

An undead's physical features can vary wildly depending on the entity responsible for the resurrection. Skeletons and zombies are common undead incarnations, providing the soul of the deceased with a sturdy physical vessel.

Cultural Reception

Resurrection is a sacred ritual performed by many world religions like The Ageless One and the Temple of Erivo, but the creation of undead is seen as an evil practice to be avoided at all costs. Spells like 'True Resurrection' and 'Revivify' can return a person's soul to their body and a normal life, but undead rituals harm the soul by resurrecting it inside a corrupted vessel like a skeleton or decayed corpse.
For the world's religious leaders, there's a right way and a wrong way to bring someone back to life. Creating undead is the wrong way.

Type

Supernatural

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare