Revenant (5e Race)
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Revenant[edit]
| “ | A revenant forms from the soul of a mortal who met a cruel and undeserving fate. It claws its way back into the world to seek revenge against the one who wronged it. | ” |
| —The Wizard of the Coast | ||
Undeath[edit]
When a revenant returns from death, it reclaims its mortal body and superficially resembles a zombie. However, instead of lifeless eyes, a revenant's eyes burn with resolve and flare in the presence of its adversary. If the revenant's original body was destroyed or is otherwise unavailable, the spirit of the revenant enters another humanoid corpse. Regardless of the body the revenant uses as a vessel, its adversary always recognizes the revenant for what it truly is.
Hunger For Revenge[edit]
A revenant exists only for revenge. They usually come about from people who died with perceived wrongs against them that went unpunished. As a result, they are tethered by their anger and cannot pass onto the afterlife. Instead, it seeks a material form to possess to carry out its perceived righteous vengeance. However, as it is a spirit which does not belong, its body continually rots with accelerated rejection of the soul, making revenant forms temporary at best. It will fulfill its vengeful desires by any means necessary and if its adversary is too powerful for the revenant to destroy on its own, it seeks worthy allies to help it fulfill its quest. When its adversary dies, or if the revenant fails to kill its adversary before its time runs out, it crumbles to dust and its soul fades into the afterlife. Some revenants harbor hatred so strong that they cannot even pass on unless by means of magic as powerful as a wish spell. Once the target has been sighted, the revenant's eyes will begin to glow ominously.
Divine Justice[edit]
No magic can hide a creature pursued by a revenant, which always knows the direction and distance between it and the target of its vengeance. In cases where the revenant seeks revenge against more than one adversary, it pursues them one at a time, starting with the creature that dealt it the killing blow. If the revenant's body is destroyed, its soul flies forth to seek out a new corpse in which to resume its hunt, assuming it remains on this plane. For the time it roams the land, revenants are usually solitary. They do, however, try to rally allies to their cause. But in the end, even the closest of comrades are but a means to an end for their revenge.
Revenant Names[edit]
Revenants replace whatever name of the body they possess with their own, from their living days. They sometimes retain their gender, even if they may take over a body not corresponding to it.
Revenant Traits[edit]
The soul of a mortal who met a cruel and undeserving fate.
Ability Score Increase. You have the same abilities modifiers as your Mortal Form.
Age. A revenant has only one year to exact revenge. When its adversary dies, or if the revenant fails to kill its adversary before its time runs out, it crumbles to dust and its soul fades into the afterlife.
Alignment. For souls with such a strong will to defy death itself that they crawl their way back into life. When deciding the alignment for your revenant consider how their death would have affected their previous alignment. Did an otherwise lawful character become mad with revenge becoming chaotic? Or maybe their chaotic natural was neutralized in their death and they become humbled. Was the crawl out of the afterlife hard or did it come easy? These are both things that should be considered when playing a character whose death affected them in such a literal way. Generally, characters will shift towards a chaotic alignment once they become revenants.
Size. You have the same size as your Mortal Form.
Speed. You have the same speed as your Mortal Form.
Mortal Form. You have the same ability modifiers, size and speed as the current body your soul inhabits. For example, if the body you choose to inhabit is a mountain dwarf, you have a +2 to your Strength score, a +2 to your Constitution score, be considered a medium sized creature and have a base walking speed of 25 feet. If you inhabit the body of a human, you would instead have a +1 to all of your ability scores, be considered a medium sized creature and have a base walking speed of 30 feet. Etc.
Undead. Raised from the dead as a being of undeath, you count as an undead creature for all spells and abilities that affect the undead. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish. Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
Adversary. As a revenant, you have a being or several you must seek vengeance upon. Determine together with your DM which being/s were marked as your adversary. You always know the direction and distance between you and adversary/s, even they are on a different plane of existence. If your adversary dies, you know. If you are killed while your adversary lives, your soul lingers and possesses the corpse of a humanoid creature that has died recently. This corpse is one of the DM's choosing within a 5-mile radius. Your Mortal Form changes depending on the body inhabited.
Darkvision. You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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 colour in darkness, only shades of grey.
Poison Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poisoned, you have resistance against poison damage.
Relic of the Past. You retain one racial trait of your choice from your current body's race.
Languages. You know the languages you knew in life. You can speak, read and write these two languages.
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