Sample file

1 Sample file The True Necromancer Class

And a Brief History of Undeath

Index: Chapter 1. How to Incorporate a True Necromancer Into Your Adventures Chapter 2. Creating a True Necromancer Chapter 3. Dark Designs. Chapter 4. True Necromancer Spell List Appendix A: Undead Servants Appendix B: Magic Items Appendix C: Rites of Undeath

Credits Written by Nausicaä Enriquez (@shipburner) & Travis Vengroff (@VenTravis) Co-Designed by Kai Linder (@Paradoliak) Art by Marcel Mercado (@MarcelEMercado) Additional Art provide by Brian Snoddy, Casey Bailey, Dean Spencer, the DM’s Guild, and Creative Commons Works Symbols by James Adam Cartwright (created for Dark Dice) Formatting by Zach Hero (Parcel Studios) Created by Fool and Scholar Productions as part of the Dark Dice podcast Playtesters via The Fool & Scholar Productions Patreon Content Warnings: This supplement includes themes This book draws on material from Eberron: Rising from of death, mortality, undeath, and body horror, and the Last War, Exploring Eberron, Guildmaster’s Guide mentions cannibalism, desecration of the dead, physical to Ravnica, Heroes of Horror, Memorial Pages “Facts: and spiritual torture, and possession. What Happens To A Body After Death”, Ravenloft Campaign Setting: Red Boxed Set, Sword Coast Special Thanks: Audsbot for talking about the ethics Adventurer’s Guide, Unearthed Arcana “The Mystic”, of necromancy, Hyacinth Davidson, Alastair Lloyd, and Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, and Xanathar’s Guide the Excarnate system for being my wonderful motivating to Everything. bone emperoxes, the Deimos Jazz Club for being great friends Sampleand gaymers, Ripley McArthur as consultant file from the undead-American community, James Mendez Hodes for his article on anti-Asian racism in games, Kate Bullock for her article on consent and charm spells, the Fool & Scholar Patreon team, and Tamsyn Muir for inspiration. The True Necromancer

Chapter 1. How to Incorporate a True Necromancer Into Your Adventures

A tiefling brushes a sweat-slicked curl from her face, panting behind an interlocked wall of scapulae. The colossus hammers at her defenses, and she smiles. Every bone splinter lodged in its flesh is one more seam along which to tear it open. The tyrant’s knights line up across the field, armor and weapons gleaming, horses snorting. They laugh and jeer at the lone halfling who strolls out to meet them, whistling. He raises his hands: the earth erupts with small, twisted figures, and in seconds his fallen friends and family get their grim revenge. Rain beats down around a half-elf in gray, hunched over a corpse. Another day in the City of Towers, another murder -- but where other inquisitives might scrape blood into a vial and begin unpicking the puzzle, they swing a crystal back and forth. Their eyes fill with blue light as they start getting the victim’s side of the story.

ny dilettante with the right grimoire can claim to be a necromancer, but true necromancers don’t just study the secrets of life and death – they command them. True necromancers manipulate the flow of positive and negative Aenergy in the world to control magic, redirect vitality from their enemies to their allies, call on their own vitality to raise dead bone and tissue to life, or beckon the souls of the deceased back into the world. At the apex of their power, true necromancers begin to resemble the undead themselves, and can even work their worst magic on the living – after all, inside every living person, there’s a skeleton waiting to get out. In Dying, Life For spellcasters, true necromancers are intensely practical. Raw talent can only give you so much power, arcane theory can only get you so much control – to blend them together, you need to know what grave dirt feels like under your fingernails, what the pop of wrist joints clicking into place sounds like, and the numbness of life slippingSample out from your own body into that of file somebody else. The twin forces of growth and decay suffuse the world, which the true necromancer controls through tactile intuition and brutal force of will; many true necromancers compare it to muscle memory, or the Necromancers, like undead, can take any form and work with any medium of life.

4 Chapter 1 | Incorporate a True Necromancer Into Your Adventures Monks, Ancestors, Zombies, and Non-Western Fantasy Nausicaä here -- the monk as written in the Player’s it more in line with real-world traditions, but this isn’t going Handbook perpetuates a number of harmful Asian to be available to most new players. stereotypes and misrepresents the concept of qi. As Second, operating with a purely Western attitude towards someone with Asian heritage, that deeply lessens my the (un)dead limits the number of stories that you can tell enjoyment of the game. with a true necromancer character. While most real-world James Mendez Hodes’ article “Asian Representation and societies would agree that animating a human corpse is the Martial Arts” goes into detail about the racism aspect desecration of the dead, not all of them find inherent fear but it warrants being mentioned here for reasons explained in the use of bone tools (especially animal bones), nor below. “Monk” is a misrepresentative term. You don’t need in the idea that the dead are still with us. To stay on the to be a member of a monastic order in order to attain Asian theme, Kongzi (Confucius) and Mozi both discuss singular control over your own body, which is what the fear of ghosts, but the fear is not one of violating the mechanics of the class actually represent. These concepts boundaries between life and death: it’s the fear that your are based on the flawed assumptions that Asian martial ancestors disapprove of your actions and are punishing arts are inherently spiritual and that Asian spirituality you for them. A true necromancer from a society where inherently incorporates martial arts. These are hurtful the ancestors are part of life (as seen in many of Eberron’s stereotypes that lend to additional racist characterizations. necromantic cultures) will be very different from one My personal preference is to let individual players call their where the dead are taboo -- the horror isn’t that they’ve class whatever they want -- character classes aren’t in- ripped your grandmother’s spirit from the afterlife, it’s that universe distinctions -- but for general use at your home they’ve called her here to look at what you’re doing and table or in future supplements, I recommend terms like she’s disappointed in you. “adept,” “martial artist,” “remade,” or so on. As a final note on zombies: Travis and I would like to offer The precise nature of qi also varies depending on the a different perception of zombies that differs from their philosophy, but in most philosophies, it’s simply a repetitive mainstream depiction as acceptable targets for property shared by all moving entities (and, in Zhu heroic violence. D&D usually presents zombies as the Xi’s syncretism, the basic building block of matter in a servants of evil mages, as depicted in their native Haitian formulation reminiscent of e=mc2). Saying that a monk’s folklore. Since “zombie” refers to a specific myth, we use powers come from a mystical force called “ki” is about the term “corpse servants” in this project to give the true as ridiculous as saying that a rogue’s sneak attack comes necromancer a broader folkloric palette. In roleplaying and from some mystical force called “motion.” To explain the in video games, cannon-fodder zombies and skeletons obviously supernatural elements of a monk’s powers, D&D often harken far more to the uncontrolled hordes of a already has the nonspecific forces of magic and psionics. zombie apocalypse fiction that let the protagonists kill Daniel Kwan, in “The Book of Inner Alchemy” in Candlekeep with impunity. This ignores that the initial horror of the Mysteries, offers the idea that D&D ki is tied to elemental zombie is not of fighting one, but becoming one! Can you air, “for breath is what connects one’s soul to one’s essence imagine a more terrible fate for a friend or loved one than (body).” an eternal slavery inescapable even in death? By shifting Why is this relevant to the true necromancer class in your perceptions of what a zombie is and isn’t, you may the first place? First and foremost, it’s important to find your party mourning the undead they fight, showing acknowledge that while the true necromancer fits into respect to the desecrated corpses after battle, and vowing preexisting Dungeons & Dragons conceptions of magic and revenge for each body between your heroes and the vile foe the body, the Player’s Handbook presents those concepts in who animated them. a way that falls in line with those racist stereotypes. Kwan’s redefinition does a good job of redefining D&D ki to bring

way confidence breeds further confidence. a true necromancer views that magic in terms of If called upon to explain the theory behind their magic, creation and destruction, and finds power in imbalance. true necromancers have something in common with Whether they refer to it as positive and negative energy, monks. SampleBoth recognize that vital, magical forces order and entropy, radiant andfile necrotic forces, spiritual pervade the world, especially living bodies, and use and resentful energy, or just life and death, a true spiritual and medical training to harness them. While necromancer’s work is based on altering the flow of the monk views that magic in terms of the physical and these energies, restoring life to bodies that lack it, or spiritual souls and seeks to bring the two into harmony, pulling it from bodies that have it.

Chapter 1 | Incorporate a True Necromancer Into Your Adventures 5 Dead, not Made as the Blood of Vol, who place no sanctity on dead flesh The gift for manipulating the flows of positive and and would much rather their corpses work for their negative energy in the world can stem from many communities once they die; a focus on the divine power sources. Sometimes the power is inherited, whether of the blood within could grant a Seeker command over through many members of a necromantic dynasty or the dead. isolated sorcerer-like births; a dynastic necromancer The Children of Winter are a druidic sect who venerate grows up knowing that the lives of others are quite forces of death and decay, some of whom employ undead literally theirs to manipulate, while isolated births grow in order to balance out the forces of growth and “cull up shaped by their community’s view of necromancy. the weak”; this puts them vehemently at odds with the Sometimes it stems from exposure to overwhelming Ashbound druids, who decry undead as a violation of amounts of death, be it by accident or by terrible design the natural order. Tieflings in Eberron are often born (either of which is likely to traumatize whomever develops due to planar influences. A tiefling born under the the power). Sometimes it can be acquired through auspices of Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead, or Mabar, occult bargaining, like a warlock; sometimes it can be the Endless Night, might develop sorcerous powers of learned, communicating with the dead in the way a bard true necromancy, whether born to the warlock-lords of communicates with the living. Sometimes it’s spiritual in the Venomous Demesne or to unsuspecting parents in origin; while the power isn’t accessed through faith the broader Khorvaire. The fiendish Overlord, Katashka the way a cleric’s is, a true necromancer sees their closeness Gatekeeper, embodies the fear of death and the undead, with the dead as a means of keeping revered ancestors and offers necromantic power much like a warlock pact. alive. Likewise, a few necromancers from druidic A few psionic mediums might exist among the kalashtar traditions exist, commanding the fungus that grows on of Khorvaire and Adar. the bodies of the dead or seeking to tear down ideologies that would escape death. Psionics rarely grants control over dead flesh, but there are mediums who reach out to dead minds, and rumors persist of bodies brought to life by the tortured soul energy known as “necrocarnum”. Necromancers of the Realms In god-battled Faerûn, necromancy is widely feared due to its association with such forces as Orcus, Demon Prince of Undeath, the dracolich-venerating Cult of the Dragon, the drow necromancer-goddess Kiaransalee, and Szass Tam (the undead Zulkir of Thay), all of whom have sinister designs within the Forgotten Realms. Myrkul, with his relatively dispassionate and fatalistic attitude, is perhaps the least sinister patron of necromancy, and he seeks the ultimate rule and quietude of the end of all life. In addition to the options above, a player character might have learned true necromancy from one of these organizations -- did they leave and try to commit themself to using their powers for good, or do they try to do good (or at least combat other evils) under their auspices? How do they defend themselves from the servants of Kelemvor, whose opposition to undead grants them far more legitimacy in the eyes of society? Necromancers of Eberron In Eberron, magic is a technology, and necromancy is no different, subject to all the cultural variations thereof. Karrnath fielded armies of enhanced undead in the Last War, and Samplewhile the Treaty of Thronehold returned the file dead levies to the crypts, the true necromancers, whose devotion to their country allowed them to use the Odakyr Rites, can’t be made to disappear so easily -- a perfect background for an adventurer. Karrnath is also home to the Seekers of the Divinity Within, commonly known

6 Chapter 1 | Incorporate a True Necromancer Into Your Adventures Most of the necromantic traditions of Khorvaire were of corpses in this manner, the utility and good that brought by Sarlonan colonists, but a few necromantic necromancers accomplish on a normal basis has traditions are native to Khorvaire. The most notable are ensured their place in undead society. the Jhorash’tar orcs of the Mror Holds. Their bonecasters In Jensla, and the Wyrmslaug desert, mediums are call on ancestral spirits for wisdom and power, while their often a bridge to one’s ancestors, though giants are bonesworn champions are empowered by those spirits rarely gifted in the necromantic arts. Necromancy and create weapons from the bones of monsters and within the Azure Kingdom was outlawed by the first revered ancestors. The gnolls of the Znir pact are usually Magus, who some claim was himself a necromancer. more interested in the dead for meat and marrow, but Leonheart and the Guild Dwarves have also officially some try to get more use out of a dead body before eating banned necromancy within their realms, treating those it. The animist beliefs of the Talenta halflings might also who consort with the undead with immediate hostility. give rise to a few true necromancers. The Dhakaani However, in practice some villages rely on necromancers goblinoids weren’t known to make use of necromancy, to function, though more often than not, the actions of but that could easily change by adding the Kech Dovaar a single individual have continued to give necromancy to Eberron, an underground clan who learned songs that a bad reputation. It also does not help that an allied preserve the knowledge and strength of their dead from human realm was largely destroyed by the undead in their Tairnadal enemies. the creation of the Darklands. The Northrealm, though The elves of Aerenal have a long and storied history under the laws of Leonheart, are known to sometimes with undeath. Aerenal is home to manifest zones of Irian seek out the aid of talented mediums as detectives and Mabar, the planes of positive and negative energy, or experienced necromantic foremen capable of respectively, and their semi divine Undying Court draws undertaking difficult if not deadly projects around their on the devotion of their descendants to guide the nation. frozen lands. While most Aereni enter an everlasting trance in their The Elves of Tural see necromancy as a perversion of spirit idols when they die, the truly exceptional are raised the great balance, as death is an important part of life. as undying to preserve the knowledge and strength they They have been known to send hunting parties to track had in life. A child born in a Mabar manifest zone might down and eliminate necromancers beyond their borders develop a talent for true necromancy; the Aereni do not and have an open bounty which they will gladly pay to generally employ unintelligent undead like zombies and any creature brave enough to collect the reward. skeletons, but dead spirits are a part of everyday life. The Necromancers of the Multiverse Tairnadal elves of Valenar and northern Aerenal also venerate the spirits of their ancestors, and a Keeper of Ravenloft, as a realm of gothic tragedy, is saturated with the Past might sing to the dead themselves rather than undeath. A true necromancer in Ravenloft is defined singing of their deeds to the living. by impactful deaths, be it the massacre they alone The Aereni were also home to the necromantic survived, the dead spouse that motivates them to defy dynasty of House Vol prior to its extermination, who in the boundaries of death, or the quest for knowledge that turn descended from the Qabalrin elves of Xen’drik, said drives them to atrocity after atrocity. In some domains, to have discovered necromancy. Xen’drik might hold any the undead are a primary threat to the people of the land, number of necromantic traditions (and have countless such as the depredations of the von Zarovich vampires or dead empires to communicate with); much as a Lyrandar the undead armies of Falkovnia; in others, necromancy heir might develop the talents of a storm sorcerer, an heir can be part of religious practice (as in Har’Akir) or of the returned Mark of Death could certainly develop scientific discovery (as in Lamordia and Mordent). the talents of a true necromancer, and would certainly Whatever the local attitudes, grief and horror follow the motivate that heir to adventure! true necromancer throughout the Demiplanes of Dread. Four distinct necromantic traditions exist on Ravnica: Necromancers of Tural the Orzhov church, who bind the spirits of debtors and Tural, the setting for the Dark Dice podcast, has make thralls from their corpses; the fungal undead of varying opinions of necromancers, based on the the Golgari Swarm; the Rakdos who perform even more region. In the Darklands, necromancers are a part of gruesome shows in death; and the Dimir necrodetectives life. They often own establishments that employ the who glean secrets from spirits and shades. use of undead constructs, they are beloved the chief Necromancers beyond these worlds range the gamut foremen on construction projects, emergency response from glum death-philosophers or sociable guides along the Samplephysical roads of the dead, tofile shunned nomadic families teams during natural disasters and fires, unit leaders in military formations, spies in foreign realms, and who sing to the dead or solemn nuns enchanting their as upstanding citizens who take on responsibilities gilded ossuaries. within their communities that are often difficult. While many untethered have strong opinions about the use

Chapter 1 | Incorporate a True Necromancer Into Your Adventures 7 Acolytes of Borhoka, the god of death and patron of necromancers, often bind themselves in threads of white, representative of one’s essence Chapter 2. Creating a True Necromancer true necromancer character is centered to grapple with difficult ethical questions. Where do you around two questions: how did you come get the bodies? Does it do anything to the soul, and is by your powers, and how do people react to that a known fact or a matter of belief? Do you obtain them? There are a wide variety of options consent by casting speak with dead? Can a ghost refuse presented here, but even two necromancers your call? (If your DM approves, you could separate Awho come by their power from the same source can your actions as a player from your character’s actions be treated differently due to the culture around them. -- a mage who raises the dead involuntarily would be an A true necromancer who raised dead levies could be excellent tragic and horrific figure!) a war hero in their own country and a war criminal in another, while one who developed their powers from a Quick Build near-death experience might be a figure of suspicion You can make a true necromancer quickly by following and fear, up until they meet a priest of a death god. How these suggestions. First, Charisma should be your did you become a true necromancer, and how did your highest score, followed by Constitution. To evade blows, communitySample react? make Dexterity your third-highest file score; to be a scholar A true necromancer has to grapple with many of the of the dead, choose Intelligence. Second, choose the same problems as a cleric, sorcerer, or warlock: did Acolyte or Sage background. Third, choose the chill they come by their power through a divine blessing, an touch and spare the dying cantrips, along with the 1st- accident, or a pact? However, necromancers also have level spells cause fearXGE and ray of sickness.

8 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer The True Necromancer Proficiency Cantrips Spells Designs Level Bonus Features Known Known Spell Slots Slot Level Known 1st +2 Life Ward, Spellcasting 2 2 1 1st - 2nd +2 Call to Unlife, Dark Designs 2 3 2 1st 1 3rd +2 Necromantic Path 2 4 2 2nd 2 4th +2 Ability Score Improvement 2 5 2 2nd 2 5th +3 Necromantic Path feature 2 6 2 3rd 3 6th +3 Necromantic Aura 2 7 2 3rd 3 7th +3 Necromantic Path feature 2 8 2 4th 4 8th +3 Ability Score Improvement 3 9 2 4th 4 9th +4 -- 3 10 2 5th 5 10th +4 Close to Death 3 10 2 5th 5 11th +4 Necromantic Path feature 3 11 3 5th 6 12th +4 Ability Score Improvement 3 11 3 5th 6 13th +5 -- 3 12 3 5th 7 14th +5 Command the Dead 3 12 3 5th 7 15th +5 Necromantic Path feature 4 13 3 5th 8 16th +5 Ability Score Improvement 4 13 3 5th 8 17th +6 -- 4 14 4 5th 9 18th +6 Necromantic Path feature 4 14 4 5th 9 19th +6 Ability Score Improvement 4 15 4 5th 10 20th +6 Close to Death Improvement, Conquer Death 4 15 4 5th 10 Class Features As a true necromancer, you gain the Spellcasting following class features. As a true necromancer, you have discovered the secret Hit Points means of controlling flesh, bone, and spirit, allowing you Hit Dice: 1d4 per true necromancer level some facility with spells. See chapter 10 of the Player’s Hit Points at 1st Level: 4 + your Constitution modifier Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and the Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d4 (or 3) + your Con- true necromancer spell list at the end of this supplement stitution modifier per true necromancer level after 1st for a list of spells.

Proficiencies Cantrips Armor: None You know two cantrips of your choice from the true Weapons: Daggers, glaives, quarterstaffs, sickles necromancer spell list. You learn additional true Tools: None necromancer cantrips of your choice at higher levels, Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the True Skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Intimidation, Necromancer table. Investigation, Medicine, and Religion Spell Slots Equipment The True Necromancer table shows how many spell You start with the following equipment, in addition to slots you have. The table also shows what the level of the equipment granted by your background: those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level. • (a) a dagger or (b) a sickle To cast one of your true necromancer spells of 1st level • (a) a Samplequarterstaff or (b) a glaive or higher, you must expend afile spell slot. You regain all • a spellcasting focus of your choice (see the expended spell slots when you finish a short or long rest. Spellcasting Focus section) For example, when you are 5th level, you have two • (a) a priest’s pack or (b) a scholar’s pack 3rd-level spell slots. To cast the 1st-level spell ray of Alternatively, you can choose to start with 4d4 x 10 gp and sickness, you must spend one of those slots, and you opt to spend some or all of that money on starting equipment. cast it as a 3rd-level spell.

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 9 Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher Holy Garlic At first level, you know two 1st-level spells of your choice Vampires in D&D aren’t explicitly harmed by garlic the from the true necromancer spell list. The Spells Known way they are in Earth folklore, but that doesn’t mean you column of the True Necromancer table shows when you can’t make them uneasy with it! Holy water (in the sense learn more true necromancer spells of your choice of 1st of the rules mechanics) doesn’t necessarily need to be level and higher. A spell you choose must be of a level made out of water; a bulb of garlic can carry a blessing no higher than what’s shown in the table’s Slot Level just as easily, as long as a cleric or paladin has the 25 gp column for your level. When you reach 6th level, for worth of powdered silver (or some equally rare material) example, you learn a new true necromancer spell, which on hand. Salt is another strong folkloric anti-undead can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level. measure -- while the Player’s Handbook lists it at 5 cp/ Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you lb., prices this cheap would require access to salt water, can choose one of the true necromancer spells you and in places far from the ocean or whose rulers tax know and replace it with another spell from the true salt, 25 gp worth of salt might be as easy to carry as a necromancer spell list, which also must be of a level for flask of holy water. Holy wafers, ash, vinegar, and special which you have spell slots. oils are also possible undead deterrents.

Spellcasting Ability Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your true bone chips as a component pouch, and a reliquary necromancer spells, so you use your Charisma might simply be an ancestor’s skull that you can ritually whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In recreate with components that cost 5 gp. addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a true necromancer spell you Life Ward cast and when making an attack roll with one. Starting at 1st level, you can use the energy of life Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your around you as a protective barrier. At the end of each Charisma modifier long rest you create a magical ward on yourself that Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your lasts until you finish a long rest. The ward has hit points Charisma modifier equal to twice your true necromancer level + your Charisma modifier. Whenever you take damage of a type Ritual Casting other than radiant, you can choose to have the ward take You can cast a true necromancer spell as a ritual if that the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to spell has the ritual tag. You can also create holy water 0 hit points, you take any remaining damage. as per page 152 of the Player’s Handbook, using a true While the ward has 0 hit points, it can’t absorb necromancer spell slot of any level. damage, but its magic remains. Whenever you cast a necromancy spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains Spellcasting Focus a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell. When you create a true necromancer character, choose Ritual spells do not cause the ward to regain hit points. one type of focus from the following: arcane focus, Once you create the ward, you can’t create it again druidic focus, or holy symbol. If you are proficient with until you finish a long rest. a set of artisan’s tools or a musical instrument, you can instead choose that tool or instrument. You can use that type of object or focus as a spellcasting focus for your true necromancer spells. Once you make this choice, it cannot later be changed. Your choice of focus depends on the tradition or background you come from. An ex-military necromancer with a corpse control rod would choose an arcane focus, an orc bonecrafter shaping bone porcelain with potter’s tools would choose that type of artisan’s tools, a death druid with a deathwatch beetle totem would choose druidic foci, a tomb-nun with a fragment of saint’s bone in a reliquarySample would choose holy symbols, and a ritualist file summoning spirits on the guqin would choose musical instruments. Even if you choose a classical focus, it might look different from all others of its kind. Many true necromancers of the Path of Bones use a bag full of

10 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer Call to Unlife a corpse takes about a month to liquefy; a corpse buried in soil takes eight to twelve years. Therefore, an When you reach 2nd level, you learn how to use your unburied corpse is a viable target for reanimation for 30 own life force to animate dead tissue and bind the spirits days after death, while a corpse buried in soil is viable of the dead. You can perform a 1 hour spellcasting ritual for 8-12 years. Coffins can slow this even further, as on the corpse of a Small or Medium humanoid or the can mummification or freezing conditions. Fire, acid, corpse of a beast of challenge rating equal to or lower scavengers, and some forms of magic can deflesh the than your true necromancer level, which must remain body much faster. Ultimately, the availability of viable within 30 feet of you for the duration. At the end of this cadavers is up to the DM. ritual, you spend one Hit Die and create an undead Bone Death Beast. To create a bone death beast, servant from the Undead Servant Options below. Hit you need the skeleton of a beast with a challenge rating Dice spent in this way cannot be regained until the equal to or lower than your true necromancer level that undead servant is dismissed or destroyed. fulfills the requirements for a bone servant, except the Your undead servant obeys your commands to the need for it to be humanoid. Apply the bone death beast best of its ability. In combat it shares your initiative, statistics modifications (see Appendix A) to the beast’s but it takes its turn immediately after yours. While normal stat block. an undead servant is within 3 miles of you, you can Corpse Death Beast. To create a corpse death telepathically issue commands to it (no action required) beast, you need the corpse of a beast with a challenge which it follows to the best of its ability. Additionally, rating equal to or lower than your true necromancer you can use an action to see what it sees and hear what level that fulfills the requirements for a corpse servant. it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the Apply the corpse death beast statistics modifications benefits of any special senses the undead servant has. (see Appendix A) to the beast’s normal stat block. During this time, you are blinded and deafened with Spirit Servant. To create a spirit servant (see regard to your own senses. Appendix A), you need a corpse or body part from a While you are incapacitated, more than 3 miles Small or Medium beast or humanoid that died within away, or have given it no commands, an undead servant the past 10 days and had an intelligence of 3 or higher. defends itself against hostile creatures and wanders Days spent under the effects of the gentle repose spell aimlessly about the area. or similar effects (such as the memento mori in the An undead servant regains all lost hit points at Magic Items appendix of this supplement) don’t count the end of a long rest, but it cannot have its hit points against the time limit, effectively extending it. Creating restored by typical spells or effects. A true necromancer a spirit servant fails if the creature had legendary can conduct a 10 minute ritual on an undead servant actions, legendary resistances, or a CR higher than your to restore 2d6 hit points. You can also use an action to true necromancer level. An attempt to create a spirit spend a number of hit dice, rolling them and causing the servant from a corporeal undead has no effect other undead servant to regain hit points equal to the result + than destroying the undead creature’s remains, as the your Charisma modifier. spirit attempts to return to its body and the warring You can dismiss an undead servant on the same necromantic energies destroy each other. A corpse can plane as you that you control by performing a 10 minute only produce one spirit servant at a time. spellcasting ritual to lay the dead creature to rest. Upon dismissal, the servant’s body falls to the ground inert, or its spirit disaporates. The servant’s body can be Risky Dismissal Variant used to create a new undead servant, as long as it still To add more character and flavor to this ability, consider the meets all requirements. following alternate rule for dismissing undead servants: You can use an action to dismiss an undead servant on the same plane as you that you control. When you do so, it is Undead Servant Options freed from your control and persists for 10 minutes, after Bone Servant. To create a bone servant (see which it collapses to the ground and reverts to its original Appendix A), you need a Small or Medium humanoid inert state. While it persists the undead servant acts of its skeleton intact enough to preserve the creature’s general own accord, which can include attacking you or your allies. shape. You can create a bone servant from a still-fleshed As an action, you can force a dismissed undead servant corpse, in which case the skeleton rips its way out of the you can see within 60 feet to make a Wisdom saving throw flesh, ruiningSample the corpse for later reanimation and many against your true necromancer file spell save DC. On a failed forms of resurrection magic. save, the dismissed servant is paralyzed until the start of your next turn, and you must maintain concentration during Corpse Servant. To create a corpse servant (see that time, as if you were casting a spell. Appendix A), you need a Small or Medium humanoid corpse with solid flesh remaining on its body. Unburied,

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 11 Artificial Humanoids Necromantic Aura You had me look into the possibility of reanimating Starting at 6th level, you can manipulate the life force of warforged. During the War, tests to raise them with your allies to protect them, although not to the degree that the Odakyr Rites always failed; while the position was you can manipulate your own. When a creature you can that they weren’t truly alive and thus couldn’t become see within 60 feet of you takes damage, you can use your undead, recent forays into the Mournland have brought reaction to cause your Life Ward to absorb half of that back reports of “rustforged” and “mistforged”. My damage. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, current hypothesis is that none of these warforged had a the warded creature takes any remaining damage. sufficient sense of Karrnathi national identity for the Rites to function. With permission, I would like access to the Close to Death remains of Karrnathi warforged with military service slain At 10th level, your constant proximity to the forces after the Treaty of Thronehold. of death has given you some of its resilience and My unit, however, recently had the good fortune to characteristics. You gain a necrotic tell of your choosing, be attacked by a band of warforged motivated by their a superficial sign of death’s touch. This could be sunken “Lord of Blades.” Traditional reanimation rituals failed to eyes, a deathly pallor, constant grave dirt beneath your work, but a comment from Private Vekov led me to try it nails, a subtly palpable aura of mortality, a strangely with rust, dust, and splinters, and I was able to animate preserved appearance of youth and vigor, or some something similar to a corpse servant. other change. -- a letter from Karrnathi army necromancer Haskal As a result of your necrotic tell, Undead with an Morn to Berre Stonefist, Captain of Bones Intelligence of 7 or lower that can see you do not attack you unless ordered to do so. More intelligent undead are indifferent towards you unless you give them reason to be hostile, and are therefore more willing to speak with you and discuss matters they wouldn’t normally discuss with a living being. Dark Designs Additionally, your proximity to death gives you the As you develop your skills with necromancy, you have following benefits: access to dark designs, necromantic theorems that imbue • You are immune to disease. you or your creations with an abiding magical ability. • You age at half the normal speed, and halve the At 2nd level, you gain one dark design of your effects of magical aging on yourself. At 20th level, choice. Your options are detailed in the Dark Designs you no longer age at all, and are immune to the chapter of this supplement. When you gain certain true effects of magical aging. necromancer levels, you gain additional designs of your • You have resistance to necrotic damage. At 20th choice, as shown in the Designs Known column of the level, you become immune to necrotic damage. True Necromancer table. Command the Dead Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the dark designs you know and Starting at 14th level, you gain the ability to command replace it with another dark design that you could learn the fear and obedience of the undead, even those at that level. created by other mages. You can use an action to issue one command of your choice: Turn Undead or Undead Necromantic Path Service, detailed below. The DC for these effects equals At 3rd level, your inclinations have blossomed into your true necromancer spell save DC. a dedication to one of the three main paths of true Turn Undead. You present your spellcasting focus, necromancy: the Path of Bones, the Path of Corpses, verbalizing a word of unmaking to drive away undead. or the Path of Spirits, each of which is detailed at the Each undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of end of the class’s description. Your choice grants you you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature features at 3rd level, and again at 5th, 7th, 11th, 15th, fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it and 18th level. takes any damage. Ability Score Improvement A turned creature must spend its turns trying to Samplemove as far away from you as fileit can, and it can’t willingly When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use score above 20 using this feature. the Dodge action.

12 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer Undead Service. You can place an undead under your control. Choose one undead creature with an Intelligence of 7 or lower that you can see within 60 feet of you. The creature must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or become friendly to you and obey your commands until you use Undead Service again. On a success, it is immune to this feature for the next 24 hours. You can use this feature twice, and regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. Conquer Death At 20th level, you complete your mastery over the one death that has eluded you for so long: your own. This might be through the creation of a lich’s phylactery, a process of self-embalming or mellification, a transition into an ectoplasmic form, or simply exacting willful control over your own body and soul. You gain the following benefits: • You have resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. • You no longer need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe, although you still require rest to avoid and reduce exhaustion and still benefit from finishing short and long rests. • You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. • If you die, roll a d20. On a 10 or higher, you discorporate with 0 hit points and fall unconscious instead of dying. You and any equipment you are wearing or carrying disappears, as you walk the roads the dead walk (the Deep Ethereal, the Fugue Plane, Dolurrh, the soil of the world, or so on, depending on your campaign setting). You reform 1d6 days later at a familiar location of your choice on the plane of existence where you died, having gained the benefits of a long rest.

Undead Senses Necromantic Paths The necromantic energy that animates an undead servant As befits their pragmatic attitude toward magic, true allows perception even when the organs of sensation are necromancers choose their specializations not from gone. Undead see the world in an inverted black-and-white, a mystical connection or theoretical school but from but they don’t perceive light -- rather, they perceive the the different types of undead servants they can create. presence of growth and decay. Young creatures are darker, By focusing on a specific type of dead matter, a true older creatures are brighter, and nonliving matter is uniform necromancer achieves tight control over the forces of life grey. Undead creatures can distinguish contrasting shades and death surrounding it. (such as words on a page) only when light is present, as In the multiverse, however, true necromancers they perceive light as decay. Navigating the “decay” of light are rarely as likely to formally organize along these allows undead creatures to extend their necromantic senses. necromantic paths. While necromantic dynasties or In pitch Sampleblackness their senses only extend sixty feet. Sound scholarly institutions stratify file themselves along these and touch, coming from motion, give off tiny amounts of particular talents, a scion of a ghost-calling dynasty has decay, allowing undead creatures to perceive them. A sense far more in common with that of a bone-shaping dynasty of smell is only available to undead servants who still have than they do with a ritualist who learned to summon (at least partially) functional olfactory organs. ghosts with music. While true necromancers’ abilities are uniform, their methods are anything but.

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 13 Skeletal Architect Also at 3rd level, you gain the ability to manipulate and enhance the construction of your skeletal creations, modifying them to suit your purposes. When you use the Call to Unlife feature to create a bone construct (a bone servant or a bone death beast), you can spend a number of extra Hit Die. For each Hit Dice spent, the created creature gains one modification of your choice from the Skeletal Architect Modifications list, detailed below. A creature can’t benefit from the same modification twice. Skeletal Architect Modifications • Bone Soldier (bone servant only). You make your bone servant a more efficient killer. Its Strength score becomes 15, and it gains proficiency with light armor and martial weapons. • Death Watch. You turn your construct into a vigilant sentinel. The bone construct’s speed is reduced by 10 feet. Its Wisdom score becomes 12 if it wasn’t already higher, and it has advantage on Wisdom checks and saving throws. • Dust Form. Prerequisite: 7th Level. You make your construct fragmentary, floating and drifting like dust on the wind. It can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there, and can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. It also loses any vulnerability to bludgeoning damage. Dust Form constructs cannot wear armor. • Monstrous Skeletons. Prerequisite: 9th level. This modification costs two hit die. You can Regella of the Still Lake, a renowned oss and adventurer animate the skeletons of Large or Huge giants and monstrosities. A bone construct created from the Path of Bones skeleton of a giant gains the Towering Skeleton A true necromancer who follows the Path of Bones modification below for free, but its size doesn’t (an “oss” in necro-jargon) gains unmatched flexibility increase. The skeleton of a monstrosity can only be with their undead creations. An oss is an artisan of used to create a bone death beast. death, carefully raising powerful bone servants and • Nimble Bones. You give your bone construct a constructing arms and armor from the leftovers. In macabre nimbleness. Its speed increases by 10 feet, combat, they ward themselves and their allies behind and it has advantage on Dexterity checks and saving bone walls and let their skeletal minions tear through throws. It also takes half damage from falling while the enemy. Their watchword is resilience, and many it isn’t incapacitated. strive to match that body and spirit; the grim knight on • Reinforced Skeleton. You shore up your creation a skeletal charger, the bitter necropolitan tomb-nun, and with thickened bone or other materials at hand. The the somber memorial carver are all osses. bone construct increases its maximum hit points by 3d6, and has advantage on Constitution checks and saving throws. Bone Fragmentation • Skeletal Wings. Prerequisite: 7th Level. You impart When you choose this path at 3rd level, you become necromantic energy that catches the air. The bone adept at breaking down and rebuilding your bone construct gains a flying speed of 30 feet and the creations quickly and efficiently. As a bonus action, ability to hover. If it had a flying speed greater than you can dismiss one or more bone constructs (a bone Sample30 feet in life, it gains thatfile flying speed instead. servant, bone death beast, or bone elemental), destroying it and leaving half of its material in its space. Until the end of your turn you can use the Call to Unlife feature as an action. Constructs raised in this way may not act or move on the same turn that they were summoned.

14 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer • Skeletal Worker (bone servant only). You imbue Bone Shield your bone servant with untiring exactitude. It gains At 7th level, you add a physical two tool proficiencies of your choice, and uses your shield of bones to your Life proficiency bonus. It can only replicate things it has Ward, which can be supported seen, and can’t create anything original. The bone by your other creations. servant requires no rest and can complete three While your Life Ward has 8-hour workdays in a single day. at least 1 hit point, you can • Towering Skeleton. Prerequisite: 9th Level. This use a bonus action to call modification costs two Hit Die. You build your bone the bones together around a construct with exceptional size, making it tower over creature you can see within your foes. It gains the following benefits: 60 feet, giving the target half cover until the start of your ° It increases its size by one category, for example from Medium to Large. next turn or until you use your Necromantic ° It gains 2d6 hit points for each size category it is above Medium. Aura feature. Additionally, whenever ° If it becomes Huge or larger, its reach is increased by 5 feet. one of your bone constructs is destroyed, ° It has advantage on Strength checks and saving throws. your ward regains 2 hit points per Hit Die used to ° When it hits with a weapon attack on its turn, it can use its bonus action to deal an extra 2d4 create the destroyed construct. damage of the weapon’s type. Form Beyond Form • Undead Phalanx (bone servant only). You turn When you reach 11th level, you are no longer bound by the your bone servant’s arm into a skeletal shield to shape of the bones you have to work with, and can create protect its allies with. It gains proficiency with all larger, more intricate constructions. When you use the armor and shields, and one of its arms is treated Call to Unlife feature, if you have access to two or more as if it is permanently holding a shield. When a skeletons of Medium size or larger, you can expend five Hit creature attacks a target within 5 feet of the bone Dice to create a bone elemental using both skeletons (see servant, the bone servant can use its reaction to Appendix A for statistics). impose disadvantage on the attack roll. Additionally, you learn the wall of stone spell. It counts as a true necromancer spell for you, but it doesn’t count against Bonecrafting the number of true necromancer spells you know. When At 5th level your skill at controlling bone allows you to you cast wall of stone as a true necromancer spell, it is a quickly shape its material into items. You can use your necromancy spell and appears as a wall of interlocking action to magically create an inanimate object in your bone. The material component is a small piece of bone. hand, on your person, or on the ground in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you. The object is made of bone, and can be no larger than 4 feet on a side Bonecaster At 15th level, you can manipulate the bones in living and weigh no more than 25 pounds, and its form must creatures. When you gain this feature, you learn your choice be that of a nonmagical object that you have seen. of either the control skeleton or ghost warrior spell (both A bonecrafted item decays and becomes unusable presented in the Spells chapter of this supplement). This after a number of days equal to your Charisma modifier spell doesn’t count against the number of true necromancer (minimum of 1). spells you know. See Appendix B for statistics on bonecrafted armor. You can cast the chosen spell once without expending a spell slot, and must finish a long rest before you can do so again. Bonecrafters will virtually always be in a situation where they have access to bone material, so thematically this is the equivalent of reshaping bone into weapons, armor, or Suspended Animation At 18th level, you attain the skeletal resilience of a objects, either from raw materials, skeletal constructs, or by lich, mummy, or similar undead creature, as well as literally forming objects from bone dust in the area. Forcing its appearance should you wish it. You gain resistance rules forSample bone-based material components on items that will file to cold and lightning damage, and are immune to ultimately decay simply adds a lot of needless complexity to exhaustion and the paralyzed condition. this thematically fun ability while at the same time making it Additionally, you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. less practical than a Minor Conjuration feature. If you do so, you must use the new roll, and you can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 15 other rules for Call to Unlife still apply. When you use the Call to Unlife feature to create a corpse construct (a corpse servant or corpse death beast), you can spend a number of extra Hit Die. For each Hit Dice spent on an individual construct, that creature gains one modification of your choice from the Basic Forms of Decay list, detailed below. A creature can’t benefit from the same modification twice. When you raise multiple corpse constructs with the same ritual, any Forms of Decay modification you add costs twice the normal amount of Hit Die, and all corpse constructs gain the benefits of that modification if they are able to.

Basic Forms of Decay Modifications (Cost 1 Hit Die each) • Bile-Filled. Suppurating bile saturates this corpse construct. It learns the acid splash cantrip, which uses your true necromancer spell save DC. When the corpse construct is destroyed, each creature within 5 feet of it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your true necromancer spell save DC or take 1d6 acid damage. • Choking Desiccation. You dessicate the corpse construct’s body, filling it with sickening dust. Whenever the corpse construct takes damage, each living creature within 5 feet of it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, it is immune to the dust for Zephenon of Rejui, the “mad” stitch necroscientist the next hour. • Faceless. Your corpse construct lacks facial Path of Corpses features. You can remove any or all features on up to two heads per corpse construct, without affecting A true necromancer who follows the Path of Corpses their senses. Removed features can include eyes, (a “stitch” in necro-jargon) overwhelms their foes ears, noses, mouths, eyebrows, hair, scars, but not with waves of walking dead. A stitch’s creations are bone features like horns or teeth. Ability checks unsettlingly alive, retaining more of their previous made to recognise the original identity of the corpse abilities and feeding on the vitality of the living. In are made with disadvantage. combat, these necromancers move about the battlefield • Flayed Flight. Prerequisite: 7th level. You stretch patching up damage while their swarms of undead mob skin to create wings. The flesh construct gains a the foe. Their watchword is adaptability, and most try to flying speed of 40 feet. If it had a flying speed greater fit themselves and their creations to the circumstances; than 40 feet in life, it gains that flying speed instead. the fungal druid making use of the barest scraps of • Ghoulish Touch. You fill your corpse construct’s flesh, the jaded commander of corpse soldiers, the claws with ghoul-like venom. The corpse construct brilliant and dedicated chirurgeon, and the myrrh- gains the following melee attack: perfumed flesh-weaving spy are all stitches. Ghoulish Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) slashing Forms of Decay damage. The target must succeed on a DC 10 When youSample choose this path at 3rd level, you can raise Constitution saving throwfile or be paralyzed until the multiple corpses at once and alter dead flesh with end of its next turn. If a creature’s saving throw is unnerving plasticity. The Call to Unlife feature can successful or the effect ends for it, it is immune to animate multiple corpses as part of a single ritual. All this effect for the next 24 hours.

16 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer • Monstrous Corpses. Prerequisite: 9th level. This • Towering Corpse. Prerequisite: 9th level. This modification costs two hit die. You can animate the modification costs two Hit Die. You build your corpses of Large or Huge giants and monstrosities. corpse construct with exceptional size, making it A corpse construct created from the corpse of a tower over your foes. It gains the following benefits: giant gains the Towering Corpse modification below ° It increases its size by one category, for example for free, but its size doesn’t increase. The corpse of from Medium to Large. a monstrosity can only be used to create a corpse ° It gains 2d6 hit points for each size category it is death beast. above Medium. • Mangled Visage. Prerequisite: 5th level, evil ° If it becomes Huge or larger, its reach is alignment. You twist your construct’s features into increased by 5 feet. a horrifying mess of flesh. The first time the corpse It has advantage on Strength checks and saving construct is seen by a non-undead creature within ° throws. 60 feet, the creature must succeed on a DC 13 When it hits with a weapon attack on its turn, Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. ° it can use its bonus action to deal an extra 2d4 A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at damage of the weapon’s type. the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the corpse construct is within line of sight, ending • Twisted Musculature. You twist and coil extra the effect on itself on a success. If a target’s saving muscle into your construct. The corpse construct throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the gains proficiency in Athletics and Stealth. Its speed target is immune to all sources of Mangled Visage increases to 30 feet if it wasn’t higher already, and for the next 24 hours. its jump distance is tripled. • Mummification.Sample You dessicate or embalm your • Wight-Handed (corpse fileservant only). You imbue construct, making it stiffer and tougher than usual. your servant with necromantic power. The corpse The corpse construct has advantage on Constitution servant’s Strength score increases by 2. Whenever it checks and saving throws, and its maximum and hits a creature with a melee weapon attack, it deals current hit points increase by 3d6. an additional 1d6 necrotic damage.

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 17 Advanced Forms of Decay Modifications for those spells. It can cast each retained spell once (Prerequisite: 11th level. Cost 2 Hit Die each) without expending a spell slot, and must finish a long rest before it can do so again. Whenever the • Dead Growth. This corpse construct swells with corpse construct casts a spell of 5th-level or higher, unholy vitality. It regains hit points equal to your roll a d4. On a result of 1, its mind is permanently Charisma modifier at the start of each of its turns as destroyed. It loses this modification, and can never long as it has 1 hit point remaining. benefit from it again. • Death Burst. Choose one damage type from acid, fire, lightning, necrotic, piercing, or poison. Master Forms of Decay Modifications When this corpse construct is destroyed, it erupts (Prerequisite: 18th level. Cost 3 Hit Die each) with destructive energy in a 20-foot-radius sphere • Boneless. This corpse construct has no need for centered on itself, which spreads around corners. bones as a support structure, flowing over the Each creature in the area must make a Constitution ground in a tide of muscle and skin. It can enter a saving throw against your true necromancer spell hostile creature’s space and stop there. It can move save DC. On a failed save, a creature takes 1d8 through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without damage of the chosen type, plus an additional 1d8 squeezing, and is immune to the grappled and per Hit Die spent to create this corpse construct, restrained conditions unless they originate from a excluding Forms of Decay modifications. A creature directionless magical effect. Additionally, the corpse takes half as much damage on a successful save. construct gains a +4 bonus to its AC but can’t wear • In The Flesh. This corpse construct’s flesh armor. regenerates so it no longer looks like a corpse. The • Necrotis Fundamentum. This modification can’t corpse construct’s Dexterity and Charisma scores be used on corpse swarms. You can replicate the increase by 4. It appears fully alive to cursory draconis fundamentum, the organ that powers a physical examination, and a Wisdom (Insight) check dragon’s breath. When you give a corpse construct against your true necromancer spell save DC reveals this ability, choose one damage type from acid, fire, only that its motions are somewhat unnatural. If lightning, necrotic, or poison. The corpse construct a spell would detect the presence of undead, the can use an action to spit a gout of energy in either a spellcaster must make an ability check with their 30-foot cone (if you chose fire, necrotic, or poison) spellcasting ability against your true necromancer or a 60-foot line (if you chose acid or lightning). spell save DC to detect it. Each creature in the area must make a Dexterity Note that this feature may not easily be combined saving throw (if you chose acid, fire, or lightning) or with some Forms of Decay options. Your DM has a Constitution saving throw (if you chose necrotic the right to use common sense when deciding which or poison) against your true necromancer spell save modifications are compatible with this one, unless DC. On a failure, the creature takes 2d6 damage your mummified corpse is trying to pass off as “just of the chosen damage type, plus an additional 1d6 being bandaged.” damage for each Hit Die used to create the corpse • Ravenous. The corpse construct has developed construct, excluding Forms of Decay modifications. an overpowering hunger for the flesh, or more On a successful save, it takes half as much damage. specifically the vitality, of the living. Every time the corpse construct deals damage to a living target with an unarmed attack (including Ghoul Touch Flood of Death At 5th level, you can create a writhing swarm of corpses. and Wight-Handed), the damage type is changed to When you use the Call to Unlife feature and have piercing and the corpse construct regains hit points access to two or more corpses that are viable targets for equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). creating corpse servants, you can spend two Hit Dice to • Undying Brain. This corpse construct’s brain instead create a corpse swarm (see Appendix A) from is better-preserved, and retains up to two skill up to 12 corpses. Corpse swarms are considered corpse proficiencies of your choice that it had in life. It constructs for the purposes of your Forms of Decay remembers significant details of its past life, as well feature, but each Forms of Decay modification costs as any lore related to either of those skills, but other twice as much. details of the world are fuzzy at best. Additionally, its Intelligence score remains the same Sampleas it was in life (use an Intelligence of 10 Vital Shield file unless otherwise specified, such as for a scholar At 7th level, you add roiling regenerative blood to Life or wizard), and if it could cast any spells, you can Ward, which can be used to heal damage. While your choose for it to retain up to two spells instead of skill life ward has at least 1 hit point, you can use a bonus proficiencies. Intelligence is its spellcasting ability action to douse a creature you can see within 60 feet in the ward’s regenerative blood. The ward loses a number

18 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer of hit points of your choice up to your Charisma modifier one modification of your choice from the Advanced Forms (minimum of 1), and the target regains that many hit of Decay list. A creature can’t benefit from the same points. The ward can’t lose more hit points than it modification twice, but can still gain Basic Forms of Decay currently has. options as normal and at the same time. Additionally, your servants’ hunger feeds vital energy back to your ward. Your corpse constructs gain the Flowing Flesh following attack action: At 15th level, you can cause a living being’s flesh to flow Hungry Dead. Melee Spell Attack. Your true like water. When you gain this feature, you gain one of necromancer spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., the following abilities of your choice. Once you make one creature. Hit: 2 (1d4) necrotic damage. The true this choice, it can’t be changed later. necromancer’s Life Ward regains hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt. Flay the Living. When you hit a creature with an attack or spell, you can choose to magically tear at their flesh and blood. The creature must make a Constitution Muscle Memory saving throw against your true necromancer spell save When you reach 11th level, your corpse constructs retain DC. On a failed save, it takes 8d12 necrotic damage more of the character they had in life. When you use the and is paralyzed until the end of your next turn. On a Call to Unlife feature to create a corpse construct, you successful save it takes half damage and isn’t paralyzed. can spend a number of extra Hit Die. For every two Hit A creature with no flesh or blood is unaffected. Die spent on an individual construct, that creature gains Once you have used this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. Staunch. As an action, you give a creature you can see within 30 feet of you a supernatural resilience that lasts for 1 minute, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The creature has resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and regains hit points equal to 1d4 + your Charisma modifier at the start of each of its turns. The creature is also immune to any effects that would sever a body part. Once you have used this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Master of Flesh At 18th level, you attain the same mastery of your own body as you have over your corpse servants. You can cast the alter self spell at will, without expending a spell slot. When you do so, instead of one of the options provided in the alter self spell, you can choose to spend Hit Dice to give yourself Forms of Decay modifications (including Advanced and Master modifications) as if you were one of your own corpse constructs. Additionally, when you use the Call to Unlife feature to create a corpse construct, you can spend a number of extra Hit Die. For every three Hit Die spent on an individual construct in this way, that creature gains one modification of your choice from the Master Forms of Decay list. A creature can’t benefit from the same modification twice, but can still gain Basic and Advanced Forms of Decay options as normal and at the Samplesame time. file

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 19 Soul Echoes When you choose this path at 3rd level, spirits you summon preserve more of their personality and knowledge. When you use the Call to Unlife feature to create a spirit servant, you can spend a number of extra Hit Die. For every two Hit Die spent on an individual construct, that creature gains one modification of your choice from the Soul Echo Modifications list. A creature can’t benefit from the same modification twice Soul Echo Modifications • Advising Spirit. This spirit offers wisdom and advice as it could when it was alive. Choose two skills the spirit servant was proficient with in life. The spirit servant gains proficiency with those skills, and creatures within five feet of the spirit add a d4 to checks made using those skills. Additionally, the spirit servant can speak any languages it knew in life. • Dawn Spirit. Prerequisite: 9th level. This ability costs two hit dice to use. This powerful spirit can freely materialize during the day and loses the Sunlight Sensitivity trait. • Guardian Spirit. This proud and noble spirit seeks to defend the living and prevent them from joining its ranks. When another creature the spirit servant can see within 15 feet of itself takes damage, it can use its reaction to reduce that damage by 1d6 + your Charisma modifier. • Healing Spirit. This kindly spirit can restore the vitality of others, growing fainter as it takes their death into it. As an action, the spirit servant touches a creature and rolls a number of d4s equal to your proficiency bonus. The spirit servant takes force damage equal to the total, and the target regains hit points equal to the force damage taken. This ability has no effect on constructs or undead. • The spirit servant can use this ability a number Emmerin Fearseeker, medium and spiritual link to the of times equal to your Charisma modifier ancestors of Clan Devith (minimum once) and regains all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Path of Spirits • Inquisitive Spirit. Prerequisite: 11th level. This A true necromancer who follows the Path of Spirits (a ability costs three hit dice to use. This curious spirit “medium” in necro-jargon) works not with the bodies seeks out mysteries and magic. The spirit servant of the dead but with their emotions. Mediums rarely gains truesight out to a range of 60 feet. Additionally, face the societal prejudice that other necromancers do, it can cast detect magic once without expending a and in many cultures are respected clergy, but not all spell slot. It can’t do so again until it finishes a short ghosts are peaceful and knowledgeable ancestors, and or long rest. mediums are not limited to manipulating dead souls. In • Lost Spirit. Prerequisite: 5th level. This ability combat, their spectral servants drain life from the enemy costs three hit dice to use. The spirit is a sad and while the medium moves from body to body with insight confused poltergeist, frantically seeking meaning. It and aid. Their watchword is empathy; the ritualist is permanently invisible, and replaces its Chill Touch Sampleaction with the Telekinetic file Thrust action. careful not to offend the revered ancestors with rough music, the festive priest conversing with the beloved dead, the necrodetective who empowers people to solve their own murders, and the frightened witch-brat who hears the whispers of the forgotten are all mediums.

20 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer • Telekinetic Hurl. The spirit servant targets a creature or an object that isn’t being worn or carried within 30 feet of it. A creature must be Medium or smaller to be affected by this magic, and an object can weigh up to 150 pounds. If the target is a creature, the spirit servant makes a Charisma check using your Charisma modifier and proficiency bonus contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If the spirit servant wins the contest, the spirit servant hurls the target up to 30 feet in any direction, including upward. If the target then comes into contact with a hard surface or heavy object, the target takes 1d6 damage per 10 feet moved. If the target is an object, the spirit servant hurls it up to 30 feet in any direction. The spirit servant can use the object as a ranged weapon, attacking one creature along the object’s path (+4 to hit) and dealing 2d4 bludgeoning damage on a hit. • Spirit of Despair. Grief visibly twists the spirit’s face, and its clothes are disheveled mourning attire. As an action, the spirit servant unleashes a keening wail in a 30-foot cone that stops others in their tracks. Each creature in the area that can hear the wail must make a Wisdom saving throw against your true necromancer spell save DC. On a failed save, the target takes 1d6 thunder damage for each Hit Die spent to create the spirit servant, and is frightened for 1 minute. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the spirit is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to the wail’s effects for • Spirit of Rage. This spirit festers with malice, the next 24 hours. and makes folk around it reach for their weapons. Once the spirit servant has used this ability, it As an action, the spirit servant can make the air can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest. around it boil with hate; each creature within 30 • Spirit of Misery. This spirit is wracked by agony feet must make a Charisma saving throw against and pain, its death-marks still clear on its form, and your true necromancer spell save DC. On a failure, can cloud others’ minds with sorrow and pain. As roll a number of d6s equal to your proficiency bonus an action, the spirit servant can force one creature and add them together. The target takes psychic it can see within 60 feet of it to make a Charisma damage equal to the total, and must immediately saving throw against your true necromancer spell use its reaction to move up to its speed in a straight save DC. On a failed save, the target takes 1d6 line toward its nearest perceived enemy. Creatures psychic damage for each Hit Die spent to create the immune to the charmed condition automatically spirit servant, and its speed is reduced to 0 until the succeed on the save. end of its next turn. On a successful save, it takes The spirit servant can use this ability once and half as much damage and its speed is unaffected. regains the ability to do so when you finish a short or • SpiritSample of Night. This spirit slinks through shadows, long rest. file and some folk wonder if it’s even there. It adds your • Wronged Spirit. This spirit was hungry, needy, and proficiency bonus to Stealth checks it makes, or denied in life, and is all too glad to siphon the life double your proficiency bonus when in dim light or from others. Whenever it hits with its chill touch darkness, and can take the Hide action as a bonus attack, your life ward regains hit points equal to your action while in dim light or darkness. Charisma modifier.

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 21 Place Memory Starting at 5th level, your magic can better weather the erosions of time. You can create a spirit servant from a corpse that has been dead up to a number of years equal to 5 x your true necromancer level. Additionally, you can create a special magic item to carry and preserve the spirit of the dead. During a long rest, you can spend two hours conducting a ritual of remembrance to create a memento mori (see Appendix B). The ritual requires a small receptacle to act as a reliquary, and a tiny part of a corpse such as a skull or hand, both of which must remain within 5 feet of you for the duration of the ritual. The corpse part must come from a creature that was Friendly towards you in life and meets all the requirements for creating a spirit servant with your Call to Unlife feature. You may only have one memento mori per corpse at a time, and no more than one spirit servant created from a single memento mori.A memento mori counts as a body part for the purposes of your Call to Unlife feature.

Ghost Shield At 7th level, you enhance your ward with ghostly resilience. When you finish a long rest, your Life Ward Whenever your life ward would gain hit points while gains resistance to one damage type of your choice from you are possessing another creature, you can instead acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, poison, or thunder restore that many hit points to the possessed creature. until the end of your next long rest. While your life ward Additionally, when you use your Spirit Vessel ability, you has at least 1 hit point, you can use a bonus action to can spend Hit Dice to give yourself Soul Echo abilities surround a creature you can see within 60 feet of you as if you had created a spirit servant from your own with the ghostly shield, giving the target resistance to body. You can use any of these abilities freely, using the the chosen damage type until the start of your next turn possessed creature as the origin. You can cast spells or until you use your Necromantic Aura feature. with a casting time of one action or less if the creature Additionally, whenever you deal damage to a you are possessing uses its reaction to allow you use of creature within 30 feet of you with a necromancy its hands and mouth (you still need material components spell, your Life Ward regains hit points equal to your as normal). The possessed creature can also freely allow Charisma modifier (minimum of 1), as you siphon the you to speak through them. Otherwise, you can take no creature’s vital energy into your shield. actions. You are aware of everything that the possessed creature is, and can communicate telepathically with it. Spirit Vessel Alternatively, you can allow a willing creature to When you reach 11th level, you can manipulate the possess you. As an action, you draw that creature from spirits of living creatures. As an action, you can depart its body into your own. The creature falls into a state your body for that of a willing non-construct creature of suspended animation as detailed above. While that you can see, which falls into a state of suspended creature is possessing you, it can take no actions, but animation. Your body is unconscious and doesn’t need you share that creature’s proficiencies, and you can food, water, or air, although you do age. Your spirit can’t use any ability that creature has if it agrees to expend a be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect, except use of that ability, other than Spellcasting or an ability ones that dispel magic or (if applicable) turn undead. You that relies on anatomy you don’t have. It is aware of take any damage dealt to your unconscious body, though everything you are, and can communicate telepathically you mightSample not be aware that your body is taking damage. with you. file If you reach 0 hit points, you return to your own body The spell ends when you use your action (or the and begin making death saving throws as normal. At willingly possessed uses their action) to dismiss it. your DM’s discretion, and the target creature’s approval, When the spell ends, the affected creature returns to its if your body dies while using this ability, you may physical body, and it awakens. continue to inhabit their body for as long as they allow it.

22 Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer Possession, Consent, and Horror Giving someone else control over your body, no matter Wandering Soul who the necromancer is, is an extremely weighty At 15th level, you gain one of the following abilities of decision, and requires an immense amount of trust, your choice. Once you make this choice, it cannot be hence the ability to quickly opt out. If you’re making changed later. a medium, check on your fellow players’ comfort levels with possession: for some, it might be a cool Ghost Walker. You can move between the material and ability that lets you combine your powers with those spirit world with ease. You learn the etherealness spell. of your allies; for others, it might be existentially or It counts as a true necromancer spell for you, but it emotionally terrifying. Letting somebody else enter your doesn’t count against the number of true necromancer body, feeling what you feel and affecting your actions, spells you know. While affected by the etherealness replicates any number of forms of non-necromantic spell, you can use an action to magically shift from the intimacy, and has just as much, if not more, potential Ethereal Plane to the Material plane, or vice versa, for harm. If it feels like risky territory, consider adding without ending the spell. the caveat that “willing” is especially stringent for the Additionally, you can cast etherealness once without purposes of this ability -- a creature cannot meaningfully expending a spell slot. You regain the ability to do so consent to this ability if it is charmed, frightened, when you finish a long rest. intoxicated, or under the effect of emotion-altering magic. Shock the Soul. You can forcibly tear the spirit from Basic D&D rules do contain unwilling possession, another creature’s body. When you deal necrotic such as with the ghost Possession ability and the magic damage to a creature, you can use a bonus action to jar spell; both of these things, if not necessarily evil, are attempt to rip its soul out. The creature takes 5d10 intended to be horrific in nature. The true necromancer necrotic damage and 5d10 psychic damage, and it must class is horror-themed overall but nowhere is it more succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your true obvious than here, and horror requires a specific buy- necromancer spell save DC or be paralyzed for the next in from the people you’re sharing a table with (even a minute. A paralyzed creature can repeat the saving virtual one). throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on In a controllable environment like a tabletop game, a success. If the creature drops to 0 hit points as a result it can be fun to face the fear of a monster taking over of this damage or while paralyzed in this way, it dies, your body, and there’s an intellectual horror in the game and a ghost (see the Monster Manual) appears adjacent providing you the tools to do the same thing, prompting to it. You have no control over this ghost. you to ask how different are you from the monsters Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you fight? If your group wants to explore these themes you finish a long rest. of consent, agency, and forced mental intrusion, and you can reach consensus on that fact, you can use Ghostly Transcendence possession to add a gripping variety of horror. But if At 18th level, you gain the ability to subsume your living there are people who aren’t interested in that kind of body into your undying soul. As an action, you transform horror, or horror at all, then step back because the point into a transparent, ghostly version of yourself. You gain of a tabletop roleplaying game is to have fun, not to the following benefits: make your friends uncomfortable. • You have resistance to all damage except force and Having stated all of this, if you decide to include psychic damage. unwilling possession, we suggest adding the ghost rules • You have a flying speed of 40 feet and can hover. for possession found in the Monster Manual, allowing • You can move through other creatures and objects unwilling targets to make a Charisma saving throw as if they were difficult terrain. You take 1d10 force against your true necromancer spell save DC. This also damage if you end your turn inside a creature or allows you to have physical control over all actions the object. target creature takes, as described by the ability, in • Your ghostly form lasts for 10 minutes. It ends early addition to the abilities presented above. However, we if you are knocked unconscious or if you use your strongly suggest avoiding unwilling possession in your action to end it. games,Sample especially against players, unless it’s something Once you have used thisfile feature, you can’t use it that everyone has agreed to and is comfortable with. again until you finish a long rest.

Chapter 2 | Creating a True Necromancer 23 Sample file

24 Chapter 3 | Dark Designs Chapter 3. Dark Designs

f a dark design has prerequisites, you must meet them to learn it. You can learn the design at the same time that I you meet its prerequisites. Agonizer Prerequisite: 13th level You can cast power word pain once without expending a spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

At Grave’s Edge If damage reduces you to 0 hit points, you must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 10 or half the damage taken, whichever number is higher, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, you drop to 1 hit point instead.

Bone Dust Prerequisite: Path of Bones feature When you use the Bone Fragmentation feature, you can choose to convert the remains of the construct into one portion of bone dust, which weighs 2 lbs. If you do so, you can’t use your Call to Unlife feature this turn. You can expend one portion of bone dust when you use your Clutch of the Grave Call to Unlife feature to create a bone construct without Once per turn, when an undead servant hits another needing a skeleton. creature with a melee attack, the undead servant can cling to the target. The target’s speed is reduced by 10 Bonesmith feet until the end of your next turn. Prerequisite: 5th-level, Path of Bones feature Objects you create using your Bonecrafting feature can Craft Corpse Poison be up to 6 feet on a side and weigh up to 50 pounds. You gain the ability to craft corpse poison (see Appendix Additionally, when you use your Bonecrafting to B). You can create a dose as part of a long rest, which create a weapon, tool, or piece of armor, you can choose requires 25 gp worth of toxins and necromantic to make it a +1 magic item. You can have a number reagents. This dose of the poison uses your true of these magic bonecrafting items up to half your necromancer spell save DC. proficiency bonus. If you exceed that number, the oldest bonecrafted magic item ceases to be magical. Dead Familiar At 11th level, bonecrafted items can be up to 8 feet You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. on a side and weigh up to 75 pounds, and they last twice When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal as long before decaying. forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: gazer, pseudodragon, sprite, or swarm of crawling claws Bring Them, My Minions! (see Appendix A for statistics). Your familiar is undead Once per turn, when an undead servant created by the instead of its normal type, and gains immunity to poison Call to Unlife feature hits a creature of Large size or damage and the poisoned condition. It can appear skeletal, smaller with a melee attack, it can push the creature 5 fleshy, or ghostly, based on your preference. feet in anySample horizontal direction. file Dead-Eyed Clairvoyant Spirit You have the senses of an undead creature (see the Prerequisite: 9th level “Undead Senses’’ sidebar), navigating the world through You can cast arcane eye at will, without expending a the patterns of decay. You can see normally in darkness, spell slot or material components. both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.

Chapter 3 | Dark Designs 25 Death’s Tongue False Dismissal Prerequisite: 9th level When you dismiss an undead servant, you can instead You can cast speak with dead at will, without expending place it into a dormant state of false death. Doing so a spell slot or material components. doesn’t count as dismissal for the purposes of regaining spent hit dice. While in this state, the undead servant is Deep Memory unconscious and appears dead to all outward inspection Prerequisite: 5th-level, Path of Spirits feature and to spells used to determine the target’s status. It also You can create a spirit servant from a corpse that has doesn’t detect as magical, though traces of necromantic been dead for a number of years equal to 10 times your magic linger for the next 8 hours in a 30 foot radius true necromancer level. around where an undead servant was dismissed. At 10th level, this increases to 100 times your true You can use your action to call any number of necromancer level. undead servants under the influence of false dismissal back to active unlife, allowing them to act normally at the start of your following turn. Defy Death Prerequisite: 13th level DM’s Note: This is the classic villain giving a monologue You can cast resurrection once without expending a and sinister laugh before saying "but you underestimate my spell slot. You can’t cast either spell again until you abilities" and bringing the room to life, literally... finish a long rest. At 17th level, you can instead choose to cast true resurrection in this way. Final Disposal Prerequisite: 11th level You can cast disintegrate once without expending a spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Flesh Sculptor Prerequisite: 3rd-level true necromancer, Path of Corpses feature You can cast alter self once without expending a spell slot, and its range is Touch. You regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Flexible Necromastery Prerequisite: 11th-level Choose one 6th-level necromancy spell from any class. You can cast the chosen spell once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again. When you finish a long rest, you can replace this spell with a different 6th-level necromancy spell of your choice. At higher levels, you can choose a more powerful spell instead: a 7th-level spell at 13th level, an 8th-level spell at 15th level, or a 9th-level spell at 17th level. You can’t choose this design while you have any Necromantic Mastery designs.

Fossil Call Prerequisite: 11th level You can cast bones of the earthXGE once without Dread Steed expending a spell slot or material components, and Prerequisite:Sample 5th level file regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. You learn the find steed spell and can cast it as a ritual. The steed you summon has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is undead instead of its normal type, and gains Ghostly Words immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition. You can read any writing you touch, as wisps of meaning fill your mind.

26 Chapter 3 | Dark Designs Ghost Sight Hurried Calling Prerequisite: 9th level Prerequisite: 9th level As an action, you gain the ability to see through solid Your Call to Unlife ritual takes 10 minutes instead of 1 hour. objects to a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you have darkvision if you don’t already have it, and can see Incorporeal Escape creatures in the Ethereal Plane. This special sight lasts Prerequisite: 7th level for 1 minute or until your concentration ends (as if you You can cast freedom of movement once on yourself were concentrating on a spell). During that time, you without expending a spell slot. You regain the ability to perceive objects as ghostly, transparent images. do so when you finish a long rest. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest. Invoke Mortality Prerequisite: 17th level Ghostly Movement You can cast power word kill once without expending a Prerequisite: 9th level spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can cast levitate on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components. Knit Flesh Prerequisite: 13th level, Path of Corpses Gravedigger You can cast regenerate once without expending a spell You have a burrow speed of 10 feet. slot. You can’t cast it again until you finish a long rest.

Grim Harvest Master of Puppets Prerequisite: 5th level When you use your action to perceive through your When you damage a living creature with a melee undead servant’s senses, you aren’t blinded and weapon attack, your life ward regains hit points equal to deafened with regard to your own senses and you can half the damage dealt. perceive through any number of your undead servants simultaneously. Additionally, while perceiving through your undead servant’s senses, you can speak through them in your own voice, even if they are normally incapable of speech.

Master from Afar Prerequisite: 7th level You can communicate telepathically with undead creatures created by your Call to Unlife feature and perceive through their senses as long as you are on the same plane of existence.

Master of Skin Prerequisite: 11th-level true necromancer, Path of Corpses feature You can cast reform flesh once, without requiring concentration. You regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Additionally, if you use a piece of a creature whose form you want to imitate as the material component when you cast reform flesh, you gain access to enough of the Hostile Vessel voice and memories of the target to gain advantage on Prerequisite: 11th level Charisma (Deception) checks made to pass as the target. You can cast magic jar once without expending a spell slot, andSample all ranges specified in the spell are multiplied Meat is Meat file by half your true necromancer level rounded down. You Prerequisite: 9th-level true necromancer, Path of regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Corpses feature At 20th level, when a creature dies while you are You can conduct a spellcasting ritual to give Forms of possessing it, you have advantage on the Charisma Decay features to a willing living creature as if it were a saving throw made to return to the container. corpse servant. The ritual takes 1 hour per hit dice spent.

Chapter 3 | Dark Designs 27 Necromantic Mastery Prerequisite: 11th level You are the master of necromantic magics, regardless of discipline. Choose one 6th-level necromancy spell from any class. You can cast the chosen spell without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again. At higher levels, you can choose to master a more powerful spell instead: a 7th-level spell at 13th level, an 8th-level spell at 15th level, or a 9th-level spell at 17th level. You can choose this Dark Design multiple times, and must choose a different spell each time. You can’t choose this design while you have the Flexible Necromastery design.

Obsession with Life You cling, stubbornly and inexplicably, to “life” as something desirable. You gain proficiency in death saving throws, and whenever you make a death saving throw, your life ward regains 1d4 hit points.

Odakyr Armor Prerequisites: 7th level Mindrot When you create a bone servant, corpse servant, or Prerequisite: 15th level death beast with your Call to Unlife feature, its AC You can cast feeblemind once without expending a spell increases by 2. slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. Ossify Necromancer’s Lair Prerequisite: 11th level, Path of Bone Prerequisite: 13th level You can cast flesh to stone once without expending a You can cast invest lair* once without expending a spell spell slot, turning the target to solid bone instead of slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. stone. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. While your undead servants are within 1 mile of your lair, they have advantage on saving throws against Penumbral Tongue effects that turn undead. You know yourself to be a master over life and death, which fills you with unshakeable confidence (and maybe Additionally, when you cast the spell in this way, your a helpful ghost or two to smooth your words over). You lair gains one of the following additional features of gain proficiency in Deception and Persuasion. your choice: • Gravediggers. Minions, hirelings, or arrangements with local funerary services will bring you generic Psychometry cadavers; you always have sufficient material to Prerequisite: 5th level create any corpse servants you desire within the lair. You learn to hear the whispering spirits attached to a • Ossuary. You collect bones from butchers, hunters, place or item. You can spend 1 minute in concentration and sometimes funerary services; you always have with your spellcasting focus while touching an object sufficient material to create any bone servants you or the inside of a small structure, such as a single small desire within the lair. room or hut. While concentrating, you have advantage • Spiritual Nexus. Dead spirits pass through your lair on Intelligence (History) and Intelligence (Investigation) between the worlds of the living and the dead; you checks regarding events that occurred in the immediate alwaysSample have the ability to create any spirit servants vicinity of the item or structure. file At the DMs discretion, you you desire within the lair, although you can’t specify might receive answers to questions you couldn’t normally who the spirits are. deduce, such as “what emotion did the last person to use this knife feel most significantly when they used it?” You can use this ability once, and regain the ability to do so when you finish a short or long rest.

28 Chapter 3 | Dark Designs Shadow Meld Prerequisite: 5th-level true necromancer When you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can use your action to become invisible until you move or take an action or a reaction.

Shadow Theater Prerequisite: 17th level You can call up visions of the past that relate to your immediate surroundings or an object you’re holding. You spend at least 1 minute concentrating on the object or surrounding, then receive shadowy, dreamlike, glimpses of significant events. You can maintain concentration in this way for a number of minutes up to your Charisma score (minimum 1). • Object Reading. You focus on an object you are holding, seeing visions of the object’s previous owner. You learn how the owner acquired and lost the object, as well as the most recent significant event involving the object. For each minute you spend concentrating on the object, you can learn the same information about another owner of the object, if there is one. • Area Reading. You see visions of recent events in your immediate vicinity (a room, street, tunnel, Secrets for the Ages clearing, or the like, up to a 50-foot cube), going Prerequisite: 13th level back a number of days equal to your Charisma score You can cast sequester once without expending a spell (minimum 1). For each minute you focus, you learn slot or material components. You can’t do so again until about one significant event, beginning with the most 7 days have passed. recent. Significant events typically involve powerful emotions, such as battles and betrayals, marriages Shadow Cradle and murders, births and funerals. However, they Prerequisite: 11th-level true necromancer, Path of might also include more mundane events that are Spirits feature nevertheless important in your current situation. When you use your Call to Unlife feature to create a Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you spirit servant, you can choose to bond it to the soul of finish a short or long rest. one willing living creature. The spirit servant disappears into the bonded creature, and can’t be targeted by Shared Death any attack, spell, or other effect, except ones that turn For each undead servant you control that is within 60 undead. The spirit servant and the bonded creature feet of you, your life ward increases its maximum hit can communicate telepathically with each other. A points by a number equal to your Charisma modifier protection from good and evil spell or other effect that (minimum of 1). ends possession causes the spirit servant to manifest normally,Sample appearing in the nearest unoccupied space to Siphon Vitality file the bonded creature. When you create your life ward, a number of creatures While bonded with a spirit servant, the living up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) within 60 creature knows and can cast the chill touch cantrip, feet of you can spend a hit die, rolling it and adding the using Charisma as its spellcasting ability. It also gains result + their Constitution modifier to your life ward’s the effects of any Soul Echoes the spirit servant has. current and maximum hit points.

Chapter 3 | Dark Designs 29 Sleep of the Dead Worm that Walks Prerequisite: 5th level Prerequisite: 20th-level true necromancer You can cast feign death as a ritual, without expending Replace the final ability of Conquer Death with the material components. following: If you die, you discorporate with 0 hit points and Spirit Armor transform into a mass of worms and insects which You can cast mage armor on yourself at will, without quickly scatter, instead of dying. Equipment you are expending a spell slot or material components. wearing or carrying is left behind. The worms and insects regather elsewhere, breeding and massing to create a new body to house your intelligence and Strength of the Grave personality, which is a perfect replica of your body when Prerequisite: 5th level you discorporated without any signs of damage or wear. When an undead creature you summoned or created You appear 1d6 days later within 20 miles of where you deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, it adds discorporated, on the plane of existence where you died, your Charisma modifier to the damage dealt. having gained the benefits of a long rest. While not deceased or discorporated, you can Trapper of Souls choose to discorporate as a bonus action, reforming in Prerequisite: 17th level 1d4 days. You can cast imprisonment once without expending a Note: At your DM’s discretion, the swarm of spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long insects can be killed (killing the character), such as rest. discorporating within an airtight coffin that’s in the process of being cremated. However, as long as a single Turn Resistance insect survives, you will return to life. Prerequisite: 11th level Undead creatures you summoned or created have advantage on saving throws against effects that turn undead.

Unblemished Prerequisite: 5th level, Path of Corpses As a reaction when a humanoid or beast dies within 30 feet of you, you can use your Call to Unlife feature on the target, turning it into a corpse construct before its body can hit the floor. You must give it the ‘In The Flesh’ Forms of Decay modification, which costs half its normal cost. All other Call to Unlife rules apply.

Undead Might Prerequisite: 11th level You can cast create undead once without expending a spell slot or material components. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Undead Vigour Prerequisite: 5th level Your maximum hit points can’t be reduced by magical or nonmagical means. Changes to your Constitution score still affectSample your maximum hit points. file

30 Chapter 3 | Dark Designs Chapter 4. True Necromancer Spell List (XGE) designates that the spell is from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything An asterisk (*) designates a new spell from this supplement Cantrips (0 Level) 2nd Level Speak With Dead Acid Splash Aid Spirit Guardians Bone Worms* Alter Self Vampiric Touch Chill Touch Augury Dancing Lights Blindness/Deafness 4th Level Frostbite (XGE) Blur Arcane Eye Mold Earth (XGE) Darkness Blight Spare the Dying Gentle Repose Death Ward Thaumaturgy Lesser Restoration Locate Creature Toll the Dead (XGE) Phantasmal Force Phantasmal Killer Vicious Mockery Ray of Enfeeblement Reform Flesh* Shadow Blade (XGE) Shadow of Moil (XGE) 1st Level Cause Fear (XGE) 3rd Level Animate Dead 5th Level Command Antilife Shell Blink Detect Evil and Good Cloudkill Fear Detect Poison and Disease Contact Other Plane Feign Death Protection from Evil and Good Contagion Gaseous Form Ray of Sickness Danse Macabre (XGE) Magic Circle SampleDream file Phantom Steed Greater Restoration Remove Curse Hallow Revivify

Chapter 4 | True Necromancer Spells 31 New Spells Some new spells here are exotic spells: they cannot Ghost Warrior normally be taken as part of regular class progression 8th-level necromancy (exotic) without learning it from a special source. If you’re Classes: bard, sorcerer, wizard interested in learning an exotic spell, check with your DM Casting Time: 1 action about working it into the story as part of an adventure. Range: 60 feet Components: V, S, M* (the knucklebone of a dead Bone Worms Conjuration cantrip warrior, which have been treated with powders and ointments worth 250 gp) Classes: druid, true necromancer, warlock Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute Casting Time: 1 action You infuse a willing creature within range with the Range: 30 feet ghost of a legendary warrior, granting them its strength Components: V, S, M (a bit of whale blubber) and skill. The target gains the following benefits until Duration: instantaneous the spell ends: You briefly infest one creature you can see within range • The target has proficiency with simple and martial with bone-eating worms. The target must succeed on a weapons, shields, and the Athletics skill. Constitution saving throw or take 1d4 necrotic damage • The target has proficiency with Strength and and fall prone, as it’s wracked with internal pain. Constitution saving throws. The spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach • The target has resistance to all damage except 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). psychic and radiant damage. • The target is immune to the charmed, exhaustion, Control Skeleton frightened, and poisoned conditions. 8th-level necromancy (exotic) • Spectral armor floats around the target, and the target’s AC can’t be less than 18, regardless of what Classes: sorcerer, warlock, wizard kind of armor it is wearing. Casting Time: 1 action • The creature can attack two times, instead of once, Range: 60 feet when they take the Attack action on their turn. They Components: V S ignore this benefit if they already have a feature, like Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes Extra Attack, that gives them extra attacks. You target a creature within range that has a skeleton • The target’s melee weapon attacks are magical, and or exoskeleton that you can see. The target must make when they make a melee weapon attack, they can use a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, you take their spellcasting ability modifier, instead of Strength control of the creature by manipulating its skeleton or or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. exoskeleton. • The target can move through other creatures and While a creature is affected by this spell, you have objects as if they were difficult terrain. They take total control over its physical movements. The creature 1d10 force damage if they end their turn inside an takes only the actions you choose, and doesn’t do object. anything that you don’t allow it to do. During this time, • If the target would die while under the effects of this you can also cause the creature to use a reaction, but spell, you can use your reaction to end the spell and this requires you to use your own reaction as well. Your negate the damage or effect that would kill the target. control of the target is based on your control over their Immediately after the spell ends, the target gains a level bones, but not the flesh or mind. You can’t control the of exhaustion. creature’s thoughts in any way, its face or expressions, speech (though you can keep their jaw from moving to prevent speech), or any limbs or body parts that lack bones, such as tentacles or eyes. You also can’t cause the target to cast a spell. The controlled creature’s movements are halting and unnatural, making it clear that they areSample under a spell effect to any who can see them. file At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a 9th- level spell slot, the duration is concentration, up to 1 hour.

32 Chapter 4 | True Necromancer Spells Invest Lair Sandriana’s Osseous Removal 7th-level transmutation (exotic) 8th-level necromancy (exotic)

Classes: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, wizard Classes: sorcerer, warlock, wizard Casting Time: 10 minutes Casting Time: 1 action Range: Sight Range: 150 feet Components: V, S, M (a drop of your blood, a clump of Components: V, S, M (a child’s tooth) earth, a piece of a wasps’ nest, and rare incense worth 10 gp) Duration: Instantaneous Duration: 24 hours You viciously pull at the bones of each creature in a 30- You invest one structure that you can see with a portion foot sphere centered on a point you choose within range. of your own magical power. This structure becomes Each creature of your choice in the area must make your lair. a Strength saving throw. Constructs and creatures You can control the appearance and aesthetics without a skeleton are unaffected. On a failed save, a of the landscape within 1 mile of your lair. You can creature takes 10d8 piercing damage and is pulled 15 alter the general atmosphere, temperature, weather, feet towards the centre of the sphere. On a successful and vegetation in the area, as well as subtly alter the save, a creature takes half damage and isn’t pulled. appearance and behaviours of creatures. You can’t alter the weather more than one stage as defined in the control weather. Changing any of these aspects of your lair’s surrounding area after you have cast the spell requires 1 hour of concentration per change. When the spell ends, any changes to the landscape fade over the next 24 hours. When you cast this spell, select three of the following effects. While in your lair and conscious, on initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), you can take one lair action to cause one of these effects. • Dimensional Lock. Creatures other than you can’t move or travel using teleportation or by extradimensional or interplanar means until initiative count 20 of the next round. This includes summoning. • Inspire Minions. All conditions of your choice affecting creatures in the lair that you summoned, created, or hired end, and those creatures gain immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions until initiative count 20 of the next round. • Revitalize Minions. Creatures in the lair that you summoned, created, or hired within your lair regain 10 hit points. • Strengthen Minions. Creatures in the lair that you summoned, created, or hired gain advantage on attack rolls until initiative count 20 next turn. • Spell Trigger. You can cast one spell of 2nd level or lower that you know without expending a spell slot, originating from any point in the lair. • Transposition. You teleport yourself and up to 8 willing creatures within 15 feet of you to another location up to 1 mile away from your lair. • Ward Minions. Creatures in the lair that you summoned, created, or hired gain resistance to one damage type of your choice, except for bludgeoning, piercing,Sample or slashing, until initiative count 20 next turn. file

You can create a permanent lair by casting this spell in the same location every day for one year and a day.

Chapter 4 | True Necromancer Spells 33 Languages any you know but can only whisper Challenge N/A

Dust Form. The bone elemental can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Actions Multiattack. The bone elemental makes two slam attacks. Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. Choking Cloud (once per short rest). Each creature in the bone elemental’s space must make a Strength saving throw against your true necromancer spell saving throw DC. On a failure, a target takes 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. If it is Large or smaller, it is also grappled (escape DC 11). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and unable to breathe unless wearing some kind of protection against dust and the like. If the saving throw is successful, the target takes half damage and is not restrained. The bone elemental can grapple one Large creature or up to two Medium or smaller creatures at one time. At the start of each of the bone elemental’s turns, each target grappled by it takes 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. A creature within 5 feet of the elemental can pull a creature or object out of it by taking an action to Appendix A: make a DC 11 Strength check and succeeding. Undead Servants

Bone Elemental Large undead, unaligned A cloud of animated bone dust is one of the most powerful creatures in a necromancer’s arsenal. Sometimes they appear more visually distinct with Not all bone servants ornamental skulls, faces, or features or but these are look the same. purely aesthetic.

Armor Class 14 Hit Points 3 × (2 + your Charisma modifier + your true necromancer level) Speed 0 ft., fly 60ft. (hover)

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 14 (+2) 6 (-2) 10 (+0) 6 (-2)

Damage Vulnerabilities radiant, thunder Damage ResistancesSample necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, file and slashing from nonmagical weapons Damage Immunities poison Condition Immunities exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 10

34 Appendix A | Undead Servents Bone Servant Corpse Swarm Small or Medium undead, unaligned Huge swarm of Small or Medium undead, unaligned

Armor Class 13 (armor scraps) A true necromancer of the Path of Corpses can raise Hit Points 2 + your Charisma modifier + three times dozens of corpses at once to harry enemies. The press your true necromancer level of dead bodies prevents any great number of attacks, Speed 30 ft. and more than one corpse servant occupies a single space, but they deal persistent damage to enemies in STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA their region, and require careful and concerted effort to 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 15 (+2) 6 (-2) 8 (-1) 5 (-3) bring down. Armor Class 8 (armor provides no help, a corpse swarm Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning is simply too big a target) Damage Immunities poison Hit Points (3 + your Charisma modifier + your Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned proficiency bonus) × the number of corpses in the Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9 swarm Languages understands languages it knew in life but Speed 20 ft. can’t speak Proficiency Bonus +2 STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA Equippable. This creature can be equipped with armor 13 (+1) 6 (-2) 16 (+3) 3 (-4) 6 (- 2) 5 (- 3) or weapons, and is proficient with simple weapons and shields. The bone servant’s armor scraps (which offer +1 AC) cannot be combined with other armor. Saving Throws Wis +0 Actions Damage Immunities poison Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) slashing damage. paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned Corpse Servant Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8 Small or Medium undead, unaligned Languages understands your languages and the languages it knew in life but can’t speak Armor Class 8 Proficiency Bonus +2 Hit Points 3 + your Charisma modifier + five times your Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the corpse true necromancer level swarm to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution Speed 20 ft. saving throw with a DC of 5 +the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA a success, the corpse swarm drops to 1 hit point instead. 13 (+1) 6 (-2) 16 (+3) 3 (-4) 6 (-2) 6 (-2) Large Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Medium Saving Throws Wis +0 humanoid. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain Damage Immunities poison temporary hit points. If a spell or effect allows an attack Condition Immunities poisoned on multiple targets, a large swarm can be all of these Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8 targets, even if the spell or effect would not allow the Languages understands your languages and the user to repeat a target; a spell that deals damage over an languages it knew in life but can’t speak area deals damage for every square the swarm occupies Proficiency Bonus +2 in that area. Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the corpse servant to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, Actions unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a Tearing Dead. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach success, the corpse servant drops to 1 hit point instead. 0 ft., every creature in the swarm’s space. Hit: 9 (2d6 + EquippableSample. This creature can be equipped with armor 2) slashing damage, or 5 (1d6+1)file slashing damage if the or weapons, and is proficient with simple weapon. swarm has less than half its hit points.

Actions Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) bludgeoning damage.

Appendix A | Undead Servents 35 Death Beast Spirit Servant To create a death beast, use the following modifications Small or Medium undead, neutral to the creature’s original statistics block. Armor Class 12 • Its type becomes undead and its alignment becomes Hit Points your Charisma modifier + three times your neutral. true necromancer level • It no longer needs to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. Speed 30 ft. • Increase its Constitution score by 2, and reduce its Wisdom and Charisma scores by 2. Its Intelligence STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA score becomes 1 if it was not already 1. 1 (-5) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 11 (+0) • Hit Points equal the death beast’s Constitution modifier + your Charisma modifier + three times your true necromancer level. Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; • It loses any flying speed it has. bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical • It gains immunity to poison and psychic damage. weapons • It gains immunity to the charmed, frightened, Damage Immunities necrotic, poison exhaustion, paralyzed, stunned, and unconscious Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, conditions. paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, • It gains darkvision 60 ft. or equivalent perceptive unconscious abilities if it lacks eyes. Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10 • It loses any Multiattack actions it has. Languages understands your languages and the languages it knew in life but can’t speak For a bone death beast, add the following: Proficiency Bonus +2 • It gains vulnerability to bludgeoning damage. Incorporeal Movement. The spirit servant can move • It loses any attack or ability that requires a liquid up and down, through other creatures and objects (as if or fleshy organ (i.e. gaze attacks, spit attacks, most they were difficult terrain), and does not require a solid swallow abilities) surface to stand on. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it • It loses any perception based around sensory organs ends its turn inside an object. such as smell, sight, and taste. Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the spirit servant has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on For a corpse death beast, add the following: Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. • Its base walking speed is reduced by 10 feet. • Increase its Strength and Constitution scores by 2 (in Actions addition to the increased Constitution score from the Chill Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., basic template) and reduce its Dexterity score by 4. one creature. Hit: 5 (1d8) necrotic damage, and the target can’t regain hit points until the start of your next turn. If the target is undead, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you or the spirit servant until the end of your next turn.

Servant Accessories Corpse servants are not proficient with any armor and while you can equip them with it (giving them all the penalties of wearing armor without proper proficiency), the intent is more for aesthetic value. At your DM’s discretion you can have your corpse servants visually wearing armor but gaining none of the benefits (or penalties), in an attempt to differentiate your minions, especially if one of them is a former-rival or beloved friend Samplewho expressed a desire to protectfile you long after death. Bone servants, on the other hand, can become proficient with light armor by way of the Bone Soldier modification.

36 Appendix A | Undead Servents Swarm of Crawling Claws Medium swarm of Tiny undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 12 Hit Points 27 (6d8) Speed 20 ft., climb 20ft

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 5 (-3) 10 (+0) 4 (-3)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing Damage Immunities poison Familiar. The swarm of crawling claws can serve Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, another creature as a familiar, forming a telepathic bond frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, with its willing master, provided that the master can prone, restrained, stunned cast at least one necromancy spell of 1st-level or higher. Senses blindsight 30 ft. (blind beyond this radius), While the two are bonded, when the master begins to passive Perception 10 cast a spell within 10 feet of the swarm, the swarm can Languages understands your languages and the use its reaction to perform the somatic components of languages it knew in life but can’t speak that spell on their master’s behalf. Proficiency Bonus +2 False Appearance. While the swarm of crawling claws Actions remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one “normal pile of severed hands.” target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) bludgeoning or slashing damage Swarm.Sample The swarm can occupy another creature’s space (claw’s choice). file and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any Strangle. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., opening large enough for a Small humanoid. The swarm one Medium or smaller target in the swarm’s space. Hit: can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. The target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple Turn Immunity. The swarm is immune to effects that ends, the target can’t speak or breathe, and the swarm turn undead. can’t claw another target.

Appendix A | Undead Servents 37 Appendix B: Magic Items Blood Candle (Blood Lantern) Magic item, uncommon in the light of the candle will feel weaker and inherently suspect the candle as the source of their ailment. A single crimson candle marked with horrific runes A creature must remain within the light of the candle for that produces a small red, blue, or purple flame. While a full hour before it suffers any loss of hit points. typically stored within a lantern known as a Blood Every hour it remains lit without stealing health in Lantern, the candle itself, known as a Blood Candle, is this way uses one of the eight hours of blood and life- the actual magical item. When lit, functions as a normal infused wax used in its creation. candle with the following differences: Its flame is icy Rare variants of these candles are said to exist which cold to the touch and it cannot be used to light other produce a light that only the undead can see. Just as rare objects or as it does not produce heat. are variant blood candles that produce magical darkness. Its flame cannot be extinguished on accident (rain, wind, etc), and will even continue to flicker underwater Bonecraft Armor or if frozen. Malevolent or magical wind counts as Any armor made using the bonecrafting ability an intentionalSample attempt to extinguish the flame, as do file magical spells. True Necromancers with the Path of Bones feature It slowly saps 1 hit point per hour from all living are proficient in bonecraft armor. Regardless of its creatures within its light (including plants), and every appearance, it functions as medium armor and offers the hour that it drains at least 1 hit point it will continue to following benefits: burn without using up any of its wax. Living creatures Armor Class: 15 + Dex modifier (max 2)

38 Appendix B | Magic Items Cloak of the Soul Keeper The Dark Lantern Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement) Wondrous item, uncommon This cloak is woven with a special spectral material A small bronze lantern with a single black candle. that allows its wearer to store the souls of the dead and When a specific magical phrase is spoken, the candle the living indefinitely. It can store up to 13 souls or sparks to life with a green glow that covers a 10 foot spirits at a time by following the rules of the Magic Jar area. If a recently deceased body is within the 10 foot spell, except that the caster does not need to return the illumination, the souls of the deceased are forced to target’s soul at the conclusion of the spell. Additionally, inhabit their former body. It is an extremely taxing an undead spirit (CR Limit?) may be trapped and stored and stressful process for the spirit and any onlookers. in the cloak if it is the successful target of turn undead. Spirits summoned in this way can only speak and The spirit retains its disposition towards the caster animate the lips, teeth, and vocal chords of their corpse. and their allies, and any soul or spirit may be released Spirits summoned in this way are in great agony for as an action by whispering a secret phase known to every moment they are trapped within their corpse, the individual attained to the cloak. The cloak can also and will beg the holder of the dark lantern to release passively exude a light trailing thematic fog that may be them. Information gathered in this way from spirits is activated as a bonus action. not always reliable, as a spirit will likely say whatever the holder of the dark lantern wants to hear. There is a second magical phrase required to conclude the magic Corpse Poison Magic item, common of the dark lantern, the sendoff ritual which sends the spirit back to its proper plane. If this phrase is not Refer to pages 257-258 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide spoken before blowing out the candle, the spirit may (at for rules on poison. the DM’s discretion) become trapped between planes, Corpse Poison (Injury) haunt the party, haunt the area the summoning took place, or attack the party as any kind of ghost, specter, A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a MToF DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 8 dybbuk , or wight. All spirits that can be summoned hours. A creature that dies while poisoned in this way within the dark lantern’s 10 foot magical radius are rises at the next midnight as an undead servant with summoned, regardless of the user’s intent, and appear the statistics of a bone servant, corpse servant, death roughly simultaneously. Should a corpse move beyond beast, or spirit servant (see Appendix A). The choice of the lantern’s light without the sendoff ritual, the spirit is undead servant is made by the person who created the released and may haunt the party per the above rules. poison. If you are using the optional Sanity/Stress rules, When a creature within 30 feet of you rises as an onlookers must succeed in a DC: 15 Sanity saving throw. On a failed save, the character takes 10 stress undead servant due to corpse poison you created, you damage and begins to shake, vomit, cry unexpectedly, can use your Call to Unlife feature to take control of it or (in the case of a critical failure) rush to put out without spending any Hit Dice. When you do so, you can the candle without speaking the magical phrase. A add modifications to the undead servant by spending Hit character who has used the lantern before, or seen it in Dice as normal. action will only require a DC: 12 Sanity saving throw Cursed Poppet Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement) Death Solvent Wondrous item, common A small doll of disturbing appearance that contains an This noxious green potion has no effect when consumed extremely malevolent spirit that sometimes utters hateful by a living creature. When trickled into the lips of a dead whispers. When attuned to the cursed poppet, the wearer creature, however, it swiftly destroys the corpse, leaving can use their reaction to cast bestow curse as a 9th level only a sticky greenish residue. spell, using the cursed poppet as the spells’ focus. The cursed poppet cannot be used again until the target of the spell is deceased. Should the cursed poppet be destroyed, Guiding Spirit Wondrous item, common (requires attunement) the spirit inside is released and becomes immediately hostile toward the creature attuned to the cursed poppet, This amulet is tied to a helpful spirit, usually an ancestor attacking any other creatures nearby as well. The spirit wishing to help their descendant. When attuned to a SampleMToF file can be a ghost, wraith, allip , oni, poltergeist, guiding spirit, you remove the effects of the blinded and/or demilich, or any other creature of the DM’s choosing. deafened conditions as it shares its situational awareness with you; this does not actually cause you to cease being blinded or deafened (a blinded creature cannot see a picture, but hears a description of it, for example).

Appendix B | Magic Items 39 Memento Mori Phantom Brace Wondrous item, common Wondrous item, uncommon This reliquary (Player’s Handbook, pg. 150) contains a Tiny This minimal brace summons the semi-corporeal part of the corpse of a revered ancestor or friend. Days a phantom of a lost limb—a hand, an arm, a foot, a leg, corpse part spends within the memento mori don’t count or a similar body part. The phantom limb functions against the time limit of spells and effects that interact with identically to the part it replaces. You can detach or the dead, such as raise dead and speak with dead. A speak reattach the brace as an action, and it can’t be removed with dead spell cast on the memento mori functions even if against your will. It detaches if you die. the contained body part does not contain a mouth, instead summoning a ghostly image of the creature in question, If the phantom limb is in the form of a hand or arm, and only fails if the memento mori was the target of speak you can cast the mage hand cantrip at will, moving the with dead within the last 5 days. phantom hand. If the phantom limb is in the form of a foot or leg, when Nails of the Stitch Wondrous item, uncommon you fail a check to resist being grappled you can use your reaction to reroll that check, as your opponent These resemble a normal set of copper or iron nails that passes through leg space that doesn’t fully exist. You have been infused with destruction magic. The nails must use the new roll. act like normal nails of equivalent metal (albeit slightly more sturdy) and will not trigger the magic within if Rainbow Reanimator they are struck or destroyed. If the nails are buried Wondrous item, uncommon underground, such as after being put in a coffin, they This device resembles a coffin on a will activate after 8 hours. When activated, the nails raised dais, girded with metal and become heated to the point where they disintegrate and glass and bristling with alchemical destroy any wood that they are affixed to. Additionally, apparatuses. When a corpse is if there are at least six of these nails present in a 10 placed within the coffin or has foot area during activation, they will disintegrate remained within the coffin for dirt above and between the nails, creating a hollow 10 days, the rainbow reanimator cavity beneath the ground up to six feet in height. This fills with colorful alchemical ability does not produce light but creates a lingering fluids that replicate the effects of a burnt metallic smell that remains present for an hour. gentle repose spell on the corpse. Creatures caught within the disintegration take 1 point However, if a corpse has received of acid damage. a gentle repose effect from a rainbow reanimator, it can become Object of Ages an undead creature if the spell is Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement) cast while the corpse is inside that The specific form of an object of ages is never the same rainbow reanimator. but the sacrifices required to bring it into creation are Any undead creature created more sinister than the object’s harmless appearance in this manner looks like it would would let on. It can be a hand mirror, a porcelain doll, a have when it was alive, although painted locket, a grand painting, or something similar. a skeletal creature looks Whatever form it takes, once it becomes attuned to you, noticeably gaunt. Its statistics it captures your likeness in that moment. As time passes remain unchanged, except any effects from aging (magical or natural) are assumed that it loses any resistance or by the object of ages and the captured likeness reflects immunity to necrotic damage or the passage of time in your stead while your body is vulnerability to radiant damage. unaffected. Should the object of ages be destroyed its It ages at the same rate a creature magic is broken and all of the aging effects it absorbed of its species would, and requires immediately affect you. food, water, air, and sleep; if it Samplestarves, suffocates,file or ages to death, it becomes a regular undead creature of its type.

40 Appendix B | Magic Items Reattached Limb Wondrous item, common (requires attunement by a creature missing some or all of a limb) Prosthetic limbs of stone, metal, or wood may be more aesthetically pleasing, but in necromantic cultures, it’s often easiest to just stitch the damn thing back on! This limb is a hand, arm, foot, leg, or similar appendage that was removed and reattached. While the limb is attached and attuned to you, it functions identically to how it did in life. You can detach or reattach it as an action, and it can’t be removed by anyone else. If you have multiple reattached limbs, they count as a single magic item with regard to the number of magic items you can attune to. At the DM’s discretion, you might be able to attune to warforged components (items that require attunement by a warforged), or find necromantic equivalents of such. Such items can be found in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, as well as DMs’ Guild supplements such as the Korranberg Chronicle Adventurer’s Almanac, and Elaydren’s Magewright Primer.

Zaelshin Tu Wondrous item, common (requires attunement by a descendant of the person whose bone was used to create it) The zaelshin tu is a creation of the Tairnadal elves of Eberron, but similar items might exist elsewhere in the multiverse. This reliquary is a tooth or small piece of bone set in platinum with precious stones, worn as a brooch or helmet decoration. Choose one skill the person whose bone was used to create the zaelshin tu was proficient with in life; whenever you make an ability check using that skill, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check. The zaelshin tu and items like it are sacred to the cultures who create them; if you’re a member of that culture, you gain advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to influence other members of that culture while you display a zaelshin tu, but if you display it when outside that culture, you have disadvantage on any Charisma check made to influence members of that culture. This effect is social, not magical. Sample file

Appendix B | Magic Items 41 Quest: Ghoulhood Becoming a ghoul is either the easiest path to undeath, or the hardest -- all it requires is a willingness to consume dead flesh, and keep doing it. Should one consume the corpses of sapient beings willingly, with the proper intent, one preserves the memories and personality one had in life through the transformation, and joins the secret colloquy of such thinking ghouls who gambol through the Shadowfell.

The Lore of Transformation The first step in becoming a ghoul and retaining one’s mind is learning that it can be done in the first place. This requires overcoming a challenge of at least CR 2, related to ghouls, graves, or the Shadowfell; the characters should encounter a ghast with memories of its own life, or rumors of such a creature -- or even just a creepily cheerful gravedigger intimating that they do not eat … lunch. However it happens, the character becomes inspired to seek out the lore, and discovers the existence of Doresain’s Draught, the formula with which the King of Ghouls first choked down his meals.

Appendix C: Doresain’s Draught Rites of Undeath The second step is the preparation of Doresain’s Draught, a mixture that can make the rotting flesh The powers of a true necromancer grant, at their of the dead palatable and prepare the body to derive culmination, many of the forms and abilities of undeath. necromantic nourishment from it. It takes two weeks of But for those students of necromancy who find their research and experimentation 100 gp spent on spices, ability to control the flow of their own living energy rare ash, and strong spirits to create the first dose of insufficient, or those who only seek mastery over their Doresain’s Draught; further doses can be created with own death, there are other paths to an existence where one week of work and 50 gp for materials. death is no longer an obstacle. These quests allow the process of becoming undead to play a more significant role in your campaign, and allow The Appetizer The third step is really rather simple: anoint the corpse players the opportunity to engage with the horror and awful of a humanoid with Doresain’s Draught and eat it. This joy of becoming undead on a more personal level. grim feast requires the acquisition of such a corpse, A quest requires the character to discover some key and takes an uninterrupted long rest to savor. At the element of information, and complete various challenges beginning of this feast, the character must make a DC to put it into practice. Finding this information and 15 Charisma saving throw against being frightened completing these challenges should take place as part to will themself to eat a corpse; failure on this saving of an adventure. Each step of a quest lists the Challenge throw means that the dose of Doresain’s Draught is Rating of a thematically appropriate creature, trap, or wasted. On a success, the character must then make a other challenge that the party must overcome in order DC 20 Constitution saving throw to keep their stomach; to complete that step of the quest. Facing a creature on a failure, they become poisoned and contract sewer doesn’t necessarily mean that the creature has to be plague (DMG pg. 257). This doesn’t end the feast, as by killed, merely that it prevents access to a location or that point the enthralling taste of carrion is rich on the resource. The culmination of the Ghoulhood quest, for tongue of the would-be ghoul; regardless of the results example, requires that the character convince ghouls of the saving throw, however, the character immediately and ghasts to assist them; other quests might involve Sampledrops to 0 hit points and mustfile begin making death the characters working alongside monsters they might saving throws. (Would-be ghouls without an ally or some ordinarily fight. form of healing magic on hand get what’s coming to In addition to the story component, some steps of a them!) All hit points are regained at the end of this long quest require magical ingredients, tools, and time, listed rest, as normal. in the description of the quest.

42 Appendix B | Magic Items Should the character survive the feast, their senses sharpen and their stomach hardens, the taste of dead previous creature type they had (usually humanoid) and flesh now unshakable: they gain darkvision to a range gaining the undead type. The character no longer needs of 60 feet (or the range of their existing darkvision to breathe, drink, or sleep, is immune to aging and death increases by 60 feet), advantage on Wisdom (Perception) effects, as well as effects that don’t target undead; the checks related to smell, resistance to necrotic damage, character becomes vulnerable to effects that specifically and immunity to ingested diseases and poisons. (This target undead. The character does, however, need to eat, does allow the character to derive sustenance from requiring the corpse of at least one sapient creature a mundane corpses, and oh, the incomparable taste …) month in order to retain their mind.

The Soup Course Dessert The seventh and final step requires a parlay with a party The fourth step requires the consumption of the corpse MToF of a beast, humanoid, or monstrosity of Challenge Rating of ghouls, ghasts, or maurezhi equal in all to CR 10 4 or higher; it must have natural attacks. This requires or higher. If a peaceful resolution can be attained with another dose of Doresain’s Draught and another long such a party -- bringing a joint of nice dead flesh to share rest to consume; this meal is easier on the tongue, and usually helps -- these creatures will joyfully accept the only requires a DC 15 Constitution saving throw to choke character as one of their own, and spend a long rest in the meal down. On a failure, the character becomes a carrion bacchanal that whisks the character across poisoned and the dose (although not the corpse, if it can the Shadowfell (or equivalent plane). At the end of this long rest, the character gains the ability to cast the be preserved) is wasted; on a success, at the end of this teleportation circle spell once, and regains the ability long rest, the character develops natural attacks. In place to do so when they finish a long rest. This version of of an unarmed strike, the character can make a bite the spell requires a dose of Doresain’s Draught rather (piercing) or claw (slashing) attack that deals 1d8 points than rare chalks and inks, and rather than permanent of damage + the character’s Strength modifier, plus an teleportation circles, creates a link to a shadow crossing additional 1d8 points of damage for every four character (DMG pg. 51); it takes one minute to memorize the levels beyond the first. If the claw attack hits a target and precise charnel taste of a shadow crossing. the target is a creature other than an undead, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

The Salad Course The fifth step requires the consumption of the corpse of an undead being with a Challenge Rating of 6 or higher. This requires another dose of Doresain’s Draught and another long rest to consume; now only a DC 10 Constitution saving throw is required to choke it down. On a failure, the character becomes poisoned and the dose (although not the corpse, if it can be preserved) is wasted; on a success, at the end of this long rest, the character develops the rubbery resilience of a ghoul. The character gains resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and immunity to the charmed and poisoned conditions, exhaustion, and poison damage.

The Main Course The sixth step requires the consumption of a living Quest: Lichdom humanoid;Sample characters must face an obstacle of file Challenge Rating 8 or higher. The humanoid must be Lichdom is a potent form of undeath, but one that killed by the character’s bite attack and then consumed requires slow patience to achieve. Through long, careful over the course of a long rest; no dose of Doresain’s experiments through the nature of the soul, one can Draught is necessary for this ripe red feast. The become as undying as one’s own soul -- and gain the character becomes an undead creature, losing any power to manipulate the souls of others in the process.

Appendix C | Rites of Undeath 43 Kostchtchie’s Gambit Few know that the demon lord Kostchtchie, in addition to being a wrathful warrior, was the first lich, or at the very least the first to employ an item similar to the lich’s phylactery (myth gives it as a needle inside an egg inside a duck on an island in a lake on top of a mountain). How Kostchtchie became a demon rather than a traditional undead spellcaster is unknown; the two most prevalent theories are that taking souls in martial combat fueled his body rather than his intellect, or that he did not die prior to lichdom, a process enabled by a figure known as the Mother of Hags. The lore to create and use a lich’s phylactery can only be discovered after facing a challenge of at least CR 6, whether wrested by force or wits from a powerful hag or martial demon or uncovered among the collection of an enemy necromancer. Orcus, Demon Prince of Undeath, has their soul travels to the phylactery rather than its intended learned from his peer, and also sponsors the creation of destination, at which point the phylactery functions as liches; his cultists might know these secrets. a memento mori (see the previous chapter) for their Bodily Preservation soul alone. While alive, the character gains immunity to Once the character learns the route to lichdom, the next the frightened condition and the ability to instill fear of step on the path is developing the skill of necromantically mortality in others, represented by the following action. preserving tissue. Developing this skill requires the ability Frightening Gaze. You fix your gaze on one creature to cast the spell gentle repose, as well as 10 weeks of work you can see within 10 feet of you. The target must succeed and arcane ingredients -- raw meat and bone at various on a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to your spell stages of decay, ice from the fiendish planes, and the true saving throw DC (using Charisma if you have no other names of other liches and priest-kings long-dead -- worth spellcasting ability) or become frightened for 1 minute. The 2,000 gp. At the end of this process, the character gains frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of the following ability. each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If Paralyzing Touch. You make a melee spell attack, a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for using Charisma if you have no other spellcasting ability, it, the target is immune to your gaze for the next 24 hours. against one creature within 5 feet. On a hit, it deals Lichgate 1d6 cold damage plus an additional 1d6 for every four The fourth step is defining a lair. A lich’s preserved soul character levels you have beyond the first. The target must travels through their lair rather than the Ethereal Plane succeed on a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal (or your setting’s equivalent) on death, and grants the to your spell saving throw DC (using Charisma if you have lich a place to wait out the eternities. Constructing this no other spellcasting ability) or be paralyzed for 1 minute. lair to a character’s satisfaction requires 25 weeks of The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each work, as well as materials and labor costs worth 20,000 of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. gp; a lich’s lair must also be built on a confluence of strong necromantic energies, so securing this lair Spiritual Preservation requires overcoming a challenge of at least CR 12. The third step is learning how to preserve the soul, At the end of this process, the character gains a lair, binding it to the mortal world in a phylactery. Constructing as per the invest lair spell; instead of selecting an ability a phylactery requires another 10 weeks of work, research, from the list of optional abilities in the spell, they can and arcane materials -- silver ink, and sigils of naming, use a lair action to regain one spell slot of level 1d8 or binding, and immortality -- worth 2,000 gp. As part of lower (roll each time). Additionally, they gain proficiency this process, the character must name the form that their in Wisdom and Intelligence saving throws if they didn’t phylactery takes; while most such items are a small box already possess it. or amulet with a religious relic or text inside, what truly binds the soul is its personal significance to the lich -- a Soul Anchors lich’s phylacterySample could be a childhood toy, a gift from an The fifth step is anchoring a filesoul to the phylactery, immortal patron, or even, it is rumored, a living bloodline. body, and lair in such a way that bodily death no longer Securing this item, or the sigils needed to do it, requires poses an obstacle, allowing the lich to sustain their facing at least a challenge of at least CR 9. soul through other means. This can be accomplished At the end of this process, the character’s soul is in one of two ways: experimenting on others’ souls or bound to the phylactery; if the character dies at any time, experimenting on one’s own.

44 Appendix C | Rites of Undeath Experimenting on others’ souls requires the ability to Lich Sight. You gain truesight to a range of 120 feet. cast the soul cageXGE spell, and requires another 25 weeks Rejuvenation. If you are destroyed and you have a of experimentation with dead souls in the lair, as well phylactery, you gain a new body in 1d10 days, regaining all as 20,000 gp for material components. This process of your hit points and becoming able to act again. The new experimentation requires souls of either high quality or body reappears within 5 feet of the phylactery. high quantity -- garnered from a challenge of at least CR Undead Nature. You become an undead creature, 15, whether that’s a horde of enemies or that of a few losing any previous creature type you had (usually unique creatures. humanoid) and gaining the undead type. You no longer need Experimenting on one’s own soul requires the same to breathe, drink, eat, or sleep, are immune to aging and time, components, and challenges, but involves personal death effects, as well as effects that don’t target undead; you risk rather than the consumption of other souls -- the become vulnerable to effects that specifically target undead. challenge must be enticed into or constructed inside one’s You must also choose one of the following lair and defeated there. This honing process, favored replenishments. by benevolent archliches and Aereni deathless (among • Devotion. You must be able to cast the mass others), requires a challenge that reflects the inner turmoil suggestion spell to choose this replenishment. You of the would-be lich’s soul. are nourished by the devotion of your supporters -- Either way, at the end of this process, the would-be lich acolytes, fellow faithful, living descendants, and the gains the following abilities, representing magical effects like. You must spend half of every year answering that only the lich’s anchored soul can weather. Choose prayers, helping your faithful, and assuring that their necrotic or radiant damage when you gain these abilities; devotion is well-founded. If you cease to do this, you the damage they deal is of the chosen type. Once you make lose all abilities gained from this quest except for this choice, it cannot later be changed. Undead Nature until the end of the next half-year Necromantic Burst. As a reaction, you emanate period you spend in service. energy within a 20-foot radius. Each living creature within ◊ When in your lair, you can cast spirit guardians as the radius must make a Constitution saving throw with a a lair action. DC equal to your spell saving throw DC (using Charisma if • Research. You must be able to cast the wish spell you have no other spellcasting ability), taking 6d6 damage to choose this replenishment. The study of magical on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful secrets sustains you. You must spend half of every one. You can use this ability once and regain the ability to year reading, acquiring new information, collating, do so whenever you finish a short or long rest. theorizing, and honing your mental skills. If you cease Spirits of the Dead. As a lair action, you can call upon to do this, you lose abilities gained from this quest the spirits of the dead using the necromantic machinery except for Undead Nature until the end of the next half- of your lair and using your own soul as a conduit. These year period you spend in research. apparitions materialize and attack one creature that you ◊ When in your lair, you have expertise can see within 60 feet of you. The target must succeed on and advantage on all Intelligence checks involving a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to your spell information. saving throw DC (using Charisma if you have no other • Trapped Souls. You feed on the soul energy of others, spellcasting ability), taking 15d6 damage on a failed save, involuntarily taken; you must kill a creature within your or half as much damage on a success. The apparitions lair once every half-year. If you cease to do this, you then disappear. lose abilities gained from this quest except for Undead Nature until you next kill a creature in your lair. Lich Apotheosis ◊ When in your lair, you can use a lair action to The sixth and final step in becoming a lich is to die, target one creature you can see within 30 feet and rise again in a dead form. Preparing the necromantic of it. A crackling cord of negative energy tethers draught that kills you only requires one week of work, but you to the target. Whenever you take damage, the it uses materials worth 20,000 gp, and requires rare ichors target must make a Constitution saving throw that require you to face a challenge of at least CR 18. with a DC equal to your spell saving throw DC When you drink this draught, you immediately die. You (using Charisma if you have no other spellcasting rise again one year later, no matter what state your body is ability). On a failed save, you take half the in, with the following abilities. damage (rounded down), and the target takes the Lich Durability. You are immune to the charmed, remaining damage. This tether lasts until initiative exhaustion,Sample frightened, poisoned, and paralyzed conditions, count 20 on the next fileround or until you or the as well as poison damage and nonmagical bludgeoning, target is no longer in your lair. piercing, and slashing damage. You gain resistance to cold, lightning, and necrotic damage. You have advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead.

Appendix C | Rites of Undeath 45 Quest: Mummification Mummification is the most physically demanding of the paths to undeath. However, for those seeking to guard that which they love with their undeath, its power is unparalleled if one accepts the risk of vulnerability to fire.

The Katabatic Oath There is no one original source for mummies; cultures across the Material Plane have developed the oaths that preserve one’s life by reenacting their culture’s sacraments of death. Through these rituals, one becomes bound to one’s own tomb, sworn to protect the sacred site (and anything of value that may be interred there alongside the mummy). Those who seek this path of guardianship are honored for their sacrifice, and retain their memories and personalities as a reward. While the Katabatic Oath is well-known in any culture that practices undead mummification, the decision to take it is never one made lightly, and only occurs after one undergoes a personal trial involving defending something important to the character from a threat of at least CR 4.

The Stilled Flesh The second step in becoming a mummy lord is to preserve one’s flesh, whether through desiccation in an extremely dry environment, undergoing the process of embalming with alchemical materials, or mellification in honey. While the materials for this process only cost 200 The Unceasing Heart The third step in becoming a mummy lord is to gp, this requires two weeks undisturbed and unmoving extract or otherwise preserve one’s organs outside as the processes take hold. Should one survive, one’s the body. This allows the organs to bear the stresses flesh becomes harder to damage by conventional means, of maintaining the body while the body is free to act but easier to damage through fire as one catches like dry unhindered by mortal concerns. One’s body cannot bear kindling or melts like caramel. Furthermore, one’s touch the stress of this separation without a certain level of can halt the processes of living tissue to devastating temerity -- one must defeat a challenge of at least CR 7 effect. You gain the following abilities. before this step can be undertaken. Still Flesh. You become immune to nonmagical Once one has thus proven one’s mettle, one can bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, but become spend 50 gp and one week of work to create a memento vulnerable to fire damage. mori (see Appendix B) from one’s own vital organs. This Rotting Fist. When you hit with an unarmed strike memento mori has AC 5, 25 hit points, and is immune attack, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to the to all damage except fire. This memento mori can be Martial Arts die of a monk of your character level + your stored within the body or removed, as one would put Strength modifier, and necrotic damage equal to 1d6 on or take off an amulet; this choice is largely cultural + 1d6 for every four character levels you have beyond or personal -- keeping one’s vital organs inside the the first. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a body removes the risk of someone destroying the organ Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to your spell while you’re away from it, but opens up the possibility saving throw DC (using Charisma if you have no other of permanent death if one dies in fire; keeping one’s spellcasting ability) or be cursed with mummy rot. The vital organs in a canopic jar puts one’s eggs in different cursed target can’t regain hit points, and its hit point baskets, but opens up the possibility of being unable maximum decreases by 10 (3d6) for every 24 hours to guard one’s organs. Should this memento mori be that elapse. If the curse reduces the target’s hit point destroyed, the process of mummification is halted, and maximumSample to 0, the target dies, and its body turns to file one loses the ability gained from this step of the quest. dust. The curse lasts until removed by the remove curse You gain the following ability. spell or similar magic. Mummy Durability. You are immune to the charmed, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned, and paralyzed conditions, as well as necrotic and poison damage.

46 Appendix C | Rites of Undeath The Sacrament of the Tomb The Death Curse The fourth step in becoming a mummy lord is to create a The sixth step in becoming a mummy lord is to define lair. This lair takes the role of the tomb for the prospective one’s death curse. This curse is laid upon your tomb mummy lord, signaling to the world that one is dead -- a in order to safeguard that which you wish to protect. process which can be seen in the eyes of the prospective Defining this curse requires 20,000 gp in ritual mummy lord. components and 25 weeks of work spent in prayer or Constructing this lair to a character’s satisfaction revision of one’s oath. Typical curses allow you to harm requires 10 weeks of work, as well as materials and the living with a word and cause otherworldly beings labor costs worth 2,000 gp, as well as the installation to flee from the certainty of your death; at your DM’s of something personally significant to the character. discretion, other curses (equivalents of 7th-level spells) (This doesn’t necessarily have to be an item -- one’s tomb might exist in place of the blasphemous word reaction. could be a sacred location, a household, or even a small You gain the following abilities. community!) At the end of this process, the character Magebane Curse. You can use this effect as a lair gains a lair, as per the invest lair spell; instead of selecting action. Until initiative count 20 on the next round, any an ability from the list of optional abilities in the spell, they non-undead creature that tries to cast a spell of 4th level can use the lair action “Each undead creature in the lair or lower in your lair is wracked with pain. The creature can pinpoint the location of each living creature within can choose another action, but if it tries to cast the 120 feet of it until initiative count 20 on the next round.” spell, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a You also gain the following abilities. DC equal to your spell saving throw DC (use Charisma Undead Senses. You gain darkvision with a range of if you have no spellcasting ability). On a failed save, it 60 feet if you didn’t have it already. takes 1d6 necrotic damage per level of the spell, and the Dreadful Glare. As an action, you target one creature spell has no effect and is wasted. it can see within 60 feet of it. If the target can see you, it Blasphemous Word. As a reaction at the end of another must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal creature’s turn, you cast the divine word spell (using to your spell saving throw DC (using Charisma if you have Charisma for the saving throw DC if you have no other no other spellcasting ability) against this magic or become spellcasting ability). You can use this ability once and regain frightened until the end of your next turn. If the target the ability to do so after you finish a short or long rest. fails the saving throw by 5 or more, it is also paralyzed for Channel Negative Energy. As a reaction at the end the same duration. A target that succeeds on the saving of another creature’s turn, you can become a locus of throw is immune to the Dreadful Glare of all mummies necromantic energy. Creatures within 60 feet of you, and mummy lords for the next 24 hours. including ones behind barriers and around corners, can’t regain hit points until the end of your next turn. The Funeral Procession The fifth step in becoming a mummy lord is to enact The Awakening a preemptive funeral procession. This requires the The final step in becoming a mummy lord is to defend cooperation or control of undead creatures equal to a one’s tomb from some outside threat of at least CR 14 -- CR 11 encounter to march with you into death. This or to die of old age while maintaining a vigil in the tomb. grand procession can be festive or somber, depending Should one defeat such a threat, die facing it, or die of on one’s cultural attitudes towards death, but at the end, old age while defending the tomb, one rises again as a one becomes formally dead, and strengthens the dead mummy lord the next round with the following abilities. around you. You gain the following abilities. Magic Resistance. You have advantage on saving Turn Resistance. As a lair action, you can grant each throws against spells and other magical effects. undead in the lair advantage on saving throws against Rejuvenation. If you are destroyed and your vital effects that turn undead until initiative count 20 on the organs are still intact, you gain a new body in 1d10 days, next round. regaining all your hit points and becoming able to act Undead Nature. You become an undead creature, again. The new body reappears within 5 feet of your losing any previous creature type you had (usually most important remaining vital organ. humanoid) and gaining the undead type. You no longer need to breathe, drink, eat, or sleep, are immune to aging and death effects, as well as effects that don’t target undead;Sample you become vulnerable to effects that file specifically target undead.

Appendix C | Rites of Undeath 47 Quest: Vampirism Unlike other forms of undeath, vampirism preserves what you drain isn’t blood, but is instead something like one’s youth and charm, and for this reason is often the spinal fluid, memories, bone marrow, body water, vital most attractive path. However, to maintain oneself thus breath, or even hope. This has no mechanical effect. requires accepting a host of specific weaknesses, and in its transgression of the laws of reality invites one to The Boundary Stricture break the obligations of morality as well. The second stricture of vampirism involves never touching running water. Taking on this stricture The Barovian Strictures involves two weeks spent in intense physical training, Strahd von Zarovich is widely regarded as the first supplemented with 200 gp worth of rare blood to fuel vampire; while blood-drinking undead beings existed the body during this time. This training allows you to before him, Strahd was the first to combine the specific reach new heights of physicality, hindered only by the powers, weaknesses, and eternal youth that characterize purity of running water, which becomes an impassable modern vampires. When he made his pact with the barrier for you. Dark Powers in the Amber Temple, Strahd broke the You gain the following abilities. rules of reality, slipping from mortal life into immortal Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, undeath without an interstitial period of death. Why including upside down on ceilings, without needing to the Dark Powers required these specific strictures and make an ability check. weaknesses is a mystery, but the path remains open to Ability Score Increases. Your current and maximum any willing to take it. It is for this reason that a vampire’s Strength and Dexterity scores both increase by 2. weaknesses are common across myths and realities: Harmed by Running Water. You take 20 acid they’re important to the very being of a vampire. damage if you end your turn immersed in running water. Observing them is what enables one to break the bonds of life and death. The Autochthone Stricture The third stricture of vampirism requires sleeping The Dietary Stricture on one’s own soil, to draw on the power of the land The first stricture of vampirism is the most obvious that harbors you. Taking on this stricture requires -- restricting oneself to a diet solely composed of blood. overcoming a challenge of at least CR 7, tied in some To begin traveling this path, you must drink the blood way to the land you wish to make your home. After of a being of CR 4 or higher that speaks at least one overcoming this challenge, you define a resting place, language. How you obtain this blood is up to you. where your form will be interred. This is the same You gain the following abilities. process as defining a lair, as per the invest lair spell. Vampiric Bite. Whenever you hit with an unarmed You have no lair actions, but gain the following attack against a willing creature, or one that is grappled regional effects. by you, incapacitated, or restrained, you can choose to • There’s a noticeable increase in the populations bite that creature instead. On a hit, you deal 1d6 + your of bats, rats, and wolves in the region. You can Strength modifier piercing damage plus 3d6 necrotic change this to other “creepy” animals as suits your damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by personality and cultural milieu. an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and you • Plants within 500 feet of the lair wither, and their regain hit points equal to that amount. The reduction stems and branches become twisted and thorny. lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies • Shadows cast within 500 feet of the lair if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. seem abnormally gaunt and sometimes move Sanguivore. You no longer have to eat or drink; as though alive. instead, your only source of sustenance is blood -- it has • A creeping fog clings to the ground within 500 feet to be blood from living creatures, as the act of feeding of the lair. The fog occasionally takes eerie forms, on that which you once were empowers you far more such as grasping claws and writhing serpents. than blood itself. You must deal at least 12 necrotic Misty Escape. When you drop to 0 hit points damage via your blood drain ability every day or you outside your lair, you transform into a cloud of mist begin to starve. For every year you have been a vampire, instead of falling unconscious, provided you aren’t in you can add 1 day to this time limit. sunlight or running water. If you can’t transform, you Permission to feed from a living herd animal may be begin dying as normal. difficult Sampleto negotiate in some cultures; if you and your In mist form, you can’t takefile any actions, speak, or DM want to up the dark bargain factor, then you can manipulate objects. You are weightless, have a flying state that you have to feed on creatures capable of speed of 20 feet, can hover, and can enter a hostile speech, requiring combat or careful negotiation. creature’s space and stop there. In addition, if air can For a twist on the classic vampire, it’s possible that pass through a space, you can do so without squeezing,

48 Appendix C | Rites of Undeath and you can’t pass through water. You have advantage Mind Control and Consent on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, Using this charm ability on other people is a form and are immune to all nonmagical damage. of behavioral alteration on par with possession -- for While you have 0 hit points in mist form, you must some people, it’s even worse, because it alters your reach your lair within 2 hours or be destroyed. Once in perceptions rather than just your actions. Blogger your resting place, you revert to your normal form. You Kate Bullock goes into a lengthy discussion here that’s are then paralyzed until you regain at least 1 hit point. been passed around many a gaming circle; an Internet After spending 1 hour in your lair with 0 hit points, you search or one’s memory can probably turn up other regain 1 hit point. similar articles. As Bullock points out, being hypnotized Stake to the Heart. If a piercing weapon made and controlled by a vampire is an intensely coercive of wood is driven into your heart while you are and traumatic experience. Even in non-live-action incapacitated in your lair, you are paralyzed until the role-playing, such role-playing frequently brings up stake is removed. unpleasant real-world experiences that can severely impact mental health, not to mention enjoyment of The Gracious Stricture the game. Before starting down this path (or indeed The fourth stricture of vampirism involves the making a wizard of the Enchantment school, a bard preservation of certain forms of courtesy, which enable that specializes in charm spells, and so on and so you to maintain unending youth and grace. You must forth), check in with your group about whether or not prepare for this by undergoing ritual preparations to you’re okay with having a player character be capable maintain your youth; this requires 10 weeks of ritual of coercing others in this manner; if people aren’t okay bathing and cosmetic treatment and 2,000 gp of with it, consider a different approach to the character. increasingly rarer blood to sustain and invigorate you. At If you want to present a form of vampirism that doesn’t the end of this process, you gain the following abilities. involve this charm ability, that’s perfectly alright; Eternal Youth. You are immune to aging and death consider changing it to a more narrative feature, such effects, and do not age. as some form of political rank that leads people to Charm. As an action, you target one humanoid you obey you out of fear. Either way, Barovian vampires are can see within 30 feet. If the target can see you, the target coercive, exploitative predators, not the kinds of people must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal most people truly want to be friends with. to your spell saving throw DC (using Charisma if you have no other spellcasting ability) against this magic or be charmed by you. The charmed target regards you as a Children of the Night. As an action, you magically call trusted friend to be heeded and protected. Although the 2d4 swarms of bats or rats, provided that the sun isn’t target isn’t under your control, it takes your requests or up. While outdoors, you can call 3d6 wolves instead. actions in the most favorable way it can, and it is a willing The called creatures arrive in 1d4 rounds, acting as your target for your Vampiric Bite ability. allies and obeying your spoken commands. The beasts Each time you or your companions do anything remain for 1 hour, until you die, or until you dismiss harmful to the target, it can repeat the saving throw, them as a bonus action. You can use this ability once ending the effect on itself on a success. Otherwise, the and regain the ability to do so at the end of a long rest. effect lasts 24 hours or until you are killed, destroyed, on At the DM’s discretion, you can change these to the a different plane of existence than the target, or you take same sorts of creatures you defined as increasing in a bonus action to end the effect. population in your lair, as long as you can find swarm Forbiddance. You cannot enter a residence without statistics for when you summon some indoors. an invitation from one of its occupants. Sunlight Hypersensitivity. You take 20 radiant damage when you start your turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and The Nocturnal Stricture ability checks. The fifth stricture of vampirism revolves around rejecting the sun, prolonging your life by only living half of it. You must survive a night outside, without The Cruel Stricture The final stricture involves a rejection of the bounds of protection from elements or the creatures that lurk in morality and kindness, which requires 20,000 gp and the dark (a challenge of at least CR 11); at the end of this Sample25 weeks of work spent in thefile selfish beautification of process, you gain the following abilities (and must make one’s lair, a symbolic declaration that one’s wealth and it to shelter before dawn breaks). time are best spent on one’s own desires over anything Unyielding Skin. You have resistance to necrotic else. At the end of this period, you are contacted by an damage and piercing, bludgeoning, or slashing damage emissary of the Dark Powers of the Shadowfell in your from nonmagical weapons.

Appendix C | Rites of Undeath 49 Quest: Life Unending lair, and are remade as an undead, ever-vital being by its It is possible to achieve true immortality through black-and-amber tendrils -- tendrils which spread from necromantic science. It does not offer much power on its your bite to infect corpses you create when you feed. own, especially compared to the other forms of undeath, You gain the following abilities and the following but the end of its path offers the truly remarkable ability flaw. The DM is free to give you disadvantage on any roll to never die. that would contradict your flaw. Unlike the other quests, immortality isn’t something Undead Nature. You become an undead creature, tied to a specific monster from the halls of D&D. It’s losing any previous creature type you had (usually a looser, more freeform quest, and the specific story humanoid) and gaining the undead type. You no longer requirements should be tailored to the needs of your need to breathe and are immune to effects that don’t campaign. Is immortality a question of spiritual perfection, target undead; you become vulnerable to effects that intellectual achievement, or crushing hubris? This can specifically target undead. vary from setting to setting, campaign to campaign, and Create Spawn. If you reduce a humanoid’s hit point would-be immortal to would-be immortal. maximum to 0 with your Vampiric Bite ability and it is subsequently buried in the ground, it rises the next night as a vampire spawn under your control. Lesson of Self-Knowledge Regeneration. You regain 20 hit points at the start The first lesson on the path to immortality is to grapple of your turn if you have at least 1 hit point and aren’t in with the nature of the soul. You must overcome a sunlight or running water. If you take radiant damage or challenge of at least CR 3 that questions the idea of damage from holy water, this trait doesn’t function at the the soul as necessarily tied to the body, whether it’s start of your next turn. a soulless undead, a bodiless soul, or some form of Shapechanger. If you aren’t in sunlight or running psychic trauma. Additionally, you must be able to cast water, you can use your action to polymorph into a Tiny the protection from good and evil spell. bat or a Medium cloud of mist, or back into your true form. While in bat form, you can’t speak, your walking Lesson of Preservation speed is 5 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet. The second lesson is to be able to preserve the body Your statistics, other than your size and speed, are even when the soul is gone. You must overcome a unchanged. Anything you’re wearing transforms with challenge of at least CR 6 that revolves around cadavers, you, but nothing you’re carrying does. You revert to your whether it’s a forensic mystery, a rampaging flesh golem, true form if you are destroyed. or the depredations of a ghoul. Additionally, you must be While in mist form, you can’t take any actions, able to cast the gentle repose spell. speak, or manipulate objects. You are weightless, have a flying speed of 20 feet, can hover, and can enter a hostile Lesson of Transcendence creature’s space and stop there. In addition, if air can The third lesson is to be able to separate the soul from pass through a space, you can do so without squeezing, the body. You must overcome a challenge of at least CR and you can’t pass through water. You have advantage 9 that revolves around possession and spiritual entities, on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, be they fiendish or undead. Additionally, you must be and are immune to all nonmagical damage, except the able to cast the banishment spell. damage you take from sunlight. Flaw. I’m the only person who matters. Others are rivals, pawns, or food. Lesson of Metempsychosis The fourth lesson is to be able to guide a soul back into a body. This is the crux, the hardest part of immortality; you must overcome a challenge of at least CR 12 where resurrection is crucial to solving a problem. Additionally, you must be able to cast the raise dead or magic jar spell.

Lesson of Reconstruction The fifth lesson is to be able to reconstruct the body. You must overcome a challenge of at least CR 15 that involves a shapeshifter or creature with regeneration. SampleAdditionally, you must be ablefile to cast the regenerate or alter self spell.

50 Appendix C | Rites of Undeath Lesson of Reintegration The sixth lesson is to be able to make a reincorporated soul and a remade body work together. You must overcome a challenge of at least CR 18 against an immortal being. Additionally, you must be able to cast the astral projection spell. When you overcome this challenge, you gain the following ability. Indomitable Soul. you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll. You can use this feature up to three times; you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Immortal Apotheosis You spend 50 workweeks and ritual materials worth 100,000 gp putting all your research into practice in one grand, year-long process to become a true immortal. At the end of this process, you gain the following abilities. Ageless Soul. You are immune to aging and death effects, and do not age. No Metabolism. You are immune to exhaustion, poison, disease, and paralysis. Immortal Nature. If killed, you rise after the end of a short rest with all hit points. Nothing short of the direct intervention of a god can kill you permanently, and even so, you are likely to become a vestige -- a creature expunged from history, able to interact with the world only through fulfilling warlock pacts.

Sample file

Appendix C | Rites of Undeath 51