Soulbound Undead By Misfortunate They're not all bad, the undead. Some have greater purpose, and some simply retain their senses. Their bodies might be rotten, but that doesn't mean their hearts are... At least, always. The undead can retain memories of their past lives, and sometimes they themselves forget that they are already dead. These undead are called the Soulbound. Dead Flesh Made Living Sometimes when a fresh corpse is animated, the undead regains consciousness. The soul of the recently deceased lingers in the body, not able to leave to afterlife. They are now eternally bound to their crumbling corpse, until they are either resurrected or their body is destroyed. Sometimes, the soul is so weakly connected to the body that the body attains consciousness, but forgets who they were, becoming a blank slate. Ostracized from Flesh Their unsettling countenance makes it hard to socialize in Alive once again the world of the living, often making adventuring one of their The dead may harbor feelings for their past brethren, and few options to keep living. They often live under guises, such might even try to contact their past families and friends. as knights armored from head to toe, or merchants in Sadly, most people don't take well for their loved one elaborate robes that cover their body in their entirety. But not becoming a monster, especially one that is generally all of them. Some flaunt the fact that they are undead to abhorred. intimidate their foes. Others don't hide themselves due to Even if their friends are not afraid of them, often, they will simple honesty. meet tragedy nonetheless. As time passes, their loved ones Any corpse can become undead, so they come in all shapes pass away. They outlive their friends and everyone they will and sizes. Depending on the age of the undead, they also ever meet. Not only are they bound to stay dead for eternity, might have differing amount of flesh. The older have been but also to live for eternity. Maybe that is the real curse of the reduced to nothing but a skeleton, but younger ones can have Soulbound? skin, even hair still left. A dead giveaway for them is the smell of rotting flesh. Due to this, many strip their flesh before it rots. Soulbound Soulbound differ from other undead by being able to show genuine kindness and be good. However, this does not mean that a wicked soul would be purified. If a wicked person becomes Soulbound, they often lash out on the world, violently and malevolently. Soulbound, who have lost their humanity, often turn to evil, if not because of loss of humanity, then of the way they are treated, making them the monster they were thought to be. Undead Traits Due to an imperfect formation to undeath, your abilities greatly differ from the living and the truly immortal undead. Origin Race. The race you were before you were cursed to undeath affects your Ability Scores. You can increase any ability score that race has an Ability Score Increase for by 1. This race and subrace also defines your Size, Speed, and Languages. Any additional benefits from your past race are negotiable with the DM. Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 3. Speed. Your Undead walking speed is 5 less than the speed of your Origin Race. Age. The undead curse can go on forever, and your undeath has made you still in time. Alignment. The undead remembers who they were, and their leaning on the alignment is the same as they were before. However, the realization that they have become undead may be a sufficent shock to change them forever. Undead Curse. Undeath can't be lifted with anything short of a true resurrection or a wish spell. Corpse with a Heart. You are counted both as undead and as a humanoid. If the two contradict, undead applies. Stasis. Each time you gain an Ability Score Increase from a class, you can only raise one Ability Score by one instead of the normal Ability Score Increase. A Soulbound Undead character can have only one feat. The Dead Know no Rest. You can't sleep, you can't be put to sleep or knocked unconscious by any means. Resistance. You are resistant to necrotic and poison damage. Undead Body. Each time you're hit with a critical hit, roll d20. On 10 or less, you lose one of your body parts. You can recover any lost body parts during a short or a long rest, either by using the lost body part or using a substitute from a humanoid. Unholy. Every time you receive radiant damage, holy water is doused on you or you enter or start a turn on holy ground, you cannot regain hit points for the next hour. Fortitude. If damage would drop you to 0 hit points, you must make a Constitution saving throw with a cumulative DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, you are returned to 1 hit point at the beginning of the next round. This DC resets during short rest..