Sentient Unliving

“Nothing good can come from the dead walking next to the living not even if their damn name is Kindness." —Unknown

The newly shattered world contains only one refuge- The City of the End. The lands outside the city are filled with mindless drones of unlife; constantly hammering at the walls and seeking the living within. Not all undead are so brainless. Many citizens within the relatively 'safer' walls of the city are secretly among the unliving. Unlike the undead that have been purged from the End, these intelligent beings have learned to blend in with the living to perpetuate in what is now the new normal. Just like in life, the Sentient Unliving continue to have goals and ambissions. Many help the families that they should have departed long ago; after their fateful return to the land of the living.

The other races tend to stigmatize all undead as being the same, something many members of the unliving community find pedantic. After all... death comes for every one sooner or later. Their reception ranges from person to person. At times they are considered close companions, while at others they are considered little more than the ravaging beasts outside the city walls. No matter what they are seen as, the unique members of this new race all have their own agendas; many merely want to fix what they can of the broken world.

Lost Souls

The Sentient Unliving, like the other undead, are trapped in the material plane with no way of passing on to the Astral Plane due to the Catastrophe shattering the realm of spirits and the dead into hundreds of pieces. Due to this, no amount of completing unfinished business will soothe them. Only by focusing on an agenda or goal of great importance to them can a Sentient Unliving remain concious and sapient. Should they become lost in their purpose for a length of time they will slowly degenerate into their more abhorrant cousins, and become one of the horde.

A Collection of the Walking Dead

Unfortunately for the Sentient Unliving, the majority of the residents in the City of the End abhor their existence and wish for their destruction as much as any of the undead scratching and raging at the vast walls surrounding them. Due to this they are cordoned off in the lowest and darkest parts of the Under Level, where the rest of the city hope for them to stay. Rather then abide by this wish, many Unliving venture out of their habitat into the greater Under Level, some even as high as the Lower Level if fortunate. This causes a great deal of unrest which usually only dissipates after something terrible happens, and all involved join the horde outside.

Enemy of my Enemy is Better then Nothing

Fortunately for the Sentient Unliving, their existence is tolerated for two reasons. They are best for handling incursion of the undead as they themselves can not die by tradtional means and so create an unbreakable bulwark against the onslaught should it ever come through. The other is the only reason one might be found even in the Upper Level, they can see who is still living and so are perfect detectors for aspriing Liches or Vampire Lords who wish to gain power in the Upper Councils.

Sentient Unliving Traits

Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2.

Age: Ageless. The Sentient Unliving do not age but remain at the same age as they were when they died.

Alignment: Neutral or Chaotic are the primary allignments of the Sentient Unliving.

Memories of Life: Sentient Unliving take one racial trait from the race they were before death. Their Size, Speed, and Languages are aslo decided by their previous race.

Sense Life: Sentient Unliving can sense the souls of the living in a 60 foot radius around them, even through objects and walls.

You Only Die Once: Sentient Unliving can reroll any failed death saving throw they roll, and must take the new roll, once per long rest.

Death Has Claimed Me: Sentient Unliving are resistant to poison damage and have advantage against intimidation checks. They do not require a sleep and instead go into a 4 hour trance.

Subraces: Two main subraces populate the Shattered World: Eidolon and Alghul. Choose one of these subraces.

Eidolon

A beautiful face in a dimly lit room, a whisper of guidance in the right direction, a translucent smile in the night... the Eidolon embody the beauty of death. They are the abstract thought of men toward unlife, the beautiful ideal of one's determination embodying one's soul upon the world after the body has long decayed. Beautiful, listless, ephemeral... they drift through life, embodying the ideals they held while living as well as a form similar to the vessel they used to fill.

Eidolon are very similar to their spectral cousins the ghost, but have managed to retain a much more physical bond to the world. They can pass through objects with concentration, making them excellent pathfinders. However, the limbo they epitomize brings with its rewards risks. Unlike their spectral cousins they can be damaged by physical weapons and as such are forced to wear armor. Their similarity to many of the living grant them a raised status among the unliving- far more likely to be accepted or even cherished.

Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 1.

Intangibility: Twice per rest, as a bonus action, Eidolon can turn intangible and phase through objects and walls no thicker then half their movement. Eidolon lose their armor and weapons for that round.

Alghul

Some corpses grow stronger as life leaves, replaced by grim resolve and a burning hunger. Pale grey skin and large fangs are accented by vicious claws. Lean muscle has replaced fat, strength flows through limbs well into rigor mortis. The alghul is undeath's most savage hunter. Weakness is replaced by strength and unlike their weak cousin, the zombie, neither rotting of flesh or mind occurs. They are capable and adept brawlers, finding work as bodyguards for the Lower and Under levels of the city alike. Despite the respect they incur, and usually demand, from the living races there has always been a large disconnection between the races. The alghuls require, similar to the lordly vampires, sustenance of the red and warm variety. While they require the flesh of the living, many alghuls maintain strict policies of consuming only the flesh of those who died around them. A strict mentality of waste-not want-not has grown swiftly into the race. To leave a living friend's body decomposing is a grave insult to an alghul.

While society shuns them, many have found solace under the wing of a more powerful member of the 'unliving' community, such as a powerful lich or vampire lord. War squadrons and city-watches formed entirely out of alghuls are common place. This military rigidity has led to many structured camps of alghuls in the Under City as more members of the race join their ranks. Alghuls who kill for pleasure are few and far between because any terrorist acts against the living have always been met with large purges of the Under levels. Neutral arms for hire they may be, but the pride of the alghuls inspires a near fervent hunt of those who break their strict codes of conduct. They believe that perhaps unliving is simply the next step for all, and like so many others, are merely trying to claw out a place in the broken world.

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1.

Gnitting Flesh: Once per rest Ghouls can heal a portion of their hit points equal to 1 Hit Die plus their Constitution Modifier. This increases every four levels (1-4=1HD, 5-8=2HD, 9-12=3HD, 13-16=4HD, 17-20=5HD).