[7] Most baelnorn stayed within the crypts, towers, ruins, or other structures which they guarded or worked in, and were rarely seen outside of them. Some participated in the final battle with the shadovar forces of Thultanthar in the Year of the Rune Lords Triumphant, 1487 DR.[14]. Yet, baelnorn are still counted as undead and do animate dead in battle. The spells have a caveat, that the subject not have died of old age, which brings us to most common reason there are those that seek undeath and that is to live past their natural lifespan. 4th level (1 slot): staggering smite. The Monster Manual lists the alignment of a Lich as 'Any Evil,' but it also tells DMs that this is the 'Default' and they should be willing to. Every day you must eat the equivalent of 1 Medium-sized creature of carrion. [9] The choice to become a baelnorn in ancient elvish society was seen as a great sacrifice in which an individual gave up their ability to determine their futures or to pursue social happiness. You can see 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane when you are on the Material Plane and vice versa. What is important for the community is that you share your sources of inspiration. It may also be that the existence of a few undead do very little to the entropy of the cosmos, rather its their larger collective existence that may accelerate the destruction of the Material Plane. Scan this QR code to download the app now. They lost all ability to speak but instead of gaining the arcane powers of a typical baelnorn, they instead became prodigious warriors. I would classify Dexter as non evil for sure. Basic undeath traits alone may not be an issue, but adding templates for specific types of undead come with additional traits. Lady Saharel, Netherese archlich, ally of the Harpers and once a lover of Elminster. Sometimes a church grim may result from a dog who lays near the grave of its dead caretaker. She then decides to hell with her duty and explore the outside world with her new friend. Good undead? The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Mr. Bodoni can disattach a limb he is not using at the moment such as a leg, arm, or even just a hand, and wield it as a melee weapon that causes bludgeoning damage. Protection. Here are some other ideas for undead characters who are not evil: A dedicated warrior to a cause continues past his lifespan by binding his soul to his armor, and becomes haunted armor that can behave like animated armor, but sentient and intelligent. Claws. Many have investigated and tried to figure out where this legendary treasure lies, but to no avail. The church grim can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. points, it can use a reaction as its legendary action to make a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 5+ the damage taken. Example: Ezzie already has darkvision, so she found no difference in her vision. The baelnorn is a 20th-level spellcaster. None Turned creatures can only use their Dash action or try to flee an effect that prevents it from escaping. Mr. Bodoni makes two melee attacks. The work put into this has been off-and-on since the campaign itself has been on hold for a year, but I am satisfied with my . Im sorry I have no pun for thisnext topic. Such a person likely has some allies who know of their undeath and are willing to do things on their behalf that are difficult to do without revealing their undeathor in the case of vampires, also during the daytimes. For example, it could put mortals in a paralyzed state of hibernation with a touch, making them seem dead to others, and could, through their typically powerful magical spells, summon other lesser undead as well as turn undead. It only takes a minute to sign up. Bite. Hunting down evil undead and necromancers can provide an opportunity for an alliance to form between undead hunters and undead undead hunters. Spellcasting. On a failed save, the creature is frightened for 1 minute or until is takes any damage. A holiday might span a month, a scholar might have centuries of study before becoming a master, a transaction may take years to complete. If it has no spent spell slots of that level or lower, nothing happens. [4], A baelnorn retained all memories, personality traits, and abilities from life, but had a virtual eternity to hone and develop its skills further. For example, an adventurer is tasked to banish a ghost for no other reason than the ghost "needs" to be banished, and the advenuturer refuses or instead becomes friends with the ghost and only banishes it if it wishes to, then the Order may hear of it and consider recruiting the advenuterer. It turns out he is the founder of the town and feared that his hard work in establishing the settlement would be wasted by the various dangers that inhabit the land. If you did not have it, you now have a darkvision of 60 ft. The survivor of a dark time and place in history decides to become undead so that she may preserve the memory and awful lessons learned so that such an event would not happen again. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th Level or higher, you can target 1 additional undead for each slot above 4th. The attack does 1d6 piercing damage plus your Dexterity or Strength modifier plus 1d6 necrotic damage. Favored terrain In many settings, undeath is tied to a philosophy of nihilism, destruction, and death. The archlich can walk on water at will, as if under the effect of the water walk spell and dismiss the effect at will if it chooses to. Her undead body is no longer, but her ghost remains in Spellgaurd. On a success, the restless champion drops to 1 hit point instead. The stat block of a Lich for D&D 5e has the following in black and white: Lich Medium undead, any evil alignment Armor Class 17 (natural armor) Hit Points 135 (18d8 + 54) . Nyx is no ordinary vampire, so she suffers from less of the weaknesses of other vampires, but has less of the boons. The Order thus has established many ways of secret communication by means of magic or coded language similar to Thieves Cant. Undeath that is more reliable than other means of extension of self can be embraced to carry out long term goals and watch their legacies unfold. Stake to the Heart. I am ashamed of it, but somehow becoming a ghoul has freed me even from the bonds that held me in life. Eventually, the mages acceded and transformed all twelve of them. [..] A lich must periodically feed souls to Bite Attack. The arcane secret to this type of phylactery is even more guarded than the type of phylactery that does. A spartoi can only be destroyed by breaking it enough with sufficient weapons. Later it also appeared in the same 3e book Monsters of Faern as the baelnorn did and both were described on the same page. Perhaps if she wasn't killed, she would have become corrupted with the evil essence of the Abyss. Church Grim Packs. Perhaps negative energy flowing to the Material Plane is not just natural, but necessary. Some undead creatures abhor other undead creatures, so any class features such as paladin class features that give bonuses to targeting undead may not break the theme of the character. However, it was possible that some records may have persisted in Evermeet or Evereska. For more information, please see our You and your group are hired to investigate missing undead minions from an evil magical research laboratory. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage, or 15 (2d6 + 8) slashing damage if used with two hands. Most archliches are wizards, but there have been instances of clerics or warlocks becomeing archliches. In Forgotten Realms, baelnorn are elves who are bestowed undeath by their gods, even good-alined ones to be guardians of their families, artifacts, or knowledge. If you are playing in an evil campaign, non-evil undead can be interesting foes. [10] Such a request was usually granted only on rare occasions when a clan or settlement had an exceptional need for lorekeepers or guardians. In the 'Merlin Cycle', he had a character create a kind of sentient computer whose internal logic is handled by arcane constructs. Hit 14 (1d6 +10) piercing damage plus 8 (2d6) necrotic damage. 3rd level (2 slots): aura of vitality, revivify Such gods may see undeath as being as appropriate as dead to them if such undead condemns souls to an empty, tortured existence or if such undead dedicate themselves to the destruction of other life. You are resistant to poison damage. Dexter strikes me as Lawful Evil. Some believe that the first to be buried in a graveyard is condemned to remain there in spirit. A church grim is no mere soul of a beast. In more current times another demonic invasion was brewing, and so Nyx crawled back from the netherworld to continue what she could not accomplish. The knowledge of baelnorn is next to nonexistent outside elven communities, among the reasons being that hardly anyone else believes such seemingly absurd tales not just of good-aligned liches but ones that are holy and created by good-aligned gods. Bone Attack. Third is to have divine backing be official, to have a god represent non-evil undead. Some class features offer traits that the undead already have such as agelessness, or no need to eat, sleep, or drink. The gaurdian spirit enters the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa. Adventurers who attack evil necromancers and undead overlords will do their best to also distinguish between undead that are evil, and those who can be freed from control. Undead who wish to mind their own business and simply unlive their unlives are under threat from both the evil overlord lich and the righteous undead slayer; this is the constant vigil many undead face. A non-evil necromancer knows the better way is to bargain and negotiate with them. Hit Points 135 (18d8 + 54) Keyword(s) A fantasy setting where this is more common can evade these tropes and issues, if such undead are more known around the living, or there is a tradition to respect and revere the ancestral undead. 2nd level (3 slots): hold person, lesser restoration, zone of truth Tarian can move through nonmagical difficult terrain, including nonmagical plant terrain with no extra movement costs. Her conviction and faith in Bahamut steel her mind against the pitfalls of her condition, and quest for vengeance. This eliminates a chance of both resurrection and afterlife for those you devour. The baelnorn cannot send a message to the same creature for 10 minutes. You can continue gaining levels in this class as long as you maintain your oath with the deity. Depending on the setting, some good-aligned gods have occasionally had good-aligned undead servants, namely baelnorns and archliches. Such undead stay in abandoned places that they can call their domain, but their aura might catch the attention of do-gooder clerics and paladins. A baelnorn who served as a guardian might spend centuries laying and checking traps, always ready for a fight. The previous character examples serve as points of inspiration for non-evil undead. However I can imagine a scenario where a Lich can become good - after a few hundred years of lichdom, for some reason the Lich sees the light and realizes the error of her ways. Nyx has the following flaws: In order to make the character likable (and have a show), the hook was that he only killed bad people who he had proved deserved it. The process that creates and sustains a lich requires them to destroy the souls of others. A planetouched spirit may be one that is summoned by a cleric whose ancestors were very close to their deity who allows souls to move to and from their domain. Gift of the Phoenix. Others suspect the common assumptions of undeath being "wrong" might not be as accurate as many believe. What if negative energy is not as dangerous and evil as many believe? Instead of rats, cockroaches, and bedbugs being common household pets, common household pests might include carrion beetles, maggots, or even vulturesbut it is a problem can be solved with smart application of poison or necrotic energy. This spell may activate if you die due to a circumstance that skips death saving throws, but your body must remain intact enough to be useful or else the possession does not work and the spell cannot be activated. The baelnorn is capable of sustaining tremendous physical damage, and is immune to disease, poison, fatigue and other effects that affect only the living. A 'Dixie Flatline' was presented as a possible non-canon solution to this. The organization is largely decentralized and democratic in structure. This difference hints one of the secrets to becoming an archlich: a pinch of the ashes of a phoenix. P.S. The Gary Gygax variety of lich cannot be good based on canon (baelnorn aside); which means that the solution for creating a 'good' lich would have to be non-canon. An undead person may look at the mirror and see their body resemble a preserved specimen in a museum; It may give them a sense of being an object or something doomed to never grow or changebut does it have to be? Rapier. Records of the Ruins. This counts as a fear effect for turning living creatures. You may change your character to reflect their undead nature. and the nobles around have been scrambling to hide her vampirism for the populace knowing that she had become a vampire would make everyone riot to kill her. The Knights of the Restless have to remain hidden in most parts of the world due to the already high stigma placed on undead in many places, so they do operate in cells and smaller groups dedicated to to their cause in a local area. The spartoi will re-awaken as a stronger, more intellegent and free-willed skeletal warrior. Her large, powerful draconic jaws tore her foes apart and sent others fleeing. Many members of this order pass themselves off as regular hunters of the undead and often do hunt down non-sentient or evil undead. [5][7], Baelnorns had the unique power to send a wraith-like projection of themselves out to meet with or converse with others, or to scout an area. Once a party of good-aligned adventures can gain the favor of an archlich, they have made a valuable ally for life. There are three ways a humanoid can become a ghoul: a humanoid who developed an appetite for humanoid flesh dies and comes back as a ghoul, a humanoid has died of ghoul fever from a ghoul bite, or a corpse is raised as a ghoul using magic such as create undead. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Your reasons vary, perhaps you have unfinished business, seek revenge, or still cannot accept that you died. Even worse, her dwarven family still had at least a whole human lifetime ahead of them. "Good implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings." The archlich can also cast speak with dead at will without spending a spell slot. Then there will be some statblocks for generic non-evil undead types, including the archlich and baelnorn and a few originals dropped in too. His appetite for flesh has been tempered to feast on animaland occasionally ogre carrion. Spectral Limitation. Undead who feel they can cast off the worries of things like mortality may begin to embrace life in a new way, they may become fearless and possibly even hedonistic, they may not mourn the pleasures of a living body, but instead relish the experiences their undead bodies offer to them. They are immune to charming, cold-based spells, death (and related) magic, disintegrate, electricity, enfeeblement, feeblemind, hold (and related magic), insanity, and sleep spells. phylactery for 24 hours is consumed and destroyed Land And if they chose it, why did they choose it? Missing bones or organs cannot be replaced, and the spell does not work if the head or skull is missing. The term is often confused with "sapient" which refers to a more advanced form of self-awareness that is designated to creatures with an intelligence score of 3 with some exceptions. Gods and other powerful extraplanar beings who endorse undeath often favor murder, selfishness, tyranny, and devouring all. Alternatively, Nyx can expend 5 hit points from the pool to cure a target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. Flaw: I really like drinking the blood of enemies and biting into their flesh. Undead who may spread disease might be given accommodation to control disease spread, or be restricted away from the living. You can use your unarmed strikes as melee weapons you are proficient in with a reach of 5 ft. at one target. No rules for baelnorn in 5e yet. You raise a corpse into an undead creature, minding any damage you may cause to its soul and wellbeing. What is the symbol (which looks similar to an equals sign) called? Create custom stat blocks for monsters and save them for use in your campaigns. One day, she fights off an adventurer that she cannot make sense of his fashion sense, accent, or even weapons. It took centuries to earn his trust, but he was there when the town was under seige, he was there when a plaugue struck the land, and he was there when an evil lich launched an undead army to the town. Consider re-interpreting negative energy in your setting if you want it to co-exist with non-evil undead. They have never been numerous, and none have been created in recorded history. Petrifying Gaze. Size 4th level (3 slots): aura of purity, banishment The following night the hooded figure is seen fighting off another creature with powerful magic which has caused some serious damage, and the populace is now certain the lich lord is back. It even relies on its actions to move; it doesn't have a move otherwise. 7th level (2 slots): project image, teleport Turn Living or Undead. There may be specific 'suggested' rules that define a lich to be quite evil. Even before that there is still the chance of being slain or some accident occurring. Whenever Nyx hits a creature with her bite attack, the necrotic damage dealt replenishes her pool of healing power which cannot exceed 70 hit points. There are undead who do take down evil undead and seek vengeance against evil necromancers who exploit the dead, especially seeking the one who may have raised them from the dead into servitude. 2e Hit: 10 (3d6) cold damage. In the 3.5e book Libris Mortis there is a small mention of a "good lich" variant of liches. When do you use in the accusative case? I believe the OP just required a "non evil lich" not a good lich specifically. If the balenorn fails a saving throw, it can choose so succeed instead. They have class levels so that they can be adapted to be player characters if you so desire. Heavy Crossbow. Baelnorns are described as elves who sought undeath to serve their families, communities, or other purposes (usually to see a wrong righted or to achieve a certain magical discovery or deed).
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