Revenants
The shambling undead are mindless, silent and hungry. Some retain their personalities after death. These are the revenants; terrifying to behold. If killed unjustly, cruelly or in circumstances where bloody revenge is the only recourse, that person might rise from the grave to exact righteous vengeance.
All revenants have a Belief and a Goal focused upon some kind of obligation: to avenge their deaths or the deaths of their loved ones, to fulfill promises made during life or to complete some great task that was left unfinished. Only when both their Goal is met and their Belief is altered may the revenant find peace in eternal rest.
Conditions
Revenants start with the dead condition. Revenants may become hungry or angry after a failed test or due to the Grind. Revenants may be injured but only as the result of a failed test or conflict. If "killed," a revenant suffers a loss of one Health point. They are immune to afraid, exhausted and sick. Do not mark a lesser condition.
Revenants recover from being hungry by eating fresh meat; preferably the flesh of the living or the recently slain. Revenants may choose to recover from the hungry condition after any Kill conflict. Water will not slake the thirst of a revenant but fresh blood will.
Revenants may recover from the injured condition by sacrificing an ability point (Health, Will or Nature) or through level benefits. Revenants may not make tests to recover from injured, nor may they be healed through magical or mundane healing.
Ability scores
Revenants retain the Health rating they possessed at the time of death. They cannot advance Health except by levelling up. A revenant that reaches zero Health is destroyed. Revenants retain the Will rating they possessed at the time of death. A revenant that reaches zero Will becomes a mindless zombie.
A revenant's nature (Avenging, remembering, shambling) is determined by answering these questions:
Was your death quick and painless or did you suffer horrible torment?
• If you suffered pain and degradation before your death, increase Nature by one
• If death came swiftly, your Nature is unchanged but gain the Calm or Patient trait.
Did you leave family or close friends behind or did you die alone and unloved?
• If you were survived by kith and kin, or they suffered a similar fate, increase Nature by one.
• If no one grieved at your passing and you had no one to live for, gain the Loner trait.
Are you a newly risen soul or have you suffered the ravages of un-life?
• If you’ve endured many trials as one of the undead, gain the Scarred or Lame trait.
• If the grave dirt under your nails is still fresh, increase your Nature by one.
A revenant’s Nature cannot fall past 1 or rise past 6.
Skills and Traits
Revenants retain the skills and traits they possessed in life, unless altered by answers to the three Nature questions.
Level benefits
Level 1: Revenants may use whatever armor and weapons they could use in life. They do not retain any of the level benefits from their former lives.
Levels 2+: The revenant may remember any level ability it previously had when it reaches that level or it may regain a lost point of Health.