Undying Abilities

"Mind over matter: in your unlife, you've slowly learned how to overcome your mind's instinctive physical limitations and are now able to perform preternatual feats of strength."

The Undying have many traits and abilities that mark them as different and unnatural in the eyes of those around them.

Traits

Heightened Strength and Speed

Supernaturally strong and fast, the Undying are a force to be reckoned with. They gain these Universal Keywords from the start.

Preternatural Senses

Able to hunt their prey through sound and scent, the Undying are prime hunters. They gain this Universal Keyword from the start.

Vigor Mortis

In death, an Undying has a fine control over their body and its functions. It adapts to what they need, be that a pair of sharp fangs or claws. This ability describes how far you can go beyond mortal living limitation. e.g. reconstituting after a fatal blow, dismemberment, poisoning, etc. It also describes how well you can utilize your magic. Unlike other blood-magic users, you are a creature of magic and thus experience very little backlash from channeling forces beyond our understanding.

That Which Binds

There is something that grounds you to the mortal coil, an often gruesome action which sustains your eldritch existence. A cost. In all cases, this action is compulsive, and some describe it as a deep, consuming hunger, even if your belly is full. Your physical form has permanently changed to accommodate your quest to stay alive. It varies by the undying; a majority have taken on the form of vampires, consuming flesh, blood, and energy, but others, such as stitched corpses, may need a surge of electricity to keep themselves limber.

Regeneration

You are functionally immortal. Although you can die and be harmed, you can recover from even the most grievous wounds unless exposed to sunlight, or your body is completely destroyed. If you become dismembered, you can feel and control these disembodied pieces. It is simply a matter of fetching the lost body part and reattaching it. Your bodily functions are still active as well, although they move at a much slower rate than a living human's.

Monstrous

If you do not ground yourself, your magic begins to fade. Often, an undead's body will simply wither, but cases of deanimation, falling to pieces, or petrification are just as common. Should you stay in this state for a full twenty-four hours, then you will become nothing more than a mindless monster, a permanent affliction of the fallen undying.

Hibernation

With preparation and will, an undying can force themselves into hibernation. This is a state in which they are almost inert, generally unconscious to the world and vulnerable if they do not take steps to protect themselves. A sudden change around them, like their tomb being broken into, can awaken them, but they will be starving and desperate to feed and regain strength. Many undying through the centuries have hibernated and been protected by followers, leading to interesting myths and scary stories around campfires, as well as entire cults dedicated to them. These cults generally experienced quite a nasty surprise when their object of worship awakened.

Abilities

Cantrip

Gained at Ashen. Gain an additional one at Reaver.

You can create a Cantrip, a minor ability from one of the Undying's chosen Path or Magic Keywords. These abilities are relatively small and effortless, something that comes naturally to the Undying and does not require a Cinder roll.

Undead+

Gained at Cenotite.

When your body is destroyed, if even a cell remains, you can return. This would obviously take some time, though. You can move to the spirit track while you wait because death is nothing more than inconvenient.

Glorious End

Gained at Cenotite.

Perhaps you've tired of your immortal life and it's time to see a proper end. In this case, you've harnessed the powers of undeath for so long and with such skill that you've discovered a means to return. Completely. You become a living breathing human again. You can age, grow sick, and die, but you've chosen your fate. This is a permanent option. If you take this path, you lose all undead abilities and become a human, but you keep your mundane abilities. You cannot become undead again.

Weaknesses

Mors Argentum

Silver. Silver-backed mirrors do not show your reflection. Although it does not burn you in the same way it would those beastly shifters, proximity tends to make you feel a little like your seams are loosened. Being touched or struck by silver gives a -1d6 penalty to your Cinder pool.

Merciless Sun

Early on, you discovered that sunlight weakens the eldritch magic that binds you together. So long as you are under the cleansing light of the sun, you are sickly and weak, and prolonged exposure will destroy you entirely. Daylight and True Sunlight reduces your Strike pool to 4d6. With the Daywalker keyword, an Undying can roll a contested roll to attempt to prevent the passive effect of True Sunlight, but not daylight.

Faith's Reward

You are an aberration, a monster who has stepped out of the natural flow of life. Those who wrote the code of the universe take exception to this. You are discomfited by holy symbols, so long as the one holding them is a believer. If one touches you, it will temporarily deaden the eldritch magic on that body part.

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The member group and type a character is, based on the eight available.

Cinder is the die pool of mental and magical abilities of a character.

Strike is the die pool of physical abilities of a character.

A roll to meet or exceed a targeting/attacking roll.