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About this mod
A variant Wight Subrace for Ghouls0Rules' Ghastly Ghouls - Playable Undead Race.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
The Wight saw many implementations in various editions of D&D. The common theme is that it's a corporeal undead with energy drain, that can raise and command a small army of zombies (or other wights) and is smart enough to use them tactically.
The creature got quite an overhaul in 5e, changing it from an almost feral elite zombie, to an undead soldier who retains the personality and goals it had in life. The creation of a wight is now rather rare, they can no longer be created by infection; a wight is created, when a soul refuses to move on after death, and finds a way back to the mortal plane, usually by making a deal with a dark power like Orcus or Vecna, while being dead.
This is what this new subclass for Ghastly Ghouls - Playable Undead Race aims for. I didn't touch the original Wight subrace or change either subrace's name. Just like in D&D 5e vs. previous editions, those two are almost completely different creatures that share a name and a general theme.
DIFFERENCES TO BASE UNDEAD RACE
WIGHT VARIANT
A defiant soul, who died and clawed their way back to the mortal world. Unlike a revenant, they do not only exist for a singular goal, but have free will and autonomy to follow their own agenda, although most wights will be beholden to an otherwordly power that brought them back to the mortal plane.
FEATURES
This subrace is a simplistic approach. You happen to be undead and gain some extra perks, but you are still first of all a <insert class>.
Everything is packed into two abilities given at Level 1. Life Drain as the defining feature of a Wight can be used once per combat, and is basically a cantrip with guaranteed damage that can provide advantage on attacks when fortune smiles on you, or a meatshield zombie when used as a finisher.
CREDITS
All credits go to ghouls0rules for the base mod. Without their work on the actual undead character models this is just a couple of new abilities.
Please remember to endorse Ghastly Ghouls - Playable Undead Race.
KNOWN ISSUES
The creature got quite an overhaul in 5e, changing it from an almost feral elite zombie, to an undead soldier who retains the personality and goals it had in life. The creation of a wight is now rather rare, they can no longer be created by infection; a wight is created, when a soul refuses to move on after death, and finds a way back to the mortal plane, usually by making a deal with a dark power like Orcus or Vecna, while being dead.
This is what this new subclass for Ghastly Ghouls - Playable Undead Race aims for. I didn't touch the original Wight subrace or change either subrace's name. Just like in D&D 5e vs. previous editions, those two are almost completely different creatures that share a name and a general theme.
DIFFERENCES TO BASE UNDEAD RACE
- The subrace does not get Decayed Constitution (healing from poison), instead it's gets a new defensive passive and an unique down state.
- Improved immunity to Sleep and Paralysis for some cases were the game ignores the Undead tag (still doesn't work with Priestess Gut.)
WIGHT VARIANT
A defiant soul, who died and clawed their way back to the mortal world. Unlike a revenant, they do not only exist for a singular goal, but have free will and autonomy to follow their own agenda, although most wights will be beholden to an otherwordly power that brought them back to the mortal plane.
FEATURES
This subrace is a simplistic approach. You happen to be undead and gain some extra perks, but you are still first of all a <insert class>.
Everything is packed into two abilities given at Level 1. Life Drain as the defining feature of a Wight can be used once per combat, and is basically a cantrip with guaranteed damage that can provide advantage on attacks when fortune smiles on you, or a meatshield zombie when used as a finisher.
Spoiler:
Echoes of the Past (Passive)
Undying Defiance (Passive)
Life Drain (Action)
Unstable Thrall
Show
Echoes of the Past (Passive)
- Select an additional skill to be proficient in.
Undying Defiance (Passive)
- Immune to energy drain from other undead and similar area effects (including the Shadow Curse)
- Automatically stabilises when downed, and lasts longer when attacked while downed (10 failed death saves = 3 divine smites to kill).
- Automatically breaks free from the Charmed, Dominated, Possessed and Frightened conditions, using a bonus action point.
Life Drain (Action)
- Once per battle, attempt to drain a living creature in melee-range, doing d6 necrotic damage, scaling like a cantrip
- The target needs to make a constitution saving throw (Con-based DC) or their max HP is reduced by scaling d6.
- When the target fails their save, the wight gains 3 turns of Bloodlust (Advantage on attack rolls).
- When a humanoid is killed with Life Drain, they immediately turn into an unstable zombie.
- When a victim is zombified, living enemies nearby need to succeed a saving throw (Wis vs. Con-based DC) or be frightened for 1 turn.
Unstable Thrall
- The zombie created has higher stats (18 Str, 10 Dex) and 12HP + 2HP per level of the wight.
- The thrall also uses your proficiency bonus and adds it to damage, similar to how a necromancer's Better Summons works.
- There is no limit to the number of zombies following you, but they decay quickly, taking 1d4 damage per turn.
CREDITS
All credits go to ghouls0rules for the base mod. Without their work on the actual undead character models this is just a couple of new abilities.
Please remember to endorse Ghastly Ghouls - Playable Undead Race.
KNOWN ISSUES
- On the nautiloid you still may have Decayed Constitution, especially after a reload. The way the game rebuilds the characters on loading leads to unreliable results when an ability is added and removed at the same level. On 2nd level, the passive is removed again, this time for good.
To avoid this, this mod would need to change the progression of the original undead race and subraces, which I don''t want to. - The Life Drain DC calculation in the combat log is off, showing the spellcasting ability in the calculation but the (correct) Con-based DC as result.
This is a base game display issue, the actual saving throw uses the correct DC, which is also shown in the ability's tooltip.