The Undying: Reanimated
The Old Undying
First introduced in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, the Undying were presented as an otherwordly patron for those seeking a taste of the forbidden knowledge possessed by the powerful liches who have overcome death itself. Patrons included infamous liches of the multiverse such as Vecna, Iuz, Vol, Vlaakith, and Larloch.
However, the benefits gained by serving an Undying patron were negligible. The immortality sought by their warlocks came too little too late in the original release, making it an unpopular patron choice.
The New Undying
This is an attempt to invigorate the Undying patron with better mechanics to entice warlocks with the promise of life bending power. A warlock of the Undying seeks to emulate their lich patron by embracing aspects undeath and using necromancy. They straddle the line between life and death, good and evil.
The Undying patrons are typically evil, but a warlock of the Undying need not be so. One might use the powers of necromancy to preserve the life of their friends and end the lives of those who deserve it.
Expanded Spell List
The Undying lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
Undying Expanded Spells
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | False Life, Inflict Wounds |
| 2nd | Aid, Blindness/Deafness |
| 3rd | Revivify, Aura of Vitality |
| 4th | Divination, Death Ward |
| 5th | Antilife Shell, Raise Dead |
Bonus Cantrips
At 1st level, you learn the Spare the Dying and Chill Touch cantrips. They count as warlock cantrips for you, but they don't count against your number of cantrips known.
Undead Nature
Beginning at 1st level, you are granted some of the minor traits of your patron's immortal existence. For every 10 years that pass, your body ages only 1 year, and you are immune to being magically aged.
You gain a base AC of 13 + your Constitution modifier and proficiency in shields. You have advantage on saving throws against disease and poison, and you have resistance to poison damage.
Deathless Fortitude
Starting at 1st level, your patron grants you the uncanny ability to cheat death. When you die as a result of failing death saving throws or suffering an Instant Death effect, you can choose to bring yourself back to life.
You can make this choice on your turn or up to 24 hours after your death. Until you do so, you are blinded, deaf, and incapacitated. You appear as if under the Feign Death spell. When you choose to return to life, you gain 1 hit point and can spend one or more Hit Dice to heal as if taking a short rest.
If you have any dismembered body parts nearby, you can put them back in place with the parts reattaching. Otherwise, any missing body parts are restored after 2 minutes as if by the Regenerate spell.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Necrotic Mastery
Starting at 6th level, you imbue your necrotic life force into the spells you cast. You have resistance to necrotic damage, and whenever you deal necrotic damage you can add your Charisma modifier to the damage once per turn. If you kill a creature with necrotic damage you can steal its life force and gain temporary hit points equal to the amount of necrotic damage taken by the creature.
Gift of Undeath
Starting at 10th level, you can share your gift of undeath with other unfortunate souls. When you kill a Medium or Small humanoid with necrotic damage, you can raise it from the dead as a zombie under your control. Treat the creature as if you had cast Animate Dead on it. It remains animate for one hour, after which time it collapses and dies.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Any undead created by this feature or through a spell cast by you gains a bonus to its attack and damage rolls equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +0).
Immortal Life
Starting at 14th level, your patron bestows upon you a boon of immortality and you achieve a state of psuedo-lichdom. You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks. You stop aging, you are immune to any effect that would age you, and you can't die from old age.
You can also hold your breath indefinitely, and you don't require food, water, or sleep, although you still require rest to reduce exhaustion and still benefit from finishing short and long rests.
Additionally, your patron grants you knowledge of a magical secret allowing you to create something akin to a phylactery. When you reach 15th level in this class, you can cast Clone using your 8th-level spell slot granted by Mystic Arcanum.