Swîcan

The Living Undead - The Grey Dead

After the fall of the Lich King of Angorn, there emerged a new form of life who had once been under the control of the powerful necromancer. Created to lead his armies of the undead, Angorn fused together the powers of the living and the dead to bring the Swîcan into being. The Lich utilized the remaining life force within the undead to give them sentience and new life. These creations now rode the line between undeath and life neither truly resurrected nor reanimated these hybrids were the greatest feat accomplished by the Kingdom of Angorn.

Now loosed from the bonds of their creator the Swîcan now wander the world following their fragments of memories to find themselves. Swîcan are plagued with the knowledge that they now reside in the form of a once living being, and what's more, occasionally they remember bits who they used to be. While no longer having a soul, the Swîcan occasionally will have memories of their past lives and will often go on journeys to discover who they once were.

While they were created as machines of war, the Swîcan are no longer bound to this fate. Able to rationalize and think like any other living creature, Swîcan function in modern society as any other race with some minor issues. The foremost of the issues is they appear to be walking corpses. Very few peasants or even grizzled adventurers would claim the site of an animated corpse to be a pleasant one, however, the wisdom these beings can impart and their ability to work relentlessly often may change individuals perception. The Swîcan usually appear as a standard animated skeleton with a few particular differences. Between Swîcan the largest differences are the bone shapes which vary slightly between humanoid corpses. The next difference between Swîcan and most other undead is their slightly visible aura. In the eye sockets, mouth and in a general haze over the whole body is the faint grey light the glows more white when the Swîcan is attuned to positive energy and more black when attuned to negative energy. While not noticeable at a quick glance or when covered by clothes, the Swîcan’s aura is a distinct indication of their unique position in creation.

Swîcan works well in societies that are used to the presence of Undead. In locations like, the country of Wessier, who has been known to employ them to oversee the undead workers in their industrial plants, Swîcan are seen as valuable workers. In other lands such as nearby Kaldun they are seen as abominations and are likely to be destroyed like any other undead. Some lands even have seen the Swîcan create their own societies. In the Ruins of Angorn, the Swîcan still thrive, living as their bodies once did in the kingdom’s streets and homes.

The power of the Swîcan sometimes bleeds over into other undead, granting them the same miracle that brought the Swîcan to life, this is how the Swîcan have continued to live, their life beginning as undead brought to life by other Swîcan and their lives ending as their bodies collapse under years of ware, unable to continue within their host vessels. The Swîcan cease to exist once their body has collapsed, but it is often been documented that the magic of the Swîcan can transfer to a new host corpse (if one is nearby), although the memories and the knowledge of the previous being are left behind in the dust.

Restricted Information

Standard Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifier: The Swîcan are hardy creatures who seem to have an innate connection with their past lives. Their uncanny appearance and the general hatred of the undead leave them with a poor public perception. Swîcan gain a +4 bonus to Constitution score, a +2 bonus to one Wisdom score, and a –4 penalty to Charisma.
Type: Swîcan are humanoids with the half-undead subtype.
Size: Swîcan are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Base Speed: Swîcan have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Swîcan begin play speaking Common and Necril. Swîcan with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Elvish, Dwarvish, Gnomish, Celestial or Abyssal. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Undead Traits: While not truly undead anymore, Swîcan do not need to eat or sleep in order to survive. Many Swîcan do continue to do these activities mostly out of a deeply ingrained habit. Swîcan rest by entering a meditative state in which they resemble a unanimated skeleton.

Racial Senses

Senses: Swîcan have the darkvision 60 feet racial trait.
Undead Sense: Swîcan can sense the undead as per detect undead as a constant awareness of the undead. If an undead aura enters within 60 feet of the Swîcan they can concentrate on the aura to determine specific things. After one 2 rounds you can determine the number of auras and the strength of each as well as trace auras left by the undead. After 3 rounds the Swîcan can determine the location of the aura.

Magical Traits

Resistance of the Grave: Swîcan do not lose hit points when they gain a negative level, and they gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease, mind-affecting effects, and spells or spell-like abilities of the necromancy school. Swîcan also, take no penalties from energy-draining effects, though they can still be killed if they accrue more negative levels than they have Hit Dice. After 24 hours, any negative levels they’ve gained are removed without any additional saving throws.
Light and Dark: The Swîcan were created through a synthesis of negative and positive energy. Due to their unique position in the balance of energies Swîcan have learned to change their energy alignment with enough focus. Swîcan have a supernatural ability once per day to change their energy alignment from negative to positive and vice versa. When in positive alignment they are treated as if they were living and when in negative alignment they are treated as if they were undead this ability requires a full round action of concentration, as long as it is not interrupted it succeeds.
One with the Dead: The Swîcan were created as the generals in the Lich King’s army. Since their creation, they have walked among the undead and they are seen as their own. Swîcan are treated as being hidden from unintelligent undead and have a will save of (10+HD/2+WIS) against intelligent undead.
Hide among the Dead: Swîcan when laying completely still can easily be mistaken for a long forgotten adventurer who came to an unfortunate end. When not moving Swîcan gain a +4 bonus to disguise to resemble a corpse.

Racial Vulnerabilities

Resurrection Vulnerability: A raise dead spell cast on a member of this race can destroy it (Will negates). Using the spell in this way does not require a material component.
Phobias of the Past: Swîcan seldom remember much of their past lives, but the fear of how their body died is often ingrained into their very bones. Swîcan receive a -2 saving throw against the energy type, spell type, weapon type, monster type, or racial type that caused their bodies moratorium.

Procreation

Corpse Exposure: The necromancy used to bring the undead to a state of sentience can eventually bring other undead to a state of living. After a total of 24 hours of exposure to another risen undead, Swîcan will inadvertently grant the animated corpse sentience. This process, however, doesn't always result in mildly tempered Swîcan.

Every 24 hours = d100

1-45 = Undead become aggrivated and hostile

46-80 = Undead undergo no changes

81-99 = A true Swîcan is created

100 = A Swîcan rises with knowledge of his past life

Alternate Racial Traits

Small Stature: Some Swîcan are created from small humanoids, these undead living instead are small in size and have slow speed. They receive a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. Small races have a space of 5 feet by 5 feet and a reach of 5 feet and a speed of 20 ft. This replaces size and speed.
Large Stature: Some Swîcan are created from large humanoids. These creatures gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a –2 size penalty to Dexterity and an additional -4 to Charisma. Large races take a –1 size penalty to their AC, a –1 size penalty on attack rolls, a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a –4 size penalty on Stealth checks. A Large creature takes up a space that is 10 feet by 10 feet and has a reach of 5 feet. This replaces size and modifies Ability Scores.
Fleshy Form: Swîcan occasionally are created from Zombies instead of skeletons. These versions of the Swîcan are more adept at blending into traditional society and are granted the spell-like ability of Fleshy Facade, this comes at a cost however as other undead no longer see you as entirely undead and it is harder to mistake the Swîcan for a corpse. This replaces One with the Dead and Hide among the Dead.
Knowledge of the Past: The Lich King of Angorn made sure to not use the memories of the dead to create the new living. Some Swîcan, however, finds themselves able to recall some of their lives before death. Swîcan pick two Knowledge skills, this provides a +2 racial bonus on both of these skills, and those skills are treated as class skills. This replaces Undead Sense and One with the Dead.
Darkness’ Embrace: Some Swîcan follow in the steps of their creator and reject their ability to embrace the light. These Swîcan are always treated as undead and can only be healed by negative energy. They do, however, gain positive energy resistance of 5.
Light’s Embrace: Some Swîcan reject the path of their creator and banish their ability to embrace the darkness. These Swîcan are always treated as living for purposes of healing and can only be healed by positive energy. They also gain negative energy resistance of 5.

Google Sites

Report abuse