Darakhul

In the lightless depths beneath the ground, an empire of devouring ambition grows and plots and dreams. Its citizens call themselves the People, but the rest of Midgard calls them the Lords Subterranean, the Ghoul Imperium, or simply the Empire of the Ghouls. Their cities lie out of sight, their agents infiltrate the underworlds of a score of surface cities, and their goals know no limits. To them, if you are not a member of the People, you are food. Their empire maintains complex social structures and forges serious alliances, particularly among the undead princes of Morgau and Doresh. Unofficial embassies exist in Zobeck, the Ironcrag Cantons, Krakova, and Magdar. Other hidden outposts may lurk below the Seven Cities, Illyria, or beyond. They scheme and plot. They hunger for the flesh of the living. They are the darakhul. Playing a Darakhul Character

Life as the ravenous undead comes with challenges for an adventurer. People revile the darakhul universally as scavengers at best and as loathsome, murdering abominations at worst. For such a being, participating as a member of an adventuring party is complicated. To survive on the daylit surface of the world, a darakhul must be clever and thorough.  One of the touchstones that provides stability in your new form is your old life. While you have urges and thoughts that are dark and terrible, memories and feelings from your life before undeath might resurface to help you cope. Sometimes these flashes are corrupted versions of your old self, manifesting in your mind in new ways. Other times the recollections and feelings bubble up unfiltered, reminding you of a time when you were alive. Both are painful, but pain can be instructive. A major question you have to answer when you play a darakhul is, “How am I dealing with the change that transformed me into a ghoul?” Have you fully accepted your new situation, embracing your new powers and hungers as a boon? Do you fight against your urges daily, seeking to return to your old self? What were your goals before your transformation, and do you still pursue them? Are your new goals simply about survival, or are those aspirations a twisted reflection of the goals you had as a living creature? Regardless of your current monstrous state, who you once were has a powerful effect on who you are now. The carefree spirit of a halfling, the fiendish urges of a tiefling, or the creative spark of a gnome: all of these do not leave you simply because of your new form. How do those traits manifest themselves in your now? There is a great deal of narrative, dramatic, and roleplaying potential in that tension between the old self and the new. Darakhul may be undead, but they still must function in their own society—be it on the surface or in the Underworld. Most still have jobs to do and dreams to fulfill within their society. Into the Big, Wide World

Some darakhul venture into the wider world on the business of the Imperium. Maintaining their state requires envoys and ambassadors, messengers and scouts, traders and commerce, as well as knowledge of events in the surface world. These undead diplomats engage with races they might otherwise consider food out of duty to the Imperium and with a specific purpose. Other members of their kind, however, have no such obligations. For adventuring darakhul, those in self-imposed exile, or those who never belonged to the Imperium, the quest to master their own hunger, to transcend their role as predators of sentient beings, is as much a part of their journey as the current quest. These characters typically want to grow beyond their ghoulish appetites and regain some part of their former lives in the cultures and societies of the world’s surface. No one knows better than the darakhul that they can’t overcome their nature unless they confront it. But no matter how urbane or well-controlled the rare diplomat or merchant might seem to be, the prejudice of the living against the undead is powerful and visceral. Humanity views the darakhul with suspicion if not outright hostility, and it is difficult—but not impossible—for a darakhul to allay those fears. The Cut of Your Cloak

A quality disguise is one of the best tools for a darakhul trying to make its way among the breathing. Almost all ghouls traveling on the surface maintain a disguise kit and a concealing outfit to match their cover identity. With a good costume, a ghoul might pass unchallenged among humans for a long time. Possibilities include the wrappings of a leper, the enshrouding robes that are common within the Magocracy of Allain, the veils of Siwali ladies, or the head-to-toe garb of the desert raiders of the Tamasheq. Each of these disguises requires appropriate details to help the deception withstand scrutiny: the right language skills along with knowledge of the region and its customs. Even a convincing disguise doesn’t explain a darakhul’s need to eat alone and behind closed doors. Darakhul can use cultural or religious requirements to justify such behavior in most situations. In cases where a costume and a cover identity are impractical, a skillful application of cosmetics and a few gold coins slipped into the right hands are often enough to make a request for privacy seem more reasonable. Ensuring a sufficient supply of raw meat is a challenge left to the darakhul’s imagination.

Darakhul Characters

Both ordinary ghouls and darakhul arise from the infected corpses of other races. Most traits of the previous race are gone, although every darakhul carries some trait of their previous form (see the Heritage Subraces). Even their cosmetic features, such as supple skin and long beards, fade over time into the gaunt, skull-like faces, fanged maws and taut, gray skin of the ghouls. Darakhul Traits

Your darakhul character has certain characteristics in common with all other darakhul. Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1. Age. An upper limit of darakhul age has never been discovered; most darakhul die violently. Alignment. Your alignment does not change when you become a darakhul, but most darakhul have a strong draw toward evil. Size. Your size is determined by your Heritage Subrace Speed. Your base walking speed is determined by your Heritage Subrace. Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet as though it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Hunger for Flesh. You must consume 1 pound of raw meat each day or suffer the effects of starvation. If you go 24 hours without such a meal, you gain one level of exhaustion. While you have any levels of exhaustion from this trait, you can’t regain hit points or remove levels of exhaustion until you spend at least 1 hour consuming 10 pounds of raw meat. Imperfect Undeath. You transitioned into undeath, but your transition was imperfect. Though you are a humanoid, you are susceptible to effects that target undead. You can regain hit points from spells like cure wounds, but you can also be affected by game effects that specifically target undead, such as a cleric’s Turn Undead feature. Game effects that raise a creature from the dead work on you as normal, but they return you to life as a darakhul. A true resurrection or wish spell can restore you to life as a fully living member of your original race. Powerful Jaw. Your heavy jaw is powerful enough to crush bones to powder. Your bite is a natural melee weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, your bite deals piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight. Undead Resilience. You are infused with the dark energy of undeath, which frees you from some frailties that plague most creatures. You have resistance to necrotic damage and poison damage, you are immune to disease, and you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and poisoned. When you finish a short rest, you can reduce your exhaustion level by 1, provided you have ingested at least 1 pound of raw meat in the last 24 hours (see Hunger for Flesh). Undead Vitality. You don’t need to breathe, and you don’t sleep the way most creatures do. Instead, you enter a dormant state that resembles death, remaining semiconscious, for 6 hours a day. While dormant, you have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Darakhul, and a language associated with your Heritage Subrace. Heritage Subrace. You were something else before you became a darakhul. This heritage determines some of your traits. Choose one Heritage Subrace below and apply the listed traits. Looking Alive

To pass for a living creature, a darakhul needs a convincing costume, matching language and speech patterns, and appropriate mannerisms and behavior. The best tactic for most darakhul is to mimic the cultures they lived in while alive, because they have a lifetime (if a short one) of knowledge to draw on. Whether it’s better to try to blend into the local culture is an open question. Someone who looks just like everyone else on the street draws less attention than someone who looks like an exotic foreigner—but a person who looks like everyone else yet acts oddly can rouse even more suspicion than the exotic stranger, especially in a crossroads of cultures where foreign travelers are common. Under normal circumstances, a darakhul with a careful disguise can move among the living without rousing suspicion. As with any ability check, dice should be brought in only when the character faces an unusual situation or a challenge. If, for example, a darakhul gets involved in a chase or a battle in a crowded city market, there’s a chance a bystander might notice the pallor of undead flesh beneath a flapping cloak or the rictus grin inside a deep hood that’s momentarily pushed back. Palace guards inspect supplicants to the Queen more carefully than an innkeeper or a merchant inspects customers. If rumors get around that there are murderers, monsters, or darakhul loose in the city, everyone is more alert. In those situations, the GM can call for a Charisma (Deception) check and either compare it to the NPC’s passive Perception score or make an active Wisdom (Perception) check for the NPC. Opposed checks should be reserved for those times when an NPC intently scrutinizes the character or is already suspicious. If a group of NPCs is involved, it’s best to make one check with advantage for the group instead of one check per NPC. Heritage Subraces

Before the terrible scourge of darakhul fever transformed you into an undead creature, you belonged to another race. Although your undead self now rules you, some remnant of your past form clings to you, making you different from the darakhul created from another race. Sometimes you retain a trait, but more likely you now have a trait that is a corruption of one you once possessed. For example, the elemental spark in a dragonborn is perverted into one of a more necrotic bent. The luck inherent in a halfling’s spirit twists into a power that brings ill fortune to their enemies.