Revenant

Revenants were undead creatures that would rise from the dead to hunt down and slay their killers with unwavering zeal.

Description
Appearing as decayed and emaciated versions of their once-living selves, revenants typically had open festering wounds and drawn, clammy skin covering their flesh. The magic that animated a revenant was powerful enough to reform their bodies even if they were completely destroyed.

Ordinarily, revenants had lifeless eyes but when faced with their murderers their eyes would flare with an unnatural light.

Personality
Revenants had an unrelenting desire for revenge against their killers, almost to the point of ignoring anyone else who was not involved in their murder. This desire for vengeance sometimes spread to accomplices involved in the murder, but they tended to be less important than their primary target.

Abilities
A revenant retained most of its abilities from before death, but also possessed greater physical strength and a stronger force of personality than they did in life. Along with the usual differences between the undead and the living, revenants were also impervious to the effects of acid, gases, cold, electricity, and polymorphing. Accompanied by their resistance to non-magical weapons, this all made revenants particularly tough physically.

The "lifespan" of a revenant lasted only until they slew their killer or killers, or about half a year, whichever came first. After succeeding in its mission of revenge, the revenant crumbled to dust. As long as its task remained unfinished, the revenant slowly decayed and would finally fall apart after about six months. In either case, the restless spirit animating the corpse was able to move on to the appointed afterlife.

Combat
Revenants were single-minded in the pursuit of their killers and although they had a number of resistances and abilities they were especially potent against their murderers. In addition, they still retained all the powers, experience, and special qualities they once had in life.
 * Fast Healing: A revenant could quickly recover from most damage done to it thanks to its accelerated healing abilities. Only damage dealt by fire was exempt from this healing factor.
 * Find the Guilty: Each revenant rose with an unerring sense of direction to where their murderer was located. However, this capability was restricted to locating creatures on the same plane of existence as a revenant.
 * Paralyzing Glare: Upon their first encounter with their killer, the revenant's eyes blazed with unnatural light and caused the murderer to be paralyzed on the spot if they were not strong-willed enough to resist.
 * Vengeful Strike: When facing their killers in combat, the revenant's attacks were especially potent and dealt even more damage than normal.

Unlike most undead, revenants were immune to holy water.

Society
Any humanoid could conceivably rise as a revenant. Although revenants typically had no society or shared purpose, gnomes seemed to be especially likely to be hunted by revenants.

Clerics or paladins who died and arose as revenants retained the ability to pray to and receive spells from their deity, although they lost access to undead turning, most healing powers, and other positive energy spells.

History
Early in the, a gnome wizard named Twisp was pursued through Daggerdale by a revenant claiming to be a moon elf from Evermeet. His efforts to slow his pursuer resulted in a great deal of collatoral damage.

On Marpenoth 2 of 1372 DR, Irae T'sarran began research on her great revenance spell that could potentially raise an army of thousands of revenants under her control.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Dungeon #15, "The Glass House" • Hellgate Keep • City of the Spider Queen • Curse of Strahd • Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
 * Video Games:
 * Neverwinter Nights • Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
 * Card Games
 * Dragonfire