Ok I have a player whose PC can't stand the thought of eventually becoming old and weak then eventually dying. He want to become an undead and live forever. I am willing to work out something with him for this. He's not sure if his character is vicious enough to sacrifice large job lots of people to become a Lich. Could get turned by a vampire then be a free agent when the creator vampire is destroyed. But the whole "burns in sunlight" thing is a serious weakness.
What other options are there and how would you handle it as a GM? We're still at the looking for ideas stage.
I'm currently running an Egyptian-esque D&D campaign and two of my players are undead.
Basically, I made it a feat that had to be taken at character creation. So either you played a variant human OR you rolled 3d6 in order for ability scores (which in my homebrew gives you a boon, one of which might be a bonus feat at character creation).
Undead (feat)
Prerequisite: Must be taken at character creation
You were returned as undead through a ritual, gaining the following benefits:
• You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
• You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
• You have darkvision 60 feet.
• Your type is undead, meaning most healing magic doesn't work on you and you can be affected by Turn Undead. Potions of healing, for example, don't work on you – but there is embalming fluid which acts as a baseline potion of healing. See the UNDEAD IMMUNITIES & SUSCEPTIBILITIES table.
The immunities & susceptibilities is something I worked up for this particular campaign (attached as image file).
It's been really interesting. We've had scenes where being undead worked amazingly in their favor (resisting a poison water trap) and also really hindered them (undead harmed in a particular sanctified area), and some crazy Turn Undead shenanigans (I ruled the cleric is exempt from their own Turn Undead). It introduces not only a really interesting mechanical twist but also a narrative one – we have an undead PC who lost everything and is suffering amnesia in a ghul-bargain with his heart in a canopic jar, and another who is tied to aristocracy with extensive surviving family and the result of "faulty" mummifcation and a poison plot. Good times.