Basic gravelorn writeup.
Gravelorn are beings brought back to a pale imitation of life by means of the Ritual of the Empty Tomb. They can originally be of any race, but upon their rebirth exchange all racial features and modifiers from their initial race for those of the gravelorn.
* Living Dead Subtype: Gravelorn retain their original creature type and subtype(s) in addition to gaining the Living Dead subtype. Creatures with the Living Dead subtype exist on the border between life and death, and as such differ from other living beings in certain fundamental ways:
-Immune to Poison, Disease, Sleep effects, Paralysis, Nausea, Fatigue, Exhaustion, the Sickened condition, and Energy Drain. A gravelorn's physiology no longer functions in the normal way, if at all, and as such the woes of the body fail to have any significant effect on them.
-Gravelorn cannot heal naturally on their own. Being attended to by someone (including the gravelorn themself) with the Profession (Taxidermist) or Profession (Embalmer) skill allows them to recover hit points identical to a warforged being repaired via an appropriate craft check (8 hours, hp recovered equal to check result -15, minimum 0. Can take 10 on the check but not 20).
-Gravelorn respond slightly differently from other living creatures when reduced to 0 hit points. At 0hp they are disabled (as normal) but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When his hit points are less than 0 and more than -10, a gravelorn is unconscious and helpless, and cannot perform any actions. However, an inert gravelorn does not lose any additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to him, as with a living creature that is stable.
-As living dead, gravelorn can be affected by spells that target living creatures as those that target the undead. A gravelorn could be controlled by a Control Undead spell, held immoble by Halt Undead, and bolstered by being within a Desecrated area. Due to their tenuous grasp on life, spells from the healing subschool and supernatural abilities that cure hit point or ability damage provide only half their normal benefit to a gravelorn. However, by the same token they only take half damage from negative energy effects, such as an Inflict Light Wounds spell or the touch of a Shadow.
-If killed and subsequently returned to life by means of Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection, a gravelorn returns as a fully living member of their original race. If returned via Reincarnation, they return as a living member of the appropriate creature type to when they were living (that is - use the humanoid reincarnate table if originally humanoid, etc). Only another performance of the Ritual of the Empty Tomb or an appropriately worded Wish or Miracle can restore a destroyed gravelorn to their semi-living state. If returned to true life, the character may be subject to level loss depending on the spell used. If returned to living death as a gravelorn, no level loss is incurred but the price of the method used must still be paid.
-Gravelorn do not need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe, though they can still ingest food and pantomime breathing if they make the effort. Gravelorn can still benefit from consumable spells or magic items such as a Heroes Feast or potions. As they are incapable of sleep, certain effects that require such a state do no function in regard of a gravelorn. Gravelorn spellcasters still require the normal 8 hours of restful calm to regain their spells.
-Gravelorn are essentially immortal in that they will never die of old age, though with time their bodies will degenerate somewhat. A gravelorn hits middle age at 200 years, old age at 400 years and venerable at 1000. Gravelorn have no maximum lifespan.
* +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma. Gravelorn are durable, but their condition alienates them from others. A gravelorn's ability to empathize and relate is ... stunted.
* Size and speed appropriate to whatever their original race was, usually medium with a 30' base speed. Small gravelorn suffer a -2 penalty to strength, recieve the standard adjustments for being small, and have a base speed of 20'. (DM note: if this is being abused, feel free to slap on LA as appropriate)
* Light Fortification: when subject to a critical hit or sneak attack, a gravelorn has a 25% chance to ignore any extra damage incurred. They arn't using most of those organs anyway.
* A gravelorn has a natural weapon in the form of a slam attack that deals 1d4 points of damage (at size medium).
* Automagic languages: appropriate for the gravelorn's original race.
* Favored class: appropriate for the gravelorn's original race.
Note on feats: Being semi-undead, gravelorn qualify for certain feats normally unavailable to the living, and interract with others in a slightly different fashion. Of note -
(Tomb-Tainted Soul): a gravelorn with Tomb-Tainted Soul gains the normal benefits of the feat, that is to say positive energy now harms them, and negative energy heals them without the normal 50% reduction to either applying.
(Various Monsterous Feats): a gravelorn is considered undead (and having a Con of --, if needed) for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites of such feats. For example, a gravelorn with a 13+ charisma could take the Lifesense feat if they so desired.
(Warforged-analogous Feats): several warforged racial feats have gravelorn analogues. Improved Fortification (100% fortification but can no longer be healed; Tomb Tainted Soul heavily recomended), Improved Resiliency (immune to non-lethal damage but cannot benefit from regeneration or fast healing), Jaws of Death (gain a 1d6 bite as a secondary natural attack) and Second Slam (...gain a second slam). At the DMs option, an undead-version of Construct Lock might also be available.
