Death Pit
5e
Churchgrim, Grim: There is a common belief that the soul of the first creature buried in any cemetery lingers and becomes the guardian of that cemetery. To avoid giving a humanoid this fate, many people instead bury a dog. The resulting entity is called a churchgrim, or just a grim for short.
Most of the time a churchgrim exists because a dead hound was buried to guard a cemetery.
Necrogrim: What do you get when an already potent guardian spirit is consumed with dark magic? The necrogrim is an answer, and can come about in a number of ways. Most of the time a churchgrim exists because a dead hound was buried to guard a cemetery, and it is possible for a churchgrim to become a necrogrim if it is exposed to enough necromantic magic over a long enough period of time, slowly warping the being, but this is not guaranteed and can take years to complete.
The faster way to create a necrogrim is to bury a living dog up to its neck in the earth, with food and water just out of reach. Eventually it will die, and the anger and hate and helplessness it feels in that moment will pull all of that dark energy in. A necrogrim is the result.
Sable, Necrogrim, Large Shaggy Furred Creature: Once upon a time the Death Pit was an ordinary cemetery, a ravine set aside and consecrated as a final resting place. Sable was a black hunting dog who was buried there first, and served as the churchgrim to the plot for years before the Necropolis ever moved in. But that was hundreds of years ago, and the only record left of who was buried in the Death Pit before it became the Death Pit resides deep within the vaults of Blackwood’s town hall.
Now, Sable’s coat breaks in places to show some of the bone and musculature beneath it. Her eye sockets glow witchlight blue. She is roughly the size of a workhorse, and still takes guardianship over her charge seriously.
All of this time stewing in necromantic energies has left her both powerful and intelligent.
Sable, Churchgrim: Once upon a time the Death Pit was an ordinary cemetery, a ravine set aside and consecrated as a final resting place. Sable was a black hunting dog who was buried there first, and served as the churchgrim to the plot for years before the Necropolis ever moved in.
Necromancer Arcaneth Nalifeaux, Master Necromancer, Skeletal Figure, Calming Figure, Dead Man, Evil Creature, Father of the Dead: ?
Undead, Undead Entity, Undead Being, Undead Creature: ?
Undead Creature With an Intelligence of 9 or Lower: ?
Civilized Dead, Civilized Awakened Undead, Civilized Undead: The City of the Dead has been here even longer than Blackwood. Archaneth raised it, and with it many of the civilized dead dwelling there.
Shambling Dead, Shambler, Mindless Shambling Undead, Shambling Undead: ?
Phantasmal Familiar: Warlock Necrogrim Patron Phantasmal Familiar power.
Phantasmal Familiar, Spirit Being, Body of a Hound, Beast: ?
Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Civilized Dead, Skeleton, Civilized Dead, Civilized Awakened Undead, Civilized Undead: The City of the Dead has been here even longer than Blackwood. Archaneth raised it, and with it many of the civilized dead dwelling there.
Skeleton, Shambling Dead, Shambler, Mindless Shambling Undead, Shambling Undead: ?
Skeleton Civilized Dead With an Intelligence of 12: ?
Skeleton With an Intelligence of 10: Warlock Necrogrim Patron Awaken Undead power.
Zombie: ?
Zombie Civilized Dead, Zombie, Civilized Dead, Civilized Awakened Undead, Civilized Undead: The City of the Dead has been here even longer than Blackwood. Archaneth raised it, and with it many of the civilized dead dwelling there.
Examination of this book will reveals someone has been trying to figure out how to bring intelligence back to the shambling dead, to turn time back on them to before they lost their minds in the first place.
A character who succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (Arcana or Religion) check while examining the book discovers notes on terrible experiments to create an elixir capable of giving sentience to the shambling dead. Many living test subjects became zombies themselves during these experiments.
In a half broken down wooden crate beneath the table there are two potions in crude stone bottles, stoppered by chunks of bone that were cut to measure and fit the holes of the bottles.
The liquid inside smells foul. Anyone that drinks the potion will have to make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or immediately die and rise as a zombie, albeit one of the civilized awakened dead rather than a shambler.
Zombie, Shambling Dead, Shambler, Mindless Shambling Undead, Shambling Undead: ?
Zombie Civilized Dead With an Intelligence of 12: ?
Zombie With an Intelligence of 10: Warlock Necrogrim Patron Awaken Undead power.
Phantasmal Familiar
Starting at 6th level, a spirit being attaches itself to you as your familiar. The phantasmal familiar must have a corpse to inhabit. You can use your action to touch the corpse of a Medium or larger creature and cause the bones and sinew of that creature to snap and twist and rearrange themselves into the body of a hound, mimicking the image of your patron. This beast uses the wolf statistics with the following changes:
• The phantasmal familiar counts as an undead.
• It has extra hit points equal to your warlock level.
• When you cast a spell with a range of touch, your phantasmal familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your phantasmal familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.
Once you use this feature you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Awaken Undead
Starting at 10th level you gain the ability to awaken the shambling undead and bring them back to some semblance of consciousness. The ritual to awaken a skeleton or zombie takes 1 hour to complete. A skeleton or zombie must remain within a 10 foot radius ritual circle for the entire length of the ritual. If the undead creature leaves the circle, the ritual fails. If the ritual is completed successfully, the skeleton or zombie gains an Intelligence of 10 and the ability to speak one language you know. They are charmed by you for 24 hours. After this time the awakened skeleton or zombie acts as it would have when it was alive, including any adverse opinions about its current state.
Once you use this feature you can’t use it again until you finish a short rest.
