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Revenant

Revenant

AX.GH.13.08.04

The dead returned by singular purpose, not mindless like a Zombie, not predatory like a Vampire, but focused. A Revenant has one reason to be here and will not stop until it is done, which may mean finding its killer, fulfilling a promise, protecting someone it left behind or delivering justice it could not obtain in life.

Type: Undead (Returned)

Threat Power Package: Standard

Size: Medium

Attributes

  • Body: 4D
  • Speed: 2D
  • Wit: 2D

Talents

  • Brawl: 3D
  • Fortitude: 2D
  • Notice: 1D
  • Resolve: 2D

Combat Statistics

  • Health: 34 (20 + Body 4 + Standard modifier 10)
  • Defense: 2 (Speed 2 + Armor 0 = 2 ÷ 3 = 0.66, +1 base = 1; with supernatural resilience effectively treated as 2)
  • Armor: Supernatural resilience equivalent to Light (+1), weapons that are not silver, iron, or otherwise significant deal −1 damage (minimum 1)

Saves

  • Body Save: 6D (Body 4D + Fortitude 2D)
  • Speed Save: 2D (Speed 2D)
  • Wit Save: 4D (Wit 2D + Resolve 2D)

Attacks

  • Crushing Strike: Body 4D + Brawl 3D = 7D vs Defense, 4–6 damage typical
  • Unstoppable Advance: The Revenant ignores the Hindered and Staggered conditions. Effects that would impose these conditions on the Revenant instead deal 1 damage.

Undead Traits

  • Unliving: Immune to poison, disease, exhaustion, fear
  • Singular Purpose: The Revenant knows the location of the person, object, or place connected to its purpose at all times, no tracking or investigation required. It moves toward that purpose. Nothing else significantly diverts it.
  • Unkillable (Temporarily): The Revenant cannot be permanently destroyed by conventional means. When reduced to 0 HP, it collapses but reforms over 1D6 hours. It can only be permanently put to rest by fulfilling or formally resolving its purpose (see Destruction).

Special Abilities

  • Death Grip: When the Revenant successfully hits with Crushing Strike, the target must make a Speed Save vs Threshold 3 or be Grabbed. A Grabbed target takes automatic Crushing Strike damage at the start of the Revenant's each Turn without requiring a roll.
  • Ignore Pain: Once per scene, when the Revenant would be reduced to 0 HP, it instead remains at 1 HP and continues acting. This cannot trigger again until the Revenant has reformed after a previous collapse.

Tactics

The Revenant does not think tactically. It advances toward its purpose and destroys whatever is between it and that purpose. In combat it uses the most direct path, Death Grip to lock down the immediate obstacle, Crushing Strike to remove it, advance. Characters can redirect a Revenant temporarily by placing its purpose object or person nearby, but this only delays the inevitable if the purpose isn't resolved.

Lore & Ecology

Revenants are rare because the conditions that create them are specific: a person must die in circumstances that produce a genuine, focused, unresolved purpose strong enough to anchor them to the physical world. Murders with known killers who escaped justice are the most common origin. Broken oaths with significant consequences are another. A Revenant is typically recognizable as the person it was; they wear what they died in, they look like a corpse that is moving, and they do not speak except occasionally to name what they're after.

Destruction

Permanently putting a Revenant to rest requires fulfilling or formally resolving its purpose. For a Revenant seeking justice for its murder: confronting its killer and ensuring they face genuine consequences (legal, or their death). For a Revenant fulfilling a promise: actually fulfilling the promise. For a Revenant protecting someone: ensuring that person is genuinely safe. A Mediumship practitioner can facilitate direct communication with the Revenant to identify its purpose, which is often faster than investigation. Forcing the Revenant's physical remains into contact with its purpose object while the purpose is declared resolved, with a Sacred Fire application at Threshold 3, can compel rest if the resolution is genuine.

Scene Materials

  • Personal effects from when the Revenant died (evidence of the original incident)
  • Evidence of the Revenant's purpose (the killer's identity, the broken oath, the person it's protecting)
  • Remains (if investigators need to confirm identity, forensic value, connects to original death record)