Litch (5e Race)

Litch

“	The cold is our home. The mountains are our fortress. The ice is our weapon.	”
—Ki'tesh, litch warrior.

Physical Description

A litch mage by Kats41

Litches resemble actual liches in that they look like emaciated, rotting, humanoid corpses. However, their skin is often better preserved from the cold, being waxy rather than looking like it's breaking. The skin tone can be light grey to a pale color like snow and sometimes even translucent like ice, though still retaining the textural qualities of skin. Their faces show the outline of the skull and their eyes are sunken in their heads, resembling blue lights that can shine through snow storms. If litches have hair, it is only on their heads and is a pale white color. They have spindly, skeletal limbs and a body which clearly shows the skin and bones nature of the race.

History

Litches are undead that were left to their own devices up in frosty mountains and unforgiving tundra, where temperatures froze and changed their physiology from that of regular undead. Their bodies do not rot after being imbued with the cold but they may still die upon reaching their point of "sub-zero," where their bodies turn brittle and crumble like ice, signifying true death. It is an odd difference between them and undead who do not age and can virtually live forever after they are raised.

Litches are thought to have risen only in select conditions where the cold that preserves their bodies is actually the exhale of a deity, making it magical cold that enters and melds with the body makeup. The soul of the deceased is then imperfectly bought back, mainly without much ability for common speech or cerebral thought, thus animating the body like an inelegant zombie. They are reborn with the tongue of a primordial, leading some to believe the deity which breathed life into them is one of the elemental planes. Litches are capable of learning, however, like a human, and so can take on varying alignments and regain thought processes. However, most stay within the solitude of the frost and wander aimlessly. They are historically mistaken to be some kind of lesser yeti with eerie glowing eyes in storms. Litches are not known to interact with other races, rather like drifting clouds. If provoked, the magical cold within spurs them to attack with cold magic, making them vicious in the snowy terrains.

Society

While litches are rarely seen by outsiders due to their wandering nature, they often also just don't want to be found. Many litches are neutral in temperament and alignment and just don't want much to do with anybody. However, their cities do exist as their numbers are not so few. Their civilizations lie in the alps of heaven-reaching mountains or in deep caverns lined with frost and canyons filled with frozen coniferous plants. Despite their aloof behavior, their society is quite well organized and complex, consisting of a circular social graph where the center controls affairs throughout the outer layers. Throughout these social layers, litches value nature as their creator who granted them a second life with debatable purpose and magical powers.

The litch society centers around druidic and warlock magic, which are organized into classes and schools of spellcasters. Among these schools, that of the sooth-sayers is one of the most important, as they are the vanguards of litches' cautionary nature and desire for insight. More primal litch societies have chieftains that direct the city or village with the aid of the spellcasters. However, some litches with larger numbers and developed ambitions have taken to creating a more organized society based on castles in frigid mountains and controlled governing like that of a monarchic human society. The king is usually chosen by the prominence of the magical frost within, showcased in usage and proficiency in magic. The same tests are used to determine lords who are the other spellcasters. Commoners usually only have basic understanding or use of magic but because this is mainly a society where status is based on magical power, a trained commoner may be eligible for positions of power. This motivates the philosophy of litch society where hard work and merit reign.

Litch Names

Litches names take names similar to orcs which they possibly learned from encounters with the mountainous tribes along the Spine of the World, though litch names tend to be longer.

Male: Ki'tesh, Naz'zuk, Kat'aal, Dur'neip

Female: Za'nei, Ju'pet, Li'turg, Zo'tuul

Litch Traits

A humanoid race of undead living upon the coldest summits of the world.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Litches live much longer than most common races, surviving to ages between 200-500 years old. They are undead but age by the means of growing colder until they reach "sub-zero."
Alignment. Litches are notorious for not meddling in the affairs of other races and keep to themselves, although they are not indifferent to shed blood of a foe to protect others or one's self later. As such they follow a neutral alignment more often than not.
Size. Litches stand between 6 to 7 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Controlled Cryogenics. Living amid the cold for generations has allowed your race to master ice magic. You know the ray of frost cantrip
Fleet Snow. The snow and ice do not slow you down. It empowers you. When in arctic terrain, your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Pseudo Armor. Ice is not the toughest thing out there but you can make it work in a pinch. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
Freeze Resistant. You are resistant to cold damage.
Undead Nature. You do not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. You are vulnerable to radiant damage, but resistant to necrotic damage. Your creature type is both humanoid and undead.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Primordial and Orcish.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
6′ 0''	+1d12	165 lb.	× (2) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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