Relentless Revenant

Most pugilists suffer hardships, but few can claim they’ve passed through the gates of death and returned. You died in an incident of terrible violence, perhaps an accident, perhaps not. You felt suffering, silence, darkness... then a cold-burning hatred in your chest. When you woke, you were changed. An object near you or on your person when you died granted you supernatural powers. You might not be able to die, but you’re pretty sure your enemies can.

Level 3: Terrible Talisman

You possess an object that reminds you of the burning hate that returned you to the land of the living. This object, known as your talisman, grants you the following supernatural powers:

• You suffer from exhaustion as if you had one less level than you do. You do not die from exhaustion until you gain a seventh level. At 11th level, you suffer from exhaustion as if you had two less levels than you do, at which point you do not die from exhaustion until you gain an eighth level.

• You have advantage on death saving throws.

• If a spell, such as Raise Dead, has the sole effect of restoring you to life, the caster doesn’t need material components to cast the spell on you.

Your talisman can be any nonmagical object of your choice. If your talisman is ever destroyed, you lose all the supernatural powers it grants you. You can replace your talisman with an 8 hour ritual, during which time you call forth a shadowy replica of the talisman from the land of the dead.

Level 3: No Escape

You can use an action to cast the Cause Fear spell. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

While a creature is frightened of you as a result of this spell, if it moves more than half of its movement speed on a turn, it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus) or fall prone and have its speed reduced to 0 until the start of its next turn. Additionally, creatures who are frightened of you as a result of this spell cannot hide from you and do not gain any of the benefits of invisibility against you.

Once you cast the spell with this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Level 6: Grave Cold Fury

When you take damage other than radiant, you can use your reaction to reduce that damage by an amount equal to twice your level in this class (minimum 0). The first attack you make before the end of your next turn deals additional necrotic damage equal to the amount you reduced the triggering damage by.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Level 11: Defy Death

When you take damage that would reduce you to 0 hit points or kill you outright, you can use your reaction to be reduced to 1 hit point instead. When you do, you gain temporary hit points equal to 5 × your pugilist level, and you regain all expended moxie points and the use of your No Escape and Grave Cold Fury features. One minute after you use this feature, you gain two levels of exhaustion.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Level 17: Enhanced Terrible Talisman

Your talisman grants you additional supernatural powers:

• Your maximum hit points can’t be reduced.

• You have resistance to necrotic damage.

• When a spell or effect would cause a creature to become frightened of you, it ignores any immunity to the frightened condition the target may have.

Level 17: Urban Legend

Death is but a door that you can pass through one way and then the other. If you die, you return to life with 1 hit point at the location of your talisman at midnight 1d6 + 1 days after you die. When you do, your talisman is destroyed.

Additionally, describe a small ritual that can be performed to summon you back from the dead even when your talisman is destroyed. Examples of such rituals could be saying your name three times in front of a mirror in the dark, reciting a certain rhyme or song on the night of the full moon in a graveyard, or spilling fresh blood on the ground while demanding an agent of vengeance appear. If you have been dead longer than 7 days, when a creature with an Intelligence 4 or higher completes the ritual, you return to life at its location with 1 hit point.