MONSTOBER 2025 DAY 6: REVENANT

For use with Dragonbane RPG.

Description:
Dwarves do not forget small slights. They remember insults, broken oaths, ruined forges, the insult of a stolen name. When one of those grudges is strong enough, it can tie a dwarf back to the world. The revenant looks like the dwarf it once was, only harder and angrier and somehow older than its years. It crawled out of a cold grave, still wearing the parts of its life it could not let go of, and walks with a single, terrible job: settle accounts. It is precise, patient, and intolerant of excuses. Put another way, if a dwarf wants revenge, it will take the time to plan it and then execute with a craftsman’s attention to detail. This thing is not mindless. It remembers faces and names and the ways those names betrayed it.

Resistance: None noted here, though silvered weapons and cold wrought iron are likely to make a revenant uncomfortable. Unlike some undead, this creature can be reasoned with if you can get it to calm down.
Please note that the Revenant is Undead and takes damage and is vulnerable as such.
Ferocity: 2 Size: Medium
Movement: 10 Armor: 2 HP: 12

MONSTER ATTACKS
D6 Attacks:
1: Double Fist Strike: 1d8 bludgeoning damage, single target within 2 meters. The revenant aims for old wounds or armor gaps it remembers.
2: Angry Backhand: 1d6 damage, single target within 2 meters, knocks the target back 2 meters
3: Strangle You! The Revenant locks his hands around the victims throat and throttles them for 2d6 damage. This hold can be broken with an Opposed STR roll as a free action before damage is inflicted and again on the victim’s turn. Revenants have a score of 14 for the purposes of this check.
4: Scream Your Name! One target within 8 meters must make a WIL check or roll on the Fear Table.
5: Grudge Lash: 1d6 damage to all foes within 2 meters, delivers a whispered accusation that chills the heart causing a Bane on the next action or attack of those hit by this ability.
6: Vengeful Binding: The Revenant grabs one opponent within 2 meters and stares directly into their soul. Victim must roll on the Fear table and is paralyzed on their next turn. As a lasting side effect, the victims hair turns white.

NOTES AND HOOKS
A revenant is never random. Dwarves keep grudges with the same stubbornness they keep ledgers. Use that. The revenant will show up in places its old life touched: a ruined forge, a miner’s bar, a family hall. It will leave signs that it has been there, things arranged just so, an old tool placed on the doorstep, soot on a windowsill. Those signs are part of the horror. They say I know you, I remember.

Stopping a revenant requires exhuming, finding the heart, removing it and burning it, or using strong rites, a consecrated blade, or a ritual of release performed by a respected dwarf clan speaker. If the group tries to bargain, the revenant may accept a completion of its task instead of violence. That offers a roleplay solution that fits the world theme of memory and making things right.

Tactics for GMs
Introduce the revenant with atmosphere, not a surprise fight. A wrench laid carefully beside a door, a smear of coal where none should be. Let it stalk, then attack with the precision of a mountain tool. It avoids killing indiscriminately. If the party kills it without dealing with the reason it came back, expect consequences. The clan remembers and ghosts do not like loose ends.

Treasure and Rewards
Minimal coin, a battered heirloom, or a smithing tool with a rune that reveals a small lore hook. If the party chooses to perform a proper consecration rather than destroy the body, reward them with a lasting favor from a dwarf clan later in the campaign.