Ch. 6: Species and Difficulty

An Undead suffering the curse of the Darksign and living in death while slowly losing their humanity, an Ashen One awoken once more to defeat the Lords of Cinder and link the fire after a previous failure, a Tarnished spurned by grace once again given life and guidance by its rays of gold, a Hunter seeking to defend their land by slaying huge beastly predators and whatever abominations may lurk in the dark, a human doing whatever they can to survive in this fallen land. Those are the playable species in Dungeons & Dark Souls, choose which one to use for your character, others in the same campaign may choose another species, or the DM may decide the players have to be a certain one for the campaign.

## Undead

The Undead suffer from the Curse of the Undead, caused by the Darksign, whenever an Undead dies, they come back to life at the last bonfire they have rested at, bonfires being the closest to a home that those afflicted by the Darksign have, slowly losing memory of who they were in life, their home, their families, everything, until they lose their sanity and become Hollow, beasts with no thoughts or purpose other than attacking other Undead. Hollowing is the inevitable fate of every bearer of the curse. They believe they are the "Chosen Undead" and try to fulfill a fake prophecy, ringing the bell of awakening, killing the lords, defeating the Lord of Cinder and linking the fire, such fools, thinking a lowly Undead can face the gods. The Undead have a humanity system, measuring their grip on their remaining sanity, each time an Undead dies, or goes through a stressful event, they lose humanity, getting a step closer to hollowing. Successfully slaying enemies, relaxing, and doing things they like may recover their humanity. The humanity you start with and the rate at which you gain it is stated in your background. Having low humanity leads to hollowing, hollowing reduces constitution, intelligence, wisdom and charisma, and when their humanity runs out, the Undead becomes completely Hollow and can't be controlled anymore, with that character being degraded to appearing as an enemy to their previous allies. Gaining a lot of humanity leads to a boost in Hit Points and constitution. Undead do not need to sleep, resting at a bonfire for a while is enough to heal all of their wounds. This is the "Medium difficulty".

## Ashen One

The Unkindled are those who once tried to link the flame, but were not up to this legendary task, and failed, then were awoken as Champions of Ash to once again attempt to defeat the previous Lords of Cinder and link the fire. What makes them think they have a chance? They already failed once, do they desire to fail over and over again? Just like the Undead, they come back to life at the last bonfire rested at. Ashen Ones do not have a humanity system, meaning they can die as many times as they want with no consequences, other than the loss of souls. They also rest in the same way as the Undead, by sitting next to a bonfire for some time. This is the "Easy difficulty". However, under certain circumstances determined by the DM, an Ashen One may become afflicted by the Darksign, becoming Undead and gaining the humanity system. May be reflavored as "Tarnished" or "Hunter", and Bonfires may be reflavored as Sites of Grace or Lamps

## Human

Humans believe themselves to be the greatest of all, but in reality they are even lower than the Unkindled, and even the Undead. Humans may have a wide variety of goals, but can they really accomplish anything in this wasted world? Humans do not have the humanity system, and cannot come back to life, they need to rest properly, 1 hour for a short rest, and 6-8 hours for a long rest, they cannot use Estus Flasks, and also need to eat. Humans are frail, weak, worthless, why would you ever choose to be one? This is the hardest difficulty you can choose for your character. Humans may also be afflicted by the Darksign and become Undead under certain circumstances determined by the DM, gaining the humanity system, coming back to life at bonfires, and every other trait the Undead have