So I’ve heard a lot of people express ignorance or confusion towards how to RP an undead so I decided to make this post.
What makes the undead so neat to me is their flexibility. The lore in regards to their physiology and capacities is vague and inconsistent. With the only long running truths I can find being that they have an innate resistance to mind warping magic and can consume the flesh of living humanoids or other undead to regenerate.
There was one blue post awhile back suggesting how wielding light magic may lead to unpleasant side effects - and I incorporated that into my character Benedikt as I found it interesting- but there’s undead paladins in The Risen. Plus Alonsus Faol was the head of the Priest hall and wielded extremely powerful light magic without complaint so - do whatever you want in that department would be my suggestion.
Even their appearance is kind of up to you. The in game model is more to just offer a visual shorthand. In lore you’ve had meaty skeletons that use what’s left of their chest cavity for sword storage but also you get Daelin Proudmoore who looks like he could still model for the Kul Tiran Old Navy equivalent despite sitting at the bottom of the ocean for decades.
Their personality likewise is up to you. That’s true of all races but generally there’s a cultural ideal. For example I wouldn’t say you couldn’t RP a Tauren or Night Elf who’s all about engineering and couldn’t give a crap about nature but I’d certainly suggest you explain why they’re like that.
With the Forsaken however - you can be a chaotic evil mad scientist or a quietly noble lawful good knight. Or anything in between. Nothing about undeath changes anyone’s personality in a specific way - how it affects your character is on you. Do you grow to hate the living as they’ll never accept you or do you go “Well I’m dead - bit weird but guess I’ll get back to work now”? You tell me.
The coolest thing about Undead though is your freedom of backstory. If you want to play an Orc or Human that’s been around since Warcraft 1 you’re going to have to RP an old dude. With undead though - there’s nothing to suggest a 82 year old makes a less effective undead than a 22 year old. So your character could be a veteran of many wars and a ‘living’ source of history. Or maybe they were a dumb kid that got killed trying to rob a gold mine and then got woke up by the val’kyr. Up to you.
So TL:DR - How do I RP an Undead?
- Remember you were once alive, now you’re not - how jarring that may be is entirely up to you.
- Downside - you can only regenerate naturally by consuming living humanoids or undead.
- Upside - you’re resistant to mind affecting and shadow magics. Also you don’t have to breathe.
Everything else from appearance to physiology to personality to values or lack thereof is entirely up to your digression as a player.