What does being “Inured to Undeath” involve?

Question

Inured to Undeath

Beginning at 10th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage, and your hit point maximum can't be reduced. You have spent so much time dealing with undead and the forces that animate them that you have become inured to some of their worst effects

So what I am confused about is the part where it states that you become "inured to some of their worst effects"

What does that mean. Does it just mean the statuses you gained mentioned in the previous section of the Inured to Undeath. If not what happens. Do I become ugly like a zombie?

Answer 1

The second sentence is simply the description/justification for the first sentence. The only effects are the ones described: resistance to necrotic damage and immunity to maximum hit point reduction.

In case it's the source of your confusion: "inured" just means "accustomed to". So this is just saying that you've been hanging around with undead for so long that you've gotten used to their necrotic damage and maximum hit point reduction and are therefore immune to it.

Obviously, if you want your character's appearance to gain some undead-like features, you can talk to your DM and try to persuade them. As long as you keep it purely visual, they probably won't mind.

Answer 2

The first sentence describes all game rules.

The second sentence is just role-playing flavor without any mechanical relevance, because "the worst effects of dealing with undead and the forces that animate them" is not a properly defined concept.

Regarding the question "Do I become ugly like a zombie?" - if anything it makes you less likely to become an ugly zombie because such side-effects of practicing necromancy now affect you less. But whether or not your necromantic practices have any cosmetic effects on your character and which kind of effect depends on your campaign setting and how your group wants to handle it. You might want to talk with your DM about whether this is something you would want to happen to your character, something you don't want but would find interesting to fight against (possible plot-hook for a quest), or something you would rather not want to be part of the game.

Answer 3

inured: "accustom (someone) to something, especially something unpleasant."

(google search definition)

You have become accustomed to undeath. The side effect of this is that you are partially immune to undeath effects.

The first sentence lists some hard mechanical effects this has. The second sentence provides context, which may have additional mechanical effects (up to the DM), but in no way does it imply your skin or appearance becomes undead-like.

It could imply that you would gain resistance or defences against other effects created by the undead not listed, such as unique effects invented by the DM in their world. This is the advantage that context text like that is a first-class citizen in 5e, not "just flavor text with no mechanical impact". It does lack clear and certain mechanical impact; so any impact it has is up to the DM.