Nightshades (5e Creature)

Nightshades are powerful undead composed of equal parts darkness and absolute evil. Their chilling malevolence hangs heavily about them, along with the smell of an open grave on a winter’s morning.

Nightcrawler

Gargantuan undead (nightshade), chaotic evil Armor Class 18 (natural armor; 20 with haste) Hit Points 264 (16d20 + 96) Speed 50 ft., burrow 30 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 28 (+9) 10 (+0) 22 (+6) 18 (+4) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) Saving Throws Wisdom +10 Skills Insight +10, Perception +18, Stealth +6, Survival +10 Damage Vulnerabilities radiant Damage Immunities cold, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't silvered Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 28 Languages Undercommon, telepathy 100 ft. Challenge 19 (22,000 XP) Innate Spellcasting. The nightcrawler's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (save DC 17). The nightcrawler can cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: blight, contagion, darkness, detect magic, dispel magic (as a 5th-level spell), haste*, invisibility, see invisibility* 3/day: cone of cold (as a 7th-level spell), confusion, hold monster (as a 5th-level spell) 1/day: finger of death, hold monster (as a 9th-level spell), plane shift *The nightcrawler casts these spells on itself before combat. Magic Resistance. The nightcrawler has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Magic Weapons. The nightcrawler's weapon attacks are magical. Shadow Camouflage. While in dim light or darkness, the nightcrawler can take the Hide action as a bonus action, and has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. Shadow Sight. Magical darkness doesn't impede the nightcrawler's darkvision. Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, the nightcrawler has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Turn Resistance Aura. The nightcrawler and any other undead creature within 30 feet of it have advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead. ACTIONS Multiattack. The nightcrawler makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its stinger. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (3d8 + 9) piercing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the nightcrawler. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained and has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the nightcrawler. At the start of each of the nightcrawler's turns, all creatures inside its stomach take 21 (6d6) necrotic damage and must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or have their hit point maximum reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target completes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. Creatures which die inside the nightcrawler's stomach immediately rise as nightshade zombies under the nightcrawler's control, retaining their place in the initiative order, and are immediately regurgitated by the nightcrawler, landing in a space within 10 feet of the nightcrawler. If the nightcrawler takes 30 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the nightcrawler must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the nightcrawler. If the nightcrawler dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 20 feet of movement, exiting prone. Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 19 (3d6 + 9) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw, taking 42 (12d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Summon Undead (1/Day). The nightcrawler summons its choice of 1d8 + 8 shadows, 1d4 + 2 nightshade zombies or wraiths, or 1d4 dread specters. Summoned creatures appear in unoccupied spaces of the nightcrawler's choice within 60 feet of it and are under the nightcrawler's control. Summoned creatures disappear after 1 hour, when the nightcrawler dies, or when the nightcrawler dismisses them as an action.

A nightcrawler is a gargantuan behemoth which is a Shadowfell-native relative of the purple worm, and is utterly black in color.

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Nightwalker

Huge undead (nightshade), chaotic evil Armor Class 16 (natural armor; 18 with haste) Hit Points 241 (21d12 + 105) Speed 40 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 28 (+9) 12 (+1) 20 (+5) 18 (+4) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) Saving Throws Wisdom +9 Skills Insight +9, Perception +16, Stealth +6, Survival +9 Damage Vulnerabilities radiant Damage Immunities cold, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with silvered weapons Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 26 Languages Undercommon, telepathy 100 ft. Challenge 16 (15,000 XP) Evil Gaze. When a creature that can see the nightwalker's eyes starts its turn within 30 feet of the nightwalker, the nightwalker can force that creature to make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw if the nightwalker isn't incapacitated and can see the creature. A creature that fails this saving throw is stunned by fear until the start of its next turn. Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can't see the nightwalker until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the nightwalker in the meantime, it must immediately make the save. Innate Spellcasting. The nightwalker's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (save DC 16). The nightwalker can cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: blight (as a bonus action), contagion, darkness, detect magic, haste*, see invisibility* 3/day: confusion, dispel magic (as a 5th-level spell), hold monster, invisibility 1/day: cone of cold (as a 7th-level spell), finger of death, plane shift The nightwalker casts these spells on itself before combat. Magic Resistance. The nightwalker has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Magic Weapons. The nightwalker's weapon attacks are magical. Shadow Camouflage. While in dim light or darkness, the nightwalker can take the Hide action as a bonus action, and has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. Shadow Sight. Magical darkness doesn't impede the nightwalker's darkvision. Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, the nightwalker has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Trample. When the nightwalker enters an enemy's space for the first time on a turn, the enemy must succeed on a DC 19 Dexterity saving throw or take 19 (3d6+9) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. Turn Resistance Aura. The nightwalker and any other undead creature within 30 feet of it has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead. ACTIONS Multiattack. The nightwalker makes one crush attack against each creature it is grappled. It then makes two additional crush attacks. Crush. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d6 + 9) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 19). The nightwalker has two arms, each of which can grapple one creature. Summon Undead (1/day). The nightwalker summons its choice of 1d6+6 shadows, 1d4+2 nightshade zombies or wraiths, or 1d2 dread specters. Summoned creatures appear in unoccupied spaces of the nightwalker's choice within 60 feet of it and are under the nightwalker's control. Summoned creatures disappear after 1 hour, when the nightwalker dies, or when the nightwalker dismisses them as an action.

Native to the Shadowfell, nightwalkers are human-shaped, 20-foot-tall horrors that haunt the darkness. They lurk in dark areas, where they can almost always surprise the unwary.

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Nightwing

Huge undead (nightshade), chaotic evil Armor Class 17 (natural armor; 19 with haste) Hit Points 195 (17d12 + 85) Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 26 (+8) 14 (+2) 20 (+5) 16 (+3) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) Saving Throws Dexterity +7 Skills Insight +9, Perception +16, Stealth +14, Survival +9 Damage Vulnerabilities radiant Damage Immunities cold, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with silvered weapons Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 26 Languages Undercommon, telepathy 100 ft. Challenge 14 (11,500 XP) Flyby. The nightwing doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach. Innate Spellcasting. The nightwing's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (save DC 16). The nightwing can cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: blight, contagion, darkness, detect magic, haste*, see invisibility* 3/day: confusion, dispel magic (as a 5th-level spell), hold monster, invisibility 1/day: cone of cold (as a 7th-level spell), finger of death, plane shift The nightwing casts these spells on itself before combat. Magic Resistance. The nightwing has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Magic Weapons. The nightwing's weapon attacks are magical. Shadow Camouflage. While in dim light or darkness, the nightwing can take the Hide action as a bonus action, and has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. Shadow Sight. Magical darkness doesn't impede the nightwing's darkvision. Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, the nightwing has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Turn Resistance Aura. The nightwing and any other undead creature within 30 feet of it has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead. ACTIONS Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6 + 8) piercing damage, and one of the target's magic items loses all magical properties until the start of the nightwing's next turn. If the object is a charged item, it also loses 1d4 charges. Determine the affected item randomly, ignoring single-use items such as potions and scrolls. Summon Undead (1/day). The nightwing summons its choice of 1d6+4 shadows, 1d4 nightshade zombies or wraiths, or 1 dread specter. Summoned creatures appear in unoccupied spaces of the nightwing's choice within 60 feet of it and are under the nightwing's control. Summoned creatures disappear after 1 hour, when the nightwing dies, or when the nightwing dismisses them as an action.

Native to the Shadowfell, nightwings are birdlike fliers that prowl the night sky and dive onto their prey. They are almost invisible, detectable only by the stars they obscure in their passing.

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Nightshade Zombie

Medium undead (nightshade), lawful evil Armor Class 14 (natural armor) Hit Points 75 (10d8 + 30) Speed 30 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 11 (+0) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) Skills Perception +4, Stealth +4 Damage Vulnerabilities radiant Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with silvered weapons Damage Immunities cold, poison Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14 Languages the languages it knew in life Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Aggressive. As a bonus action, the zombie can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see. Innate Spellcasting. The zombie's innate spellcasting ability is Constitution (save DC 14). The zombie can cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: darkness, detect magic, see invisibility 3/day: contagion, hold monster Shadow Camouflage. While in dim light or darkness, the zombie can take the Hide action as a bonus action, and has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. Shadow Sight. Magical darkness doesn't impede the zombie's darkvision. Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, the zombie has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the zombie to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead. ACTIONS Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (6d8) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. A humanoid slain by this attack rises as a nightshade zombie under the control of its killer at the start of its next turn.

A much stronger relative of the wight, native to the Shadowfell. Nightshade zombies look much like ordinary, Material Plane-native zombies, but are easily distinguishable from their lesser cousins by the fell aura emanating from them, visible to the naked eye as purple-black smoke curling around the corpse. One would be remiss to treat nightshades as flippantly as ordinary zombies. Nightshades lack the shambling gait of ordinary zombies; they are capable of incredible bursts of speed which close large distances quickly. Their touch can drain your very life force, and when you're nothing more than a withered husk, your corpse is infused with energy from the Shadowfell, and you join their ranks. As if that weren't enough, these creatures' shadow magic protects them from injury, and they spread deadly diseases which can debilitate their victims for days on end if they even survive an encounter with a nightshade. Worst of all: they're as intelligent as humans, and can plan and strategize. One has to wonder how the world has not yet been overrun by these monstrosities.

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