Shadow Fiend (5e Race)

Shadow Fiend

“

At last... the night fades... and the hunt resumes.

”

Physical Description

Nocturne from League of Legends, by Alex Flores

Shadow fiends are amorphous beings that usually take the form of swirling darkness. They do so to travel quickly, but can also manifest into a more humanoid form. They are hairless and dark as night, usually lacking legs. The lower body usually remains a swirling funnel of darkness which they move upon as though gliding. People recount their encounters with these fiends with fear, recalling mainly the glowing eyes of menace. The coalescence of the form of a shadow fiend usually has hands with claws. They are known to be able to hide weapons in the darkness which emanates from their body with ease, allowing them to take opponents unawares.

History

In yet another cautionary tale about necromancy is the origin of the shadow fiend. When a necromancer gets to reanimating a corpse with their dark magic, many things can go wrong. One of the possibilities is that the influx of necrotic magic on the reanimated body and soul corrupted it to the point that the body became incorporeal. The result is a creature returned with a sinister new purpose. It is similar to a shadow, but shadow fiends possessed a wickedness beyond simple hate for life. Taken over by this dark magic, they came to roam the dark spaces of the Material Plane, avoiding light and preying on life forms. Like a shadow, they thrived off the negativity in the world and grew as they absorbed this essence. As they grew, they eventually could develop a shape, unlike shadows. Using this form, they came to make a reputation for themselves, wreaking havoc at night in villages and ensnaring travelers in dark caves. Some have been known to serve the darker gods like the drow god.

Society

Once created, shadow fiends are rather weak and amorphous. They need a good few years before they absorb enough energy to make a more solid form. After that, they have reached maturity. As they are all usually drawn to the same places of darkness, they tend to find each other rather quickly. Places they are known to infest include the Underdark, as well as Shadowfell, which they are known to be able to travel to. From there, they can be summoned by naive spellcasters looking to employ them. They are also able to amass command over shadows, which are lesser to them. Shadow fiends form gangs with shadows and hunt together for easy pickings. These are loose affiliations and very unorganized. There have not been gangs seen larger than eleven individuals. They are driven mainly by their thirst to extinguish life and their hatred of the light.

Personality

Shadow fiends despise light, happiness and life itself. They often resent their creation as a creature of darkness which can no longer enjoy the fruits of the joy they see the living revel in. As such, they are very cynical and love to speak with biting sarcasm. They are also vindictive and often very sadistic, enjoying the view of others in pain and suffering. In particular, they loved torturing those who they knew to be good people, with virtuous qualities. Such things to them are repulsive now, when it may have once been beautiful.

Shadow Fiend Names

Shadow fiends discard their associations from their former lives and so do not take their original names. Instead, they take ambiguous new names that are more like titles to signal a change to facelessness. They are now invisible to society, and they want to topple it.

Names: Ravener, Glint, Blade, Xenon, Venom

Shadow Fiend Traits

Fiends born from shadows and Dark magic
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and either your Dexterity or Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Shadow fiends are unable to age after being raised and they do not die of age.
Alignment. Shadow fiends are always evil, as they are both fiend and undead.
Size. Shadow fiends usually appear between 4 and 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Hatred of Light. While in bright or dim sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
Shadow Legs. Your legs are nonexistent, only an amorphous cloud of darkness. You are immune to the effects of most difficult terrain.
Amorphous. Your body is incorporeal, and so moving through small spaces is no problem for you. While unarmored, you take no penalties while squeezing. In addition, you can spend 1 minute to move 5 feet through spaces as small as 1-inch wide. Any items that cannot fit through a space you pass through are left behind.
Life Drain. You can sap the life out of those happy, go-lucky people. As a bonus action, you can make a special attack with your unarmed strike. If the attack hits, it deals its normal damage, and you regain hit points (minimum of 1) equal to your Constitution modifier. You cannot regain hit points over your hit point maximum and you can't use this trait again until you finish a long rest.
Languages. You can read, speak and write in Common.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
4′ 0″	+1d20	0 lb.	× (0) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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