Shadow: Spirit of Darkness

Ah, Dungeons and Dragons. The only game where you’re own shadow can kill you.

Aside from that one boss fight in Kingdom Hearts 1, but we’re going to pretend that doesn’t exist.

Lore: A Deadly Shade

Resembling a humanoid form’s shadow, these creatures are undead that feast on the vitality of living beings. While they will feed on anything, they are particularly drawn towards those untouched by evil. Such beings, who live piously and well, cast their temptations into the darkness, making them a shadow’s ideal feast.

Should a shadow eat a victim to death, the victim’s shadow will take a life of its own. These new shadows might seek their ‘parents’ in an attempt to find revenge. Until the shadow is destroyed, the creature that birthed it no longer casts a shadow themselves.

Minimal as this lore is, it’s rife with potential! Perhaps the players could try to commune with a shadow to help it find rest. Or maybe they stumble into a town infested with them and they need to find a way to save the populace. Maybe you could focus your efforts on a cleric or paladin player, using a shadow to test the true piousness of that player’s character.

Can you make a BBEG out of a shadow? Probably not. But for a one-off session or a side quest, this is an excellent pick!

Design: Humanity Removed

You know the Cybermen from Doctor Who? Yeah, it’s kinda like that. Just remove the cyber part.

This is one of those rare times in this series where less is actually more. Sure, they could have drawn this thing to look like a winged demon with long tendrils and a devilish face. But why bother? With a monster like this, extra details would only detract from the horror, not add to it!

There are no features here to speak of. No face with any expressions, no clothes, no personality whatsoever. Only its vague humanoid outline serves to connect it to the being it used to be. It’s completely unknowable and totally uncompromising. All humanity has been stripped away, and all that’s left is something empty and hungry.

It’s a genuinely creepy design. Especially since it’s one you can so easily play with. You can add whatever little details you want, such as height and width, to tell this monster’s story. Was the person who became this shadow a tall elf? Maybe a fat little dwarf? Or is there no semblance of their old selves left whatsoever? It’s up to you, the DM, to decide.

Whatever you roll with, this is a fantastic design.

Stats: Fear the Dark

As you might expect from a shadow, this monster isn’t particularly durable. Its AC and HP pools are both fairly low. It relies much more on stealth, for which it has a fairly strong boost, to survive.

That being said, it is still difficult to hurt something as incorporeal as a shadow. It’s resistant to acid, cold, fire, lighting, and thunder damage, as well as all nonmagical melee. On top of that, it’s completely immune to necrotic and poison damage, as well as all conditions.

However, it is vulnerable to radiant damage. As one might expect; light dispels shadow and all that. Hope you’ve got a paladin in your party if you’re fighting this thing.

This monster has three abilities. Its first, Amorphous, allows it to move through spaces as narrow as one inch without squeezing. The second, Shadow Stealth, allows it to use the Hide action as a bonus action while in dim light or darkness. Finally, it’s third ability, Sunlight Weakness, gives it disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws while it’s in direct sunlight.

Finally, there’s it’s primary action: Strength Drain. This attack does a fair bit of damage for a low-level monster. More than that, it reduces the target’s Strength score by 1d4 each time it hits. Should that score be reduced to 0, the target dies. Should that happen, a new shadow will be born 1d4 hours later.

Don’t worry, barbarians. You’ll get it back after a short or long rest.

As simple as these stats are, it can make for a really interesting early game fight! The shadow has plenty of options for sneaking around and escaping dangerous situations. Yet at the same time it has a myriad of weaknesses. How do the players use those weaknesses against it? How do they keep themselves strong enough to keep fighting? Can they turn its ability to hide and escape against it and set a trap using the environment? Depending on how you build it, this could be an extremely fun and memorable fight!

Placement

This was a surprisingly strong entry! It’s lore isn’t much, but what’s there is fairly substantial! It’s design is minimalism at it’s best, and it’s stats can make for an excellent battle! All in all, a high-tear monster!

With all that in mind, the Shadow is going to #27 on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Mind Flayer
4. Dragon Turtle
5. Mummy/Mummy Lord
6. Nagas (all three of ’em)
7. Green Dragons
8. Red Dragons
9. Blue Dragons
10. Black Dragons
11. White Dragons
12. Silver Dragons
13. Couatl
14. Behir
15. Aboleth
16. Sea Hag
17. Lamia
18. Bronze Dragons
19. Brass Dragons
20. Copper Dragons
21. Gold Dragons
22. Chuul
23. Kuo-Toa
24. Gibbering Mouther
25. Kraken
26. Intellect Devourer
27. Shadow <—————–
28. Chimera
29. Death Knight
30. Fomorian
31. Bone Devil
32. Dracolich
33. Faerie Dragon
34. Gelatinous Cube
35. Lich
36. Peryton
37. Remorhaz
38. Orcs (all four of ’em)
39. Magmin
40. Kobold
41. Kenku
42. Hobgoblins
43. Night Hag
44. Green Hag
45. Black Pudding
46. Ankheg
47. Hook Horror
48. Oni
49. Purple Worm
50. Storm Giant
51. Hill Giant
52. Empyrean
53. Efreeti
54. Grimlock
55. Minotaur
56. Dao
57. Cloud Giant
58. Manticore
59. Scarecrow
60. Drow (all four of ’em)
61. Shadow Demon
62. Modrons (all five of ’em)
63. Marilith
64. Drider
65. Aarackockra
66. Azer
67. Demilich
68. Spectator
69. Gray Ooze
70. Ochre Jelly
71. Hydra
72. Rakshasa
73. Marid
74. Salamander
75. Harpy
76. Werejackal
77. Otyugh
78. Satyr
79. Half-Dragon
80. Cambion
81. Fire Giant
82. Nothic
83. Pixie
84. Animated Armor
85. Roper
86. Banshee
87. Basilisk
88. Yochlol
89. Bulette
90. Cloaker
91. Darkmantle
92. Doppelganger
93. Revenant
94. Ghoul and Ghast
95. Sahuagin (all three)
96. Ettin
97. Medusa
98. Pit Fiend
99. Erinyes
100. Chain Devil
101. Bearded Devil
102. Barbed Devil
103. Spined Devil
104. Ice Devil
105. Mimic
106. Djinni
107. Merrow
108. Nalfeshnee
109. Glabrezu
110. Chasme
111. Grell
112. Barlgura
113. Horned Devil
114. Balor
115. Shadow Dragon
116. Myconids (all four of ’em)
117. Piercer
118. Werebear
119. Lizardfolk
120. Vrock
121. Dretch
122. Pseudodragon
123. Gnolls (all three)
124. Goristro
125. Hezrou
126. Manes
127. Quaggoth
128. Frost Giant
129. Weretiger
130. Werewolf
131. Duergar
132. Quasit
133. Dryad
134. Flumph
135. Goblin
136. Nightmare
137. Rust Monster
138. Wereboar
139. Wererat
140. Githyanki
141. Owlbear
142. Planetar
143. Imp
144. Ogres/Half-ogres
145. Roc
146. Clay Golem
147. Flameskull
148. Displacer Beast
149. Carrion Crawler
150. Githzerai
151. Grick
152. Invisible Stalker
153. Rug of Smothering
154. Bugbear Chief
155. Bugbear
156. Flesh Golem
157. Vine Blight
158. Twig Blight
159. Needle Blight
160. Mephits (all six of ’em)
161. Bullywug
162. Hellhound
163. Ettercap
164. Gas Spore
165. Cockatrice
166. Lemure
167. Homonculus
168. Merfolk
169. Solar
170. Deva
171. Gorgon
172. Hippogriff
173. Griffon
174. Cyclops
175. Centaur
176. Ghost
177. Pegasus
178. Fire Elemental
179. Water Elemental
180. Air Elemental
181. Stone Giant
182. Deep Gnome
183. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
184. Iron Golem
185. Stone Golem
186. Earth Elemental
187. Galeb Duhr
188. Helmed Horror
189. Flying Sword
190. Crawling Claw
191. Violet Fungus
192. Shrieker
193. Gargoyle