You walk down a town street. As you pass through a building's shadow on a sunny day, the shadow wraps itself around you, and dark tendrils seem to cling to you. Passer's by walk past you hesitantly, with wary glances. You used to be a shadow, but are now restored mostly to who you were before, at least in appearance. Whether by some magic, some divine blessing, or some reason completely unknown to you, you find yourself walking amidst the daylight in a normal world, with a fresh start and freedom from the darkness that had held you captive.
While you are no longer fully shadow, light is the only thing that seems to keep it from consuming you once more.
Based around the Monster background by JamesIntrocaso.
- Skill Proficiencies:
+1 to Dexterity. You have proficiency in stealth. Your footsteps are silent, in an eerie way.
You can see in dim light or full darkness as if it were daylight; however, in bright light or direct sunlight, you see as if you were in dim light.
+1 to Charisma. Proficiency in intimidation.
You are made of shadow. You can not be poisoned or become ill... your shadow is both poison and illness enough.
- Tool Proficiencies:
You are proficient in one type of weapons that match your class.
You are proficient in one set of tools.
- Languages:
You are fluent in whatever languages suit the race of your character, plus one of the following: Abyssal, Infernal, Deep Speech, or Primordial.
- Equipment:
A set of common clothes, one set of tools matching your tool proficiency, 10 candles, 3 silver pieces, and 13 copper pieces.
When you walk through shadows, they cling to you, in dim light, your physical form turns to shadow, but any time you are in full darkness without any source of light, you must roll one d4 to see if your shadow takes control or not. Rolling a 1 results in your shadow taking full control of you, and becoming hostile to all other beings. If exposed to bright light or daylight while in shadow form, you take 1d4 damage and regain control if control was lost, but if taken from darkness to dim light, you regain control, and if taken from dim light to shade, then from shade to normal light/daylight, you take no damage. A single lit candle in a dark environment will count as your character being in dim light, preventing your character from rolling and potentially losing control.
| d4 | A Candle to Hold Back the Dark |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your shadow takes control of you, and you become hostile to all beings, even friends, as long as you remain in full darkness. |
| 2 | Your shadow takes control of you, and you become hostile to any creature who is not a fiend, undead, or with shadow-type properties. |
| 3 | Your shadow takes control, but act in your and your party's interests. |
| 4 | You resist your shadow, for now. |
For taking a long rest, your character must remain undisturbed in full-light for 4 hours. If rest is disturbed, or taken in partial light, it counts as a short rest. Long rest may also be taken in full darkness; however, this requires rolling 1d4 to see if you maintain control once you wake up. Your character feeds off of both light and shadow, and does not necessarily need to eat or drink, or take lodging, though it can ease other beings discomfort around you if you eat or drink with them. You are immune to exhaustion, however, any time you lose control to your shadow self, your exhaustion counter goes up, and count is not reset by long rest.
Spell List
The light and shadow within you only coexist with each other to heal. Your shadow provides a coolness that can sooth wounds, and your inner light can dispel confusion, shadow, or give 1d4 HP to a downed target.
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 6th | heal |
Suggested Characteristics
Now that you are somewhat freed of the shadow you once were, you aim to 'keep your light going'. You struggle to show others that you are more than the monster you once were, and try to show people this by the way you live. You hope that people will see who you are now, and will accept you for this 'night and day' change.
| d4 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | You feel at ease in dark rooms. |
| 2 | You feel uncomfortable in dark rooms. |
| 3 | You are curious of the world during daylight hours. |
| 4 | The darker a situation seems, the harder you fight. |
| d4 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Redemption. You want to show everyone the light within you. |
| 2 | Order. You cling to the light by sticking to routines and rituals. |
| 3 | Friendship. You will go to great lengths to dispell the darkness in peoples' hearts. |
| 4 | Hope. As long as the candle is flickering, there is light. |
| d4 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | You were once the servant of a shadow dragon, and your master is still out there. |
| 2 | You carry a trinket who belonged to someone else, and you are determined to return it to them. |
| 3 | You remember a dark place where you once lived, and once called home. |
| 4 | You remember your actions as a shadow, and you will try to make up for them. |
| d4 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | You cannot remember your time as a shadow, or the life you had had before. |
| 2 | Society treats you as an outcast. |
| 3 | You can't help but sneak up on people, or standing in dark corners. |
| 4 | You don't believe that you can fight the shadow inside you. |
Contacts
You are neither fully accepted or rejected by any humanoid people, or creatures/monsters of shadow, and may roll 1d4 to take lodging in someone's home, with 1 being a failing roll. As a full shadow, people are only willing to grant lodging if you roll a 4.
Once your exhaustion counter reaches the maximum, you once again become fully shadow, except this time you maintain control of yourself. You no longer roll saving throws to keep control, but you are no longer able to revert to your normal form when you leave darkness. Spending a full day in direct daylight requires a 1d4 damage roll for light damage.
You may only take long rest in full darkness. Twice per long rest, you may move from one shadow to another shadow within sight without costing movement, or alternatively, may move from one shadow to a shadow that is beyond your sight, however, you must roll 1d20 to see where the shadow takes you. Rolling 2-20 will result in your character moving successfully to where you want to go, but rolling a 1 will result in the shadow transporting you randomly to a shadow in another plane.
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