Wherever you go, the reaper follows. Your path is littered with corpses and the smell of blood. As you grow stronger, you rely on no one for help and choose to overcome everything on your own. Your desire for strength burns fiercely enough to beckon those who wander the valley of death. The army of the dead, who follow your commands, shall create a path where your will becomes law, and you will never need another’s help again. Shadow Monarchs stand at the peak of necromancy, to the point that even Liches and other powerful undead obey them.

 

"Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise." Samuel Lover

 

Dominator's Touch

You learn the mage hand cantrip. Your mage hand looks like a shadow hand. You also gain immunity to being fightened.

Shadow Extraction

Beginning at 2nd level, you can resurrect the shadows of fallen creatures and keep them as soldiers to fight under your control. As an action, you can attempt to extract the shadow of a creature within 5 feet of you that has been dead for no longer than 48 hours, and that is not a construct, inorganic creature, or undead. Each Soul you extract will become a soldier that you can control. The shape of the summoned creature is the same as when they were alive, but the color is ink black with shadowy wisps rising from its body, and eyes that glow with eldrich blue light.
You can have a number of shadows active equal to your proficiency score (only one during a fight) and can store a number of shadows equal to your INT modifier plus your proficiency bonus.

Shadow Extraction - You get 3 attempts at extracting a shadow from a corpse. When extracting a shadow, make an Intelligence check against the DC which is determined by the strength of the creature (DC = CR + Int modifier - your proficiency). For players and adventurers, use their level in place of the CR. You are proficient in this check. A creature with legendary resistance can choose to ignore the call. The creature's stats are the same as it was in life but with the Shadow Template applied (for future growth of these creatures use sidekick rules). If you fail 3 times, the soul is lost forever and cannot be attempted to be extracted ever again.

When not in use, shadows are stored inside the Monarch's shadow. The Monarch can also store shadows in other's shadows if they are friendly towards the Monarch. Shadows that have an intelligence of 15 or higher can speak. 

Shadow Template - Shadows stat blocks are modified in the following ways:

• The creature's type becomes undead
• The creature's hitpoints are equal to half of its max HP
• The creatures can be healed by your spells, even though they are undead
• The creatures gain resistance to necrotic damage
  • If the creature already had resistance it became immunity
  • If the creature already had immunity it became absorption

Upon death, your soldier will return to the sovereign's shadow and cannot be summoned again until they take a long rest. Upon resting, his HP will be fully restored.

Shadow Monarch's Domain

At Shadow Monarch level 6, your mastery of necromancy has improved. Undead you control within 30 feet gain 10 temporary hitpoints, a +1 to attack rolls, and a +1 to armor class.

At the 17th level, the range increases to 60 feet and the bonuses increase to 20 temporary hitpoints, a +2 to attack rolls, and a +2 to armor class.

Shadow Recovery

At the 10th level, you can heal your Shadow Soldiers with dark magic before they are defeated. As a Reaction, you can fully restore the Hit Points for one of your Shadow Soldiers within 30 feet of you if their Hit Points are reduced to 0 or below. You can do this a number of times equal to your constitution modifier per long rest. 

At the 18th level, the number of times per long rest doubles.

The Monarch of the Shadows

At the 14th level, you have truly become the Shadow Monarch but your power will still grow. You have now unlocked the ability to gain 3 shadows that do not count against your summoned shadow amount. These shadows are your General and your Commanders. 

The General: The General's regenerates twice as fast. It also loses Radiant vulnerability (if it had it) and its HP is equal to its Max HP. If it did not already have Necrotic immunity it does.

The Commanders: The Commanders' HP is equal to their normal Max HP and they lose Radiant vulnerability (if they had it).