Innate Spellcasting. The wraith's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). The wraith can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: darkness, dream, phantasmal force
3/day each: Evard's black tentacles, phantasmal killer
1/day: weird
Etherealness. The wraith enters the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa with a bonus action. The wraith is invisible while on the Border Ethereal and it can't affect or be affected by anything on the other plane.
Incorporeal Movement. The wraith can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Shadow Being. While in dim light or darkness, the wraith has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks and can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
Multiattack. The wraith makes three attacks, one with its sapping tether and two with its shadow claws.
Shadow Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 24 (4d8 + 6) 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 last until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Sapping Tether. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) psychic damage and the target's Wisdom score is reduced by 1d6. The target gains a hym's indefinite madness if this reduces its Wisdom to 0. Otherwise, the reduction lasts until the target finishes a short or long rest.
The wraith can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The wraith regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Shadow Step. The wraith magically teleports up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see that is in dim light or darkness. It then has advantage on the next melee attack before the end of its next turn.
Torment (Costs 2 Actions). The wraith targets on creatures with hym's indefinite madness that it can see within 60 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw, taking 33 (6d10) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Rip Shadow (Costs 3 Actions). The wraith targets one Medium or smaller creature that casts a shadow. The target's shadow must be visible to the wraith and within 30 feet of it. If the target fails a DC 17 Charisma saving throw, its shadow detaches from it and becomes a shadow that obeys the wraith's commands, acting on the initiative count of the wraith. A greater restoration spell or a remove curse spell cast on the target restores its natural shadow, but only if its undead shadow has been destroyed.
Description
Hym
Some men have got good reason to fear their own shadows. A tyrant slowly looses grip over his kingdom, shutting out all his advisers, accusing his most loyal knights of plotting against him. The father that drown his children during the last famine screams at them in the street, asking for forgiveness one second and cursing them the other. These are all signs of hym's haunting. These wraith torment the guilty, the wicked and the mad, driving them always further down the path of insanity.
Attracted by Wickedness. Monsters most commonly claim innocents as their victims: tardy merchants, reckless children and travelers who wander into dark woodlands out of misplaced curiosity. None of the above need fear hyms, however. These wraiths only latch onto particularly despicable or guilty individuals who have committed some unspeakable crime. To all others, they remain completely invisible, hiding in the Border Ethereal. When they do show themselves to the one they torment, they appear as a tall, shadow-clad, humanoid silhouette with long, sharp claws.
Tormentors. Yet hyms do not sink these claws into their victims. Instead, they sap their strength indirectly, through inflicting suffering. Speaking in a voice only the victim hears, they drive him to commit acts of violence, aggression and self-harm. A hym will seize on a guilty person’s worst fears and weave out of them hideous visions, slowing driving the poor soul into madness. Evil creatures are certainly the ones that should fear the hym most, but those that committed acts of wickedness in the name of a greater cause should equally fear for their soul.
Descent into Madness. Those tormented by a hym are incapable of restful sleep, for they are tormented by evermore-frequent, incredibly-realistic nightmares. A creature suffering from hym’s indefinite madness can't remove exhaustion levels. It gains 1 level of exhaustion when a number of days equal to the creature's Intelligence score elapse. If the target dies, its soul belong to the hym. Only a wish spell or similar magic can return the victim to life once its soul has been claimed.
Optional: Tricking a Hym
In theory, a hym can be tricked to leave its victim. Hyms attack those who have guilty conscience and can be tempted to take a new, fresher host. Tricking the creature is a daunting task though. The trickster can't know its a trick, he needs to truly believe he committed a fool deed. If the new host doesn't feel true sorrow the hym will sense it and won't take the bait. When the hym realizes it has been tricked, it will be forced to leave, giving its sanity back to its victim and abandoning its lair.
Hym's Madness
| d20 | Indefinite Madness |
|---|---|
|
1-4 |
"My anger consumes me. I can't be reasoned with when my rage has been stoked." |
|
5-8 |
"Someone is plotting to kill me. I need to strike first to stop them!" |
|
9-12 |
"I have intermittent hallucinations and fits of catatonia." |
|
13-16 |
"I convince myself that things are true, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary." |
|
17-20 |
"My perception of reality doesn't match anyone else's. It makes me prone to violent delusions that make no sense to anyone else." |
Optional: Wraith Rejunevation
Often, simply destroying the physical form of a wraith isn't enough to get rid of it permanently. Most wraith haunt a specific location and sending them to their final death will require some extra work. If destroyed, a wraith will regain all its hit points in 24 hours, unless prevented to in the following ways:
Hym. Reforms unless the hym's initial victim is freed from the indefinite madness of the wraith.
Lair and Lair Actions
A Hym’s Lair
A hym's lair completely depends on the nature of the person its currently haunting. The lair will usually have a significance for the victim, probably where it committed its fool deed.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the wraith takes a lair action to cause one of the following magical effects:
- The wraith casts the [spell]darkness[spell] spell twice at its lowest level, targeting different areas with the spell. The wraith doesn't need to concentrate on the spells, which end on initiative count 20 of the next round.
- Unholly energy suffuse through the lair, all undead creatures in the lair have advantage on all saving throws until initiative count 20 on the next round.
- The temperature drops significantly inside the lair, slippery ice forms on surfaces, making a 20 foot radius difficult terrain until initiative count 20 on the next round. When a creature moves onto it for the first time on a turn, it must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone.
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