Detect Life. The wraith can magically sense the presence of living creatures anywhere in its Domain of Dread. It knows the general direction they're in but not their exact locations.
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.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the wraith fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Turn Immunity. The wraith is immune to effects that turn undead.
Multiattack. The wraith makes three attacks, only one of which can be a Grave's Touch attack.
Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 32 (5d8 + 10) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 20 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.
Grave's Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 37 (5d10 + 10) cold damage and the target's must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw, becoming petrified, encased in ice, until the end of its next turn on a failure.
Ray of Decay. Ranged Spell Attack: +14 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (8d6) necrotic damage.
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.
Ray of Decay. The wraith uses its Ray of Decay.
Whirlwind (Costs 2 Actions). The arch-wraith turns into a frigid whirlwind, draining away the life of nearby creatures. All creatures within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) cold damage plus 21 (6d6) necrotic damage on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.
Dead Silence (Costs 3 Actions). The arch-wraith can rob a creature within 120 feet of it from its senses, leaving it in pitch-black darkness. The creature must succeed on a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw, becoming blinded and deafened on failure for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Description
Arch-Wraith
The arch-wraith, also sometimes called deathless, grimreaper or koschei is a mythical creature, straight from ancient legends of heroes and epic deeds. When the hero enters the burning hells to rescue his beloved, or when he has to avenge his father's death, the arch-wraith is often his opponent. Why are poets so keen to cast this monster as the arch-enemy? Well, the creature is a wraith, so it fits any dark story featuring a curse or vengeance from the beyond. There's no telling how it actually looks like, so its terrifying visage can be described in many ways without risking accusation of confabulation. Furthermore, it is a powerful creature, a prince of the damned, so it makes an ideal villain.
Born from Tragedy. Wraith of such power are exceedingly rare, the combination of emotional charge and brutality needed to create such entity occurs maybe once in a century. When entire armies are slaughtered in a day, when a town disappear in a cataclysm or a sudden disease wipes out a country, an arch-wraith can be born. Still it requires a leader with an exceptionally strong will to raise as such. There is always a constant in the creation myth of an arch-wraith, the leader played a major part in the destruction of its people, enslaving their soul in its passing. As they served it in life, so shall they in death.
Kingdom of Nightmare. The arch-wraith can be described in various ways, as has been said, but is always a lethal foe. Forget its huge strength, invulnerability to most weapons, fearlessness and supernatural abilities. One cannot just defeat such a creature using conventional means. As with every wraith, there is some tragic event connected to it, forcing the creature to remain among the living. The wraith is untouchable, unreachable for anyone who is not part of that story, hidden in a Domain of Dread that leaks through the material world. That is why the mythical hero has to get involved in various brawls and pass through many trials. By overcoming these obstacles, he enters the wraith's world and becomes worthy of facing the monstrosity. When confronting an arch-wraith, it will always be on its own terms.
Prince of the Damned. As a leader, the creature never stood to do anything with its own hands. It has lackeys for that, always wraiths, revenants or other restless spirits. Having been a king, religious leader or a commander in life, the archwraith retains its charisma in death, and its deathly subordinates always blindly obey its orders. Thus one needs to exterminate all manner of servants on the way to its bone fortress, flesh palace or other foreboding abode. Only then can one face the arch-wraith itself.
Perverted Psychopomp. Many believes that the immense powers of an arch-wraith comes from its capacity to deny a soul passage into the afterlife, trapping it into a state of undeath and servitude. Some of the most powerful archwraith have trapped hundreds of souls, if not thousands, endlessly replaying over and over the tragic events that lead to the arch-wraith's emergence. When fighting an arch-wraith one should always remember what failures means: the enslavement of one's soul for eternity.
The Bargain
Tales of heroes braving countless dangers to rescue their true love from the clutch of an archwraith abode for a reason. The only known way to free the souls captured by the monster is to slay it, an impossible task for most mortals, or to bargain with it. These tails always end up tragically, the hero striking an impossible deal with the creature in hope to save their beloved. In theory though, it is possible, after overcoming many challenges, to bargain for a specific soul with the arch-wraith. The wraith will always put nearly impossible conditions to fulfill if it agrees (see Terms of the Bargain for examples). Once the bargain is made, the archwraith can use its magic to cast a true resurrection spell. If the bargain's terms are broken the resurrected creatures crumbles to dust and the arch-wraith is free to raise the soul into one of its most powerful servant, a remnant.
Terms of the Bargain
| d10 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
|
1-2 |
The creature must leave the Domain without sleeping or sustaining itself. If it sleeps, eats or drinks it will suffer from amnesia, forgetting his entire past with the person it came to save. The domain of dread will expand almost indefinitely, tempting it along the way as the climate and the journey become increasingly harsher. |
|
3-4 |
The creature must take a cursed artefact, connected to the arch-wraith story, outside the domain. Doing so allows the wraith to expand its influence over a new region |
|
5-6 |
The creature must leave the domain of dread in a limited time, with only just enough time to do so if it hurries. Dangerous obstacles will appear along the way, with a safer but longer alternative offered to avoid them. |
|
7-8 |
Every morning the creature will die, while its loved one is resurrected. Every evening the loved one will die, as the creature is resurrected. The two will only cross path briefly for a minute while they trade places in life or death. |
|
9-10 |
The character can never name or look at the dead person, otherwise she will disappear as dust taken by a supernatural wind. |
Lair and Lair Actions
An arch-wraith stands at the center of its Domain of Dread. The fortress of the wraith can take many shapes, depending on who it was in life. A crumbling keep in a forest of tombstones, a flesh cathedral surrounded by hundreds of worshiping souls, a bone-made spire topping a jagged cliff, all are possible lairs.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the arch-wraith takes a lair action to cause one of the following magical effects:
- The arch-wraith wraps itself into a shroud of magical darkness, until initiative count 20 on the next round. While under the shroud the arch-wraith is immune to spells of 6th level or lower unless it wishes to be affected. It has advantage on saving throws against all other spells and magical effects and has resistance to radiant damage.
- The arch-wraith summons a swarm of mad wraith and specters, howling unbearable sounds of madness and despair as they pass through the battlefield. Each non-undead creature that can hear must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of its next turn.
- The arch-wraith calls forth the enslaved souls at its command. Specters and wraiths materialize and attack one creature that the arch-wraith can see within 60 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 52 (15d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a success. The specters and wraith then retreat.
Regional Effects
A region haunted by an arch-wraith suffers from its nefarious energy, creating the following magical effects:
- Mystical mist spread over the region. The mist is a shadow crossing leading to the arch-wraith's Domain of Dread in the Shadowfell (see p. 51 of the Dungeon Master's Guide).
- The arch-wraith can expand or shrink the size of its Domain of Dread at will. It can modify as well the geographical features, creating chasm filled with bones, hill of corpses, river of blood or any kind of terrain it wishes. The change takes 1 minute to occur.
- Throughout the land, apparitions manifest and reenact scenes of the tragic events that took place. Some of these apparitions happen at random, while other reenact at precise times of the day or the year. A character witnessing one of these apparitions must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become charmed, assuming the personality of one of the apparition and playing its part in the drama until it unfolds.
When the arch-wraith is destroyed, all of these regional effects fade over 1d10 days.
Beyond the Mist
The land under an arch-wraith's influence contains a supernatural mist, hanging between the world men see and the one they cannot. By stepping into the mist, a shadow crossing really, one can break through the veil between worlds and enter the arch-wraith's Domain of Dread in the Shadowfell. The domain is entirely under the arch-wraith control, making it a god-like entity in its kingdom, a god trapped in its own tragic story. As for the rest of the Shadowfell, the domain is a twisted and warped-distorted reflections of the region haunted by the wraith. The domain is an infinite expanse, expanding far beyond the geographical limits of its Material Plane equivalent.
- Undead creatures can cross in and out the mist at will, but when doing so they are not driven by reason and logic, but by a thoughtless, irrational need, carrying the will of the arch-wraith.
- A living creature entering the mist must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be trapped, incapable of leaving the domain of dread by simply walking out of the mist. This saving throw is made with advantage if the creature knows the mist's nature, and constructs succeed on the saving throw automatically. Creatures trapped in the mist don't age. A creature trapped within the domain can escape using magic that permits planar travel. Otherwise, the creature is confined to the domain until freed.
- The gloomy atmosphere and almost tangible despair that seeps through the domain affects all living creatures stepping through it. Creature must resist the Shadowfell Despair (see p. 51 of the Dungeon Master's Guide) after only an hour passed in the domain of dread.
- The soul of a creature dying in the domain of dread becomes trapped here, joining the ranks of the enslaved wraith and specters serving the arch-wraith. Until the arch-wraith is destroyed permanently the creature cannot be resurrected or brought back to life by any mean, unless the arch-wraith is willing to bargain for it (see the Bargain).
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