Quote from Nereze >>

 Specters no longer possess connections to who or what they were, yet are condemned to walk the world forever.

Does this mean that if you use this on someone and want to learn something from them, they wouldn't know? I get that they cant speak but they do understand the languages in life. Would I not be able to make them nod to something or guide?

It’s more that it doesn’t have any “unfinished business” to resolve.  Unlike a ghost, it’s not fettered to the material world by attachment, but put into this state by some external power (like a warlock or wraith’s cursed touch).

Exactly how much the torn up remnant of a soul remembers about its past life, depends on the specter.

sooopkay 

Quote from SemperGumby >>

Who voiced the pronunciation for this? Is it Matt Mercer?

 yes it is

Quote from Imryl >>

Got one-shotted by one of these tonight. Nat 20 for 23 dmg on my 18 AC, 13 HP level 1 Cleric.

 how did your cleric have 13 HP at level 1?  you'd need 20 con which isn't possible unless you got a perfect roll and had a +2 con racial bonus, or you were playing a hill dwarf with 18 con.

Quote from Trewill91 >>

Quote from Imryl >>

Got one-shotted by one of these tonight. Nat 20 for 23 dmg on my 18 AC, 13 HP level 1 Cleric.

 how did your cleric have 13 HP at level 1?  you'd need 20 con which isn't possible unless you got a perfect roll and had a +2 con racial bonus, or you were playing a hill dwarf with 18 con.

 The alternate human option allows you to start with a feat, if they selected the tough feat that adds 2 hit points. So with a 16 CON, they get there.

any dwarf race with a 20 CON.
Potentially he be saying he 13 hp (including temp hp).

 So while it is unlikely there are a few different ways to get a first level cleric to 13 hp.  

don't spectors raise people they kill as new spectors?

Nope, that's Wraiths. They can produce and control up to seven Specters simultaneously.

How is this cr1, my each pc in the lvl1 campaign I’m in could be instant K.Oed by a single hit, and it has resistance to non magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. 

Quote from chase1001 >>

How is this cr1, my each pc in the lvl1 campaign I’m in could be instant K.Oed by a single hit, and it has resistance to non magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. 

It's a strong CR1 monster for sure, but it's only dangerous for lvl 1 players, maybe lvl 2 if they are not very good. 

- It has ATROCIOUS AC and if they players know how to hit it, it goes down pretty fast for a solo monster. If your party has access to magic missile, or some radiant damage (paladins especially), it goes down really fast. 

- It's super dangerous if it crits or hits a low level/low hp player, but otherwise... one attack, +4 to hit, 3d6 damage is nothing incredible. 

That being said, all i said only concerns SOLO specters. A group of specters is another story, which can keep a lvl 3-5 group on their toes. 

Ha ha ha...an early-campaign encounter where the party must deal with a horde of shadows, specters & undead.

Going to make it a survival horror story-arc...should be interesting.

These monsters can potential overwhelm a party if they’re not careful with these “HP Reduction” or “Strength Reducing” features...

Kind of weird that the specter's life drain is a melee spell attack, while the life drain of other undead such as wraith and wight is a melee weapon attack.

"The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0."

As in like... permanent, roll a new character kind of death? 

I'm sure that you can resurrect a creature whose HP has been reduced, & furthermore some sort of Restoration will do away with the HP reduction.

Besides, a DC 10 Con save is easy, especially with any spells like Bless or Enhance Ability.

Quote from Chaosrex >>

Dunno it feels kinda like out of place with how the Hexbalde functions...

Yeah i get that the vanilla lore of the Hexblade in 5th is that you get your powers from the Shadowfell, so Shadowfell=ghosts, ok, ok, ok...

But mecanicaly?, it doesn't do much for the class, NOT using it, doesn't change anything to how the class works, so...whats the point?...

Hexblade allready has to deal with very narrow features since half of the later one requiring the Hexblade curse to work, even though you can use it only once per short rest and on ONE target at a time...( well till you reach lvl14)...

I'd rather had and improved Hexblade curse at lvl 6 that either does more dmg/can be used multiple times, then this weird out of context feature.

Yes i know that its something that the class inherited from the UA version of the class with the Shadow Hound ( that finished in the hands of the Shadow sorceror, but actually good and usefull...), but still, it feels tacked on at the last minute...

Talked about it with my DM and we replaced it with this:

Dark Reaper :

You Reap the Souls of your enemies to feed your Pact Blade's powers.

When you attack a creature with your Pact weapon and reduce them to 0 hit points, you regain a spell slot.

You can use this feature once, and can not do so again until you finish a long rest. You gain one additional use of this feature at level 14.

 Adding more creatures to your side of a combat is always useful. And while your homebrew feature is very good, it feels like more of an Eldritch Invocation, given that it requires you to choose Pact of the Blade. And while you're probably most likely to choose that for flavor reasons, you're not restricted in doing so, and an Agonizing Eldritch Blast is better than a weapon anyway. I'd say remove the Pact Weapon clause (simply "When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points...") and make it a higher level feature if you're so bent on not having a spoopy little friend to help kill the remaining enemies.

Quote from SemperGumby >>

Who voiced the pronunciation for this? Is it Matt Mercer?

 That's definitely Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) from Suits

Quote from kasey53 >>

Quote from Chaosrex >>

Dunno it feels kinda like out of place with how the Hexbalde functions...

Yeah i get that the vanilla lore of the Hexblade in 5th is that you get your powers from the Shadowfell, so Shadowfell=ghosts, ok, ok, ok...

But mecanicaly?, it doesn't do much for the class, NOT using it, doesn't change anything to how the class works, so...whats the point?...

Hexblade allready has to deal with very narrow features since half of the later one requiring the Hexblade curse to work, even though you can use it only once per short rest and on ONE target at a time...( well till you reach lvl14)...

I'd rather had and improved Hexblade curse at lvl 6 that either does more dmg/can be used multiple times, then this weird out of context feature.

Yes i know that its something that the class inherited from the UA version of the class with the Shadow Hound ( that finished in the hands of the Shadow sorceror, but actually good and usefull...), but still, it feels tacked on at the last minute...

Talked about it with my DM and we replaced it with this:

Dark Reaper :

You Reap the Souls of your enemies to feed your Pact Blade's powers.

When you attack a creature with your Pact weapon and reduce them to 0 hit points, you regain a spell slot.

You can use this feature once, and can not do so again until you finish a long rest. You gain one additional use of this feature at level 14.

 Adding more creatures to your side of a combat is always useful. And while your homebrew feature is very good, it feels like more of an Eldritch Invocation, given that it requires you to choose Pact of the Blade. And while you're probably most likely to choose that for flavor reasons, you're not restricted in doing so, and an Agonizing Eldritch Blast is better than a weapon anyway. I'd say remove

the Pact Weapon clause (simply "When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points...") and make it a higher level feature if you're so bent on not having a spoopy little friend to help kill the remaining enemies.

 or replace pact weapon with hex weapon.

Looking forward to getting to level 6 with my Hexblade, make one of these and then summon a shadow spirit, have 2 ghosts wrecking the battlefield.

Imagine using it to guard your camp at night, if the dm allows for it to disappear at the end of the long rest (as in morning). Or hidden in your pack to word off the DM's thief npc.

How did your cleric have 13 HP? don't clerics have a d8 hit dice, so at level 1 with a 16 con you would have 11 HP, unless you rolled for stats and had a 20 con at level 1

my friend one-shot this guy when we were in a dungeon