Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the wight has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Evasion. Whenever the shadowstalker succeeds a DEX save against an effect that would deal half damage, the shadowstalker instead takes no damage, and takes only half damage if it fails the save.
Roguish Supplies. When beginning an encounter with this creature, the DM should assign a number of bombs, poisons, and other useful tools for it to have in its possession or stashed nearby. These creatures often rely quite heavily on tools to enhance their chances of accomplishing their tasks.
Skilled Rogue. This creature is a trained rogue, it has expertise with thieves' tools, and is proficient with a forgery kit, a poisoner's kit, and any three additional tools, instruments, or game sets of the DM's choosing. Each shadowstalker specializes in a tool set that is suited to their preferred locale, type of operation, preferred disguise, or preferred targets.
Sneak Attack. Once on each of its turns when the Wight Shadowstalker makes an attack with advantage, it may deal an additional 14 (4d6) piercing damage with its attack. It may apply this bonus damage to a spell attack, if it does the damage type matches the damage inflicted by the spell attack.
Turn Resistance. The awakened wight has advantage on saves against effects which would turn undead.
War Caster. The awakened wight can cast spells even when wielding weapons in both hands or when wielding a shield and weapon.
Shadowstalker Spellcasting. The Awakened Wight Shadowstalker has harnessed their powers over undeath to become a potent illusionist. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (+7 to hit, Save DC 15). It can cast the following spells as a 5th level spellcaster without material components:
At Will: Chill Touch, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, Mage Hand, Message, Minor Illusion
1st Level, 4 slots: Charm Person, False Life, Fog Cloud, Hex, Inflict Wounds, Ray of Sickness, Silent Image
2nd Level, 3 slots: Invisibility, Magic Mouth, Mirror Image, Misty Step
3rd Level, 3 slots: Fear, Major Image
4th Level, 2 slots: Greater Invisibility, Phantasmal Killer
Multiattack. The wight makes two attacks with its shortsword +2 or its hand crossbow +2. It can use its Life Drain in place of one poisoned shortsword +2 attack.
Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
A humanoid slain by this attack rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the awakened wight's control, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed. The awakened wight can have no more than thirteen zombies under its control at one time.
Shortsword +2, Poisoned. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (1d6 + 8) piercing damage. Any creature damaged by this weapon must make a DC15 CON saving throw, taking 7 (2d8) poison damage and being poisoned for 1 minute on a failure, or taking half as much damage and not being poisoned on a success..
Hand Crossbow +2 (poisoned bolts). Ranged Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d4 + 8) piercing damage. Any creature damaged by this weapon must make a DC15 CON saving throw, taking 7 (2d8) poison damage and being poisoned for 1 minute on a failure, or taking half as much damage and not being poisoned on a success..
Capture Life Force. Any time the wight successfully hits a creature with its life drain attack and the creature fails its saving throw, the wight may use its bonus action to capture the fleeting life essence, granting itself temporary hit points equal to the amount of maximum hit points drained from that creature. These temporary hit points last for one hour or until depleted.
Cunning Action. The shadowstalker may take the dash, disengage, or hide action as a bonus action.
Hateful Mark. As a bonus action, the wight can mark any creature it hit with an attack this turn. Until the end of the wight's next turn, the wight has advantage on all attacks made against that creature and that creature has disadvantage on all saving throws made against the wight's attacks and spells.
Offhand Shot. The shadowstalker may make a single attack with its hand crossbow +2 as a bonus action.
Poisoner. This creature is adept at applying poisons and may apply a poison to a weapon or consumable as a bonus action.
Counterattack. In response to being targeted by a melee attack from a creature the wight can see, it may make one weapon attack so long as the creature is not within long range of the weapon used.
Fade into Darkness. As a reaction to being targeted by an attack, the shadowstalker may move up to 1/2 its movement speed and take the hide action. Additionally, if it has spell slots remaining of 2nd or higher level, it may cast fog cloud, invisibility, or misty step as part of taking the hide action.
Parry. In response to being targeted by a melee attack from a creature the wight can see, it can attempt to parry, granting itself +3 to Armor Class and potentially causing the attack to miss.
Uncanny Dodge. In response to being hit by an attack from a creature the shadowstalker can see, it may use its reaction to halve the damage it takes.
Description
Awakened in Undeath
Among wights there are few reasons not to improve. Over the years, wights who go unslain and who show the propensity to learn often gain greater mastery over their newfound gifts in unlife. These wights gain improved martial and magical prowess, learning to harness the powers that animate them to generate spells while improving their personal combat abilities.
Awakened wights, unless their lesser counterparts, have grown to understand that war with the living is an incredibly shallow and poorly explained purpose. While the living are all destined to die, and it is the place of the undead to usher them into an eternity of unlife, if there were no more living there would never be more undead, and there would no longer be purpose if this was all they were meant for. These wights have, as a result, expanded their horizons and thought processes, pursuing grander goals than being mere foot soldiers for the armies of the undying. Not merely some elite grunt, these wights have the capacity for complex thought, reasoning, and higher purpose, often regaining some amount of the memories of who they were in life as part of the process of being awakened.
Well Armed Undead
These wights have survived long enough to not only learn and adapt to fighting more dangerous foes, but also to acquire better equipment, and possibly even support from more powerful undead. They are almost always equipped with magical weapons and armor befitting the talents they've learned and complimenting the skill sets they've gained.
Becoming and Awakened Wight
Awakened Wights are uncommon predominantly because of the propensity of newly formed wights to get themselves killed pointlessly trying to kill as many mortals as they can with reckless abandon. Such wights get themselves caught by soldiers, adventurers, magi, and all manner of other complications that put their unliving eternity to an abrupt end. Given enough time and opportunity to learn or remember, all wights would eventually become awakened wights. However, some take far less time than others.
A wight "awakening" usually involves the wight fulfilling a purpose or goal they had in life, or that they took to their grave, and regaining some amount of memory from their time as a living being. Alternatively, great discoveries can cause a wight to awaken, enlightening them to their old life or to newfound purpose. Wights are intelligent, just mislead and compelled. Awakening as a wight is regaining a hold on that intelligence and their own personality.
Classifying Awakened Wights
Among awakened wights, the powers of unlife manifest in a particular array of ways. As all of their power derives from the same source, and all of the magic they gain access to is rooted in unlife, wights have a propensity to develop in one of these ways, regardless of other individual characteristics:
Awakened Wight. Before their powers form fully, awakened wights are merely that: Awakened. These wights have just begun to regain their memories and discover new purpose, but their mind being unshackled from the narrow scope it came into unlife with has empowered and emboldened them. All they need is time to harness their powers and become truly awe inspiring undead.
Deathblade. Awakened Wight Deathblades are the equivalent of warlocks or eldritch knights, harnessing equally the martial prowess they can achieve as an undead and the dark magics that course through them. These wights were usually fighters in life, the path to undeath unlocking dark magics that they managed to harness to make them even more fierce.
Eternal Warrior. Awakened Wight Eternal Warriors acknowledge the magic coursing through them, but have either no talent or no interest in truly learning to harness it for spellcasting. Rather, they turn this power inwards as they learn to harness it, fortifying their bodies and allowing them to surpass the limits of mortal flesh. Vile energy leaks from these incredibly powerful undead, infusing itself into every fiber of their beings. Eternal Warriors are further divided into Guardians, Champions, and Berserkers, based on where their martial focus lies.
Shadowstalkers. Awakened wights whose lives were spent in shadows prior to undeath often find themselves becoming shadowstalkers, stealthy assassins among their kind whose goals often align with the accumulation of wealth, prestige, or personal power. However, in their unliving state, these goals tend to take on new meaning. Wealth becomes a measure of property and belongings. Prestige becomes fear from the living or renown for their talents. Personal power, however, rarely changes, as power is power at the end of the day.
Unliving Hunstman. Typically rangers burn their dead to stop these abominations from coming to be. Twisted in death, their powers over nature and mastery of hunting have turned into a vile stain on the balance of life and death. These undead rangers make for the most elite scouts and trackers among their kind, and sometimes even turn their back on the living and dead alike to pursue their own ventures and turning to mercenary work. However, no matter their path, the mere time they spent as a wight twists their morality and makes them unfeeling and indifferent towards the sanctity of life.
Wight Mage. Awakened Wight Mages were usually necromancers in life, which means they are often the quickest to awaken among wights. Remembering their magical practices is all it takes for them to become just as potent and dangerous as they once were, but the physical strength they gain in undeath makes them truly terrifying foes. Those that were not originally necromancers find that necromancy comes far more easily to them as a wight, and tend to favor it even if they hadn't in life, though exceptions do exist.
Comments