Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Living Shadow. While in dim light or darkness, the dragon has resistance to damage that isn’t force, psychic, or radiant.
Shadow Stealth. While in dim light or darkness, the dragon can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the dragon has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Magic Resistance. Malokai has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Innate Spellcasting. Malokai innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 20). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: darkness, fog cloud, misty step, nondetection
1st Level 6/ day: clairvoyance, darkness, detect thoughts, dispel magic, faerie fire, suggestion, cure wounds, ray of sickness
2nd level 6/ day: hold person, shatter, mirror image, silence
3rd Level 5/ day: counterspell, bestow curse, dispel magic,
4th level 4/ day: phantasmal killer, banishment, death ward, freedom of movement, divination
5th level 3/ day: mass suggestion, word of recall, contagion
6th level (2/ day): blade barrier, harm
7th level (1/ day): plane shift
Multiattack. The dragon can use its Frightful Presence. It then makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d10 + 8) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d6 + 8) slashing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d8 + 8) bludgeoning damage.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the dragon’s choice that is within 120 feet of the dragon and aware of it must succeed on a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the dragon’s Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Shadow Breath (Recharge 5–6). The dragon exhales shadowy fire in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, taking 63 (18d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A humanoid reduced to 0 hit points by this damage dies, and an undead shadow rises from its corpse and acts immediately after the dragon in the initiative count. The shadow is under the dragon’s control.
The dragon can take 5 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 dragon regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Detect. The dragon makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.
Tail Attack. The dragon makes a tail attack.
Wing Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon beats its wings. Each creature within 10 feet of the dragon must succeed on a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw or take 15 (2d6 + 8) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. The dragon can then fly up to half its flying speed.
Cast a Spell (Costs 1–3 Actions). Malokai expends a spell slot to cast a 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-level spell that he has prepared. Doing so costs 1 legendary action per level of the spell.
Description
Physically seeming insubstantial, shadow dragons had dark and translucent scales which helped them camouflage into the darkness around them. Shadow dragons were often mistaken for black dragons, but their horns pointed backwards. A long fringe of spines emerged from the back of a dragon's neck and its powerful tail featured a swimming fin. Some also have stark white feathery tendrils that fall between their horns like hair. Its beaked snout vents a smokey shadow at all times, and its eyes dance with shadow flame when it is angry.
Lair and Lair Actions
When dragons become aware of the Shadowfell’s malign influence seeping into their territories, most scoop up their hoards and abandon any compromised lairs. But some are stubborn, prideful, or bitter enough to stay, even in the face of inevitable corruption. More often, a dragon is unknowingly swept up by the Shadowfell while asleep, awakening after a years-long rest to find that both dragon and lair have changed. In these cases, a shadow dragon’s lair undergoes the same transformation as the dragon, becoming a shadowy, melancholic version of the original site.
Shadow dragons that are born on the Shadowfell or seek out new lairs after their transformations establish lairs according to the preferences of their kind, though they find comfort only in the most gloomy and cheerless of places. Reconciling these sometimes-contrasting urges can lead to some very unusual lair choices.
In this case, the once-active volcano has now lapsed into dormancy. Its lava flows have cooled into a blackened, alien landscape. Ash coats the slopes of the caldera, picked up by the weird swirling winds common to this region and drawn into the atmosphere. Clouds of ash periodically cast the surrounding lands into deep shadow, before the fine grit once again falls to the ground in a hazy gray blizzard. The shadow dragon prowls the region during these hazes, rendered all but invisible by the eddies of ash.
In the heart of the lair, even the brightest light is muted, and creatures find their eyes playing tricks on them as details and distance are distorted. The shadow dragon rarely leaves this place except to hunt and is attended by dozens of shadows.
Additional Lair Action
Shadow dragons have access to the lair actions usable by untransformed dragons of the same kind. The effects of these actions might be cosmetically altered, seeming darker, gloomier, and more subdued. They might also deal necrotic damage instead of other damage types. At your discretion, a legendary (adult or ancient) shadow dragon can use the following additional lair action while in its lair:
Banish Light. Any nonmagical source of illumination within a 60-foot-radius sphere centered on the dragon is snuffed out, and any spell that creates light within that same area is dispelled.
Regional Effects
When a shadow dragon establishes a lair on the Material Plane, the region around the lair takes on some of the characteristics of the Shadowfell, creating one or more of the following effects:
Brooding Despair. Creatures within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair that have an Intelligence score of 5 or higher feel forlorn and hopeless.
Dying Light. Light is diminished within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair, lighty obscuring the land in gloomy shadows.
Gloomy Portals. Some caves, caverns, pits, and other places of deep gloom within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair form portals to the Shadowfell, allowing creatures from that plane to dwell nearby.
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