Homebrew Shade Species Details

Cale eyed the tendrils as they approached. They squirmed toward him, eager, hungry. Words raced through Cale's brain, the easterner's words, spat between his teeth while Riven tortured him–Vraggen's transformation would render him ageless, immune to disease, able to regenerate wounds.

Able to regenerate wounds.

Cale remembered Jak's words too: A shade isn't human.

– Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling

Ambitious, ruthless, and paranoid, shades are humans who trade part of their souls for a sliver of the Shadowfell's dark essence. Even more so than the shadowborn–natives of the Shadowfell descended from the common races–shades are gloom incarnate. No matter what nations or land one was first born into, each shade undergoes a dark rebirth that
transforms him or her into a creature of stealth and secrecy who is caught between life and death. In exchange for the twilight powers granted to shades, the Shadowfell taints their souls with dark thoughts and a darker disposition.

A human who chooses to become a shade is reborn into shadow through a transformative ritual that draws on the ambient magic present at shadow crossings–places where the veil between the world and its dark echo is thinnest. Known in scholarly circles as the Trail of Five Darknesses, this arduous ritual is as likely to slay its practitioner outright–obliterating body and soul–as it is to grant the ability to wield shadow magic.

Unbridled ambition and utter desperation are common reasons for a human to undertake the Trail of Five Darknesses, since the taint of the Shadowfell marks a shade as an outcast forever. Shades maintain a determined self-reliance when among their own kind, because they know all too well the greed and duplicity their race is capable of. However, shades
also believe in strength in numbers, and as such they congregate in settlements close to shadow crossings, both in the world and the Shadowfell.

A few shades deny the self-serving nature of their kind, striving to ensure that the true nature of their souls overcomes the shadowy nature of their chosen path. Rejecting their own kind, these shades seek the company of the common races. Drawn to the life of an adventurer, such shades try to earn the trust of a close circle of friends, defending those comrades with the ruthlessness for which their kind is known. However, some decry this behavior as just another facet of the shades' characteristic avarice–treating friends as personal possessions that must be kept safe at all costs.

Physical Qualities

Shades resemble their original human selves, though they sacrifice their native vitality to the ritual that turns them into slender creatures of shadow. Their darkness-piercing eyes become orbs of dull black, dark gray, or purple. Their coloring takes on subdued hues, with most shades having pale skin and lank, black hair. Shades prefer dark, somber clothing of silk, suede, or supple leather, decorated with brass and iron. Their metal weapons and tools are coated with special oils that dull any sheen or reflection.

Attitudes and Beliefs

Shades exist among all cultures, but the transformation they undergo creates a consistent sense of ambition for which their kind is known. No matter what justification inspires an individual to undertake the Trail of Five Darknesses, the conscious act of embracing the power of shadow changes that person. For many shades, having given up a portion of their own soul in the name of power means that no sacrifice is too great.

Shades value restraint, poise, and patience. They bide their time in all things, keeping a low profile as they manipulate events to their advantage. Just as the Shadowfell's malaise can smother the spirits of mortal adventurers who venture into that dread plane, the sliver of shadow within each shade subdues emotion. A shade still feels love, hate, pride, despair, and the like, but he or she buries these feelings deep inside. A shade's smirk or frown carries as much weight as a halfling's laughter or an ogre's frenzied roar.

Shades hold little love for the gods. Having made the ultimate sacrifice for power, they have no patience for those who beg deities for their favor. Those few shades who dedicate themselves to a faith worship Sehanine, god of trickery, or Vecna, god of secrets.

For all their fierce independence and self-reliance, some shades feel a hunger for companionship driven by the emptiness of their fractured souls. Although such shades rarely become social creatures, they gravitate to strong allies alongside whom they can prove themselves in battle. Such long-term companions are typically the only ones who ever see a shade's true emotions, even as the shade demonstrates the full strength of his or her driven ruthlessness in those allies' defense.

The shades' independence puts them in direct opposition to the intense shadar-kai and their devotion to the Raven Queen. These two races of shadow demonstrate an animosity that rivals that of elves and drow, or dwarves and orcs. However, shades are civil to the vampiric vryloka, understanding too well the effect of living under the weight of shadow.

Shade Communities

The dark nature of their transformation places shade firmly outside the societies they arise from. The most social of their kind distrust all except their closest companions. Truly misanthropic shades embrace their darkness fully, seeing others as pawns to be exploited in the quest for power.

In the mortal realm, a shade often takes up a life of wandering or lives as a social outcast on the fringes of humanoid society. It is common for shades to mask their true nature with magic or clever disguises, using their shadow powers as a screen against watchful eyes. In many cases, shades reject family or clan names from their past lives to take on the name of the shadow crossing where they undertook the Trail of Five Darknesses ritual.

In the Shadowfell, and around shadow crossings, shades form communities that reflect the avaricious and brutal nature of their residents. Shades who settle in the Shadowfell are typically those who have strongly embraced the darkness in their souls. Their enclaves are built on a rigid caste structure in which shade nobles plot against each other in bloodthirsty political machinations that would tear other societies apart. In such communities, shades unattached to a noble house are treated as outcasts or used as pawns in attacks against rival nobles.

Shade Names

Shades usually keep their original names, while some adopt aliases to cloak their origins and take the name from the shadow crossing at which they were transformed.

Crossing Names: Blackwood, Dubhtyn, Eboncross, Gloomhollow, Hematiton

Shade Traits

Your shade character has the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You can follow those suggestions or ignore them, but you can’t raise any of your scores above 20.

Age

The Trail of Five Darknesses has a dramatic effect on longevity, doubling a shade's normal life span. However, rumors abound of shades who eventually attain a level of power that allows them to stop aging altogether.

Alignment

Shades value personal freedom and self-reliance. Most tend toward pragmatic neutrality or evil, though some choose to use their powers for good.

Size

Shades vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Transformed by the Trail of Five Darknesses, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

One With Shadows

You have proficiency in the Stealth skill.

Shadow Step

As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 ft. to an unoccupied space you can see. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Unholy Resistance

You have resistance to necrotic damage.

Dark Vitality

You have unnatural vitality and are unaffected by afflictions that would fell a mortal. You are immune to disease.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.