The Shadow Cat

The Midnight Paradox:
Sleep is an affliction that plagues the mortal races, leaving them vulnerable to the terrors that lie within their own minds. Yet, it is something sought and desired, for without it, death is inevitable. There is a creature that feeds upon the horrors that arise after the fall of dusk and the closing of eyes, and the lesser reflections of this creature act as servants to its will. Some call this entity the Shadowcat, and its realm is the ever-present plane known as the Inverse. Just as the stroke of midnight is both today and tomorrow, the Shadowcat is both the nightmare and the awakening dawn.

Stalker of Dreams:
In ancient days, when mortals closed their eyes to rest, the cruelest among them was visited by a nightmare and trapped in horrors indescribable. When they finally awoke, they cried out to the universe and begged for something, anything, to answer in their defense. Thus, the Shadowcat appeared and offered a bargain: it would feast upon the nightmares spawned by mortal minds, and in return, it would never go hungry. The Shadowcat will step forth from its private realm, the Inverse, and recline upon a sleeping mortal’s form, paralyzing them with coils of shadow. It will then opens its mouth and draws forth the nightmares from the mind of the victim, feasting upon them to sustain itself.

The First Nightmare:
The Inverse is a realm not filled with shadow, but instead filled with terrible, purifying light. All that is black within becomes pale and translucent instead, while overhead a sun that looks like an eye to the void itself rains shadows down upon the landscape. There are no people within the Inverse except those granted passage by the Shadowcat, yet it appears as an exact duplication of the plane one entered from, as it lies over all other planes like the reflection of a one-way mirror. It is here, in this silent place, that the first nightmare was spawned: The Shadowcat itself. It was alone at first, yet as more appeared, its pride and vanity could not be sated with mere existence. It began to hunt, to kill, and to consume the other nightmares, breathing them forth anew as lesser reflections of itself. Dimcats arise from the nightmares that plague innocent children, gloomcats from those that haunt adults, and inkcats from the tormented cries of madmen who have come to know more than a mortal mind can bear.

A Feast without End:
In places where the Shadowcat has prowled, nightmares behave differently, for they are fearful of being found vulnerable to the lesser reflections of the Shadowcat. Instead of living within the minds of those they torment, they seek to free themselves and escape, taking forms beyond the comprehension of mortal minds in an attempt to weaken the barriers between the Inverse and the material plane. Thus, the Shadowcat sends its reflections and those who have agreed to serve it, forcing the nightmares back into the minds of their originators so that they can be consumed and transformed. Those that manage to survive the efforts of the reflections and servants are truly devious, for they will call forth more of their brethren from the Inverse by sacrificing innocents in front of those who care for them, causing nightmares to boil out of the minds of the watching victims.

Expanded Spell List

The Shadowcat lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Dream Stalker

Starting at 1st level, your patron’s magic allows you to be everywhere and nowhere at once. As an action, you can fade partway into the Inverse, gaining advantage on Stealth checks for 1 hour. When you roll initiative while in this state, you can choose to teleport up to 60 feet to a location within 10 feet of a creature you can see. If you deal damage to the creature with an attack during the first round of combat, you can use your bonus action to steal their breath and spirit. The target takes psychic damage equal to your warlock level and cannot speak or make sound until the start of your next turn. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Stolen Luck

At 6th level, you can curse an enemy that you can see within 60 feet of you with terrible misfortune as a bonus action. Whenever the target makes an attack roll or ability check, you can use your reaction to roll a d6 after seeing the result. If the result is a 6, the result of their d20 roll is replaced with a 1. This curse lasts for one minute, and ends early if either you or the target are reduced to 0 hit points. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Umbral Leap

Starting at 10th level, whenever you are subject to an effect that requires you to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can use your reaction to instantly dissolve into a dark mist to avoid the initial effect. You reappear in an unoccupied space of your choosing within 30 feet of your initial location. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Dark Apparition

At 14th level, the Shadowcat’s hunger for nightmares grants you the power to create them. You can no longer be surprised. Your Dream Stalker feature no longer has a limit to the number of times it can be used. Whenever you use your Dream Stalker feature’s bonus action, all hostile creatures within 10 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. If they fail, they are frightened of you until the end of your next turn.