Shade

Medium undead, chaotic evil

Shades are creatures of pure shadow --- the Void's attempt to copy humanoid form using absence instead of matter. They appear as dark, featureless silhouettes that move with fluid, unnatural grace. A shade casts no shadow of its own (it *is* a shadow) and produces no sound. Where it touches living flesh, it drains not blood or life force but *strength* --- the fundamental physical vitality of the victim. A person killed by a shade does not bleed out. They simply become too weak to breathe, their muscles failing one by one until the heart gives out. The body is found unmarked, as if they simply laid down and couldn't get up.

Armor Class:12

Hit Points:27 (5d8 + 5)

Speed:40 ft, fly 40 ft (hover)

Challenge:CR 2

STR

6 (-2)

DEX

14 (+2)

CON

13 (+1)

INT

6 (-2)

WIS

10 (+0)

CHA

8 (-1)

Skills:Stealth +6

Damage Resistances:Acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities:Necrotic, poison

Condition Immunities:Exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained

Senses:Darkvision 60 ft, passive Perception 10

Traits

Amorphous. The shade can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Shadow Stealth. While in dim light or darkness, the shade can take the Hide action as a bonus action and has advantage on Stealth checks.

Sunlight Weakness. While in direct sunlight (from a Breach), the shade has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.

Actions

Strength Drain. Melee: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) necrotic damage, and the target's Strength score is reduced by 1d4. The target dies if this reduces its Strength to 0. Otherwise, the reduction lasts until the target finishes a short or long rest. A non-evil humanoid slain by this attack rises as a new shade in 1d4 hours.