I had a player in my last 4E campaign who was playing a Shade and who was a warlock with the Dark pact (although geared towards a Shadowfell lord, rather than a drow thing.) The character ended up finishing the campaign by moving through a portal to what turned out to be the Forgotten Realms... and as that is where my new 5E campaign is set, he decided to continue playing the character. Obviously there is no Shade nor Dark Pact created yet, so I've had to do it. Here's what I've come up with. The Shade stats are kind of a merging of the Half-Elf (for the half-human aspects) and the Drow (for the darkness aspects.)
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SHADE
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Age. Shades mature at the same rate as humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20.
Alignment. Shades are not strongly inclined towards good.
Size. Shades are about the same size as humans, ranging from 5 to 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Superior Darkvision. Thanks to your shadow-infusion, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 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.
Shadow Walk. You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill and you can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by dim light.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.
The Shadowlord patron uses, copies, or adapts several bits from the other three patrons just because I wanted to make sure things remained relatively balanced. But I've refluffed them all to be more Shadowfell-based.
THE SHADOWLORD
EXPANDED SPELL LIST
The Shadowlord 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.
Shadowlord Expanded Spells
Spell LeveL / Spells
1st / bane, false life
2nd / blindness/deafness, pass without trace
3rd / animate dead, nondetection
4th / death ward, evard’s black tentacles
5th / contagion, dispel evil and good
SPITEFUL GLAMOR
Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the shadow. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
SHADOWY ESCAPE
Starting at 6th level, you can vanish into the shadows in response to harm. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack or cast a spell.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
ENERGY SHIELD
Beginning at 10th level, you are more resistant to the life draining forces of many creatures. You have resistance to necrotic damage, and you cannot have your maximum hit point lowered due to any attack that dealt necrotic damage.
DARKSPIRAL AURA
Starting at 14th level, when you hit a creature with an attack, you can use this feature to instantly transport the target down a well of impenetrable darkness. The creature disappears and plunges down an inky black vortex through the Shadowfell.
At the end of your next turn, the target returns to the space it previously occupied, or the nearest unoccupied space. If the target is not an undead, it takes 10d10 necrotic damage as it reels from its decaying experience.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
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Anything obvious that is over or under-powered? Any other suggestions? Thanks folks!
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SHADE
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Age. Shades mature at the same rate as humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20.
Alignment. Shades are not strongly inclined towards good.
Size. Shades are about the same size as humans, ranging from 5 to 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Superior Darkvision. Thanks to your shadow-infusion, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 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.
Shadow Walk. You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill and you can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by dim light.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.
The Shadowlord patron uses, copies, or adapts several bits from the other three patrons just because I wanted to make sure things remained relatively balanced. But I've refluffed them all to be more Shadowfell-based.
THE SHADOWLORD
EXPANDED SPELL LIST
The Shadowlord 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.
Shadowlord Expanded Spells
Spell LeveL / Spells
1st / bane, false life
2nd / blindness/deafness, pass without trace
3rd / animate dead, nondetection
4th / death ward, evard’s black tentacles
5th / contagion, dispel evil and good
SPITEFUL GLAMOR
Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the shadow. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
SHADOWY ESCAPE
Starting at 6th level, you can vanish into the shadows in response to harm. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack or cast a spell.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
ENERGY SHIELD
Beginning at 10th level, you are more resistant to the life draining forces of many creatures. You have resistance to necrotic damage, and you cannot have your maximum hit point lowered due to any attack that dealt necrotic damage.
DARKSPIRAL AURA
Starting at 14th level, when you hit a creature with an attack, you can use this feature to instantly transport the target down a well of impenetrable darkness. The creature disappears and plunges down an inky black vortex through the Shadowfell.
At the end of your next turn, the target returns to the space it previously occupied, or the nearest unoccupied space. If the target is not an undead, it takes 10d10 necrotic damage as it reels from its decaying experience.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
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Anything obvious that is over or under-powered? Any other suggestions? Thanks folks!
