Umbral Creature Template

Like shadows, umbral creatures are creatures of living darkness. They hate life and light with equal fervor. Their touch bestows the painful chill of nonexistence, making them very dangerous opponents.

An umbral creature looks like a shadowy version of a material creature, and it may easily be mistaken for a living creature from the Plane of Shadow. Umbral creatures are diffi cult to see in dark or gloomy areas, but they stand out starkly in brightly illuminated places.

Natural enemies of all that live, umbral creatures are aggressive and predatory. They are quick to strike and make short work of those unprepared to deal with them.

Only an aberration, dragon, giant, beast, or monstrosity may become an umbral creature; humanoids become shadows (MM 269) instead. When a living creature (referred to as the base creature) becomes an umbral creature, it retains its statistics except as described below.

Type. The umbral creature is an undead, and it doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.

Armor Class. The umbral creature's Armor Class becomes 10 + its Dexterity modifier if it wasn't already, and it loses natural armor or any other source of armor it may have had.

Speed. The umbral creature's walking speed increases by 10 feet, and it loses all other forms of movement.

Ability Score Adjustment. The umbral creature's Dexterity score increases by 2, to a maximum of 22 and a minimum of 14. However, if its Strength score is higher than its new Dexterity score, the umbral creature's Dexterity rises to match its Strength. Its Strength score is then halved, to a minimum of 1.

Damage Vulnerabilities, Resistances, and Immunities. The umbral creature has the same vulnerabilities, resistances, and immunities as a shadow (MM 269). None of the vulnerabilities, resistances, or immunities from the base creature are preserved.

Condition Immunities. The umbral creature can't be frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, or restrained. It also doesn't suffer from exhaustion.

Senses. The umbral creature gains darkvision out to 60 feet. If the base creature already had darkvision, the radius of its darkvision instead increases by 60 feet. The umbral creature loses all other senses.

Traits, Actions, and Proficiencies. The umbral creature loses any trait, such as Amphibious, that assumes a living physiology, as well as any trait that relies on being corporeal, such as Spider Climb or Standing Leap. The umbral creature might retain or lose any or all of its lair actions or inherit new ones, as the DM sees fit. It also gains additional actions and traits as described in the template's statistics block. Otherwise, the umbral creature retains the base creature's proficiencies, actions, and traits.