Shade

In the mystic world of Aigusyl, where Spirit, magic, and memory often bleed together, Shades are the rare and eerie manifestations of a soul’s lingering imprint on the world. They are not true undead, nor are they fully alive—they are memories given form, will given shape, shadows imbued with essence. Shades arise when a powerful or emotionally charged memory—of love, pain, vengeance, duty, or regret—refuses to fade even after death. In such moments, the essence of a person may fracture from the soul and congeal into a sentient echo, birthed into being without needing a corpse or necromantic magic.

Shades are often encountered in places thick with loss: forgotten battlefields, ruined cities, abandoned temples, or homes clinging to sorrow. Unlike ghosts, Shades do not recall their full lives. Instead, they exist as fragments—clutching only a few vivid emotions or memories like a broken song on repeat. One may remember a child's name but not their own, or wander ruins repeating the last command they ever received. Despite this, Shades are sapient, capable of learning, adapting, and forming new thoughts. Over time, they may even evolve into something wholly unique, a person reformed from pieces of the past.

Physically, Shades manifest in myriad forms. Most are humanoid silhouettes made of mist, ink-black vapor, or dim light. Some have partially formed features—eyes that shine through shadow, lips that whisper truths, fingers that can grasp but not feel. The strongest of them possess the ability to wield spirit-born magic, tapping into echoes of the arcane, divine, or martial prowess they once held. Their presence often chills the air or warps nearby sound, as if the world hesitates to recognize them.

Though many fear Shades—mistaking them for vengeful spirits or undead—some cultures in Aigusyl revere them. In the Spirit Realm, Shades are treated as honored fragments, guides for the living or even ancestral keepers of ancient memory. Certain spirit-speaking druids and eldriseers actively seek them out for wisdom buried by time, believing Shades carry truths that even the gods have forgotten. Conversely, The Aether Pantheon considers unchecked Shade growth a cosmic imbalance, for memories were never meant to live unaided by soul.

Shades are often drawn to the World Tree, whose roots tug gently on lost things—be they stories, dreams, or identities. It is said that some Shades find peace within its hidden hollows, where they slowly dissolve back into the weave of reality. Others resist dissolution, becoming sentinels of memory, determined to fulfill the purpose that birthed them.

Genetic Descendants

• Stygian Shade

BoET

Shade

HUMANOID (SPIRIT)

Shade Traits

Size: Varies

Speed: Varies

As a Shade, you have these special traits.

Darkvision

Your existence beyond death makes you at home in the dark. 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.

Ghostly Flesh

Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to dissolve your physical body into the ephemeral stuff of spirits. You become translucent and devoid of color, and the air around you grows cold. Your transformation lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. During it, you have a flying speed of 30 feet with the ability to hover, and you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t made with silvered weapons. In addition, you have advantage on ability checks and saving throws made to escape a grapple or against being restrained, and you can move through creatures and solid objects as if they were difficult terrain. If you end your turn inside an object, you take 1d10 force damage. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Imperfect Undeath

You are a humanoid, but your partial transition into undeath makes you susceptible to effects that target undead. Though you can regain hit points from spells like cure wounds, you can also be affected by game effects that specifically target undead, such as a cleric’s Turn Undead feature. Game effects that raise a creature from the dead work on you as normal, but they return you to life as a shade. A true resurrection or wish spell can restore you to life as a fully living member of your original race.

Life Drain

When you damage a creature with an attack or a spell, you can choose to deal extra necrotic damage to the target equal to your level. If the creature’s race matches your Living Origin, you gain temporary hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Spectral Resilience

You have advantage on saving throws against poison and disease, and you have resistance to necrotic damage.

Living Origin

As living echoes of who they once were, shades maintain some of the traits they bore in life. Choose another race as your Living Origin. This is the race you were in life. Your size and speed are those of your Living Origin, and you know one language spoken by your Living Origin.