Essence of Evil
Habitat: Planar (Shadowfell), Underdark; Treasure: None
Wraiths are spectral evils, life-hungry embodiments of malice and terror. Arising from the souls of tyrants, moments of catastrophic pain, or magical blasphemies, wraiths spread suffering and the torment of undeath. Humanoids that die near a wraith might be entrapped by the foul spirit and rise as specters bound to the wraith’s sinister will.
Wraiths lurk in forgotten dungeons, accursed ruins, or lands influenced by sinister planes of existence. Such haunted domains might bear hints of the tragedies or foul magic that brought the wraiths into being.
Wraiths might arise from a single powerfully evil soul or other baleful forces. Roll on or choose a result from the Wraith Manifestations table to inspire the wickedness a wraith embodies.
| 1d10 |
The Wraith Embodies ... |
|---|---|
| 1 |
The blasphemous magic of a cursed location. |
| 2 |
The exorcised evil of a redeemed villain. |
| 3 |
A legendary villain who returns once a century. |
| 4 |
Locals’ fear of a superstition or legend. |
| 5 |
The memory of a tragedy. |
| 6 |
A profane idea or foul piece of lore. |
| 7 |
The torment of one or more suffering souls. |
| 8 |
The viciousness of a profane Artifact. |
| 9 |
The vile dreams of a slumbering god. |
| 10 |
The voracity of a life-hungry realm, such as the Shadowfell or Negative Plane. |
Incorporeal Movement. The wraith can move through other creatures and objects as if they were Difficult Terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) Force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the wraith has Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls.
Life Drain. Melee Attack Roll: +6, reach 5 ft. Hit: 21 (4d8 + 3) Necrotic damage. If the target is a creature, its Hit Point maximum decreases by an amount equal to the damage taken.
Create Specter. The wraith targets a Humanoid corpse within 10 feet of itself that has been dead for no longer than 1 minute. The target’s spirit rises as a Specter in the space of its corpse or in the nearest unoccupied space. The specter is under the wraith’s control. The wraith can have no more than seven specters under its control at a time.
