Shadow Enemies and Encounters

[WesleyVos]

First, anyone playing the Avenguard Chronicles campaign on Roll20, stay out.

Everyone else...

I'm running a 3.5 campaign in which something bad is about to happen to teleportation magic, as in, it's shutting down completely. Minor teleportation (abrupt jaunt, etc.) will work on a limited scale, but with either a chance of failure or some kind of blowback. Fast travel is going to have to occur using an older method of travel by Warren. For those who have read the Malazan Book of the Fallen, traveling the Warrens will be similar; for everyone else, it's similar to traveling in an alternate dimension that is also a demi-plane of sorts.

Each of the Warrens will be linked to a specific aspect of magic - all of the schools/subschools have at least one warren associated with them (shadow, fire, healing, creation). The Warren most useful to travel for the PCs, at least in their first Warren travel, will be the Warren of Shadow. I have an idea of what it is like - lots of gray, dark mists, a pale sun, lots of tall hills, mountains, and gray forests (shadows have to be cast by something). Now what I need to do is populate it.

I'm looking in particular for encounters ranging from CR 7 to CR 13/14, but I'll take ones on either side of that as well. I want this travel to be dangerous for the party. (Note: Party is 7 PCs, ECL 7. Includes a DFI Bard (Force Damage), Cloistered Cleric, FS Conjurer, Sorcerer, Barbarian, Spirit Shaman/Human Paragon/Stormcaster, and another melee-type (undetermined, new character)).

Thoughts?

[WesleyVos]

Anything? Anybody?

[AlanBruce]

Well, the DMG has a table, I believe, for encounters on the Plane of Shadow.

The most obvious answer is shadows, the lesser and greater variety. Shadows are not stupid, so they will attempt to use the terrain to their advantage and employ hit and run tactics, especially if they start getting hit with force damage.

Wraiths could also be here, blending into the shadows and attacking the pcs individually.

Again, force damage should make these undead use smarter tactics on the group.

Shadar Kai sneak patrols (Fiend Folio), are also a good idea. These shadow fey are really good at ambushes and with a few class levels, you could make a party of tripper fighters, clerics, and sorcerers to give the party a solid encounter.

Finally, there is the Shadow Dragon (Draconomicon, I believe). It should have different age categories and one of them should fall into the CR 13-14 range.

Of course, there are many, many more creatures that populate the Plane of Shadow, but these should give you a start.

[Chronos]

There are also the Dark and Shadow templates which you can attach to pretty much anything (from the Tome of Magic and, I think, the Manual of the Planes, respectively).

[Hazrond]

There are also the Dark and Shadow templates which you can attach to pretty much anything (from the Tome of Magic and, I think, the Manual of the Planes, respectively).

I believe the shadow template is from savage species actually, and i can confirm that dark is from ToM

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Even though Draconic Heritage can be selected for a dragon with the Force descriptor/subtype, Force is not a type of energy. Dragonfire Inspiration can only use one of the five energy types (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic), and if his Draconic Heritage feat doesn't have one of those five energy types associated with it then Dragonfire Inspiration doesn't work at all. "If your feat or your parent is not associated with one of these energy types, this feat has no effect for you."

A Greater Shadow (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shadow.htm) can Spring Attack out of the floor/walls/etc. and harass a party. If it's still partially inside a solid obstacle it will have cover, and it's impossible for anyone to AoO a target with cover. Don't make it attack every round, have it strike once or twice and then wait a few rounds. If they start readying actions to hit it when it comes out it will just wait until they start moving again. It can peek out through cracks in the obstacle it's hiding in without exposing itself to attacks.

Several Shadow Mastiffs (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shadowMastiff.htm) can be dangerous, especially if they'll have total concealment (50% miss chance, can't AoO or sneak attack them, effectively invisible for targeted spells) the whole fight. A Shadurakul in the Fiend Folio (Canomorph entry) is a Shadow Mastiff that can take a humanoid form, similar to a werecreature. The one printed has six levels of Fighter, but you could replace that with a few levels of (Unarmed) Swordsage or similar to make a very challenging opponent.

[THEChanger]

The Book of Bad Latin (Libris Mortis) also has an Umbral Template, which turns pretty much anything into an Undead similar to traditional Shadows.

Though they may be a bit outside your CR range, the Nightshades from MM1 are a group of naturally occurring Undead which are from the Plane of Shadow. The Nightwing, in particular, is listed at CR 14, and could make for an interesting boss fight if you were looking for that.

Slightly more amusing, Skiurids from MM4 are also native to the Plane of Shadow. They're evil squirrels, but they also have two very useful abilities. Shadow Jump, which is a 3/day Dimension Door that must begin and end in an area of shadow - so, anywhere in this Warren. There is also Chill Darkness, which is also 3/day, and how Skiurids get their nourishment. Any creature not native to the Plane of Shadow(Warren), or is not Undead, takes 1d6 points of damage and a point of Strength damage. The Save DC is 13 against the Strength damage, but it's required each time a creature reenters the area of Chill Darkness. They're CR 1/2. Send twenty.

Something I've used with my players is Chokers. Lovely little beasties. But also a good chassis to modify to create sneaky, sneaky mooks. Throw the Shadow template on them. Make them permanently Bound to the Vestige Tenebrous, with an Effective Binder Level of 1. Give them a 1/day ability to turn off any source of illumination within a certain range. Call them Crawlers, Shadowcrawlers, Shades. Make the party fear them.