Shade

Shades are mysterious creatures of immaterial matter, possessing ghostly apparition-like bodies though not considered undead. The unknown and indescribable makeup of shades simply led to researchers lumping them in with aberrations.

### Description

The ghostly body of a shade can vary in colour and often contains a blends of black, blue, and purple all at once as the colours swirl around the shade's ethereal, wispy body. Eyes are often red or yellow, glowing dimly in the murky air of the Shadowfell.

Though often standing at close to 9'0" in height, shades are often found skulking like hunchbacks as they soundlessly prowl through the darkened landscapes of the Shadowfell. Their appearance is deceptively frightening and imposing, as a shade means no harm and possesses zero malicious intent to those who cross their paths. Only when a shade is up close and personal to an individual does it become evident that their body language and posture often convey curious apprehension, and the glowing, soulless eyes intently studying those who they lock onto.

Shades are curious creatures in that they are believed to live for thousands upon thousands of years in their natural incorporeal state, require no forms of communication, presumably reproduce asexually by splitting themselves, and either possess no means of communication (even with fellow shades) or simply have no desire to. Shades also do not seem to comprehend language, and some researchers and scholars believe that shades may not even be able to hear at all.

### Abilities

In their natural form, shades are virtually harmless and are incapable of inflicting harm on others. They are highly resilient creatures that are almost immune to all forms of damage. Despite this, they can be disposed of with relative ease as they appear to be astoundingly weak to necrotic magic.

Shades almost seem to have no purpose to exist in their natural states and cannot appear to inflict any harm on sentient creatures. Despite this, the sight of a shade is still worrisome due to the single ability they appear to possess - copying forms of other creatures of its size or smaller.

When encountering a shade, there is a chance that the entity may appear to be drawn to an individual. The shade will then attempt to surround the body of the individual, essentially enveloping them in the wispy form of the shade. The individual may then feel a slight surge coarse through their body that feels both intrusive yet profoundly relaxing, which has been documented to be a shade copying the form of the individual. The shade then removes itself from the individual and then simply takes their form before their eyes. The shade becomes a perfect genetic copy of that individual in all ways, acquiring their race, feats, and traits. The shade retains their own intelligence and wisdom scores but acquires the individual's strength, dexterity, and constitution. The shade's initial charisma is equal to the individuals minus 1d4+1. The shade's alignment will often be chaotic neutral, but may lean slightly in the direction of their copied form's original alignment.

### Society

After copying a form, the shade simply exists to experience life, something they lack entirely in their natural forms. Shades do not seek to dispose of the person they have copied and never mean them any malicious intent. Shades in their new forms will likely just wander off on their own or, if the copied individual meets an untimely demise, the shade may slip into their life and continue leading it for them.

It is believed that shades copy forms to experience living for the same reason sentient beings seek out fun entertainment or tasty foods - they enjoy the sensations that they bring. This is reinforced by the fact that a shade can choose to abandon an acquired form, returning to its natural shade body once again, at any time. Some shades rapidly take on new forms almost as often as they can acquire them, and it is believed that these shades are the "thrill seekers" of their species as they are constantly looking to feel new sensations and experience different things. Many shades seem content to remain in single forms for months or years until doing so no longer becomes feasible.

While in another's form, a shade will identify as that individual. They will acknowledge that they are a shade in the form of another, but they have acquired an actual identity that they use as the basis for their survival in that form. Shades that live in taken forms indefinitely usually only abandon them when they have become the target of widespread ire, or if they have been slain in their taken form. When a shade is reduced to zero hit points in an assumed form, they simply return to their natural wispy form and permanently lose their connection to the form they had "died" in and can no longer take it on again.

Shades that have returned to their original forms outside of the Shadowfell will desperately seek out the coldest and darkest recesses to hide in, as it is the closest they can find to the ecosystem of the Shadowfell.