96: Throwing Shade

This week, we're taking our first Discord suggestion (kind of), by covering nightshades, terrifying creatures from the Negative Energy Plane with a few very different but equally compelling incarnations.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You the adventurer! Yes, you. Do you desire knowledge of immense worlds and arcane power? A codex of untold stories and lore? Or perhaps simply easy listening for your daily commute. Then feast your eyes, or more accurately, yes, upon Dungeon Pedia. Shit's about to get nerdy in here.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Taylor Stanfield. And I'm Travis Peasley. And I need uh everyone to uh go drop an F in chat to pay respects for my laptop that either might have a virus, we're not sure, or just gave up the ghost after years of using it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Okay, I don't know if we've talked about this extensively on uh the podcast before, but electronics fucking hate Louin. Like I've lived with her. She's not like especially hard, she's not hard on them at all.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

Yeah, and it's not like I don't know it's not like I know absolutely nothing about like computers or or anything or like how to how to take care of them or what to do or what not to do. It's not like I don't know that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

It's just that electronics hate Lou. And I mean there was a time when we lived together where it felt like she had to get new headphones every month.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

If if that, if that even. Yeah, like it it was. And and and it's like like Taylor said, I'm not I'm not especially harsh on any of my electronics. I just I just I have this anti-technology aura around me.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Yeah, I've seen the way she takes care of her her electronics. And honestly, if um if I didn't already know about the anti uh the the EMP field around her, I would loan I would happily loan her my stuff because she treat treat treats it very well.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

But the problem is that she has an EMP field emanating out of her brain that just fucks up anything electronic that comes within a certain radius of me. So my laptop, it seems it might be fixable, but it seems it's finally given up the ghost. And I mentioned this because I'm literally just like I was too I was too lazy to go and be like, okay, I need to like borrow one of Taylor and Travis's, and then like because I forgot to move my notes into the proper. So anyway, I'd like to borrow one of theirs and be like, okay, well now I need to go log into my Google account that I don't remember the password for, so then I can move the thing and do this and do that. So I was just like, I'll just do it on my phone. So I'm just I feel so like unofficial because yeah, like unprofessional, because normally like it's you have your the laptop in front of you and you and you're like yeah, like I'm giving a presentation and I'm just sitting here like it feels like I'm just reading a stupid Twitter thread off my phone. So that's the that's just where I'm at today, like mentally, emotionally.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

So during this uh intro, I figured something out. What? That's the reason we have audio issues. Oh I just had that thought.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

You know what? You're you're you're probably not wrong.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

You're you're probably not wrong, like except we can't get rid of Lewin.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

No. I mean, you know, CJ, I know you're listening to this. You you know, you could you could probably. Yeah.

unknown 3:52

No.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

No. There are probably other people that you Aw, you guys.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Awwww. You were the first person that we wanted to do this with. And now you're stuck like that. Yeah, sorry. It's in the contract.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

So that's what I signed. Yeah. Always read contracts, guys. So with um that with that in mind, just this the visual of me being incredibly unprofessional looking, just sitting here scrolling on my phone. Um, today we are actually going to be talking about nightshades. And this is okay, this is kind of a suggestion. Um, specifically, um, this person who is Axolotl's underscore in our Discord initially sent us an email and then also um bumped it again in Discord because we're we're we're bad at we're just bad. We're just bad at things. And so I looked into this and it turns out that it's very interesting. So um they suggested the Night Walker, which I started researching and then found out is actually part of a larger subset of creatures called Nightshades. So this episode was a suggestion from Adrian, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, slash Axolotls underscore on our Discord. Join our Discord. So the first appearance of Nightshades was in the Mistara Monsters Compendium Appendix, which was published in 1994. In their initial incarnation, uh, nightshades are powerful creatures from the negative energy plane that as of this publication and for a little while, we'll kind of talk about this later, um, come in three varieties. And we will also discuss the we'll also discuss those three varieties in greater depth also later. The the structure of this episode is kind of weird um and different from how I'd normally do it, but I think it makes sense. So anyway, these varieties for reference are night crawlers, night wings, and night walkers. Okay. And they are all chaotic evil in alignment. Makes sense. Yeah, I was gonna say if the name wasn't giving you a particular, if the name and their association with the negative energy plane wasn't giving you a particular vibe, they are all all these varieties are chaotic evil. So, similarly to many undead, uh, nightshades are only typically found on the prime if they are summoned by an extremely powerful magic user. Most of the time they are found on the negative energy plane. Right. Um, all three varieties are extremely dangerous with super genius levels of intelligence, a host of deadly powers, and a desire for naught but spreading death and destruction. I love that it's described as a host of deadly powers. Right? Yeah. Same. I mean, uh to be fair, that was that like that was my verbiage because there is no other way that I can think to describe it. Oh, okay. Because not only do they have uh like these crazy kind of like fuck you powers that are shared between all varieties of nightshades, also each specific variety Oh has fuck you powers. Has fuck you powers. So makes sense. Yeah, but that just felt unprofessional to write, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So then we're super professional, as previously mentioned.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Super professional.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

So all varieties of nightshades are a deep black color and have no eyes, kind of. Um they they kind of have that that vague in some in some portrayals, they s um sometimes have that vague, almost like an impression of where like an eye socket would be.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Yeah, no, I know what you mean.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Yeah, but they kind of have that almost like um like a a little bit of a slender man vibe.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

So sort of maybe a vague imprint of like an eye shape, but not really any fa any distinctive facial features. And despite having no eyes, they are seemingly able to sense their surroundings magically. Okay. So this type of magical perception allows them to see invisible objects as well as use detect magic at will. So fuck you. Yeah, so fuck that there's one little fuck you. They have an aura of of cold, like a chill in the air that that surrounds them, and a smell of quote, an open grave in the wintertime. Oh yikes. Which is just That's great. That's my perfume.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

An open grave in the wintertime, yes.

SPEAKER_04 8:33

Nightshade.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

The smell of nightshade.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

Oh, denightshade.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

It's perfect.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

Thank God. Um, they do not speak verbally but telepathically. Um, and it says they can read and understand all magical languages, which I I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

I'm also not 100% sure what that means.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

Yeah, I I am in I am inclined to believe that what they mean is that they can magically understand and communicate in any language. That's what That's what I would think. Yeah. I mean, given that they are these like super genius, like magical, telepathic creatures, I'm inclined to believe that this means they can understand all languages. But it's impossible to be sure. But also it says all magical languages, so there we go. So like, um how how or who they they can communicate with is kind of actually irrelevant. Um I'm pulling a drip quote from here. Quote Nightshades never speak to their victims. Any creature that is not a nightshade or a summoner is considered a victim. So they're not gonna talk to you anyway.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Well, okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah. All right. I just thought that was not expecting that to the phrasing to be metal as fuck. Yeah, no. Like it is. It was just so metal. Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

So nightshades are aggressive and attacked You don't say all victims they encounter, which is to say that that's any just anybody. Anybody that is not another nightshade or their summoner, they just see and they're like, gotta go murder. Gotta go murder. Your summoner? You mean your mom? Yes. Oh shit. Travis, I think we're in trouble. Or are we nightshades too?

SPEAKER_01 10:39

It depends. On? We'll never tell.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Oh. Oh, that's that's what I'm going with. Okay, that's spooky. These guys are these guys are actually like pretty pretty spoopy, I gotta be honest. They sound pretty spoopy. Just wait. Um boy. Nightshades. Oh, we might be nightshades. Um, nightshades tend to be more active at night. Okay, yeah, we might be nightshades. As natural daylight gives them a negative four to attack rolls. That's about it though. That's literally it. That that's all that's all it does. It doesn't hurt them physically. It doesn't um it doesn't impede anything else. Just negative four to their attack rolls. That's a good that's a they threw us a little something. Um, because of their coloration and stealth abilities, of which each type of nightshade has a particular inclination like towards a certain um like stealth strategy, if that makes sense. Yeah. Nightshades have an increased chance to surprise opponents. Oh. Good, right? Yeah, great, great, great, great, great, great. Cool and great. Always cool. Um, however, this ability can be negated by the chilling aura of a nightshade's presence that I mentioned before. That's not just flavor. Um, a nightshade noticeably chills the air within a 60-foot radius, regardless of like any t like any standard like temperature or weather conditions or anything like that. Which, come to think of it, like can you imagine being in like a polar environment and then it's like all of a sudden the air just gets like like how cold would that feel? That would be horrible. How cold would that feel for it to noticeably chill if it's like below freezing outside? Jesus. Um, this all this effect I know I might I might actually be one. Right, yeah. I I'm a little I'm a little spooked. Um, so this effect also permeates solid objects and extends in all three dimensions. Um, example given, you could feel the chill from a nightshade that is standing underneath you or above you. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

Which uh are also like, for example, um, like through a wall as well. Uh it says, quote, the chill of a nightshade is something no adventurer forgets, end quote. Therefore, if a target has encountered a nightshade before, the nightshade's bonuses to surprise are voided, and instead the chances to uh surprise are treated as normal, which I actually take Umbrage with, because I feel like it should they should maybe be disadvantaged to surprising that particular target. Because if they immediately feel that and immediately know what's going on, like yeah, they might not be able to see it.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

Or or for or or or or to say like I would say that the target should have, depending on on their previous experience, should have a chance to like have advantage for sure, but I wouldn't go so as far as immediately have advantage.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

Yeah. I mean, and this was also advanced as a dragon second edition, so it kinda the that that whole Everything's kind of a bit Yeah, it was all it was all handled very differently than like how we would parse that kind of situation.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Everything's kind of all or nothing.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

Yeah, and it kinda yeah, but anyway, like that that's a I probably would have done it different, but you know, that's an aspect too. So uh in addition to this uh presence potentially like alerting someone who recognizes it, right? Uh then it doesn't exactly matter because the night shit chilling presence also spoils all consumable items within the 60-foot range, including but not limited to food, water, holy water, and potions.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

I'm sorry. Spoiled holy water?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

That seems troublesome.

SPEAKER_04 14:41

Yeah, uh no saving throws are allowed against this effect.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Just a hatchet. You're just screwed. Fuck you. No, this is happening. You don't have any potions.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

Fuck you.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

I definitely feel a little fucked.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

Right. So um a little bomb though. The items are not rendered poisonous, only unusable. That like that makes it okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

But does it not?

SPEAKER_04 15:08

I mean, it would be it would be super duper fuck you if you like tried to drink your health potion and it poisoned you. But that would be super. They're just they're just they're just rendered like inert. You know, they just don't do anything. You drink it and nothing happens.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Congratulations, you drank it all.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

Congratulations. You drank holy water that's not holy anymore. Hydrate or digrate. Which is somehow different. Which is somehow wait, okay, but if the food and water's not poison, then what's the I guess maybe it would just be like drinking water that doesn't dehydrate you or poison you, but also doesn't hydrate you. I don't know. Anyway, hmm. I wonder what that effect would be like.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

What if it dehydrates you?

SPEAKER_04 15:55

No, no, no, no, no. Because like seawater dehydrates you. Right. But if you just drank water that didn't hydrate you or dehydrate you, I almost said or dehydrate you. Doesn't hydrate or dehydrate you. No, you you had it right the first time. I just wonder what I just wonder what that would. I don't know. Like, would it be like water but less wet? I don't know. Any this is not this is not the point. The point is that it it fucks up your potions and your holy water. Yes. Yes. That's it. So um the touch of a nightshade is poisonous. I had a feeling. That yeah, something that something at the very least it's not surprising. Um so a victim successfully hit by a gnatshade uh gnat shade?

SPEAKER_05 16:38

A gnatshade.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

Uh victim successfully hit by a nightshade's natural attack, which is depending on the type of nightshade, a bite, a sting, or a fist attack, must save against poison at a negative two penalty or dun dun dun dun dun die. Oh die. Yeah, literally just die. Like every time, every time this this thing hits you with its stupid little body, you can die. Actually, and they're not little either, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

That's very OP.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

Yeah, that is a little bit uh nice shade OP, please nerf. They they they they they don't. Spoiler alert, they don't well they they they they don't honestly they don't nerf this thing, they balance this thing, I gotta be honest. So in addition to this, which is already and granted, to be fair, these things are very like they they have the stats to back up that this would not be the kind of creature that you would just throw your like encounter rant, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yeah, it definitely doesn't sound like the kind of creature you'd want to throw a party that couldn't handle it at all.

SPEAKER_04 17:50

Like I wanna say that they each type from uh crawler to walker to um wing has a armor class of negative four, negative six, and negative eight, respectively. Oh, which is to say good, which is to say very good, very, very good, and holy shit. You're not touching that motherfucker. You're not touching that thing.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Yeah, there's remember Daco is wacko.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

Dacko is wacko is all in real. Smaller, smaller numbers are better. Or further down, negative numbers are better. So like the conceivably you would have a party that would be able to pass their save against poison. Right. But that's still pretty like, I don't know. You just die, like, I don't know. Yeah, did Nightshades OP, please nerf.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Um, in addition to this, Nightshades can use a variety of spells, including but not limited to Charm Person, Hold Person, Invisibility, because they don't already they're not already sneaky enough. No. Uh, Cloud Kill, haste, and cause disease. Uh they can use this spell once per round, uh, and the Nightshade spellcasting level is equal to its hit dice. Uh, if a nightshade uses a spell ability, it cannot make a melee attack that round. As if that helps that much.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Right, like that sure, that helps somewhat. Maybe.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Maybe a little bit. I mean, I guess it's it's probably better to be like charmed than dead. I mean, yeah. Maybe. Yeah? Maybe. Um, notably, um, they can cast Finger of Death once per day, which I read that name and it made me laugh very hard. Um, Finger of Death is a spell, if you didn't know, which I didn't, uh, is a spell that snuffs out a victim's life force on a success, because them being able to kill you with their own poisonous touch isn't enough. Um, and on a success, this leaves them unable to be revived through conventional means. So wish spell. Wish spell. Additionally, this causes changes in the victim's corpse that allow them to be reanimated as a special type of very powerful zombie.

SPEAKER_05 20:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Yeah, yeah. It was it and it was one of those weird things that it was like that they wouldn't need to be taken to like a particular type of necromantic spell caster. And then the ritual causes or uh costs like a thousand gold for the ritual and then two hundred gold per body. It was it was a fucking mess. My god. Um, but it was one of those like oddly specific things, and it also it it it just said that they can cast finger of death. It doesn't say that they then take the body, take it to somebody, and make a juju zombie out of it. That's what they're called juju zombies. Juju zombie.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

That does not feel good to say.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Yeah, it feels great. What are you talking about? It it's um bad juju, even.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

Yeah, that that was the joke I was making.

SPEAKER_04 20:49

Yeah. Bad juju. Yeah. Well, you stole my thunder. I'm sorry. Because it it it's okay. How dare you. I forgive you. But it it didn't even mention, like, yeah, and then the nightshade takes the person and makes an army of juju zombies. They're just like, yeah, they can just cast finger of death, I guess. Sure, why not? I think the eff I think I do think the effect was meant to be more like now they also cannot be revivified, but you know. Yeah, whatever. So, uh, nightshades can summon undead once every four hours with a 75% chance of success. Uh the undead creatures. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

It's a pretty high success rate. Yeah, right, because these things aren't only bad enough. Yeah, like they just need more power, though. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Uh the undead creatures arrive in 1 D10 rounds and range from um. I don't know. There's just something about that phrasing. Right, I know. I mean, I guess it's advantageous that they don't just appear. Oh yeah, like open up a portal and then suddenly there's more monsters there. But it is funny that like they it just they just roll up in like a clown car. What up?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Hey.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

Um, so depending on it's one of those you roll against the table. And depending, it can either be um a handful of shadows all the way up to a hand rouge, which I don't I can rabbit hole D-R-U-J. Like hand. Yeah. I'm assuming it's like a floor master. It looks like a floor master or something. I don't know. But it's a basically it's a very powerful type of evil spirit. That's really what you need to know. Right. Uh nightshades can only be harmed by weapons of a plus three enchantment or better, or by spells of sixth level or higher. They are immune, as most undead are. Uh, well, for some of these. Some of these are more nightshade specific, but a lot of undead are immune to a lot of these in general. Uh, they are immune to all forms A of of charm, hold, cold, poison, petrification, and illusion. Okay. Uh, additionally, interestingly, with no further context or explanation given, they only take half damage from dragon breath weapons. Which that's odd. Yeah, which I sure, I guess. I mean, why not? It it didn't go on to say that they then have this giant beef with dragons or something. It was just like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

They just haven't.

SPEAKER_04 23:15

Yeah, in case you have like a a metallic dragon friend or something that is willing to nope. Less less effective. So, uh, as mentioned prior, nightshades typically dwell on the negative energy plane, which provides them with life-sustaining energy. They feed on negative energy, uh, apparently. Uh, they can also travel to the ethereal plane at will, but must be summoned in order to enter the prime material plane. Uh some evil magic users of 16th level or higher know the spell to summon them, but it's a closely guarded secret.

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Of course it is. Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

I mean, yeah, why would it not be?

SPEAKER_03 23:56

I mean, actually that one does make sense. I would also want to keep that a closely guarded secret.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Yeah, because I wouldn't want too many of these things running around.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yeah, okay, that's fair.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Uh only one nightshade may be summoned with a single spell, and the ritual must be performed under total cover of darkness, which makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Because they're very spooky. Yeah, you're summoning a spoopy knight demon. Yeah. Basically a shadow.

SPEAKER_04 24:23

Yeah. Well, I mean, they're not demons, but you know. Uh their extremely high intelligence, which this is I'll I'll talk about this in a second. My opinions, or not opinions, thoughts, half-orn opinions. Uh, their extremely high intelligence is a combination of their own natural intelligence as well as the intelligence of their summoner. Everything their summoner knows, the nightshade has access to.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

Huh. That's a little terrifying. Yeah, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 24:51

Honest. So if you want to if you want to summon a nightshade to go kill someone, they immediately know who that person is, what they look like. They have access to all of your memories of every time that you've ever seen that person. Like they know everything about that person that you do. That's yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Frightening.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

And also keep in mind that typically the only people that are summoning nightshades are 16th level higher evil magic users. So they're also very powerful in their own right. So the I I don't I don't have like have like a like I said, it's a half-formed opinion, but I just think that is an interesting choice to make that distinction because it's not as though there is an alternate stat block provided where you might say this is like a nightshade on the negative energy plane versus one that's functioning in the prime. And it kind of only talks about them like, okay, they've been summoned, now they're out in the world doing evil shit. It it doesn't because my mind immediately went like, if they they're summoned, they do their job, um, they get paid or whatever. Which it's not even mentioned what their stock maybe in this summoning thing is. It doesn't mention if you need to bind them or if they require how they feel about being summoned, um, that kind of shit. So it's like say you summon a nightshade, tell it to go assassinate somebody, and then you pay it, and then you dismiss it. Like, does it retain those memories? Like does it know where you live now? Yeah, like that would be I just want to know what the rules are.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

I'm I mean, I would personally call that once they get dismissed, they lose all the knowledge.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

But then to but I mean, and it might have just been an afterthought that it maybe would have been prudent to include a second stat, like, which I mean maybe not a whole other stat block, but even just a note of like them functioning on the negative energy plane, they instead have oh, I don't know, don't want to go too low. They have an intelligence and wisdom of 16 instead of 19. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

Because that's well, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a long time since I've talked about the negative energy plane, but can't adventurers can't even really function on the negative energy plane.

SPEAKER_04 27:20

No, they typically typically cannot, no.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

So you would never really introduce it.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

You would yeah, that is true. That is true. Yeah, that and it it it we'll talk a little bit about them on the negative energy plane later. But yeah, I I do think that the spec is mostly meant to be that you would encounter them on the prime. I mean, I'm I'm just curious. Right. I mostly am just thinking about it from like a a lore perspective. I guess I just Because can you imagine a nightshade that's like, say, on the negative energy plane, like a very prolific, like assassin, just having the memories and the knowledge of all of these evil wizards that that have summoned them over and over again.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Especially if it's if it did not enjoy being summoned.

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Woo! Yeah. Can you imagine? That'd be um bad. Yeah. So the evil wizards. For honestly, that'd be bad for just everyone. Just everyone involved.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Eventually, it would be bad for everybody, yes.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

So nightshades are solitary creatures and do not associate much with each other. Um, it's noted that nightshades are some of the only creatures that they will communicate with at all, but they're not really g you know, given that they're not victims, um, but they don't really interact with each other much, even as mates, which it didn't then go on to expand on that anymore. So I don't know if they fuck each other. How do nightshades reproduce?

SPEAKER_03 28:53

I mean, considering the phrase mate was used, I will say it sounds like sexually.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

Well, no, no, no, like it um the specific phrasing was that they don't associate with each other um as like a group or a pack or as mates, which leads me to believe that they've for lack of a better word, they've never been observed doing doing that. Um yeah, they're just not very social with each other. Um, but they do have an affinity for taking undead servants, which they use in their schemes, or you know, they summon them in battle, whatever, that kind of thing. So, um, speaking of nightshade reproduction. Oh boy. Vaguely. Um, so some stages speculate that nightshades are born when many undead are slain, and this release of energy coalesces on the negative energy plane, forming a nightshade. That would make sense. Um, another and uh uh another theory that opens a couple of very terrifying doors is um some sages speculate that they are related to black balls, which I don't know if you have heard of them. Uh I hadn't. They're fucking terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

I've heard of blue balls.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

Shut up. Damn it, trap. Listen, I was like, yeah, I think I can get through this bit without making that joke. I'm so proud of myself. And then you did it for me. Yep. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

So, um So no, I've never heard of a black ball.

SPEAKER_04 30:23

Yeah, I have. Well, let me tell you, you would rather have blue balls than black balls. So, black balls are this just a quick overview. Um, thank you. Yeah, the abridged version. The abridged version of black balls. Um, black balls are five-foot diameter orbs orballs of jet black, just like fucking like vanta black, basically, that travel around slowly in seemingly random patterns. Uh, and as they do so, they disintegrate everything they touch.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Oh, what the shit?

SPEAKER_04 30:59

So that's terrifying enough, right? I mean, just this black ball floating around, say, in like the wilderness, just like brushing up against a plant and the plant just disintegrates. That's terrifying, right?

SPEAKER_03 31:11

So stop making it worse. I can tell that you're going to make it worse.

SPEAKER_04 31:14

Yeah. If an intelligent creature comes within 60 feet of them, they will instead target that creature until all signs of intelligence in their vicinity are destroyed. And then they will continue on their seemingly random course of just floating about very slowly. And I want to say their movement speed is like 15 feet per round.

SPEAKER_03 31:36

Okay, so you can, in theory, get away from them.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

And also they had kind of a special mechanic wherein basically anytime it tries to enter your square, they move so slowly that you have the opportunity to make like a dexterity check essentially to avoid them. But like, if it touches you, you're fucked.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Yeah. Like you just get disintegrated.

SPEAKER_04 31:58

Yeah, like if you happen to just whiff that, you're fucked.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

That is horrifying.

SPEAKER_04 32:03

Yeah, so um it yeah. So those things in and of themselves are uh are terrifying enough. And there's debate on whether or not they're actually alive or what they even are, because they don't act near as you can tell. They do not act maliciously.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Right. I mean, they kind of just remind me of like anything coming from the negative energy plane, honestly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

And also vaguely of that film it follows. Yeah. Except only if you come within 60 feet of them.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

I mean, they are kind of malicious in the fact that, you know, if they sense intelligence, they destroy that and then continue on top of the.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

What if they're just programmed that way? Like that's not malicious.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

One one particular theory about black balls, which this it's a oh god, it's theories all the way down. It's a theory within theory. Um, one particular theory that I thought was cool for black balls is that one of their potential, like, speculated origins is that they were created by the old ones to just fuck everything up. And the specific, not the specific, because I don't remember I don't remember a verbatim, but the way they described the old the old ones was as being to the ancients as the ancients are to like modern people.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Which is like, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. So the old ones were assholes.

SPEAKER_04 33:23

So the yeah, the old ones were assholes, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Got it.

SPEAKER_04 33:27

So as this relates to nightshades, is the theory that uh black balls are perhaps the larval form or an egg of a nightshade, but no definitive link has ever been proven, other than like could be, you know? They're both they're both spoopy.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

They are both spooky.

SPEAKER_03 33:49

The negative energy plane has a lot of spooky. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Yeah, so not really like special.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

I mean, remember, the vacuum elemental exists.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

Right, yeah. The so that's a that's just a theory, though. So, um, curiously, uh, nightshades actually keep treasure with them, and they do so by swallowing it. Um, they don't care for money, but are fond of gems, jewelry, what was described as art objects and magical items, which they acquire and consume as trophies from their victims. So if you could manage to kill a nightshade and cut it open, it just explodes and like gems and shit. So many items. Yeah. So that's cool. Um, they like collecting things. That's nice. That's nice. That's nice.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Are they related to dragons?

SPEAKER_04 34:38

Um maybe that's why they're resistant to dragon breath weapons. Okay, also unlocked it. Figured it out. You're figuring out so much today. I'm going home. You are home. I did it. Yay! Travis did it. Okay. All right, Taylor, it's just you and me the rest of this episode. He's but I'm home too. Okay, so it's just me. I'm just gonna sit here and just read the rest of this with no commentary, and the episode's gonna be a breezy, I don't know, it's like 15 more minutes. Okay. I don't fucking know. So, okay, before we talk about the specific types of nightshades, we're actually gonna talk more about nightshades as an overarching group of creatures. It'll it'll make sense later, I think. I understand. Hopefully. So nightshades are pretty similar uh in their incarnation in the third edition monster manual, which was published in the year 2000. Um, it was kind of one of those things that it it felt like the lore section of their entry was was pared down quite a bit, but nothing was actually like contradicted, you know what I mean? Right. So, which if I were a DM, I would take that as an opportunity to be like, yeah, this is just still canon then. Yeah. Personally. Um, but there are a few notable additions and um alterations. So for one, they can no longer just indiscriminately kill their targets with a single touch, which is good. That that is very good. That's great. Um, but they are don't but like make no mistake, they are still extremely dangerous. Um their chill aura now allow, which this the the rather the spoiling aspect of the chill aura now allows for a DC-22 Fortitude save. And the uh also has a provision that the items, like if if an item passes its save, it cannot be affected by the chill aura again within the same day. Oh so if you were to like leave its range and then get back in it, you don't have to save for all of your shit again. Well in that day. That day, yeah. If it finds you like a week later then you do, but if it finds you.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

I mean, a DC 22 is a pretty fucking high DC.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

Which at that point I'm not super familiar with, but like, does the character make that D? Like, okay, does the character make that DC with their fortitude stats? Or do you do you have to make your DM look up the fortitude of a banana?

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Um I'm I'm not a hundred percent on those rules either.

SPEAKER_04 37:16

Hey Travis, what's the fortitude of a banana? Probably like one. Damn. Like a plus one or no one. Just one. One.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

So like negative, what is that like?

SPEAKER_04 37:28

Negative Yeah. Some some shit like that. It's not good. Well, in third edition, it's probably like a negative 16. Oh yeah. Because third edition has big numbers. Um they have a resistance of 50 to fire, electricity, and acid. And they're completely immune to cold still. I be I believe that detail about them actually pretty much persists for all of time, is that they're immune to cold damage, was which makes sense. Yeah. Um, and also I'm not exactly familiar with the way this is worded, but they have damage resistance of 25. Um, and it's like 25 over plus three. So like 25 slash plus three.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

So I think that means in order to overcome the damage resistance, you need a plus three weapon or higher.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

That's I think I could be very It's been a while since we've messed with.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

It's been a while.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

It's been a long while.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

It's been a while.

SPEAKER_04 38:23

I'm gonna cut that because no one wants to listen to me sing and also don't want us to get sued. Um so I mean, like, regardless, that sounds correct from what I remember, but like it's this is probably pretty good, especially since they have a resistance of 50 to fire, electricity, and acid. Yeah. Um, they maintain their chaotic evil nature. And uh somewhat notably for third edition, um, they are quote, always chaotic evil. Huh. Which, like, I mean, to it's not that that do that doesn't happen in third edition, but third edition was definitely the point where things started getting more relaxed. With yeah, like there was a lot more open to um creatures and characters that had always been very restrictive in their alignments being like usually chaotic evil.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Yeah, or almost always.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

But no, it's like no, these guys are always chaotic evil. It's in their nature.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

And that makes just so much sense considering what they do.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

Right. Um, they're also now stated to be from the plane of shadow as opposed to the negative energy plane. Right. Yeah. Makes sense. It's a slightly different spoopy zone. Um very too spooky. This episode's too spoopy for me. Um, interestingly, there's for once a number, why I say number, a couple of notable changes between the 3.0 and 3.5 monster manual, which was published in 2003. And this is unusual because usually it's just basically copy paste. Yeah, like it ain't if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So in 3.5, the Nightshade's chill aura is replaced with a desecrating aura. Oh god. So desecrating aura has a s an effect similar to the desecrate spell, and it is active within a 20-foot radius of any given. I wrote Night Walker. Nightshade. Um, all undead, including the Nightshade, within this range, gain a plus two bonus to their attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws, as well as two hit points per hit die of the creature. Charisma checks to turn undead within this range have a negative six penalty. So basically they're walking shrines of evil. Essentially.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

No shit. They just desecrate everything as they walk.

SPEAKER_04 40:43

Basically. Additionally, this is interesting. Um the desecrating aura neutralizes and is neutralized by uh consecrated or hollowed ground, and can otherwise only be negated by a dispel evil spell.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

So if you're gonna fight it, fight it on consecrated or hollowed ground.

SPEAKER_04 41:03

Yeah, and it literally is like they literally just cancel each other out. Like it would just be a flat just nothing happens. Yeah, nothing happens. So, there you go. That is odd. So, um, pack pack your paladin. Pack your paladin.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Pack your paladin.

SPEAKER_04 41:19

Or don't, because paladins fucking suck.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Free emergency use only.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

Yeah, for emergency use only. Otherwise, like keep that thing put away.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

Put the thing back where it came from, or still me.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 41:34

Um, so in addition, this feels like an afterthought. They can use a few new spell-like abilities such as cone of cold, hold monster, and you know, plane shift, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Just fucking shift you from one plane to the next. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:49

Whatever. Yeah. So now we're going to start talking about the specific varieties that actually exist.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

Like so this is where like the nightcrawler is actually.

SPEAKER_04 42:02

Yeah. This is where we get into the meat and potatoes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

I like meat and potatoes.

SPEAKER_04 42:08

I like one of those things. Um you like fake meat and potatoes. I like fake meat and potatoes. Fair potatoes. Yeah, I don't like potatoes. I like potatoes. So, um, nightcrawlers. We're gonna start with nightcrawlers. Oh, okay. So, um, we're gonna go back to Advantage of the Dragons. How fast can I say that and make it sound less to make it sound like just one word instead of separate.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

I mean, it's like how my sister thought that element of peat was one letter.

SPEAKER_04 42:37

Yeah. So um, in their initial incarnation, nightcrawlers are similar to purple worms in appearance, albeit being pitch black. Um, they measure about 100 feet long and are 10 to 15 feet in diameter. So pretty similar to it.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Really, the only reason they are similar is the fact that they're longer or they're as long, but everything else is different.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

No, I mean they're wormy in appearance.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

No, there's they share a lot in common with purple worms. You'll see. Okay, oh boy. Um so the the there's there's squid ink spaghetti instead of purple spaghetti.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

Oh, nice. I like it.

SPEAKER_04 43:16

You won't.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

So I might still so they prefer fair.

SPEAKER_04 43:22

Similarly to purple worms, they prefer to approach and move in general um via burrowing underground. And an attack in this way causes a negative two to the target surprise roll. So that's kind of their their preferred method of sneaking around. Okay. But it is also notable that if a night crawler is underneath you, you would still feel their chill aura emanating from the ground, which is spoopy.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Whoa.

SPEAKER_04 43:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Like just touching the ground and you would have just enough time to realize that something was amiss, yeah. Before you get fucking eaten.

SPEAKER_04 43:59

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we'll talk about the eating in a second. Oh. Um actually we'll talk uh that's a lie. We'll talk about it now. Um, in addition to the potent power of their bite, which again just can fucking kill you. We're back to that. Um on a natural 19 or 20, the nightcrawler swallows the target hole. What the shit similarly to purple worms. Um each round inside of the nightcrawler reduces the victim's experience level by one. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 44:30

It reduces their level.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

It's draining you that it so much so that it is reducing your own personal experience.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:39

It's taking memories and abilities from you. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Like, no, we're not gonna have it like deduct health. It's gonna take Oh no, it hurts.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

It also hurts you.

SPEAKER_03 44:51

I mean, yes, but um Yes and Yes and just in case you were just in case improv worm.

SPEAKER_04 45:03

This effect can be negative. Negate is negative. This effect is negative, you might say. She didn't in case she didn't know. In case you were aware, this is negative. This is um bad. Um, this can be negated through a few different forms of protection from evil.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

So there you go. Okay. Um like, hey, I plan on being swallowed by a giant worm today. Let me ask protect evil. No protect from evil. Protect from evil.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

You don't want to protect the evil. Do not protect it. This thing doesn't need you to protect it.

SPEAKER_03 45:37

It has its own protection. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

So the nightcrawler. The nightcrawler also has a stinger at the end of its tail. Uh why why not?

SPEAKER_01 45:46

I mean we're adding everything else while they're all looking stinger in there.

SPEAKER_04 45:50

Which causes the same instant death effect on a failed save against poison as other nightshade attacks, but enforces a negative four penalty instead of a negative two.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

So this is what I picture. Gary Gygax. Right. Just sitting here. No, no, no. Just sitting here with like all of these other designers and whoever else like helped him with all of this. Drunk as fuck. Okay. Hey, what if we had a fucking sting until the end of this goddamn thing? That does the exact same thing. But it works. Like, everyone is gonna love it. And by love it, I mean they're gonna fucking hate it.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

Except for DMs that saw this and they were like, heh heh heh.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

DMs are also drunk mentally.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

DMs are they're drunk with power. I mean, you're not wrong.

SPEAKER_03 46:43

I I I've met one a few times.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

Um so a nightcrawler can also shrink a target with a reverse version of the enlarged spell. What? So it cannot attack in the same turn. It's just like, yeah, you're just smaller now. A natural or fuck, a reduced target can be swallowed with a natural 15 to 20.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

So on top of all of this, let's make it where it just like undulates his body, right? And then suddenly whatever the fuck it's looking at shrinks.

SPEAKER_04 47:15

Yeah. Gets 20% smaller, so now it's easier to swallow.

SPEAKER_03 47:19

Thank you for drunk, Gary Gygax. It's my new favorite recurring bit.

SPEAKER_04 47:23

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

Just crushed. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 47:27

I think I think us just I think us saying same after any like incredibly like self-efacing, like specific and probably self-effacing or kind of gross like description. I think that's my favorite recurring bit.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

That's up there for sure.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Um, so next we're gonna talk about nightcrawlers in third edition 3.5. So as a 3.5, they are seven feet in diameter. They have shrunk just a little bit. Oh, good. Um, and they weigh about 55,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 47:57

They are thick boys.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

That is a thick motherfucker.

SPEAKER_04 48:01

Um I'm sorry for any ears that I might have runned. Um, also, interestingly, they officially have been given 60-foot tremor scents. There was no mention of them having- I would assume that they were supposed to, but there was no mention of them having tremor sense.

SPEAKER_01 48:16

No, they were drunk when they wrote it. They forgot to add the tremor sensors.

SPEAKER_04 48:19

Oh, yeah, true. They were sober when they wrote this. Oh, good. And curiously, in 3.0, wherein uh Nightshades still have the chill aura effect as opposed to the designer aura, the ground actually blocks the feeling of their chill aura from targets above them, which I thought was an interesting note. But anyway. Um, their swallow ability has been changed to um that this is very similar to purple worms, actually, um, to that of a grapple check, and targets within the uh creature's gizzard take crushing and acid damage and also suffer a negative level every run they're inside. So it's still a big fuck you.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

So we're still gonna like take your levels from you.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

Yeah, and also additionally, um, for each level that has been drained, the nightcrawler gains five temporary hit points. So it literally gets gets stronger as it devours you. Yeah. Um similarly to purple worms, a victim may escape the gizzard either by way of making a series of grapple checks, which this method is listed uh exclusively in the 3.0 monster manual, or by cutting their way out. You can do this in either edition. Um, as is also the case with purple worms, the hole left behind by the latter method is immediately sealed up by a muscular structure. Therefore, any other victim who has been ingested must cut their own way out. Which begs the question, what are they made of?

SPEAKER_03 49:42

That is a very good question.

SPEAKER_04 49:44

Because they're described as essentially just looking like purple worms made of shadow, but they have a muscular structure that like if you remember from the purple worm episode, is a noted to be a very unique setup.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

Like it's essentially just an independent layer of their body. So, like, what's going on here?

SPEAKER_03 50:06

They are shadow purple worms. Yes, they That is it. That they're just purple worms that are made out of shadow, but only kind of complex. Complex and terrifying.

SPEAKER_04 50:18

So, speaking okay, so speaking of complex and terrifying. Uh, next we're gonna talk about I am Jesus. Um, next we're gonna talk about um the first Robin, Dick Grayson, Nightwing. Nightwings. That's a lie.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

I I was actually kind of like this is uh I mean, sure, but Yeah, they were real drunk, so now Dick Grayson is here. So the Nightwing is uh a creature that appears to be a giant. Their wingspan given in uh the Mistara Compendium um is 50 feet, so they're very large. Okay. Um they are giant bats that appear to be made out of pure darkness.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

Love it.

SPEAKER_04 50:57

Don't say same, don't say same. So, like, just bats, but darker, even darker.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

A 50-foot wingspan.

SPEAKER_04 51:07

They're very large. Um, a nightwing usually opens combat with a dive attack, which enforces a negative six penalty on surprise rolls. So their hiding stease is flying up against the night sky. Right.

SPEAKER_01 51:21

And then suddenly.

SPEAKER_04 51:23

Yep. Um, so a caveat here is that night wings do not have the same lethal poison as other nightshades. They do not immediately murder you upon the side.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Well, that's good, but what did they do instead? So on a I'm so glad you asked.

SPEAKER_03 51:41

Yeah, I I can I can hear the DM laughter in the background.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

You can hear the but uh but on a successful attack, the target must save versus spell or be transformed into a giant bat, as per the polymorph other spell. The resulting creature is charmed and will unquestionably unquestioningly obey the night wing. And this effect lasts until dispelled. I'm not seeing an issue here.

SPEAKER_03 52:10

I'm really not.

SPEAKER_04 52:12

Well, then you would turn around and try to murder your friend.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

Not seeing an issue.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

And then you just take your life as a giant bat, because if all your friends are dead, no one is gonna think, oh, look at this giant bat. Let's use dispel magic on it. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not seeing a big issue either.

SPEAKER_04 52:30

I'm just saying I'm just saying a very small issue, actually.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

That's it. I mean, the whole like turning around and murdering your friends thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Nah, it sucks in the moment, but like you move on and you're a bat.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

You move on and you're a really big bat. You're a fucking bat. I mean, that's what I want.

unknown 52:48

Right?

SPEAKER_04 52:48

That's what isn't that what we all want out of life? To be a giant bat. I have ever since I read the Underland Chronicle. Y'all, I knew that you were gonna go there. I wondered which one of us was gonna break and make the reference first. I'm very proud of you. Thanks. So a nightwing may also choose to attack, which actually I'm connecting some dots now. Uh a nightwing may also choose to attack a target magical item. Um, this is limited to magical shields and weapons. Uh, this attack is done at a negative four penalty, but if the attack succeeds, it drains one point of the magical bonus. Uh ergo a plus three sword becomes a plus two sword. These bonuses may be restored via a dispel evil spell, but said spell must be cast within a number of days equal to the caster's level. Which I'm connecting dots here because nightshades across the board can only be hurt by plus three or better weapons. Yes. So if they just make all the weapons worse than that, it doesn't matter if they can't instantly kill you. Because you just can't hurt it. And if it if you can't hurt it, it doesn't matter how long it takes it to kill you.

SPEAKER_03 53:57

God damn it, Nightwing! Damn it, Dick! Dick motherfucking Greason ruined my life.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

Okay, like mood though. And in all fairness, it's not like they are avoiding the damage altogether unless you roll damage lower than what their damage resistance is.

SPEAKER_04 54:18

Oh no. I mean, in this is in um this is in Advances of Dungeons and Dragons where it specifies that they can only be hurt by plus three or better weapons. Right. So yeah, no, you never mind. You literally can't hurt them. Yeah, like once your casters are out of spell slots, you're fucked.

SPEAKER_01 54:35

You're fucked. If it's not dead, just run.

SPEAKER_03 54:37

Yeah. And hope that you can outrun it.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

You can't.

SPEAKER_03 54:41

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

You probably can't, yeah. I assume that its flying speed is pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 54:45

Yeah, yeah. I don't have the stat block for that handy, but yeah. You would you would literally have no recourse but to run at that point. So um hope that they're not uh persistence predators.

SPEAKER_03 54:55

Yeah. Like, you know, we are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:58

So in 3.0 and 3.5, uh, Night Wings again do not change much. It's another one of those. The entry is just kind of pared down. Yeah. Um, but their existing abilities are tweaked somewhat. So, no, magic items may save against their magic drain effect. It is also specified that any items that lose all of their magical bonuses as in like their magical like damage bonuses, also lose any additional effect that they may have had, such as like flame tongue. Even if it's not just like a straight damage boost, you know what I mean? Right. Um, in addition to the time stricture that's associated with dispelling the evil off of the weapon, uh, or shield or whatever, restoring a magic item with the dispel evil spell now also requires a DC twenty nine caster check.

SPEAKER_01 55:47

Oh. DC twenty-nine?

SPEAKER_04 55:49

Yeah. I mean, to be fair, like Nixus had like a plus.

SPEAKER_03 55:55

Yeah, what le what what edition is this?

SPEAKER_04 55:57

Uh 3.5. Yeah. So she had like a plus, like, I don't know, 13 or 14. So it's feasible.

SPEAKER_03 56:05

I mean, yeah, it's it's depending on what level, which again, if you're going up against these guys, you're not level two. What level was Nixus when when our our campaign ended? Like nine. Nine or ten?

SPEAKER_01 56:16

Yeah, you guys are like nine or ten, something like that.

SPEAKER_04 56:19

So, like, I mean like it's it's difficult, but it's feasible if you're at the type of level that you should be when you're running a foul of a nightwalk. And you happen to put skills and the right. Yeah, if you have if you have the right person with the right skills.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

Yeah. It's not fun, but it is possible. D.

unknown 56:41

D. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:44

Actually, D D as an adult is more like it's fun, but it's not. It's not possible. Because all of your friends have jobs with different schedules.

SPEAKER_05 56:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:57

So, um, real quick, before we get into the this was like the the the potatoes. Um, before we get into the meat of this episode, which is the actual request, which was Nightwalkers. Um, and Nightwalkers actually have not the bulk of the content, but you'll see. We're actually gonna take a quick little stop for some dessert while we take an ad break.

SPEAKER_01 57:26

Because it's not black pudding. No.

SPEAKER_04 57:28

It's a night haunt. Hey everybody, thank you for checking out our episode on nightshades.

SPEAKER_03 57:37

I I uh I'll have to return my gardening tools. I was um very dis I was very not disappointed, but um I I misunderstood the prompt.

SPEAKER_04 57:48

You know what? You're you're doing a great job anyway. Thank you. You're doing good, sweetie. Yes, you're doing amazing, sweetie. Travis, get it together.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

Well, I don't say amazing.

SPEAKER_04 58:00

You just did. It's not the point. Anyway. You know who else is doing amazing, sweetie? And that's Metallic Dice Games, our affiliate partner who somehow didn't drop us after last week. Maybe the keeping up with the Kardashians reference will be too much for them. But for now, you can use offer code Dungeon Pedia for 10% off your entire order if you want to pick up some dice. Dice accessories, exclusive dice are only available in Metallic Dice Games. Dice and dice accessories. Yeah, so that's one more time. That is offer code Dungeon Pedia for 10% off your entire order at metallicdice games.com. Thank you once again to them. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. As much as we joke, we do still very much appreciate the affiliate project. At this point, it's like a bit, honestly. Yeah. It's just a bit. Uh, we also have our Patreon if you would like to support us more directly. It is Dungeonpedia. Also, additionally, we are taking suggestions on our Discord for um if you guys have any ideas for potential Patreon rewards, because we don't we don't really ideas ever.

SPEAKER_03 59:12

Yeah, we don't we have ran out of ideas.

SPEAKER_04 59:15

We don't well, we certainly don't have any good ideas ever about anything.

SPEAKER_03 59:20

Um speaking of that Discord, uh you can find the link on pinned on the top of our Twitter page. Join our Discord! Yeah, we have it's been a lot of fun. It like it's just been great to hang out and like share memes and pictures of minis and pictures of our pets. Yes, a lot of pictures of pets. Um and just like hang out.

SPEAKER_04 59:42

So yeah, check out our Discord.

SPEAKER_03 59:44

I I I know that for a brief moment the uh the the link was expired because we didn't realize that Discord links expire, but it's fixed now and it's penned to the top.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

Yes, uh that was a mistake on all of our part because I didn't think the link would expire. But yeah, like I said, we just didn't know that that was a thing. CJ went in and fixed it, so that link should be good for thank you, CJ. Thank you, CJ.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

Um and again, that's on our Twitter at Dungeonpedia. Our Instagram is also at Dungeonpedia, and we're still fairly active on there. Uh, not only is CJ, our wonderful social media manager, in charge of keeping us on track, uh, we still sometimes will go in ourselves. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

We still interact with we still have that password.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:30

CJ CJ hasn't locked us out of the account yet for our account's sake.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:35

Yeah. And if you would like to email us something more long form or just want to make sure you're getting it to somebody quickly or you know, more businessy, I guess, you can always email us at our email address at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:54

Also, uh, don't forget to subscribe to us wherever you listen, so you can get all the lovely notifications when we have our new episodes go up. And also on top of that, if that platform happens to allow it, if you could leave us a rating and a review, that would be fantastic, especially on like the iTunes podcast thing. I still don't know what it's called.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:16

I don't know if I if Apple podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:19

Apple Tunes.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:20

Apple iPods.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:22

Yeah, not Apples. Despite us not knowing much about it, that is one of the bigger platforms.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:27

So if you're I just type in Apple Podcasts on Google to look it up.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:33

Hey, I mean it it certainly works.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:36

Um also spread the word. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your other Discord servers. No. That would be nice. Unless, of course, they have a policy of like no other promotion. Yeah, don't violate rules. Yeah. Yeah, don't do that. But if there's no policy against it, why not just be like, hey guys, look at this and see what's going on.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:00

There's a place where you guys could wreak more havoc. You know what makes me want to wreak havoc? What? Listening to Alexander Nakarada and his theme song. Well, his song that we use for our theme song, which is called Blacksmith, because it's so awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:14

See, it makes me just want to like sit and like quietly read personally, but sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

It just makes me want to go blacksmith.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:22

Well, that's accurate. Well, you know what, Travis? You want to do that? I would say that that's that's probably the best review of the song.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

Yes. It makes me want to wreak havoc on the metal. Thank you. Okay. You know what? We're not gonna do what we did last week. Uh let's just go back to these uh nightshades, shadows, walkers, stalkers, haunters.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:45

Yeah. Alright, now that we're done with Dick Grayson.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:52

Wow. Bruce Wayne said the same thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:54

Oh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh. Y'all welcome.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:03

And look, and look how well that worked out for Jason. So, um, Night Haunts. We're gonna take a quick um night jaunt off to the supplement Lost Empires Heirune. I know, right? Which is I didn't like it either. Which was published in 2005. Um this is the only appearance I could find of Night Haunts, so I'll be I'll be pretty brief about this. The Night Haunt is essentially a smaller and weaker variant of Nightshade. And when I say weaker, they're still pretty powerful, but they're notably weaker, even I would say, than the previous uh types that we've discussed. Um so they look like gargoyles with leathery wings and curling horns, but their faces are completely featureless, sans the pale blank orbs of their eyes, which it's it kind of is the effect of like almost like a vague imprint of like an eye socket, as opposed to like an eye. You know what I mean? Um curiously, there's not the most art for these types of creatures. Like in the source books, there's not any art for nightcrawlers ever. And no, there was like one piece of um of art in the source books for um Nightwing. Uh you have to go to the comics for the other ones. And there's been the most art of Nightwalkers, which we'll talk about a little in a bit. So um they share most of the same traits with their larger kin, such as their aversion to daylight, um the desecrating aura, which was what they had as of the publish the publishing of this uh supplement, uh, their ability to summon other undead, and also kind of the more standard undead resistances. Um, but their kind of special power um was that if a night haunt succeeds on a grapple chick against a target, it can press its featureless face against them and drain their life force, which gives them not one, but two negative levels.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:00

Two negative levels. What the shit?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:05

So they're basically the fucking only thing I can think of for some reason is the Wendigo from uh No.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:15

Uh the Harry Potter things.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:16

Oh the Dementors They're like Dementors and Facehuggers had a baby. Oh god, that's better. Oh god, I don't like that is horrible. I don't like that at all. Ooh, I don't like it. Um also the save to remove negative levels um enforced by the night haunt is lower. Um I didn't mention the DC for um Nightwings. Was it Night Wings? No, for um the um Nightcrawlers. It was like a 26, I want to say. Um the save to remove negative levels uh enforced by the night haunt is only a DC 19.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:51

So Which makes sense since they're just like a weaker But two! Two at a time. But they do two at a time, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:00

Like it. Right. So they were more populous in the bygone era of the Emaskar slash Raran Empire, which I I know we've mentioned it before. I don't remember anything about it. I'm sorry, okay. Um, but they are virtually unknown and never really seen by the 14th century post-del reckoning. So that's why they're kind of they're only really in this one thing that sort of focused on uh, you know, lost empires of Pharun. So next we're gonna talk about the Night Walkers, which I originally assumed would have been their own episode, and then I found out they're part of a larger subset of creatures, and I was like, well, fuck, now I have to do all of them. Okay. I hope you are happy, Axolottles. I I think they might be. Okay. Well, so we're gonna take it back to Advanced Legends and Dragons 2nd edition. Um, so Nightwalkers are 20 foot-tall, jetbutt-colored humanoids. Uh, they tend to attack from shadowy areas, like kind of a traditional like hiding in dark corners, um, which enforces a negative two penalty to surprise checks.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:09

So Slender Man.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:10

Yeah, they literally are like Slender Man, except instead of like that like stark white skin. They're just all black.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:18

They're just all black.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:19

They're just all, yeah. They're wearing like one of those morph suits, you know? Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:23

And they're humanoid.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:26

Which is strange. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:27

They're yeah. So Nightwalkers do not use any weapons. No, why would they need to? Uh you'll see why they don't need to. Um, they prefer to instead attack with their powerful fists that even if you pass your save against poison and they don't instantly kill you, they still deal 3d10 damage. Which is quite a bit. Um Yeah. They can also use these powerful hands to instantly crush any weapon or non-magic or non-armor magical item, excuse me, uh, with no save, or crush armor and shields that fail a save against crushing blow. If an item is held, the night walker must make a check to grab it and take it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:10

So this thing can literally just like your sword surprise, jump you out of the shadows.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:15

Break grab your sword and break it like a toothpick. Yeah. Okay. And also I don't like it. And then just kind of like just flick you in the forehead and then you die. Yeah. Yeah. Also, they're 20 feet tall.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:28

Oh, god damn.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:29

Uh once once per round, a night walker can gaze at one opponent up to 60 feet away. I don't like that. With their eyeless, featureless faces. I don't like that. Um, the victim must make a successful saving throw versus spell. And on a failed save, the victim is cursed, suffering a negative four penalty to all attack rolls and saving throws until a dispel evil or remove curse spell is cast on them.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:54

Um I don't like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:57

Uh remove curse the um the curse will resist the uh dispel evil or remove curse if the spell is performed by a caster of less than 15th level. The the Nightwalker can use this gaze as often as it wishes, although it cannot physically attack while attempting to use this ability. What do you like it?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:20

No.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:21

Okay. Um a victim can be affected by the gaze only once until the curse is removed, after which it can be affected again. So basically, it can't compound this effect.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:32

But it can, however, curse everyone in your party before it decides to break all of your shit and then kill you.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:38

Yeah. Also, it's 20 feet tall.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:41

Also, it's 20 feet tall.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:42

I don't know why I keep bringing that up, but it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:45

I have a feeling it's because you hate me.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:48

So um no comment. Nope, no comment. So, as of um their uh entry in 3.5, uh night walkers are described, in case you were wondering, in case this wasn't maybe implied by their whole stees, um they're described as having no visible sex characteristics and weighing around 12,000 pounds. So they're the apparently darkness is I believe also I didn't mention this, night wings, I think, are around 40,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:19

Black is slimming. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:21

Black is slimming, but apparently very heavy. Apparently, shadow is heavier than you would think it would be.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:27

I mean, shadow does technically have a weight.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:30

I don't like that. So, um, nightwalkers can still crush. What's that like, Lewin? And listen, I don't like a lot of things. So, um, nightwalkers can crush items of large size or smaller because they are huge, technically. Okay, yeah. Um, given that they are 20 feet tall. Um, including magic items with their bare hands. They must make a successful disarm check to take an item from a target. Um, and as of 3.5, the item may make a DC34 for the tooth safe to avoid being destroyed. Which I gotta be honest. Which and it did specify that uh magic items can add their whatever their plus like magical bonuses to that. But like, I gotta be honest, I feel like your little like sword or whatever is not passing that check. I just gotta be honest.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:22

No. No. Like, I know that if you're not going to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:25

You would need a natural 20 with a plus fourteen.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:29

Like the minimum bonus that you would require is a plus fourteen. That you would need your sword to somehow happen. I don't know what the D what the fortitude bonus to a s to a fucking standard sword is. I don't know. Probably not.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:43

Standard one, probably not great.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:45

Now a magical or sentient one is probably higher, but still.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:50

So, um, in 3.0, their evil gaze ability curses the target with a negative four penalty on attack roll checks and saving throws on a failed will save, and can still be dispelled by dispel evil or remove curse. Right. Pretty similar. Um, and in 3.5 on a failed save, um the target is the is uh kind of like a change like from the chill aura to the desk grading aura. Um on a failed will save, the target is paralyzed for 1d8 rounds. Uh regardless of a success or failure, the same target may not be affected again for 24 hours. Oh yeah. Uh so I mean, debatably it it's debatable depending on the situation and the character, which of those is worse. But it is kind of softened somewhat by the notion that the same target cannot be affected by it in more than one day, regardless of what you think, which effect you think is worse. Anyway, um, so these things are you thought these things were bad enough. Um, and this makes me crazy. Um mentioned nowhere else but the stat block. There's not a little thing that gives context for this. It's literally just in the stat block. They can apparently fly.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:03

That's not good.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:04

So they have their like under their move section, they apparently have a flight speed of 20 feet, and they are like poor flyers, you know. Like by the way.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:14

I mean, for something with that weighs 12,000 pounds, I would hope their flight speed is poor.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:19

Well, and also like doesn't have wings. Because like the night the night walkers are or the fuck me, the night wings, thank you, are the dick racons are good flyers because they're bats. Yeah. Um, but and it's not mentioned whether or not they just kind of levitate, but apparently they have a fly speed listed, and I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:43

The only other thing I can think of is they have a fly sp a flight speed listed just on the off chance that someone casts a fly spell on them.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:52

But doesn't fly spell have a little thing in in it that says that fly that you fly at the same speed as your movement speed?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:59

See, I can't recall.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:00

Because, well, and also the um the night crawler didn't have a fly speed listed because it had a burrow speed listed. So I don't know why, but apparently these guys can fly.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:12

I mean, which is awesome! Why the fuck not? Why not? They could just like fly above you and just drop. Thanks. And they can just crush you because, you know, they weigh 12,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:24

Well, listen, don't don't think, don't think about the the semantics there. Okay, so fourth edition. Alright. Another speaking of things that we don't like, fourth edition. Um, so the reason that heretofore I had been talking about each specific type of nightshade as they move through editions and also them overarching is because from here on out, nightwalkers are the only nightshade nightshade. Okay. Like, there's not a category of nightshades that then contains nightwalkers. It's only nightwalkers. They're just nightwalkers. Yeah, okay. It is nightwalkers all the way down for 20 feet. Because they are 20 feet tall, in case you didn't know. So nightwalkers appear in the fourth edition monster manual, which was published in 2008. They are evil creatures, um, who uh which I mean to be fair, that they could have made them unlined. Think about that. It's cool to do. And that does that does contain chaotic evil within its purview, right? Right, right. Yeah, I think it's um lawful, evil, evil, chaotic good, good.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:29

Yes, yes, because it associated lawfulness with being good and then evil with being yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:35

So technically, chaotic evil falls in that purview, still hate it, whatever, but this is not this is not an instance where that really stands out that that's that was a choice. So anyway. Um and their lore is now such that they are the shades of extremely evil and strong-willed individuals who refuse to pass on from the Shadowfell. They are now associated with the Shadowfell. Makes sense, actually. Yeah. Um, which uh the Shadowfell is also where they most commonly reside.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:06

Also makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:08

Um, they can be found on the prime in places where great evil has been wrought. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:14

I'm so far it's all very mild annoyances.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:17

Right. Um they have the ability to transform victims into Bodacks by using a ritual that only works on the Shadowfell, and the resulting Bodaks are loyal to the Night Walker. So they then just have their little Bodak army. And basically, like I look them up, they're essentially just powerful undead, kind of minion-y type guys. Makes sense. That I mean that that's not important.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:40

So they keep their kind of like instead of like summon undead, they can just kind of ritual create them. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:47

Keep a minion army. Yeah, essentially, yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:50

Alright, alright, fine, fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:51

Um, I have an aura.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:53

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:54

It's fourth edition, of course it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:55

Everything has an aura.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:56

Um my goddamn big toe would have an aura.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:00

They have an aura that inflicts cold and necrotic damage to nearby enemies, which ironically, given in the past the ability has been called chill aura, it's actually not called chill aura in this. It's called void chill. And I literally was like, do they not have an aura?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:15

Void chill.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:16

Void chill. I love how I mean that that would the the optics of that would be so good that everything in fourth edition has an aura.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:24

Except for the one thing that has been known to have an aura, yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:27

Yes. That would be on par.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:29

Right? Yeah. Also, um, void chill beats to study and relax to. Um die too, actually. Um, they're they're they have finger of death, whatever. Um, only we're they uh they're uh the the in this one finger of death is an ability that they have. That was a struggle. Yeah, listen, uh okay. Um we're it's fourth edition, it doesn't matter. Um so the they have an ability called Finger of Death that only works on a bloody target, uh, and on a success, which they um have a plus 21 versus victim's fortitude, um, the target immediately drops to zero hit points, uh, regardless of any resistance that they might have to necrotic damage. Uh their void gaze ability on a failed save um pushes the target back four squares and also enforces a negative two penalty to all defenses until a successful save is made. Which I will say, like that kinda the that kinda makes sense to me a little bit, the finger of death thing, especially given how it interacts with their bloodied status.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:41

Yeah, I think that actually just became like the norm for finger of death.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:47

Okay, I wasn't sure. It was because it was listed in there, like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:52

Um I didn't necessarily think that it was specific to them, but it wasn't like they can cast the spell finger of death. It was like here's their abilities, and one of them is finger of death with these strictures. Okay, so that was the we're there in fourth edition, I guess. Um, so next we're gonna talk about them in fifth edition, and they are actually, believe it or not, um, they walk some things back, but they are also at the same time substantially different, I would say, than how they have ever been portrayed as.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:24

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:25

So, um, for one, in fifth edition, the Nightwalk's intelligence is only a six. Huh. All of their like mind stats, um, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma are under ten, which they used to have pretty good, like either very, very good or like at least pretty good, like charisma. So, um, their intelligence is only a six, and they do not speak or understand any languages. Um, they are once again chaotic evil, uh, beings that are associated with the negative plane, albeit in a different way than before. Okay. So, as we briefly discussed earlier, the negative plane is a very bad and inhospitable place for people that are not native to it. Correct. So the negative plane can be accessed from the Shadowfell in an area where the barrier between the two is thin, similarly to how one can access the Shadowfell from the prime. Right. But, um, and usually if someone pops into the uh negative energy plane, they just fucking die because it literally drains it literally drains the vacuum. Yeah, it literally drains life energy. So, um, if one does survive entering the negative plane, which very few do, um, they find themselves unable to leave as easily as they came. I'm not surprised. In addition, for every creature who enters the negative plane, a nightwalker is released to take their place. What in order for the trapped creature to be released, their nightwalker must be lured back to the negative plane with promises of life force for them to devour. If the night walker is killed, their counterpart creature is forever trapped within the negative plane.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:19

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:21

Yeah. So you just you cross that barrier and a nightwalker is born.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:26

And you can't go back unless that nightwalker comes back comes back.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:31

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, that's very not expecting that me either when I read that.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:38

I was kind of like cautious because like you mentioned that they were doing something different, but I really like that. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:44

That's certainly something.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:46

I I mean, no, I really like it too. That's so bizarre.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:49

Just wait. A night walker on the prime is attracted to elements important to the creature responsible for its creation, so one can ascertain some things about the individuals trapped within the negative plane based on how their night walkers behave. However, the night walker exists only to sow destruction and consume life force and makes no attempt to engage with these things or places or anything. It's just attracted to it. It's just attracted to it. For some well, I mean, the the the the way you would put it would be for some reason. It's because they're essentially just a shadow of a person who's trapped on the negative plane. Nightwalkers require no food, water, or sleep to survive, and seemingly don't even need to consume life force. They just kind of do.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:37

I mean, since they're creatures of the very plane that consumes life force, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:42

But it it doesn't it wasn't that it's not necessary.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:45

Yeah, it's just there was no which it might it be that it is meant to be, but there was no specific mention of it being necessary. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like it wasn't like It's not like you can starve it to death. Yeah, it's not like it needs to eat like three souls every day, or else it's gonna, you know, die. So um they have some interesting ab abilities also. Oh boy. Um so for one, um, they have an an aura again.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:13

Okay, for them, I I Right, and it's actually well, it's actually called an aura.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:18

It's called annihilating aura. Oh. Any creature that starts this turn within 30 feet of the Night Walker must succeed on a DC21 constitution save or take 40 or take 46 necrotic damage and grant the nightwalker advantage on attack rolls against it until the start of the creature's next turn. Undead are immune to this aura.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:40

I feel like we should specify that was 4d6, not 46. Yes, right. Just because of how quickly it was said. Just wanted to.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:49

Yeah. It is at max 24.

unknown 1:23:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:52

Um, they also have an ability called Enervating Focus, which is an attack that deals necrotic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC21 constitution save, or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken. Oh my god. This reduction lasts until the creature finishes, uh pardon. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. And also, that is a um 5d8 plus 6. So that can potentially be a good chunk of your HP.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:26

46?

SPEAKER_04 1:24:27

Uh yeah. Oh, Travis, you did a math. I did do a math. I'm so proud of you. Also, finally, um it has been um upgraded, shall we say? Instead of finger of death, they have finger of doom. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:46

Finger of doom.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:47

The Nightwalker points out one creature it can see within 300 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC21 wisdom save or take 4d12. Which is not 4T12, aka 4012, that is 4d12 necrotic damage, and become frightened until the end of the Nightwalker's next turn. When frightened in this way, the creature is also paralyzed. Jesus. Um, if the target is successful in their saving throw, they cannot be affected by uh finger of doom for another 24 hours. Oh, well, that's good at least. Right. I mean, I would hon I guess it says not affected. My thought process personally, if I were a DM with one of these things, would be for one that I hate my friends. And also, like, that maybe you could still take damage from it, but you couldn't become frightened. Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:41

Um, because what is the damage?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:43

Uh blah blah blah blah blah blah blah twelve.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:46

No, what type of damage?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:47

Uh necrotic.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:49

Hmm. Yeah, maybe because if it were psychic, I would say opposite.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:52

Yeah, maybe, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:54

But I don't know, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:55

I mean, not that it's not not that the other abilities that it has aren't fucking bad enough, because I also I think it can attack twice per round, too. I don't know. Yeah, it's um it's certainly different. And also this is a CR20, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:10

I was just looking at that, like, yep, that would be that would explain that.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:14

That would be amazing.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:15

Which is interesting because I my my when I was looking at the stat block, my eyes immediately went to its armor class, which if I remember correctly is only a 14. And I was like, oh, so they like nerfed it. And then I looked and saw ever the everything else, and I was like, oh, not quite, not quite, not quite.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:30

They nerfed their um armor.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:32

That's about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:33

Yeah, which I mean, just because something has a low AC doesn't mean it's not dangerous. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:39

So, yeah, that's night, that's night walkers.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:43

Yay! Yay! Right. And I will say, I was immediately skeptical whenever I started reading uh about them in fifth edition, specifically because their intelligence got nerfed so bad. Because normally I I don't like when that happens. Right. Normally it kind of well, normally whenever they do that, take that away, it makes the creature less interesting. But it didn't in this case. It's it's just very they're honestly both the idea of them being these like hyper intelligent creatures that just that like scheme to to sew chaos, and also these like shadows of people that are are essentially like just trapped in this like empty vacuum of hell that just like indiscriminately wander around sewing chaos, like those are both equally frightening in my opinion. Yeah, they are.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:43

Honestly. Also, um, just out of curiosity, I went and uh put the Nightwalker into the encounter builder for DD Beyond. And in order to make it just a difficulty level of hard for a single Nightwalker, it required. Five level 15 characters.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:02

Oofa, doofah, and that's hard. And that's hard. That's not like a moderate.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:07

No. No, that means that it is going to be very difficult and there's a high possibility for someone to die.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:14

It's terrifying, and I want the mini a little bit, but it's terrifying.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:18

Yeah. Also, yeah, the the I I really, I really love the fifth edition art of the Night Walker. I like I Googled that and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do an episode about this thing. Because usually, I usually honestly, um this isn't this is a take here. I usually find that like the fourth edition art is often my favorite because fourth edition has some very nice art, especially for dragons. Yeah. But like I really love the way they look in in fifth edition. I feel like that art of them just like captures like the the the energy that they give off. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, I know you're because in in fourth edition they were like tuba, they were like tuba, and like their their like body features were too um like defined.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:08

But yeah, anyway, the art for them in fifth edition is very good. So um that took longer than I thought it would.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:15

I'm I'm sorry about that. Uh, I hope that the person who suggested this, Adrian slash uh Axolottles underscore, uh, enjoyed it, even if it was a little long. I'm sure that they're not by a long episode. Thank you for the suggestion. Also, I realized that uh you mentioned that one of the villains in the DD show Dimension 20 is like a nightwalker. Um, and that I didn't get to the anything about that. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:51

Um, I have seen a little bit of uh various Dimension 20 arcs, and um they're very good, and I highly suggest you watch it.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:59

Yeah, I I really think we need to watch more uh Dimension 20 stuff. Yes, CJ, I know you're happy. Hi, CJ.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:10

Anyway. Thank you guys so much for listening. Uh don't forget to follow us on Twitter, on Instagram, join our Discord. Discord. Discord.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:19

I mean, but that's where the suggestion came from, kind of again. And also, you know, uh email too. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:25

Which, if you also have a suggestion for an episode, and you're not on our Discord, you can still email us at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com. Or tweet at us. Or tweet at us.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:37

Yeah. And as always, thank you for spreading the word to your friends and family and your nightwalkers. Uh well, maybe not them.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:46

I mean they might be happy to be in the spotlight.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:49

Yeah, they might be, I mean, they might be listening from that dark corner of your room.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:54

Okay, I'm going to bed.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:56

Yeah, they might be under your bed too.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:58

I'm never sleeping again.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:00

Well, with that, we have to go get some insomnia medicine for uh Taylor. So thank you everyone so much for listening, and we'll uh just catch you right here next week on uh Dungeon Pedia. He sees you when you're sleeping.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:17

Santa Claus 20 foot tall, skinny Santa Claus.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:23

That's terrifying. I don't like it.