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The shadar kai is a strange subrace of elves who may have remained loyal to the Raven Queen, the goddess of death and leader of the Shadowfell.
They were only introduced to DnD 5e as a portion of Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. And they end up making for convincing, important targets as well as a good basis for your next player character.
What we Know About the shadar kai:
The shadar kai, elves were changed forever by their link to their home as well as the power of the Raven Queen. Who controls it, arises from the gray, lifeless depths of the Shadowfell – the plane of darkness, shadow, and death.
The shadar kai has considered a number of the characteristics of the Shadowfell, similar to how the Eladrin (elves native to the Feywild, also found in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes) were evolved over the centuries by the magic and emotional depth of their residential plane.
They are nearly expressionless, prevailing in a hazy state among life and death – no longer fey or genuinely undead, but just something innovative and frightening. The shadar kai is tougher than other elves due to the Shadowfell’s magic, and they’re likely the most survivable of all elven subraces.
Even though their ability to summon over small distances is equivalent to that of their fey cousins. Doing this causes each other to sum up for a short instant before starting to return to their material state, attempting to make them resistant to all destruction.
Because of their long-term exposure to either a realm of death and decay, all Shadar-Kai are resistant to necrotic harm.
Lolth, the Raven Queen, and the Birth of the shadar kai:
It’s difficult to talk about the shadar kai without referencing the Raven Queen, goddess of death, guard of glittering memories, and leader of the Shadowfell. We’ll need to discuss Lolth, the demon goddess of spiders, as well as her role in the deformation of elvenkind in the haze of prehistory.
Long ago, the elven people were trimmed off from Arvandor, the “heavenly plane” thought to be the ancestral homeland of all elves. The elves were misplaced in the universe and encountered two choices.
The Spider Queen, Lolth, first inclined the elves with strength And a household on the construct level. A path to a future asphalted with dark deeds and fraud.
The elves who died due to her incentives “went below,” establishing great cities all through Underdark and adopting Lolth’s cruelty. They were known as the Drow or dark elves. Some other elves, led by such a powerful sorcerer-queen, have been promised a separate path – back to Arvandor.
This elven queen began siphoning magical ability from her disciples (the shadar kai), slowly increasing her authority until she contacted godhood. It did work well. Sadly, the elven queen’s increasing magical energy was manipulated and thieved by a cabal of evil magicians who considered her “an amazing big magic mattery,” to quote Jeremy Crawford.
More Information:
They snatched the queen’s power and triggered a huge magical disaster. The elven queen was destroyed whenever the dust settled, yet she was so infused with magical properties. That she was reborn as just a godlike being in Shadowfell, reborn into a deity of death and memory: The Raven Queen.
The Raven Queen’s travel to the Shadowfell also managed to bring along that shadar kai who guided her.
They presently offer their mistress as a race of worker drones, removed of all freedom and feelings. Of course, there are a few exceptions, as not all drow are zealous, spider-praising lunatics. Some shadar kai gives up the Raven Queen, escaping the Shadowfell to become explorers in the universe.
Others depart their home flight on their Queen’s orders, roaming the planes as investigators of her mysterious will. The Raven Queen’s addiction to memories (especially tragic ones) drives her to distribute shadar kai agencies on operations to grab and collect the memories, spirits, or information she tries.
Her ravens fly from their roost, going to lead the shadar kai to locations where the hurdles between planets are slightly weaker, enabling them to pass through the gaps and finish their task. All shadar kai who remain loyal to the Raven Queen is successfully immortal. She retains their spirits and revives them within Shadowfell when their bodies pass away.
Significance:
As a result, death seems to have little significance for a shadar kai and they are often helpless in protecting their mortal shells. Although many consider this a gift, a sign of their Queen’s power. A few shadar kai may view it as a curse, an infinite torment out of which they cannot be free.
One of the DnD multiverse’s strong villains must have long admired the Raven Queen’s capability to capture, reawaken, and regulate the souls of the dead. Vecna, lord of evil liches and slight god within his right, must have spent centuries trying to seize the Raven Queen’s authority. And employ it to create an army of undead powerful in terms of tackling all of creation.
Shadar Kai Authority and Characteristics: Creating a shadar kai Character:
If you decide to play a shadar kai in DnD 5e, you’ll most likely belong to one of two shelters: a servant of the Raven Queen attested to do her bidding and enforce her will upon the rest of the universe, or a rebel, a refugee, or a rogue elf seeking to create a new future for yourself.
When you play a shadar kai, you acquire the same characteristics as all other elven subraces. You will also have access to the following:
Boost in Capacity Score. Your Dexterity score emerges by two points.
Age. From around the age of 100, an elf declares adulthood as well as requires an adult name, and they can live to be 750 years old.
Alignment. Elves value independence, diversity, as well as ego, so those who prefer the softer elements of chaos.
The shadar kai makes an exception; their duration in the Shadowfell must have dulled their feelings, making them more susceptible to unbiased and legal links.
Size. Elves vary in height from 5 to 6 feet and have sleek builds. Your dress size is Medium.
Speed. Your average speed when walking is 30 feet per minute.
Darkvision. Within 60 feet of you, you may see in dim light as though it were light shining, and in darkness as if it was dim light.
Ancestry in Fey. You get an advantage in rescuing throws from being hypnotic, and you will not be placed to lie down by magic.
Trance. Elves don’t ever sleep. Rather, they relax deeply for 4 hours a day, staying semi-conscious. You obtain the same benefit as just a human would from 8 hours of sleep after relaxing in this way.
Strong Senses. You had also perfected the Perceiving skill.
Languages. You can interact, read, and write in Prevalent and Elven.
Features;
Then, as a shadar kai, you obtain the following features.
Increase in Ability Score. Your Constitution score starts to rise by one.
Opposition to necrosis. You are resistant to necrotic harm.
The Raven Queen’s blessing:
You could indeed magically transfer up to 30 feet to an uninhabited area you can see as a reward action. You cannot employ this trait once more unless you have finished a long rest.
When you employ this trait to jump, you obtain opposition to all damage beginning at level 3. The opposition will continue until the start of your next turn. You appear haunting and translucent throughout this time.
Let us examine this.
The shadar kai traits are fairly short, sweet, as well as simple (assuming you’re using the “iconic” 5e rules for creating characters. Rather than the Custom Lineages from Tasha’s Cauldron of Anything. Or the starting to emerge anti-essentialist character creation guidelines from Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse).
They’re also one of the most potent skills accessible to any race in DnD 5e. To start with, nearly no class in the game cannot gain from a Constitution buff.
Barbarians, fighters, paladins, as well as other martial classes, enjoy a few additional hit points, and spellcasting classes. All seem to be a little cheap on hit points (so the version is encouraged). An additional Constitution helps when preserving intensity spells.
When merged with the +2 Dexterity bonus appreciated by all elves. The shadar kai is an excellent foundation for any Skill class. Rangers, rogues, Dex-based fighters (and sometimes even barbarians or paladins. If you desire to become weird) are also all good alternatives.
Details about traits of shadar kai:
If you choose to play a character class that necessitates a good score in a spellcasting-ability component (Intellectual ability, Wisdom, or Charisma), your destiny is a bit more in the hands of the dice. Still, there is also very little about the shadar kai it should make you feel confined.
Next, necrotic damage opposition is brilliant. Particularly if you’re playing in a campaign in which you understand. That you’ll be battling a large number of undead creatures.
Even if your DM was not into gothic horror, the undead is still one of the more common monster kinds in DnD 5e. And numerous other monsters cope with necrotic harm (from the Topaz Gem Dragon to the Violet Fungus).
Finally, based on how you apply it, the Blessing of the Raven Queen trait offers a fantastic mix of versatility, offense, and survivability. The capacity to teleport 30 feet once for each long rest is just a fantastic way. To start a fight (you’ll follow your opposition off guard) or escape at the right moment using a reward action.
Then, at three levels, the reality is that you obtain resistance to all harm for a turn. Teleporting just keeps adding to the effect’s helpfulness.
The shadar kai Presence: How Do They Look?
Centuries spent in the Shadowfell have contributed to making the shadar kai contenders for the title of “Multiverse’s Most Goth” elf together with the drow). The bodies of shadar kai expose the full scope of the trauma which their presence imposes while in the Shadowfell.
They show up as ravaged husks, shrunken and translucent. As a result, numerous shadar kai chooses to wear elegant and lovely masks. Sometimes if they often introduce a melancholy face to the outside world.
When the shadar kai leaves the Shadowfell, they gain back their youthful, elven looks, though their skin, eyes, and hair remain blackened gray as well as black in shade.
Names of Shadar-Kai:
The shadar kai has a related naming system to other elves, having melodic sounding names, whereas a hsadar-name kai’s will probably sound tougher compared to a wood or high elf.
The shadar kai names for men include Baelo, Carishal, Hone, Innel, Oriel, Mothel, Nadarian, Videos, and Zoron.
Cigna, Hashkadrin, Irneli, Lervathra, Thenndann, Velis, Yildi, and Yilve are some feminine shadar kai names.
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