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Breadcrumb

Wight

Challenge
str
14
dex
14
con
16
int
10
wis
12
cha
14

AC 15 (brigandine leather)

HP 45 (6d8 + 18; bloodied 22)

Speed 30 ft.


Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 12

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4

Damage Resistances cold, necrotic; damage from nonmagical, non-silvered weapons

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages the languages it knew in life


Cold Aura. A creature that starts its turn grappled by the wight, touches it, or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet takes 3 (1d6) cold damage. A creature can take this damage only once per turn. If the wight has been subjected to fire damage since its last turn, this trait doesn’t function.

Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the wight has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Perception checks that rely on sight.

Undead Nature. A wight doesn’t require air, sustenance, or sleep.


ACTIONS

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) cold damage.

Seize. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) cold damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 12). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and the only attack the wight can make is Life Drain against the grappled target.

Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) cold damage.


BONUS ACTIONS

Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) necrotic damage, and the target makes a DC 13 Constitution saving throw . On a failure, the target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage dealt. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. A humanoid or beast reduced to 0 hit points by this attack dies. Its corpse rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the wight’s control. 

Combat

The wight targets spellcasters with Life Drain and its longsword, and uses Seize and Life Drain against foes wielding weapons. It prefers combat with a single foe while ordering its zombie minions to attack its opponent’s allies. It fights until destroyed.


Legends and Lore

With an Arcana or Religion check, characters can learn the following:

DC 10 Wights are former humanoids cursed with undeath. They hunger for the life force of living creatures.

DC 15 A creature killed by a wight might rise again the following night as a zombie .

DC 20 Wights aren’t mindless, but their ambitions rarely extend beyond satisfying their eternal hunger. They sometimes serve more powerful undead.

Description

Long ago, the word “wight” meant “person” in the language of an ancient culture. But then those who used the word were cursed with undeath for seeking immortality. Now wights haunt cold and desolate places, such as dusty tombs or barrow mounds blackened by dead plants. Wights shun daylight, emerging only at night to consume the life essence of living creatures.

Essence Eaters. The absence of life is a constant, clawing hunger. Wights desperately hunt living things in an effort to regain the spark of life they’ve lost. Their cold touch drains the living, and those they kill rise again as zombies . When a wight’s hunger for life essence outpaces its ability to find victims, it may enter into the service of a more powerful undead creature such as a wraith or vampire .

Shades of Ancient Cultures. Wights retain their memories and motivations, but without the spark of life, they can’t adapt to the world changing around them. They cling to long-lost habits, yearning to return things to the way they once were. A wight’s lair is a time capsule, often containing otherwise forgotten lore; if it could overcome its eternal hunger, the wight might even choose to share some of its secrets.

Behavior

1 Draining the life from a dying creature, such as a pegasus

2 Lurking inside a tomb or barrow

3 Hiding in ambush

4 Willing to bargain; will trade information for a few drops of blood

5 Flat on its back, indistinguishable from a corpse, with snakes slithering into and out of empty eye sockets

6 In ambush under icy water, which it breaks through to pull victims in

7-10 Attacks on sight

Signs

1 The air grows cold

2 Plants and moss are black and crumble at the touch

3 A dry, leathery smell

4 Open tombs or graves, smashed sarcophagi, and the like

Encounters

Wights haunt their tombs during the day, venturing out at night. 

CR 3–4 [[wight]]; wight with 2 zombies

Treasure 200 ep, 3 painted urns (25 gp each), 1 dagger (named Shil-Pa; the wielder is immune to effects that would reduce its maximum hit points)

CR 5–10 2 or 3 wights ; wight , possibly riding a skeletal warhorse , with 1d8 + 3 ice mephits , skeletons , or zombies ; wight with 2 zombie knights

Treasure 400 gp, ceremonial silver axe (75 gp), bronze and amber wristguard (250 gp), 6 sardonyx gemstones hidden in a secret compartment, wand of secrets

Monster Type Description

Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons . Others, like vampires , are the products of an evil ritual or curse.