An umbral vampire is a fiendish creature, once human but twisted into a dark reflection by an ancient curse. It resembles a deathly pale, gaunt human with stringy hair, dressed in scant rags. Misty strands of darkness leak from its empty eye sockets, yawning nasal cavity, and mouth.
Cursed Origin. Legends speak of an ancient city whose origins are lost to the ages, where a cabal of wizards with the power to manipulate the flow of time made its citizens immortal. When the wizards fell and no longer held back the ravages of time, the citizens aged centuries in moments. Instead of dying, the wretches lingered on in their dark realm.
Bound to Darkness. All umbral vampires originate in the City Fallen into Shadow, and under most circumstances, they’re encountered only in that forsaken place. Despite the terrors it holds, adventurers continue to seek out the city, chasing legends of potent artifacts and boundless treasure accumulated during its golden age. Occasionally, an umbral vampire slips into the mortal world, where it hides in a place seldom or never touched by sunlight and emerges at night to search for victims.
Shadowy Nature. An umbral vampire doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Vampire, Umbral
Medium fiend, chaotic evilArmor Class 14
Hit Points 84 (13d8 + 26)
Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (-5) | 18 (+4) | 15 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 19 (+4) |
Saving Throws Dex +7, Cha +7
Skills Perception +5, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances acid, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities cold, necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Umbral, Void Speech
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)
Incorporeal Movement. The umbral vampire can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Shadow Blend. When in dim light or darkness, the umbral vampire can Hide as a bonus action, even while being observed.
Strike from Shadow. The reach of the umbral vampire’s umbral grasp attack increases by 10 feet and its damage increases by 4d6 when both the umbral vampire and the target of the attack are in dim light or darkness and the umbral vampire is hidden from its target.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in direct sunlight, the umbral vampire has disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Innate Spellcasting. The umbral vampire’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15). The umbral vampire can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: mirror image, plane shift (plane of shadows only)
1/day each: bane (when in dim light or darkness only), black tentacles
Actions
Umbral Grasp. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (4d6 + 4) cold damage and the target’s Strength score is reduced by 1d6. The target dies if this reduces its Strength to 0. Otherwise, the reduction lasts until the target finishes a short or long rest.
If a non-evil humanoid dies from this attack, a shadow rises from the corpse 1d4 hours later.