Neha Patil (Editor)

Nightshade (Dungeons and Dragons)

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Alignment
  
Chaotic Evil

Image
  
Wizards.com image

Type
  
Undead (Extraplanar)

Stats
  
Open Game License stats

Source books
  
3.5E Monster Manual 1, 3E Monster Manual 1, Master Boxed Set, Rules Cyclopedia, Mystara Appendix

Mythological origins
  
Sceadugenga, Nightstalker

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the nightshade is a powerful undead creature composed of darkness and evil.

Contents

In Third Edition, nightshades are native to the Plane of Shadow.

Publication history

The nightshade was introduced to the D&D game in the basic edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1999)

The nightcrawler nightshade, the nightwalker nightshade, and the nightwing nightshade first appear in the Dungeons & Dragons Master Rules (1985) in the Master DM's Book. They later appear in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The nightcrawler nightshade, the nightwalker nightshade, and the nightwing nightshade appeared for the Mystara campaign setting in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994).

Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)

The nightcrawler nightshade, the nightwalker nightshade, and the nightwing nightshade appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000).

The nightswimmer appeared in Dungeon #92 (May 2002).

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

The nightcrawler nightshade, the nightwalker nightshade, and the nightwing nightshade appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003).

The nighthaunt nightshade appeared in the Forgotten Realms setting in Lost Empires of Faerûn (2005).

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)

The nightwalker nightshade appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008).

Types

  • Nightcrawler — A nightcrawler is a massive behemoth similar to a purple worm, though utterly black in color.
  • Nighthaunt — Nighthaunts are gargoylelike and drawn to places of evil power and defiled goodness.
  • Nightswimmer — A nightswimmer is an aquatic nightcrawler.
  • Nightwalker — Nightwalkers are human-shaped horrors that haunt the darkness.
  • Nightwing — Nightwings are batlike flyers that hunt on the wing.

    • Other publishers

    The hierarchy of the nightshades was described in more detail in Classic Play Book of the Planes (2004) from Mongoose Publishing. The nightcrawlers are said to emerge first, digging tunnels into darkreaches in the Plane of Shadow, followed by nightwings flying out of the darkness to scare away or enslave intruders, and finally the nightwalkers, stated to be the lords of their kind, appear. Furthermore, the nightwalkers are stated to be using the Plane of Shadow as a half-way point between the Material Plane and the Negative Energy Plane due to the latter's being too hostile to mortal life to make taking slaves there feasible.

    The nightshade is fully detailed in Paizo Publishing's book Undead Revisited (2011), on pages 34–39.

    References

    Nightshade (Dungeons & Dragons) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA