March 26, 2024 • 9 mins
The Original Upside Down You’ve lost your way in the graveyard and stumbled your way through an open grave. The shock creeps into a confused and foreboding terror as you crawl out of the cold earth and behold a dark and twisted landscape bereft of color and solemnly still save for the lumbering forms of countless undead. You’ve just fallen from the forgotten realms through a shadow crossing and if you don’t scramble back through before it closes, you’re likely in for a bad and spooky time in this unapologetically evil echo of the material realm. Grab your lantern and some holy water as we go through everything you need to know about the plane of shadow. Check out the full blog post here: https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/blogs/dnd/shadowfell-5e-d-d-plane-review Support our content: Get awesome metal dice: https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/search?filter.v.availability=1&q=metal+dice Check out our amazing sharp edged dice: https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/search?filter.v.availability=1&q=sharp+edged+dice
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In D and D there is aparallel plane of existence characterized by darkness,
decay, and shadows. Whether it'sdue to the terrifying creatures or locations that
would make from software take notes,it has served a source of inspiration for
many dark adventures and campaigns. Sotoday we're going to talk about the dark
reflections of this mirror plane, theShadowfell. The Shadowfell is not a proper
(00:28):
plane amid the astro plane, butrather it's one of the mirror planes of
the prime material plane to us thenormal world that exists as a parallel plane
alongside it. This makes it moreor less the evil version of the Fey
Wild, with its positive energy thatalso hugs tightly to the material world.
This means that for every major landmarkin the material plane, there will be
(00:48):
some sort of dark and evil versionof it in the Shadowfell. At roughly
the same place, mountains are reflectedby looming crags, forests by gnarled groves,
and cities by rotten and degraded citadels. The landscape itself is morphic and
literally shifts to be as ominous andevil as possible, bleached of color and
incredibly dark. The primary way mortalsreach the Shadowfell demi plane is through passages
(01:11):
called shadow crossings. As the shadowfellis so closely tied to the material plane,
the plains often briefly overlap and freelyallow travel between them. You'll find
these in particularly dark and dreary locationsrife with necrotic energy, like graveyards,
the creepy corners of basements, oranywhere that light and joy rarely reach,
so for many of us, Isuppose work could be on that list.
(01:32):
Many of these crossings are permanent,and a deep cavern within the under dark
is a good place to find them, but many at the surface occur for
only a single night or return,with the setting sun only accessible in true
darkness. It isn't just darkness,its advanced darkness. Flames and other bright
light sources function here, but theremuted and work like dim light across the
(01:53):
entire plane. They serve to givethe blacks and gray's definition rather than proper
illumination. In this negative energy plane. There's no sun here, no stars,
nothing but an endless black canopy tooppressively cloak the shadow stuff, landscape
and necrotic energies. Adventures will findthat this world hates light a spite shared
by many of the inhabitants as well. It's also a few plane, which
(02:15):
makes reality and consistency tentative at best. Shadowfell is infested with countless undead and
dead creatures, particularly shades, wraiths, shadow mastiff, and spirits, but
also the odd death Knight or Lychand their zombified minions left over from the
spell plag Shadow dragons loom from themountaintops, and fiends lurk in the deepest
(02:36):
dungeons. Material plain creatures sometimes wanderin as well through the shadow crossings and
manage to survive the evil creatures thereAlbears, umber, hulks, wolves,
and basilisks can all be found huntingthese shadow lands. Over many generations,
these creatures have become saturated with thenegative energy of the plane, becoming a
form of undead called dark creatures,beings bleached of colour and gifted with dark
(02:58):
powers. Mortals all so called theShadow Plane home, though they do have
to become dark creatures one with theplane, they are called shades, though
technically we haven't seen them pop upyet in fifth edition, but in previous
editions, these shadow people haunted thetwisted Shadowfell streets with a soulas lack of
emotions, pointy teeth, and shadowpowers. They straddled the line between monster
(03:19):
and mortal inhabitant. In some additions, you had to do some specific nasty
rituals to absorb shadow powers and becomea shade, and in some just living
in the Shadowfell long enough did thetrick. So while the Shadowfell is already
dark and spooky, it also linksto even worse places. Collectively called domains
of dread. These are nightmare scapesor the domains of powerful evil entities who
(03:39):
are usually trapped in the hells oftheir own design with their own lore.
The most famous of these that you'vemore than likely heard about is the Castle
Ravenloft, ruled by the vampire CountStrawd. Domains of dread can open up
all over the place, but theShadowfell is essentially next door, and most
of the permanent passages to numerous domainsof dread lie somewhere in the plane of
(04:00):
shadow. Since I mentioned locations earlier, it's probably best to go over a
few of those. The Shadowfell demiplaneis highly morphic, which means the landscape
is going to shift and change abit every time you turn your head.
The locations that stick are reflections ofMaterial Plane places and cities. Every city
back in the Material Plane has adark and twisted version here, with their
(04:21):
own shadowy population and potential quests andconflicts. We haven't actually visited most of
them in fifth edition yet, sothey're all blank evil canvases for you to
work with. The Vast Swamp backin the Forgotten Realms, has a notable
mirror version here called the Shadow Swamp, containing a mysterious form at the bottom
of a magical trench called the BlackRift. There's also a shadow keep called
(04:43):
the Shadow Citadel at its heart,just waiting for some evil rituals. The
Vast Swamp is already dangerous enough,but with the interplay into an even darker
and more mysterious shadow version, itmakes for prime adventuring real estate. That's
very real estate. The Shadowfell isalso a favorite home to the Goddess of
Death herself, the Raven Queen,not quite the one from Critical Role,
but hey. She keeps a castlehere called the Fortress of Memories, filled
(05:05):
with the memories and soul fragments takenfrom dead gods. She's also said to
keep a divine realm here called Letherna, a dark ice fortress surrounded by a
frozen wood. If you're looking fora location that's a bit more structured,
take a dig through Thunderspire Labyrinth fromBack and Forth edition by Mike Murles.
It's not fifth edition, but there'sa ton of Shadowfell D and D lore
(05:26):
to mind content from there. Soyour party has slipped down a particularly dark
void and popped out into the Shadowfell. What next? Well, thankfully we
get a bit of mechanical impact foundin the dungeon Master's guide called Shadowfell Despair.
I'm sorry, players. Shadowfell Despairis an optional rule that they suggest
you run if you want to emphasizejust how creepy and unnerving the Shadowfell should
(05:48):
be and the negative extreme emotions they'llbe bombarded with. Once a day,
either whenever you feel a situation isespecially unnerving, or at a set time,
have each player that's not native tothe Shadowfell make a DC ten wisdom
saving throw. On a failed save, have them roll a D six and
use the table up on screen.And I mean, geez, not that
(06:09):
any of these things is necessarily good, but I guess I'll take apathy because
it's what I'm used to. Isuppose if a character fails a save but
already has one from a previous failedsave, they replace the old negative emotions
with the new emotion. Whenever theyfinish a long rest, they can make
a DC fifteen wisdom saving throw.It's a higher save once the despair sets
in, and on a success theyend the effects. They can also get
(06:31):
rid of despair with calm emotion spellsor any magic that can remove curses.
Unlike many of the other evil planes, the Shadowfell is actually fairly survivable at
early tears. Not that you couldn'tpull a few shadow Dragons out to challenge
a high level party, but theinherent despair effect is passable by low hit
point characters, and there's nothing intrinsicallylethal about it, unlike say, Hell,
(06:54):
or the elemental chaos of the Planeof Fire, or even the under
Dark with its dark elves. Ifyour party does have trouble, try giving
them something that deals radiant damage,since half the things they'll fight here will
be weak to it. When adventuringat tier one this early, a stay
in the Shadowfell should be brief andfrightening, which is most of my experiences
with it personally. Is usually withcharacters between one and five levels, they
(07:17):
should be huddled in dark corners ashordes of undead and terrifying shadow creatures narrowly
miss their discovery and subsequent devouring.The dark creatures are an excellent resource for
creatures to fight, as are typicallow level under dark creatures like dark mantles
or shadow mastiffs. For a quickand easy dark creature template, just apply
this info to an existing creature fromthe Monster Manual and Pumpets Challenge. Rating
(07:40):
up by one. Tier two iswhat honestly feels ideal for Shadowfell campaigns in
a lot of ways. Not solow that you can't play around with all
the fun evil creatures, but notso high that they aren't scared of anything.
Still a bit low to be takingon these serious contenders of the plane,
though, This is a good spotto fight a bunch of ghosts in
the Shadowfell ruins, or maybe doa few quests for a suspiciously helpful shade,
(08:03):
or even just a few random encountersas a prelude to entering a domain
of dread. To make these shadowFell encounters interesting at tier three, i'd
recommend tying the adventures into a powerstruggle at one of the shadow cities like
Chausen or ever Night, or perhapspit them against a particularly nasty dark wizard,
death Knight or a shadow Dragon.I've had particularly good luck narratively speaking
(08:24):
with death Nights. At this tier, the adventurers shouldn't be too worried about
your average undead and you'll have tostart raising the stakes beyond just spooky things.
At tier four, the Shadowfell monstersare actually a bit mild compared to
what the players will be able totake on unless they're clashing with the Raven
Queen herself. Ironically, at tierfour, I find the shadow Fell functions
(08:45):
best as a normal staging ground andsafe place to set against the real adventure
taking place in an extremely nasty domainof dread linked by stable shadow crossing to
the Shadowfell. That doesn't sound liketoo bad of an idea to start a
campaign with. Actually I might dothat. The Shadowfell offers an array of
captivating opportunities for dungeon masters and players. I have personally been a part of
(09:09):
a few sessions as a player thatinvolved the Shadowfell, which is a shocking
coincidence, if for no other reasonthan idm ninety nine percent of the time.
And one of the best parts aboutexperiencing the Shadowfell in this way is
that it has sort of become somethingI'm grimly aware of across multiple characters,
which can add to their world weariness. To say the least. Thank you
(09:31):
guys so much for watching. Ireally appreciate it. Be sure to like
and subscribe because we put out newcontent like this all the time. Go
see what we're up to over onskullsplitterdice dot com. And if you plan
on taking an adventure to the Shadowfell, or if that's something that has come
up in a very memorable adventure orcampaign of yours, I would love to
hear all about it down in thecomments. My name's Patrick Ferguson from skull
splitter Dice. Thanks again for watching, and until next time, farewell.
In D and D there is aparallel plane of existence characterized by darkness,
decay, and shadows. Whether it'sdue to the terrifying creatures or locations that
would make from software take notes,it has served a source of inspiration for
many dark adventures and campaigns. Sotoday we're going to talk about the dark
reflections of this mirror plane, theShadowfell. The Shadowfell is not a proper
(00:28):
plane amid the astro plane, butrather it's one of the mirror planes of
the prime material plane to us thenormal world that exists as a parallel plane
alongside it. This makes it moreor less the evil version of the Fey
Wild, with its positive energy thatalso hugs tightly to the material world.
This means that for every major landmarkin the material plane, there will be
(00:48):
some sort of dark and evil versionof it in the Shadowfell. At roughly
the same place, mountains are reflectedby looming crags, forests by gnarled groves,
and cities by rotten and degraded citadels. The landscape itself is morphic and
literally shifts to be as ominous andevil as possible, bleached of color and
incredibly dark. The primary way mortalsreach the Shadowfell demi plane is through passages
(01:11):
called shadow crossings. As the shadowfellis so closely tied to the material plane,
the plains often briefly overlap and freelyallow travel between them. You'll find
these in particularly dark and dreary locationsrife with necrotic energy, like graveyards,
the creepy corners of basements, oranywhere that light and joy rarely reach,
so for many of us, Isuppose work could be on that list.
(01:32):
Many of these crossings are permanent,and a deep cavern within the under dark
is a good place to find them, but many at the surface occur for
only a single night or return,with the setting sun only accessible in true
darkness. It isn't just darkness,its advanced darkness. Flames and other bright
light sources function here, but theremuted and work like dim light across the
(01:53):
entire plane. They serve to givethe blacks and gray's definition rather than proper
illumination. In this negative energy plane. There's no sun here, no stars,
nothing but an endless black canopy tooppressively cloak the shadow stuff, landscape
and necrotic energies. Adventures will findthat this world hates light a spite shared
by many of the inhabitants as well. It's also a few plane, which
(02:15):
makes reality and consistency tentative at best. Shadowfell is infested with countless undead and
dead creatures, particularly shades, wraiths, shadow mastiff, and spirits, but
also the odd death Knight or Lychand their zombified minions left over from the
spell plag Shadow dragons loom from themountaintops, and fiends lurk in the deepest
(02:36):
dungeons. Material plain creatures sometimes wanderin as well through the shadow crossings and
manage to survive the evil creatures thereAlbears, umber, hulks, wolves,
and basilisks can all be found huntingthese shadow lands. Over many generations,
these creatures have become saturated with thenegative energy of the plane, becoming a
form of undead called dark creatures,beings bleached of colour and gifted with dark
(02:58):
powers. Mortals all so called theShadow Plane home, though they do have
to become dark creatures one with theplane, they are called shades, though
technically we haven't seen them pop upyet in fifth edition, but in previous
editions, these shadow people haunted thetwisted Shadowfell streets with a soulas lack of
emotions, pointy teeth, and shadowpowers. They straddled the line between monster
(03:19):
and mortal inhabitant. In some additions, you had to do some specific nasty
rituals to absorb shadow powers and becomea shade, and in some just living
in the Shadowfell long enough did thetrick. So while the Shadowfell is already
dark and spooky, it also linksto even worse places. Collectively called domains
of dread. These are nightmare scapesor the domains of powerful evil entities who
(03:39):
are usually trapped in the hells oftheir own design with their own lore.
The most famous of these that you'vemore than likely heard about is the Castle
Ravenloft, ruled by the vampire CountStrawd. Domains of dread can open up
all over the place, but theShadowfell is essentially next door, and most
of the permanent passages to numerous domainsof dread lie somewhere in the plane of
(04:00):
shadow. Since I mentioned locations earlier, it's probably best to go over a
few of those. The Shadowfell demiplaneis highly morphic, which means the landscape
is going to shift and change abit every time you turn your head.
The locations that stick are reflections ofMaterial Plane places and cities. Every city
back in the Material Plane has adark and twisted version here, with their
(04:21):
own shadowy population and potential quests andconflicts. We haven't actually visited most of
them in fifth edition yet, sothey're all blank evil canvases for you to
work with. The Vast Swamp backin the Forgotten Realms, has a notable
mirror version here called the Shadow Swamp, containing a mysterious form at the bottom
of a magical trench called the BlackRift. There's also a shadow keep called
(04:43):
the Shadow Citadel at its heart,just waiting for some evil rituals. The
Vast Swamp is already dangerous enough,but with the interplay into an even darker
and more mysterious shadow version, itmakes for prime adventuring real estate. That's
very real estate. The Shadowfell isalso a favorite home to the Goddess of
Death herself, the Raven Queen,not quite the one from Critical Role,
but hey. She keeps a castlehere called the Fortress of Memories, filled
(05:05):
with the memories and soul fragments takenfrom dead gods. She's also said to
keep a divine realm here called Letherna, a dark ice fortress surrounded by a
frozen wood. If you're looking fora location that's a bit more structured,
take a dig through Thunderspire Labyrinth fromBack and Forth edition by Mike Murles.
It's not fifth edition, but there'sa ton of Shadowfell D and D lore
(05:26):
to mind content from there. Soyour party has slipped down a particularly dark
void and popped out into the Shadowfell. What next? Well, thankfully we
get a bit of mechanical impact foundin the dungeon Master's guide called Shadowfell Despair.
I'm sorry, players. Shadowfell Despairis an optional rule that they suggest
you run if you want to emphasizejust how creepy and unnerving the Shadowfell should
(05:48):
be and the negative extreme emotions they'llbe bombarded with. Once a day,
either whenever you feel a situation isespecially unnerving, or at a set time,
have each player that's not native tothe Shadowfell make a DC ten wisdom
saving throw. On a failed save, have them roll a D six and
use the table up on screen.And I mean, geez, not that
(06:09):
any of these things is necessarily good, but I guess I'll take apathy because
it's what I'm used to. Isuppose if a character fails a save but
already has one from a previous failedsave, they replace the old negative emotions
with the new emotion. Whenever theyfinish a long rest, they can make
a DC fifteen wisdom saving throw.It's a higher save once the despair sets
in, and on a success theyend the effects. They can also get
(06:31):
rid of despair with calm emotion spellsor any magic that can remove curses.
Unlike many of the other evil planes, the Shadowfell is actually fairly survivable at
early tears. Not that you couldn'tpull a few shadow Dragons out to challenge
a high level party, but theinherent despair effect is passable by low hit
point characters, and there's nothing intrinsicallylethal about it, unlike say, Hell,
(06:54):
or the elemental chaos of the Planeof Fire, or even the under
Dark with its dark elves. Ifyour party does have trouble, try giving
them something that deals radiant damage,since half the things they'll fight here will
be weak to it. When adventuringat tier one this early, a stay
in the Shadowfell should be brief andfrightening, which is most of my experiences
with it personally. Is usually withcharacters between one and five levels, they
(07:17):
should be huddled in dark corners ashordes of undead and terrifying shadow creatures narrowly
miss their discovery and subsequent devouring.The dark creatures are an excellent resource for
creatures to fight, as are typicallow level under dark creatures like dark mantles
or shadow mastiffs. For a quickand easy dark creature template, just apply
this info to an existing creature fromthe Monster Manual and Pumpets Challenge. Rating
(07:40):
up by one. Tier two iswhat honestly feels ideal for Shadowfell campaigns in
a lot of ways. Not solow that you can't play around with all
the fun evil creatures, but notso high that they aren't scared of anything.
Still a bit low to be takingon these serious contenders of the plane,
though, This is a good spotto fight a bunch of ghosts in
the Shadowfell ruins, or maybe doa few quests for a suspiciously helpful shade,
(08:03):
or even just a few random encountersas a prelude to entering a domain
of dread. To make these shadowFell encounters interesting at tier three, i'd
recommend tying the adventures into a powerstruggle at one of the shadow cities like
Chausen or ever Night, or perhapspit them against a particularly nasty dark wizard,
death Knight or a shadow Dragon.I've had particularly good luck narratively speaking
(08:24):
with death Nights. At this tier, the adventurers shouldn't be too worried about
your average undead and you'll have tostart raising the stakes beyond just spooky things.
At tier four, the Shadowfell monstersare actually a bit mild compared to
what the players will be able totake on unless they're clashing with the Raven
Queen herself. Ironically, at tierfour, I find the shadow Fell functions
(08:45):
best as a normal staging ground andsafe place to set against the real adventure
taking place in an extremely nasty domainof dread linked by stable shadow crossing to
the Shadowfell. That doesn't sound liketoo bad of an idea to start a
campaign with. Actually I might dothat. The Shadowfell offers an array of
captivating opportunities for dungeon masters and players. I have personally been a part of
(09:09):
a few sessions as a player thatinvolved the Shadowfell, which is a shocking
coincidence, if for no other reasonthan idm ninety nine percent of the time.
And one of the best parts aboutexperiencing the Shadowfell in this way is
that it has sort of become somethingI'm grimly aware of across multiple characters,
which can add to their world weariness. To say the least. Thank you
(09:31):
guys so much for watching. Ireally appreciate it. Be sure to like
and subscribe because we put out newcontent like this all the time. Go
see what we're up to over onskullsplitterdice dot com. And if you plan
on taking an adventure to the Shadowfell, or if that's something that has come
up in a very memorable adventure orcampaign of yours, I would love to
hear all about it down in thecomments. My name's Patrick Ferguson from skull
splitter Dice. Thanks again for watching, and until next time, farewell.
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