New Monster: Oni Nightblade
“Your will be done, my lord. The entire Shadow Clan is at your disposal, so long as you keep steady payment in magic, coin, and blood.”
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Oni Nightblade
Art Credit: https://sekigan.tumblr.com/post/135742702418/jaron-zheng-jaron-drawcrowd
There are more forbidden arts than just dark magic awaiting in The Impermissicon, such as new variations on the classic ninja. Imagine: just when your players think they’ve got the campaign villain cornered with no allies to defend him, from out of the villain’s own shadow emerges a massive ninja retainer to act as a loyal bodyguard. Or perhaps the scoundrel first appears as a humanoid, and the players first initially they are dealing with a normal assassin — or perhaps even just a regular commoner — before the hulking giant reveals its true form as an oni and begins weaving dark magic! A combination of classic themes, the oni nightblade merges the oni monster with a ninja archetype made from rogue and monk abilities, and the addition of a handful of special traits and abilities give this ninja a unique flair and help to set it apart from the other ninja-like monsters.
The oni nightblade has a handful of notable abilities beyond those of a normal oni. Harnessing their innate magical abilities for ninjutsu allows the oni to use classic ninja techniques as spells, such as mislead (replacement technique) or mirror image (shadow clone technique), that most oni lack the ability to cast. They have rogue traits and abilities, such as Sneak Attack and Expertise, along with monk traits and abilities, such as the monk’s martial arts dice and speed increase — plus Evasion, a trait common to both classes. Unlike a player character’s monk/rogue multiclass, the nightblade even has the ability to sneak attack using its unarmed strikes, stabbing at pressure points with their hidden claws. Oni nightblades also have the ability to step through their shadow and out of another creature’s shadow, much like the Oath of Shadows paladin, which they use to help defend their patrons as bodyguards and to aid in kidnapping and abduction attempts.
This monster can make a potent and dynamic solo boss encounter for groups at levels 7 to 9, or combined with another villain or sets of villains in a single encounter for much higher level parties. As a solo encounter, the oni nightblade can make creative use of its many spells and abilities to move in and out of combat, hiding when it needs to regenerate and ambushing the PCs one by one as it moves through darkness, fading in and out of visibility. They can be used as the villain themselves, or they can be the big bad’s right hand. They also pair very well with powerful villains such as devils (who can see through the oni’s darkness using their Devil Sight), chromatic dragons (whose blindsight cuts through magical darkness), drow, liches, and other evil entities. The most dangerous and powerful of these patrons may hire many nightblades at once, perhaps even contracting the entire Shadow Clan for brief periods of time. While the cost in coin and magic is extreme, the benefits in intelligence, espionage, and personal security granted by so many nightblades are nearly unparalleled.
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Oni Nightblade
