WIGHT – 5e stats

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 14 (Studded Leather)
Hit Points 45 (6d8 + 18)
Speed 30 ft.

Proficiency Bonus +2
Proficiency Bonus +3 (5th Edition Advanced Mode)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
15 (+2)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	13 (+1)	15 (+2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered
Damage Immunities Poison
Condition Immunities Exhaustion, Poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 13
Languages The languages it knew in life
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

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

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The wight makes two longsword attacks or two longbow attacks. It can use its Life Drain in place of one longsword attack.
• Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. A humanoid slain by this attack rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the wight’s control, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed. The wight can have no more than twelve zombies under its control at one time.
• Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage, or 7 (1d10 + 2) slashing damage if used with two hands.
• Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.

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DESCRIPTION

A wight is a twisted and hateful undead creature that was once a living humanoid. It retains some of the memories and skills of its former life, but its personality is warped by a thirst for vengeance and destruction. A wight’s appearance reflects its decayed and desiccated state, with leathery skin, sunken eyes, and jagged teeth. It usually wears the armor and weapons it had in life, though they are often rusted and damaged. A wight’s eyes glow with a malevolent light that can instill fear in the hearts of the living.

In ages long past, the word “wight” meant simply “man”. As the centuries have passed, though, it has come to be associated only with those undead that typically inhabit barrow mounds and catacombs. From a distance, wights can easily be mistaken for any number of humanoid races. Upon closer examination, however, their true nature becomes apparent. As undead creatures, wights are nightmarish reflections of their former selves, with cruel, burning eyes set in mummified flesh over a twisted skeleton with hands that end in sharp claws.

COMBAT

A wight is a cunning and ruthless opponent that prefers to attack from ambush or at night, when its sunlight sensitivity does not hinder it. It can use a variety of weapons, such as longswords or longbows, but its most feared ability is its life drain. With a touch, a wight can drain the life force of a living creature, reducing its vitality and potentially turning it into a zombie under the wight’s control. A wight can command up to twelve zombies at a time, using them as minions or fodder. A wight is resistant to necrotic damage and some forms of physical damage, and immune to poison and exhaustion. It can see in the dark and has keen senses of perception and stealth.

Although wights are often found in small groups, they are actually solitary creatures. Without exception, encounters with multiple wights will be a single leader and a number of lesser creatures which it has created to serve it. In these cases, the leader of the group will be more than willing to sacrifice some or all of its minions to assure its own survival or victory. Like all undead, wights exist on both the Prime Material and Negative Material planes simultaneously. It is this powerful link to the negative world that gives them their fearsome level-draining ability. Further, it is this draining which provides them with sustenance.

HABITAT / SOCIETY

A wight can be found in any place where death and evil linger, such as ancient tombs, haunted ruins, or battlefields. It often seeks out places that have some connection to its former life, such as its home, grave, or site of death. A wight is driven by a hatred of the living and a desire to make others suffer as it did. It may have specific enemies or targets that it blames for its fate, or it may lash out at anyone who crosses its path. A wight rarely associates with other creatures, except for the zombies it creates or commands. However, some wights may form alliances or serve more powerful undead, such as vampires or liches.

A wight despises light and places which are vibrant with living things. As a rule, the wight is hateful and evil, seeking to satisfy its hatred of life by killing all those it encounters.

ECOLOGY

A wight is an unnatural abomination that disrupts the cycle of life and death. It does not need to eat, drink, or breathe, but it craves the life energy of living beings. It kills not for sustenance, but for spite and malice. A wight can create more of its kind by draining the life of humanoids and raising them as zombies. A wight’s presence can also have a corrupting effect on its surroundings, causing plants to wither, animals to flee, and shadows to deepen.

As they are not living creatures and have no rightful place in our world, many animals can sense the wight’s presence. Dogs will growl or howl with alarm, horses will refuse to enter an area which wights inhabit,birds and insects will grow silent when the creature passes near them. In addition, their presence will gradually cause the plant life around their lairs to wither and die, marking the region as unclean.