The Shadow Beside You
A Pact Magic grimoire teaches its bearer to treat their living shadow as a second pair of hands, eyes, and instincts rather than something trailing behind.
Spellbook · Warlock, Living Shadow · Level 5
The Shadow Beside You
A Pact Magic grimoire teaches its bearer to treat their living shadow as a second pair of hands, eyes, and instincts rather than something trailing behind.
Ex librisMara VeyPact Magic Warlock
At a glance
Level
5
Warlock, Living Shadow
Spells
12
3 cantrips, 10 signature
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
12 spellsCantrips
3- You launch beams of crackling eldritch energy. Make a separate ranged spell attack for each beam that hits a creature or object.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One or more creatures or objects within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack
- Damage
- force on a hit
- Higher levels
- The spell creates two beams at character level 5. Each beam can target the same creature or different creatures.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- You create a spectral hand that can manipulate objects, open unlocked doors or containers, stow or retrieve items, and pour out contents. It cannot attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- An unoccupied space within range
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from higher-level spell slots.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- You create a sound or an image of an object within range. The illusion lasts for the duration and can be dismissed early. Physical interaction reveals it as an illusion.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- S
- Save or attack
- Investigation check to discern the illusion
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from higher-level spell slots.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
1st level
3- Protective spectral frost surrounds you, granting temporary hit points. A creature that hits you with a melee attack while those temporary hit points remain takes cold damage.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S, M (a drop of water)
- Damage
- Cold damage to creatures that hit you with a melee attack
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 3rd-level Pact Magic slot, you gain 15 temporary hit points and deal 15 cold damage to a creature that hits you with a melee attack while those temporary hit points remain.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- You curse one creature you can see. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra necrotic damage to it once per turn when you hit it with an attack, and the target has disadvantage on ability checks using one ability you choose. If the target drops to 0 Hit Points, you can move the curse to another creature with a Bonus Action.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S, M (the petrified eye of a newt)
- Damage
- necrotic damage once per turn when you hit the cursed target with an attack
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 3rd-level slot, the duration becomes 8 hours. When cast with a 4th-level slot, it becomes 24 hours.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- You create an invisible, mindless, shapeless force that performs simple tasks such as fetching objects, cleaning, opening doors, and serving food. It cannot attack or perform tasks requiring a skill or a Strength score above 2.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Target
- An unoccupied space within range
- Components
- V, S, M (a bit of string and a bit of wood)
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from higher-level spell slots.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
2nd level
4- Magical darkness spreads from a point within range and fills a 15-foot-radius Sphere. The darkness spreads around corners and blocks ordinary vision.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 10 minutes
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- V, M (bat fur and a piece of coal)
- Higher levels
- When cast with a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the spell's duration becomes 1 hour. Magical light from spells of the same level or lower cannot illuminate this darkness.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- A creature you touch gains the Invisible condition. The spell ends for a target immediately after that target makes an attack roll, deals damage, or casts a spell.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Target
- One willing creature you touch
- Components
- V, S, M (an eyelash encased in gum arabic)
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 3rd-level slot, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- Three illusory duplicates appear in your space and mimic your actions. When an attack hits you, roll a d6 for each remaining duplicate. On a 3 or higher, a duplicate is hit instead and destroyed.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from higher-level spell slots.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- You teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see, appearing in a swirl of silvery mist.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from higher-level spell slots.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
3rd level
2- You open a 20-foot-radius Sphere of darkness and bitter cold. No light illuminates the area, and the area is difficult terrain. Creatures inside are blinded. A creature that ends its turn there takes cold damage, and a creature that ends its turn there must make a Dexterity saving throw or take acid damage.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- A point within range, creating a 20-foot-radius Sphere
- Components
- V, S, M (a pickled octopus tentacle)
- Save or attack
- Dexterity saving throw when a creature ends its turn in the area
- Damage
- Cold damage at the start of a creature's turn while it remains in the area
- Higher levels
- When cast with a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the cold damage increases by for each slot level above 3rd.
- Conditions
- Blinded, Restrained
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- You attempt to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell. If the spell is 3rd level or lower, it fails automatically. If it is 4th level or higher, the caster makes a Constitution saving throw, and the spell fails on a failed save.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within range that is casting a spell
- Components
- S
- Save or attack
- The spellcaster makes a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the spell dissipates with no effect.
- Higher levels
- When cast with a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the interrupted spell automatically fails if its level is less than or equal to the slot level.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
In the margins
4 notes
Two figures, never one. The left foot belongs to the caster. The right foot belongs to the shadow.diagram
Do not cast Darkness while angry. The shadow remembers who you meant to protect.warning- Today it opened the door before I touched the latch. I thanked it. It pretended not to hear.diary
- A shadow is not absence. It is distance given shape.formula
The book itself
The book is always slightly darker on the side nearest its owner.
Every illustration shows the caster accompanied by a second silhouette.
The best spells here are not about hiding in darkness, but making darkness act as an ally.
The caster
Pact Magic WarlockMara Vey
Studies: Shadow scouting, defensive illusion, teleportation, and battlefield controlManner: Quiet, observant, and unfailingly polite. Mara addresses her shadow before answering difficult questions and leaves one chair empty at every table.Focus: A flat shard of black glass worn as a second signet ring, used to cast a silhouette onto nearby surfaces.Quirk: She turns toward empty corners when speaking, as if listening to a companion standing just out of sight.Wants: Mara seeks the original name of her shadow, believing that learning it will reveal whether the creature is her servant, her partner, or the fragment of someone she failed to save.Mara Vey was once a night courier who crossed sealed estates by following the shadows cast beneath their doors. Her patron found her after she survived a night trapped between two overlapping shadows and offered her a pact that made the darkness beside her sentient.
The book
A narrow black-lacquered codex bound in overlapping sheets of smoked leather, with silver thread stitched in a pattern that resembles two shadows walking side by side. Its pages are gray at the edges and warm to the touch, though the ink occasionally shifts when viewed from the corner of the eye.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatShadow-laced codex
ThemeYour shadow is not behind you. It is beside you.
Written by aWarlock, Living Shadow
Caster level5
SystemD&D 5E (2024)
Plot hooks
1The spellbook's former owner vanished, but their shadow remains trapped between its pages and is trying to lead the party toward the place where the owner was betrayed.
2A rival warlock steals the codex and discovers that the living shadow refuses to obey anyone else, sabotaging the thief while silently guiding the heroes to recover it.
3The shadow has begun appearing beside strangers instead of its rightful companion, suggesting that something in the Shadowfell is copying the spellbook's pact.
Media
0 imagesNo images yet.
Visual sheet
Turn The Shadow Beside You into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.