Mythical Creatures Of Light And Darkness

[Monica Okane]

Creaturesof the NightThose who Dwells in the DarknessProfileAliases and EpithetsLilith, Nightspawns, Night Creatures, Children of the Night, Spirits of the Night, Creatures of Darkness, Creatures of Terror, Terrors of Darkness, Night Fiends, Night Horde, Nightmarish CreaturesNotable RacesLiving Dead, Dark Spirits, BeastsPersonifyDarkness, Terror, the Night, the UnknownAffiliationsDeath (Unknown Connection), the NightRelationshipsProgenitorsDepends on the creatureLeadersAbsalom, Death, Count Dracula, CarmillaAlliesDemons, ReapersEnemiesFae, Angels, the Hunter Organization, Supernatural HuntersOtherResidencesHuman Realm, Earth, Nightland

A Creature of the Night, also known as a Child of the Night, is a type of dark mythical creature in folklore around the world hidden in the night, related to the metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural.

There are many definitions of what a creature of the night is. The main idea is that a creature of the night is a supernatural, mostly malevolent, creature that comes from the darkness of the moon or the world. Most are creatures born through unnatural means, some examples being cursed in the form of a monster or being turned into an undead creature. They are known as the opposites and enemies of the Fae and Angels, which also makes them the reluctant allies of the Demons. They are led by Absalom, the vampire god and arch-enemy to the high fae king Oberon.

They usually reside in the Nightland, a realm for them created by Death for those who seeks isolation from humanity either in distaste for them or in fear that they would be hunted down. However, unlike the Fae enemies, many of the Creatures of the Night refuse to go the realm and so instead stay in the Human Realm as before.

Light Creatures are normally healers, nurturers, etc. However they are still dangerous, and even though labeled "light", they are sometimes not strictly "good." They often help mortals, like how the fairies take care of the garden, or how the brownies mend and repair. Most Light Creatures serve or respect the Fairy Queen, and quarrel with darker creatures like the demons. Otherwise, even though affiliated with light, they can still severely harm people. (Such as naiads, who drown people for amusement. Or the Fairy Queen, who strikes down trespassers.)

The most peaceful of the light creatures often leave mortals alone, unless provoked. They can still harm and exact punishments as harsh as their counterparts'. But since they are generally gentle in behavior, they aren't as restricted as the demons or undead.

Light Creatures are commonly helpers. They can heal injuries, cure maladies, and soothe pain. Light Creatures can also influence their surroundings, such as the fairies, who make the gardens flourish. Some represent nature itself, the dryads and naiads as examples. Some are talented in building and crafting. However, they can also inflict curses and damage on their enemies.

Fairystruck (or rarely, Fairykind) are mortal individuals who have been assigned trust by the Fairy Queen. Fairystruck and Fairykind are considered servants of good, and are well respected by the light creatures. In addition to their status, they have powers such as night vision, resistance to mind control, etc. They can freely interact with creatures of light, and by some extent, control them.

Dowden discusses night battles ( nyktomachia), at Troy, in the Mahābhātara, and other sources, revealing interesting issues of light and identity; unreliable light of the moon; darkness and subterfuge; and light/dark equating to virtue/excess in heroism. Through no fault of the essay, sudden shifts from light/dark as qualities to physical conditions are somewhat jarring. Addressing the distinction would be a chapter in itself, yet its lack of discussion across the volume remains a deficiency (one that it should itself inspire moves to remedy).

In short, this is a productive and welcome contribution to an underexplored field, particularly in bringing the work of Greek scholars to an English-speaking audience. It is something of a shame that translations of Greek words and passages are not always provided, since the discussions are otherwise accessible to students and non-specialists. The index is useful, while extensive endnoting renders references unobtrusive to the casual reader, but valuable to the researcher. Overall, it is a physically and intellectually solid volume, well worth its price, and of more general interest than the title perhaps suggests.

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Now this is useful because at level 6 the Shadow Monk gains the ability to teleport from any spot in darkness (or heavily obscured) to any other space in darkness, but I'm trying to see how this could actually be useful beyond setting up a teleport (since I would be blinded in the darkness).

Preferably I'd like a way to attack without being blinded by the darkness to make use of all the good monk features and even possibly cast it on my weapon to be a roving cloud of Darkness and punches.

Well, if you don't mind making a pact with some powerful entity, you could get 2 levels of warlock. This will give you access to a few spells, some of which perhaps being interesting (both stats and flavor-wise) for your character. But most of all, this will give you access to 2 invocations.

One of these invocations should be Devil's Sight, which grants you the ability to see through any form of darkness, magical or otherwise, for up to 120 feet. This is more than enough to cover the 15 foot radius of the darkness spell. Cast it on your clothes, and bring terror to your enemies.

These limitations also affect your enemies, however. Any attack from the outside of the sphere should have disadvantage as your enemies, even though they know your position, can't exactly see you to aim properly (blind condition). Enemies inside the darkness should also suffer from disadvantage when attacking you, unless they possess some form of blindsight or a similar ability. When you attack them, you should have advantage on the roll since you are functionally invisible for them (unseen attacker).

The biggest cost of this strategy is the fact that it requires multi-classing. While the lvl 19 and 20 abilities for monk would not really be missed (realistically, few campaigns will reach these levels), it will still set you back 2 levels in obtaining you other core monk powers. Note that doing this would get you 2 invocations, however, and that some of them can be quite interesting for a ninja-esque character:

The Darkness spell creates a 30 foot diameter sphere of darkness anywhere within 60 feet that is line of sight of the caster. While not a physical barrier it is a barrier to vision. It provides some of the effects of total cover by blocking line of sight. Anything in the rule that relies on Line of Setting like ranged attacks, etc will be effective.

Now 30 feet means that a person within or on the far edge of the darkness is likely to be able to run through it especially with a dash action in combination with the movement. So it will only confer a advantage for a short amount of time in a moving engagement.

But not all fights are moving engagement many fights revolve around fixed points that need to be control. In which case darkness plays a similar role to smokescreens in modern warfare. A strategically located sphere of darkness that is dropped at the right moment can provide the cover need to for the party to move on a position.

Another use of darkness for a shadow monk is as a destination point. If there a nearby location in shadows the monk can use the darkness to establish a point up to 75 feet away (60 feet plus the 15 foot radius) where he can teleport into with line of sight block. The following round drop concentration and proceed on with the rest of the plan.

Also it is not required to have a grid to be able to use darkness as a form of cover. All you need to know is whether the combat is a moving engagement or involve defending a fixed location. If it is a moving engagement then darkness will provide at best one or two rounds of cover until the combat moves away from the area in which the darkness was cast. If combat involves defending a fixed point by either side. It can be used as cover for the duration of spell shielding the defended location on one or more sides. The only position the PCs and referee has to do is decide which side are the attacks coming from.

The Blind Fighting fighting style introduced in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything gives your character 10 ft. of Blindsight, allowing them to ignore the penalties they would normally incur by fighting within their Darkness spell. There are several ways of obtaining this fighting style:

I would say that for most purposes Blind Fighting is weaker than the Devil's Sight invocation, mainly due to its very short range, but getting it as a feat could avoid delaying your Monk progression, or a single level of Fighter would delay the progression less than two levels of Warlock. Ranger or Paladin wouldn't delay Monk progression any less than Warlock, but could fit into your character's concept or the setting better, or their other features might be preferred.

Studying occult lore, you have unlocked eldritch power within yourself: you learn one Eldritch Invocation option of your choice from the warlock class. If the invocation has a prerequisite of any kind, you can choose that invocation only if you're a warlock who meets the prerequisite.

However, the feat itself requires you to have either Spellcasting or Pact Magic. The Shadow Monk, unfortunately, has none. So you can make a 1-level dip into Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard.

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