Shade (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, shades are humanoids who have merged with the essence of the Plane of Shadow. In the third edition, a shade is created by applying a template to a humanoid creature.

Shades grow more powerful in areas of darkness or shadows, including the ability to leap from shadow to shadow, to create shadowy duplicates of themselves, and even become entirely invisible. They can also decrease the amount of light in an area, and can see through darkness, even of the magical variety.

Shades in the Forgotten Realms
In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, many Shadovar (citizens of the City of Shade) are shades. They are a group of Netherese wizards who fled Faerûn for the Plane of Shadow before Karsus's Folly. Shade was one of five cities to survive the cataclysm.

The famous assassin Artemis Entreri absorbed the life force of a Shadovar shade using his vampiric dagger. Due to this absorption, Entreri's skin has taken on a grayish hue and his aging has slowed if not stopped altogether.

Erevis Cale, the butler of the Uskrevan family was transformed into a shade in the Erevis Cale Trilogy.

Shades in other media

 * Shades appear in the computer role-playing game Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide.
 * Shades are also a profession in the MMORPG Anarchy Online that was released along with the Keeper profession with the Shadowlands expansion pack.
 * Shades are also a playable character race in the MMORPG Shadowbane.