Planar Bestiary
As an undead being, a portal wight doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Usually, two portal wights are created for each planar accident, separated by the planes. The two are separate creatures despite their similarities; harming one does not affect the other.
A portal wight is the undead remnant of a creature killed by passing through a portal just as it closes; half their body is cut off and replaced with a flickering aura of magic. They wander in search of their other half, hoping to reunite and expire in a dramatic burst of planar energy.
Portal wights can intuitively alter their energy aura to create various effects. Some of this is passive and instinctive, and some requires concentration like spellcasting. They have a knack for being able to sense and temporarily open existing portals, allowing them to go almost anywhere, and giving lost explorers reasons to follow portal wights instead of slaying them outright.
Motive: Find their lost half
Environment: Anywhere in the multiverse, alone or as part of a group all killed by the same portal mishap, sometimes with an entourage of three to five zombies
Health: 12
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 1
Movement: Short
Modifications: Perceives and manipulates portals and similar magic as level 8
Combat: The portal wight's remaining physical limb is charged with warped magical energy such that it inflicts a minor wound (3 points) plus 2 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) when they make a successful melee attack.
The portal wight's warped influence affects creatures who fail a Might defense task after moving within short range or beginning their turn within short range. Affected victims can't move from their spot, and all their physical tasks are hindered for one round. A creature that succeeds on their defense task is immune to this effect for one day.
A portal wight uses spells with options for briefly blinding a couple of targets within short range, inflicting magical damage to a target within long range, allowing the wight to fall safely from any height, and teleporting anywhere they can see within long range.
If a portal or access to another dimension is within short range, the portal wight's tasks (including attacks and defenses) are eased and they regain 1 point of health each round.
A portal wight is immune to necrotic and poison attacks.
Interaction: Portal wights know the languages they knew in life, but both that knowledge and all their other memories are fractured and broken by the event that turned them undead. They remember only parts of their former lives—their minds and souls are split between two planes. This confusing half-existence is filled with pain, hate, and longing. Communication attempts rarely last more than a few rounds before they lash out.
Use: The portal the characters require to move on to the next phase of their adventure is haunted by one or more portal wights.
Loot: A portal wight may still have a possession or two from before they lost half their body and equipment, possibly including a cypher such as a wand of phase disruptor.
GM Intrusion: The portal wight strikes a character with their immaterial fist, inflicting 5 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) from warped magical energy.