Armor Class 15 (studded leather)
Hit Points 91 (14d8+28)
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Saving Throws Dex +7, Wis +5
Skills Perception +5, Stealth +10, Deception +4
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Undercommon, Elvish
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Fey Ancestry. The Shade-Hunter has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put it to sleep.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the Shade-Hunter has disadvantage on attack rolls and on Perception checks that rely on sight.
Pack Hunter. The Shade-Hunter has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the hunter's allies is adjacent to the target and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Innate Spellcasting. The Shade-Hunter's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: dancing lights. 1/day each: darkness, faerie fire.
Actions
Multiattack. The Shade-Hunter makes two attacks: one with its hand crossbow and one with its shortsword, or two with its shortsword.
Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage plus 10 (3d6) poison damage.
Hand Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage plus 10 (3d6) poison damage.
Bonus Actions
Shadow Step. While in dim light or darkness, the Shade-Hunter teleports up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see that is also in dim light or darkness. It then has advantage on the first melee attack it makes before the end of its turn.
Lore
The Ashveth Houses maintain specialized hunters tasked with two purposes: acquiring resources in the lightless upper Underdark and ensuring that what the Houses consider their territory remains their territory. Shade-Hunters are the practitioners of the second purpose.
They are trained from early adolescence in the specific techniques of underground pursuit -- how to move through cave systems without echo, how to track a creature by displaced air, how to use the Underdark's perpetual darkness as cover for approaches that seem impossible until they work. A Shade-Hunter who has found a target rarely loses it. The target usually stops moving before they have confirmed the Hunter is there.
Shade-Hunters operate alone or in pairs. They do not use light sources. They consider the use of light in their territory a significant tactical error by whoever is using it.
Habitat
Upper Underdark, cave systems beneath the Drakespire foothills