Whisper
Varin magically snuffed out the single torch held by the cultists, before stepping through the darkness and appearing in their midst, a blur of shadow and blades…
Varin, Rogue Whisper
You’ve dedicated your life to the arts of deception, illusion, and disappearing. Somewhere along that path, you encountered something from the Shadow Realm that showed you how to be one with the shadows—or perhaps you learned your best tricks from the shadows themselves. All whispers have been touched by a shadow, performed a ritual to bind a shadow to themselves, or drawn in energy from the Shadow Realm to enhance their stealthiness and to become supreme thieves, assassins, or spies.
Building a Rogue Whisper
The unique relationship that Whispers have with darkness imbue them with an impressive array of powers, allowing them to become one with the shadows themselves.
Dark Trickery grants you darkvision and two cantrips, minor illusion and douse light.
Fade Away allows you to use the hide action when in darkness, even if being observed.
Shadow Road empowers you to step from one shadow to another within 60 feet.
Become Shadow is the ultimate reflection of your relationship with the shadows, allowing you to become invisible while in darkness.
Misdirection offers you a defensive capability similar to those used by displacer beasts, making attacks against you have disadvantage.
With these abilities, the Whisper can access places that few others can, completely undetected. Dark Trickery grants them just enough magical prowess to get them out of a tight spot, and when that isn’t enough, they can rely on Fade Away, Shadow Road, or Become Shadow to make their escape. Misdirection allows the Whisper to move among the battlefield with ease, making them a much more difficult target for enemies to attack. One important caveat is that all of these powers are incredibly reliant on the presence of darkness, or at least dim light, so be sure to plan accordingly if you and your party are expecting to be in broad daylight for any potential combat encounters. With all of these powers, Whispers can make fantastic scouts, stealthing ahead to bring back valuable information to the party, perhaps avoiding combat altogether in some situations.
As with all classes, any race is suitable for playing a Whisper, but there are certain races that mesh particularly well with their capabilities. The Urban Halfling ability, Lost in the Crowd, allows you to blend into a crowd, whether in darkness or daylight, which can mitigate some of your vulnerability when you need to make a quick getaway in the daytime. Similarly, the Desert Mirage ability of the Dune Elves allows you to hide in broad daylight when in a desert or similarly sandy environment, and their Dune Elf Weapon Training grants you a proficiency with the longbow, which you can put to deadly use when used in combination with your other stealthy abilities.
Roleplaying Tips
There are many ways to approach playing a Whisper. You can always go with the trope of the tortured lone wolf, relying mostly on your own skills to get things done. However, that may not get you far with the average adventuring party. On the other hand, you could play a Whisper who enjoys the company of others, finding that their companionship helps hold the darkness at bay. You could also play a Whisper who attempts to overcompensate for the gloom that seems to hang around them, constantly dropping cringeworthy one-liners mid-combat, or playing harmless pranks on the party at every opportunity. As with many of the other subclasses featured this month, darkling makes an excellent choice for your background, as it ties in quite literally with your relationship with the darkness. Fey hostage or fey-touched are also great options, as you could always have gained your powers in the fey, at a place where the veil between the Shadow Realm was thinnest. Whatever your background, consider asking yourself what brought you to seek out the aid of an adventuring party, and why you’ve decided to use your powers to assist others in their own journey.,
How to Access this Content
The Whisper was created by our partners at Kobold Press, and it is one of the many subclasses available to subscribers, along with others like the Soulspy or the College of Entropy, as well as races such as the Shade or Spindrift Dwarf. Build your own Necrophagy wizard and tell us about it in the comments below or on any of our social channels. Join us on on Discord, Reddit or Facebook to meet other members of the community and take your game to the next level, or follow us on Twitter @shardtabletop for regular updates.
