Shadowdancer
For some, dawn and dusk are mystical times, when day and night dance around each other in passing. These people find beauty, joy, and power in shadows; they delight in the tricks that shadows play and in the mysteries of the gloaming. But some go further, embracing action within shadows, abilities under the full moon, combat by candlelight, dancing at twilight.
Shadowdancers exist in the boundary between light and darkness, where they weave together the shadows to become half-seen artists of deception. They encompass a wide variety of adventuring types who draw strength from gloom. Spellcasters use their abilities to safely cast spells from hiding and then move quickly away, while classes devoted to hand-to-hand combat enjoy the ability to attack foes with the element of surprise. Most take the name of their kind quite literally, becoming eerie and mysterious dancers, finding ways to wield power through performance.
Role: Shadowdancers adventure for a wide variety of reasons. Many adventuring parties find shadowdancers valuable members of their teams due to their incredible stealth and ability to surprise enemies with lightning-quick attacks where they're least expected. For this reason, their services are often sought out by those groups in need of sneakiness, flexibility, and unexpected magic.
Requirements: The Universal System tends to offer the Shadowdancer prestige class to characters who have had remarkable experiences ...
- You cannot take this prestige class if you have any kind of companion. Your shadow is your only true companion.
- You have trained as a dancer, and you practice under the sky every sunrise and sunset.
- You have specialized in stealth, jumping, and tumbling, and you have entrusted your safety to the concealment of shadows.
- You use illusion magic or spells that affect vision more than other kinds of magic.
- You honor gods whose spheres touch on grace, quickness, performance, light, darkness, or some other aspect of the shadowdancer's art.
- Your life has depended on your use of shadow, and you have triumphed over enemies through the fluidity of your movement.
- You have encountered eldritch and dim forces and creatures between planes, or maybe the essence of shadow runs through your ancestry.
Base Attack Bonus: +0.75 / level.
Caster Level: Similar to +0.75 / level, see below.
Will Save: +0.25 / level.
Fort Save: +0.25 / level.
Reflex Save: +1.00 / level.
Hit Die: d8.
Table: Shadowdancer Advancement Level Base Attack Bonus Caster Level Will Save Fort Save Refx Save Special 1st +0.75 +1.0 +0.25 +0.25 +1.00 Prestige Signature: Shadow Companion 2nd +1.50 +2.0 +0.50 +0.50 +2.00 Hide In Plain Sight or Jedi Mind Trick 3rd +2.25 +3.0 +0.75 +0.75 +3.00 Dance With Shadows or Shadow Trip 4th +3.00 +3.0 +1.00 +1.00 +4.00 Shadow Vision or Versatile Dance 5th +3.75 +4.0 +1.25 +1.25 +5.00 Prestige Tier Choice 6th +4.50 +5.0 +1.50 +1.50 +6.00 Master Signature: Aura of Dusk and Dawn 7th +5.25 +5.0 +1.75 +1.75 +7.00 Throwing Shade or Shadow of a Doubt 8th +6.00 +6.0 +2.00 +2.00 +8.00 Gloom and Doom or Parasol 9th +6.75 +7.0 +2.25 +2.25 +9.00 Shadow Jump or Shadow Scry 10th +7.50 +7.5 +2.50 +2.50 +10.00 Master Tier Choice
Skill Proficiencies
The shadowdancer's proficient skills (and the ability scores used to boost each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Chr), Jump (Str), Perform (Act, Dance) (Cha), Search (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
You are proficient with simple and martial weapons from the Close and Light Blades weapon groups (see the rules for weapon groups in Weapons and Armor). You are proficient with light armor and bucklers.
Spells and Spell Casting
Prestige classes do not add the usual fractional increase to caster level each time you advance. Instead, at some levels you add a full caster level, and at other levels you add none. The spell level of shadowdancer spells varies from shadowdancer to shadowdancer -- see these rules on prestige class spell aquisition. When you cast spells gained through this prestige class, those spells are arcane in nature, and they follow the rules for arcane spells, including the chance of spell failure based on wearing armor. The casting ability score for this prestige class is intelligence, which is used to set shadowdancer spell DCs, and, if it is your highest casting ability score, to set concentration checks and bonus spells per day.
KNOWN SPELLS LIST: When you add a caster level, the spells you add to your known spells list are pre-selected:
- At level 1, add Shadow Conjuration and Disguise Self.
- At level 2, add Shadow Evocation and Silent Image.
- At level 4, add Shadow Walk and Twilight Knife.
- At level 5, add Shadow Conjuration Major and Phantasmal Killer.
- At level 6, add Project Image and Veil.
- At level 8, add Simulacrum and Phantasmal Web.
- At level 9, add Shadow Evocation Major and Nightmare.
- At level 10, add 0.5 to your caster level, and if that results in a whole number caster level increase, choose two spells known from your other class(es).
Class Abilities
PRESTIGE TIER
Level 1 Shadowdancer Prestige Tier Signature Ability: Shadow Companion Your own shadow detaches from you and becomes a shadow companion at no cost. Your companion is a strange and incorporeal creature with the outsider subtype. You cannot have a shadow companion if you already have a companion of any other sort. Your choices for your shadow companion's form, as well as special abilities gained at certain levels, are detailed below.
Level 2 Shadowdancer Prestige Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Hide In Plain Sight (Su): You may use your stealth skill under both normal and low-light conditions, even if you do not otherwise have concealment or cover. In low-light conditions, you can use stealth even against those with darkvision and blindsense. If you have been observed, you still have to break line of sight or create a diversion to hide before you can use stealth against the observer.
- Jedi Mind Trick (Su): When you are not in combat, you can push shadows of thoughts into another's mind, making short, simple suggestions to those who understand your language, weaving these more or less seamlessly into your conversation. The Will saving throw DC is 9 plus your shadowdancer level plus your even (column B) Wisdom modifier. If the target saves by 5 or more, they realize that you are trying to trick them. You can use this enchantment and mind-affecting ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your even (Column B) Wisdom modifier.
Level 3 Shadowdancer Prestige Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- Dance With Shadows (Su): You control your movements precisely, and you use shadows to fool watchers who seek to touch you. Your touch AC is equal to 10 plus your Perform (Dance) modifier, if that is higher than your normal touch AC.
- Shadow Trip (Sp): As a standard action, you can make a creature trip over its own shadow. Pick a target in low or normal light within 30 feet. You can make a trip attack against that creature using your Wisdom modifier instead of your usual Strength modifier and double your shadowdancer level instead of your BAB. Use the target's size modifier, since you are using its own shadow to trip it. The first time you use this power on a target, it is flat-footed against the trip, since it is unexpected. You do not provoke an attack of opportunity using this ability. It is not an attack by you, and you do not break stealth or invisibility when using it. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your even (Column B) Wisdom modifier.
Level 4 Shadowdancer Prestige Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Shadow Vision (Su): You now see as well in low-light conditions as you do in normal light. You suffer no miss chance against those who have concealment due to light conditions (you still have a 50% miss chance against those you cannot see at all, such as invisible foes and those in magical darkness).
- Versatile Dance (Ex): You can use your bonus in Perform (Dance) in place of your bonus in Tumble and Jump. When substituting in this way, you use your total Perform skill bonus, including class skill bonus, in place of the associated skill's bonus, whether or not you have ranks in that skill; you are now considered both proficient and trained in Jump and Tumble. When you gain this ability, if you have now-redundant ranks in Tumble and Jump, you may redistribute those ranks to other skills, including to Perform (Dance).
Level 5 Shadowdancer Prestige Tier Choice: Select a Shadowdancer Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Intuition or Dash Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher.
MASTER TIER
Level 6 Shadowdancer Master Tier Signature Ability: Aura of Dusk and Dawn (Su) You emit an aura with a radius of up to 60 feet. Within the aura, bright light conditions are changed to normal light, and darkness (even magical darkness) is changed to low light conditions. At will, you can turn your aura on or off, and change the radius from 5 ft to 60 ft, as a swift action. Within your aura, you are immune to all physical and magical attacks based on light, darkness, and shadow.
Level 7 Shadowdancer Master Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Throwing Shade (Su): If you spend a day and a night in a community doing nothing else except ordinary activities, you inspire the very shadows to whisper negative thoughts into the dreams of local folks. With you to direct these thoughts toward a particular person, the attitude of people in the community towards this person becomes one step more negative (see the Diplomacy skill). Repeated uses of this ability do not stack.
- Shadow of a Doubt (Su): Those who successfully use skills such as Sense Motive and Search against you, as well as those who use magic or class abilities targeting you for information, are never really sure that their attempt was successful. For each attempt to find out about you, roll a d4. On a 1, the attempt actually failed. On a 2, false information that you choose is revealed. On a 3, the truth is revealed, but the creature making the attempt believes the information to be a trick. And on a 4, the truth is revealed, but the creature has a hunch that there is more to be discovered. You can sense when these attempts are made, and you can choose to reveal the pure truth if you desire.
Level 8 Shadowdancer Master Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- Gloom and Doom (Su): Within your Aura of Dusk and Dawn, those hostile to you and your allies suffer a 10% miss chance in normal light and a 30% miss chance within low light. Such opponents are affected as by a Doom spell, with a saving throw DC equal to 9 plus your shadowdancer level plus your even (Column B) Wisdom modifier. You can turn off this doom aspect of your aura as part of a swift action used to modify your aura.
- Parasol (Ex): You can use your Aura of Dusk and Dawn to absorb an energy type. Pick a form of energy: fire, acid, electricity, cold, sound, positive, or negative. Within your aura, you and your allies use your perform skill check in place of their usual save, if your check modifier is better. In addition, all creatures, both friends and foes, decrease the amount of hit point damage inflicted by the energy type by an amount equal to your shadowdancer level. You can change the type of energy as part of the swift action you use to manage your aura.
Level 9 Shadowdancer Master Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Shadow Jump (Sp): You can travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that your destination must be within your Aura of Dusk and Dawn, so the distance allowed is, at most, 60 ft, if your aura is maximally extended. You may use this ability as a move action a number of times per day equal to your shadowdancer level. You may bring up to three other willing medium size creatures with you.
- Shadow Scry (Sp): You may cast Scrying Major once per day, but the target must be in low light conditions. If they are not, the use is not expended.
Level 10 Shadowdancer Master Tier Choice: Select a shadowdancer Master or Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Intuition or Dash Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher.
Shadow Companions
As a companion, your own shadow can animate and detach from you, having a life and will of its own. It is a living thing, an extention of your life, although it does not breathe, eat, or drink. A shadow companion's abilities are determined by your character level, its hit dice, and the general rules for companions. Your companion is a creature of the aberration type and the incorporeal subtype for all purposes. You may want to make a character sheet for your companion. Use the basic statistics as required by the rules listed below. Your companion gains a hit die each time you level.
Here are the details on the statistics for your companion:
- Appearance: Your companion looks like -- indeed, IS -- your own shadow. It lays flat on a surface, although it has your reach.While detached, it has a cool, silky texture.
- Shadow Nature: You may detach your shadow companion as a swift action when you are in normal or low light. If you and/or it are in bright light or darkness, or if it is reduced to zero hit points, it immediately moves to you as if with a teleport without error and attaches to you as does a normal shadow, instantly. When attached, it behaves in all respects like a normal shadow, cannot act, and is impervious to all harm. Effects with a duration continue while attached, and can even kill it. It can only be healed or targeted while detached.
- Size: Your companion is the same size as you are. If your size changes, so does your shadow companion's.
- Speed: Same as your land speed. Your companion cannot pass through walls nor can it fly. It can climb any surface as easily as it can move over flat ground, without making any climb checks. It cannot fly or levitate; if forced away from a surface, it teleports to you and attaches.
- Armor Class: Your shadow companion has no natural armor bonus. As it advances in levels -- per Table: Companion Base Statistics -- it gains deflection bonuses to AC, not natural armor bonuses.
- Attack: Your companion makes one melee touch attack for 2d4 damage. If you are good, the damage is 2d4 positive energy damage. If you are evil, 2d4 negative energy damage. If you are neutral, 1d4 positive and 1d4 negative.
- Ability scores: Str –, Dex 12, Con –, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 10. use Charisma in place of Constitution when calculating hit points, Fortitude saves, and any special ability that relies on Constitution. Regarding Table: Companion Base Statistics, the shadow companion gains +1 dexterity at 2, 8, and 14 hit dice, and no other physical stat increase.
- Special Quality - Incorporeal Subtype: An incorporeal creature has no physical body. An incorporeal creature is immune to critical hits and precision-based damage (such as sneak attack damage) unless the attacks are made using a weapon with the ghost touch special weapon quality. In addition, creatures with the incorporeal subtype gain the incorporeal special quality.
In addition to the capabilities above, when your shadow companion gains an even hit die, select one of the Class Special abilities listed below or one in the Companion rules. If the name of these abilities include a roman numeral, it indicates that the prior ones in the series are required before an advanced one can be taken.
- Immunity I (Ex): Your companion is immune to poison, sneak attacks, bleed effects, precision damage, and death attacks.
- Immunity II (Ex): Your companion is also immune to mind-affecting effects. It is immune to nonlethal damage, ability drain, and energy drain. It is immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength), as well as to exhaustion and fatigue effects.
- Stealthy I (Su): Your companion gains a +8 racial bonus on stealth checks.
- Stealthy II (Sp): When it is in (dim) low light conditions, your companion can cast Invisibility on itself at will as a standard action. The invisibility lasts until the companion attaches to you, leaves low light, or makes an attack.
- Share Spells II: Any non-instantaneous spell you cast on yourself can, if you choose, affect both you and your companion. The companion must be within 5 feet of you at the time of casting to receive this benefit, and the spell stops affecting it if it moves farther than 5 feet away from you; it does not affect the creature again if it returns before the duration expires. The spell's duration is halved between you and your companion (for example, a spell with a duration of 1 hour has a duration of 30 minutes for both you and your companion. You may share any spells you can cast, except ones that do not affect creatures of the animal type. (Share Spells I is available to any companion per the Companion rules and is required for this ability.)
- Spell Resistance (Ex): Your companion gains spell resistance equal to your caster level + 5. To affect the companion with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the companion's spell resistance. Your companion is not resistant to your own spells.
- Share Senses I (Sp): With a standard action that works only if your companion is within 1 mile, you can see and hear what your shadow companion sees and hears for one minute per character level; those minutes need not be consecutive. While piggy-backing on your companion's sight and hearing, you are blind and deaf.
- Share Senses II (Sp): You may scry on your shadow companion (as if casting the Scrying spell) once per day, You can cast through this Scrying as you can through the spell.