Main» Shadowdancer

"We are the shadow cast upon the darkness."

Wherever death strikes without warning, leaves no trace, it is known: here struck a shadowdancer. They are elusive, unstoppable—and everywhere.

Or so the rumors and superstitions claim. Common knowledge states that the shadowdancers are a mysterious order of rogues, assassins, and spies. It is said that they serve a dark power, a terrible demon who grants them command over the Shadow Realm and the sinister forces that dwell within—in exchange for their souls.

Shadowdancers are masters of deception, evasion, and escape. The reason so little is known about them is that no one has ever been able to capture or question a shadowdancer.

Hit Die

d6.

Requirements

To qualify to become a shadowdancer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Alignment: Any nongood.
Skills: Move Silently 8 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Tumble 4 ranks.
Feats: Dodge, Mobility.
Special: Must be inducted into the Circle of Shadows by an experienced shadowdancer.

Class Skills

The shadowdancer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level

4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the shadowdancer prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Shadowdancers are proficient with the club, crossbow (hand, light, or heavy), dagger (any type), dart, mace, morningstar, quarterstaff, rapier, sap, shortbow (normal and composite), and short sword. Shadowdancers are proficient with light armor but not with shields.

Dark Pact

Shadowdancers pledge their lives and their souls to the dark power that commands them. This pact grants them many powerful abilities, yet it comes at a high price. The path of the shadowdancer requires great determination; once the first step is taken, the full road must be traveled, for the shadowdancer must give himself over to the power of Shadow. Any shadowdancer who gains a level in another class before attaining his 10th shadowdancer level may never again gain levels in this class. Furthermore, any shadowdancer who ceases to serve and obey his dark master loses all supernatural abilities of the class. He may regain his link to the Shadow Realm? by getting back into the good graces of the Circle, but such occurrences are rare.

When a shadowdancer dies, his soul does not travel to any of the Outer Planes, but is instead consumed by the Shadow Realm. This process is not instantaneous; there is a one-week period after death wherein the character’s soul may be recovered and he may be raised or resurrected; after that, however, no mortal magic can bring the shadowdancer back from the dead.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su)

A shadowdancer can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as he is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, a shadowdancer can hide himself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. He cannot, however, hide in his own shadow.

Darkvision (Su)

At 2nd level, a shadowdancer gains darkvision to a range of 60 feet.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, a shadowdancer has the ability to react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to even be aware of it. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. (He still loses any Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized).

Shadow Blend (Su)

Starting at 3rd level, a shadowdancer can slip just beyond the border between Midgard? and the Shadow Realm?, disappearing into the shadows. When in any poorly lit or shadowy area, the shadowdancer can blend with the surrounding darkness as a move action, gaining total concealment. The shadowdancer effectively becomes invisible, although effects that detect or dispel invisibility, such as see invisibility and invisibility purge, are ineffective against shadow blend. Moving does not break this effect, though attacking does. Artificial illumination, even a light or continual flame spell, does not negate this ability, though a daylight spell or more powerful spell with the Light descriptor does, as does natural sunlight.

Sneak Attack (Ex)

Starting at 3rd level, a shadowdancer can deal extra damage to targets that are unable to defend themselves against him, just as a rogue can. The extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 at 6th level and again at 9th level. If the shadowdancer gets a sneak attack bonus from another source (such as rogue levels), the bonuses on damage stack.

This ability may be improved by taking the Improve Class Ability feat.

Shadow Jump (Su)

At 4th level, a shadowdancer gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension jump spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. The shadow jump ability may be used at will, but no more than once every two rounds. A shadowdancer can jump up to 40 feet in a single shadow jump. Using this ability is a move action.

At 7th level, the shadowdancer can jump up to 160 feet in a single shadow jump. At 10th level, the shadowdancer can jump up to 640 feet in a single shadow jump.

Evasion (Ex)

At 4th level, a shadowdancer gains evasion. if exposed to any effect that normally allows him to attempt a Reflex saving throw for half damage (such as a fireball), he takes no damage with a successful saving throw. The evasion ability can only be used if the shadowdancer is wearing light armor or no armor.

Defensive Roll (Ex)

Starting at 5th level, a shadowdancer can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it. When a shadowdancer would be reduced to 0 hit points or less by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), he can attempt to roll with the damage. He makes a Reflex saving through (DC = damage dealt) and, if successful, takes only half damage from the blow. He must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute his defensive roll. If he is in a situation that would deny him any Dexterity bonus to AC, he can’t attempt a defensive roll. There is no limitation on how many times per day this ability may be used; but each time after the first time it’s used in any given encounter, the save DC increases by 10 (e.g. the first time, the DC is equal to the damage dealt; the second time, the DC is equal to 10 + the damage dealt; etc.).

Improved Darkvision (Su)

Starting at 5th level, a shadowdancer can see perfectly even in magical darkness, to a distance of 60 feet. This ability otherwise functions like darkvision.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)

At 6th level, a shadowdancer can no longer be flanked, since he can react to opponents on opposite sides of him as easily as he can react to a single attacker. This defense denies rogues the ability to use flank attacks to sneak attack the shadowdancer. The exception to this defense is that a rogue at least four levels higher than the shadowdancer can flank him (and thus sneak attack him).

Slippery Mind (Su)

A 7th-level shadowdancer’s is so attuned to the Shadow Realm? that his mind becomes less substantial, giving him the ability to wriggle free from magical effects that would otherwise control or compel him. If a shadowdancer is affected by an enchantment and fails his saving throw, 1 round later he can attempt his saving throw again. He only gets his one extra chance to succeed at his saving throw. If it fails as well, the spell’s effects occur normally.

Cloak of Shadows (Su)

Starting at 8th level, when the shadowdancer uses his shadow blend ability, he also reaches into the Shadow Realm? and weaves strands of shadow-probabilities around himself. Whenever the shadowdancer is under the effect of shadow blend, he is only quasi-real; any time he would be struck by any weapon or any magical effect, there is a chance that the attacker actually strikes an immaterial wisp of shadow. All attacks and magical effects that would otherwise affect the shadowdancer have a 20% chance to fail. This failure chance is not mitigated by the Blind-Fight feat, spells such as see invisibility, true seeing, or true strike, or any other effect or ability. A dimensional lock, dimensional anchor, or similar spell or effect prevents the cloak of shadows from activating (though the other effects of shadow blend still work normally).

If the invisibility granted by shadow blend is broken due to the shadowdancer making an attack (or taking some other action which would break invisibility), the cloak of shadows persists until the start of the shadowdancer’s next turn; however, if shadow blend is broken by a daylight spell, sunlight, or a similarly powerful light source, the cloak of shadows also dissipates immediately.

Reach Through Shadows (Su)

Starting at 8th level, a shadowdancer can reach through shadows to manipulate distant objects. Similarly to shadow jump, both the shadowdancer and the object to be manipulated must be in an area with at least some shadow. The maximum range of this ability is one-half the range of the shadowdancer’s shadow jump ability (i.e., 80 feet when this ability is first gained, and 320 feet at 10th class level). The shadowdancer may not use both reach through shadows and shadow jump in the same round. There is otherwise no limitation on how often this ability may be used. With respect to what sort of action is required (and in all similar respects), using reach through shadows is equivalent to manipulating an adjacent object in the ordinary way.

The shadowdancer may even make melee attacks by reaching through shadows (although this does not increase his threatened area; nor does it grant the shadowdancer any special ability to perceive opponents, so he suffers the usual penalties if attacking an opponent whom he cannot see clearly). (Note that attacking an opponent more than 30 feet away precludes the use of sneak attack, as does attacking an opponent who has concealment from you.) If the shadowdancer is in melee with an opponent, and uses the reach through shadows ability to make a melee attack against that opponent, through an area of shadows that is on the opposite side of the opponent from him, he is considered to be flanking that opponent until the start of his next turn.

Improved Evasion (Ex)

This ability, gained at 9th level, works like evasion (see above). A shadowdancer takes no damage at all on successful saving throws against attacks that allow a Reflex saving throw for half damage (breath weapon, fireball, and so on). What’s more, he takes only half damage even if he fails his saving throw, since his reflexes allow him to get out of harm’s way with incredible speed.

Shadow Strike (Su)

If a 10th-level shadowdancer ends a shadow jump in melee range of his target, and the target is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC against the shadowdancer, he may choose to make his next melee attack against that target a shadow strike. This attack must be made within the same round as the shadow jump, and it deals additional unholy damage equal to the sneak attack damage dealt. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by a shadow strike instantly crumbles into dust and discorporates, its physical form consumed by the Shadow Realm?.

If the target of a shadow strike takes no unholy damage from the attack (by being resistant or immune to it), it does not suffer the discorporation effect, even if the shadow strike kills it anyway. Creatures immune to precision-based damage, such as ones without a discernible anatomy, are also immune to the unholy damage and discorporation effect of a shadow strike.

Only a true resurrection spell, or a carefully worded wish followed by resurrection, can bring back a creature discorporated by a shadow strike.