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rokurei
2010-06-21, 08:46 PM
Alright so I've heard it from both sides.

Shadowdancer's gain a Shadow Companion at 3rd level, 2HD Standard Shade, and gain another " Summon Shadow " at 6th and 9th.

People have told me that you do not gain additional Shades at 6th and 9th, and that your one companion simply gains more HD.

I was conflicted, until I read the Epic Shadowdancer Table on SRD; which says the same thing as the normal Shadowdancer " Summon Shadow " entry:

"Every third level gained by the shadowdancer adds +2 HD (and the requisite base attack and base save bonus increases) to her shadow companion. "

But! In parenthesis it says (4 Shadows of 9HD Each ) . Which would mean to me; by logic l; and by the fact that the entries for Summon Shadow are the same in DMG and Epic Level HB, that you would have 2 Shadows of 5 HD at 6, and 3 Shadows of 7 HD at 9 )

Agree? DM wants confirm for some silly character I'm making.

Jorda75
2010-06-21, 09:13 PM
Here's how it's written in the Hypertext SRD.

"At 3rd level, a shadowdancer can summon a shadow, an undead shade. Unlike a normal shadow, this shadow’s alignment matches that of the shadowdancer, and the creature cannot create spawn. The summoned shadow cannot be turned, rebuked, or commanded by any third party. This shadow serves as a companion to the shadowdancer and can communicate intelligibly with the shadowdancer. Every third level gained by the shadowdancer adds +2 HD (and the requisite base attack and base save bonus increases) to her shadow companion."

I don't see anything in the entry about additional shadows being added, only the one companion getting stronger, like a druids animal companion. However you're right, the epic shadow dancer chart says that you get multiple shadows while the text simply says,

"Every third level gained after 9th adds +2 HD (and the requisite base attack and base save bonus increases) to the shadowdancer’s shadow companion."

I'm not sure if the epic list is a hold over from 3.0 or what the situation is but it looks to me like most of the evidence points to a single shadow companion with ever increasing HD.

rokurei
2010-06-21, 09:22 PM
There were no changes from 3.0 Shadowdancers to 3.5 Shadowdancers.

Epic is 3.5 SRD, not 3.0; so, the addition of 3 Shades suddenly that are exactly the same as your previous 1 , at level 22 makes little to no sense to me, I mean sure it's epic, you could use just that as an excuse, but consider any of the other Core Prestiges, they progress at the same rate that their non epic counter parts do.

Sneak Attack increases at the same rate for rogues, bonus feats for everyone else, and Shadow Jump distance for SD-ers (Doubles every 4 levels starting at 4 ) ; so why the sudden break in consistency?

Epic Level Shadowdancer gains:

12th: Summon shadow (four of 9 HD each), shadow jump (320 ft.)

Doesn't something like

9th: Summon shadow (3 of 7 HD each) ...

Make sense?

Jorda75
2010-06-21, 09:27 PM
I see how it makes sense but only the epic progression bar makes any mention of additional shades, it's not shown anywhere on the 20 level progression for the non-epic shadow dancer and it's not mentioned anywhere in the actual written text.

I believe you could rule either way depending on the DM but from my point of view there is more evidence to support a single powerful shadow companion than many shadow companions.

rokurei
2010-06-21, 09:28 PM
Agreed,

I think one way or the other, it was an oversight by the authors ( I don't think the Summon Shadow aspect of Shadow Dancer's were ever really looked at that intensely ) .

Jorda75
2010-06-21, 09:56 PM
Unfortunately no, it seems to really have been skipped over. I like the idea of a Shadowdancer with a small army of shadows moving around for protection and to hide them as they whirl around in battle, but the evidence unfortunately doesn't support that. At epic levels however I would most likely allow the multiple shadows, even 4 shadows at 9 HD each are not much of a threat to an epic opponent. Heck I had an epic Barb/Frenzy that did about 300 damage a round on average, so I would let it slide :)