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View Full Version : [D&D 3.5 PrC] Shadowknife [PEACH]



Xuldarinar
2013-04-01, 03:40 AM
Shadowknife

Below are two versions of the PrC. I'd appreciate any and all feedback. Enjoy.

Shadowsmith as a Soulknife PrC

Entry Requirements
Skills: Craft (armorsmithing, blacksmithing, or weaponsmithing) 5 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 3 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 3 ranks
Special: Must be able to manifest a Mind Blade
Special: Must have been exposed to shadow at some point prior to taking this class, either through travel on the Plane of Shadow, being subject to a mystery or spell with the darkness descriptor, or physical contact with a shadow or dark creature

{table=head] Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Mysteries Known|1st|2nd|3rd|4th
1st|+1|+0|+2|+0|Improved Mind Blade, Shadowcraft (Basic), Touch of Shadow|1|1|-|-|-
2nd|+2|+0|+3|+0|Chilling Strike +1d8|2|1|-|-|-
3rd|+3|+1|+3|+1|Armor of Shadow +2|2|1|-|-|-
4th|+4|+1|+4|+1|-|3|1|1|-|-
5th|+5|+1|+4|+1|-|4|1|1|-|-
6th|+6|+2|+5|+2|Chilling Strike +2d8, Shadow craft (enchanted)|4|1|1|-|-
7th|+7|+2|+5|+2|Armor of Shadow +4|5|1|1|1|-
8th|+8|+2|+6|+2|Shadowcraft (Armor)|6|1|1|1|-
9th|+9|+3|+6|+3|Shadow craft (Quickened)|6|1|1|1|-
10th|+10|+3|+7|+3|Chilling Strike +3d8, Shadow craft (Shadow striking), Armor of Shadow (Quickened)|7|2|2|2|1 [/table]

Hit Die: D8

Class Skills
Autohypnosis, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Knowledge (psionics), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Spot, Tumble
Skill Points at Each Level: (6 + Int Modifier per level)

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A shadow knife acquires no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Mysteries Known: You have the ability to cast a small number of mysteries. To cast a mystery, you must have an intelligence score of at least 10 + the mystery level, so if you have an intelligence of 10 or lower, you cannot cast mysteries. High ability scores do not provide bonus mysteries. Saving throws against your mysteries have a DC of 10 + mystery level + your Int modifier.
Your selection of mysteries is extremely limited. You begin this class knowing a single 1st-level mystery. At 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 10th you acquire a new mystery of up to the highest level mystery you may cast. As with the shadowcaster class, you may not skip ahead in a given path. Upon reaching 10th level, your apprentice path mysteries may be cast twice a day each as spell-like abilities. Otherwise they are cast them as arcane spells once per day per mystery.

Improved Mind Blade: You add your Shadowknife levels to your levels in the soul knife class to determine your mind blade's enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls and the mind blade enhancement class feature you have as a soul knife.

Shadow Craft: At 1st level, you can create small items, such as tools or weapons, from shadow. You need merely place your hands into any shadow and draw forth the desired item. It cannot possess moving or flexible parts, so you could not create a crossbow, a rope, a flail, or a cabin ate. You can create nearly any other weapon, simple tool, or small item however.
You can create one item weighing a number of pounds up to twice your class level, or two items whose combined weight does not exceed that limit. Using shadow craft is a standard action. If the item leaves your possession, it fades away in 1d4 rounds. Otherwise, it lasts for 1 hour per class level. Shadowcraft is usable a number of times per day equal to one-half your class level. Items created by shadow craft cannot be empaled as material components or foci in spell casting. If you want to create an item that mimics a specific item you have seen, you must succeed on a DC 20 Craft check of the appropriate sort.
At 6th level, you can enhance your creations. You can imbue a shadow-crafted weapon or shield, or your mind blade with an enhancement bonus equal to your class level minus 5. For instance, if you are an 8th-level shadow knife, you can create a +3 longsword. If you create two enhanced items at one time using this ability, you must divide the total enhancement bonus between those items. If you use this ability to enhance your mind blade, the bonuses do not stack, use the higher bonus.
To succeed at this enhanced crafting, you must make an appropriate Craft check for each item against a DC of 20 + the desired enhancement bonus. If you fail, the item is nonmagical. You can only have one enhanced shadow-crafted item at a time (or two, if created in the same round). Attempting to create an enhanced item (or two, if desired),
At 8th level, you can use shadow craft to create light armor for yourself (which you can give an enhancement bonus to). The armor you craft automatically has the improved shadow special ability (DMG 219)
At 9th level, you can quicken your shadow crafting. You need only a standard action to create enhanced items and only a swift action to create nonmagical ones.
At 10th level, you can apply the shadow striking ability (see page 155) to any magic weapon you create through shadow craft. (If you create two weapons at once, only one can have shadow striking.) In addition, weapons you create using the mind blade class feature also gain the shadow striking ability. You do not need to make the weapons on the plane of shadow, as normal for shadow striking weapons.

Touch of Shadow: At 1st level, you gain the ability to manipulate shadows. You can surround your hands and feet in a layer of shadow. This ability grants you a bonus on Climb checks equal to your class level. Further, it distributes your weight more evenly, so you cannot be tracked. Touch of shadow lasts for 1 minute per class level and is usable a number of times per day equal to your class level.

Chilling Strike: Upon reaching 2nd level, you may add +1d8 Cold damage to your Psychic strike. This strike may be delivered with any weapon you create using the shadow craft or mind blade class features. This damage can, unlike the rest of your psychic strike's damage, can effect mindless undead and constructs. This damage increases at 6th, and again at 10th.

Armor of Shadow: Starting at 3rd level, you can take a standard action to surround yourself in hardened shadow. This ability grants you a +2 deflection bonus to AC. Armor of shadow lasts for 10 minutes per class level, and is usable a number to times per day equal to one-half your class level.
At 7th level, the deflection bonus increases to +4.
At 10th level, you quicken your armor of shadow , activating it as a swift action.










Soulknife/Shadowsmith Theurgic Version

Entry Requirements
Special: In order to enter this class you must possess the following abilities; Touch of Shadow, and Mindblade.

{table=head] Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+0|+2|+0|Soul of Darkness +1
2nd|+2|+0|+3|+0|Soul of Darkness +1
3rd|+3|+1|+3|+1|Soul of Darkness +1
4th|+4|+1|+4|+1|Soul of Darkness +1
5th|+5|+1|+4|+1|Soul of Darkness +1 [/table]

Hit Die: D8

Class Skills
Autohypnosis, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Knowledge (psionics), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Spot, Tumble
Skill Points at Each Level: (4 + Int Modifier per level)

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A shadowknife acquires no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Soul of Darkness: At each level you gain in Shadowknife, your effective levels in Soulknife and Shadowsmith increase by 1 for the purposes of the following abilities; Armor of Shadow, Mind Blade, Mind Blade Enhancement, Mysteries Known, Psychic Strike, Shadow Craft, Shroud of Shadow, and Touch of Shadow. You do not acquire any new abilities through this ability, only advance ones you already have. For example, if you have not yet learned Psychic strike, taking levels in this class does not give it to you.
In addition, your Psychic strike deals half its damage as cold damage. This damage can affect creatures otherwise immune to psychic strike. Abilities that normally could only be used with shadow craft or mind blade may be used with the other, however effects do not stack. If your effective level in Shadow Smith reaches 10, you may apply shadow striking to mind blades you manifest. If your effective level in shadow smith would increase past 10, simply add the extra levels to soul knife instead, effectively increasing your level in soul knife by 2 with each level.






Links to other shadow based creations of mine.
Psi-Shade [Psionic Shadowcaster Class] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277925)
Prestige Shadowcaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277221)
Paladin of Mysteries. [Paladin/Shadowcaster PrC] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272674)

Cieyrin
2013-04-01, 09:34 AM
That's...it? It just boosts both? That seems underwhelming and more the territory of feats or an alternative PrC that revises Shadowsmith to apply its effects to Mindblades and other such things.

Xuldarinar
2013-04-01, 11:51 AM
That's...it? It just boosts both? That seems underwhelming and more the territory of feats or an alternative PrC that revises Shadowsmith to apply its effects to Mindblades and other such things.

I can see where you might see this as underwhelming, but lets really take a look at this.

I modeled this PrC, in part, after the Mystic Theurge. The Mystic Theruge adds with each level advancement of two abilities, divine and arcane casting. This however advances most of the abilities of both classes and provides alterations for better synergy, along with minor thematic changes. If you believe the mystic theurge should be a feat instead of a PrC, then certainly as should this.

I've actually tried approaching this from the direction of the feat,but at every attempt, it didn't seem quite right. It seemed better, to me, as a prestige class. I had considered a core class, either adding shadow flavor to soul knife or stretching and padding out shadow smith. But just re-fluffing, i felt might have been more on the levels of a variant and I could have just formatted it like the ones in Unearthed Arcana. So, I went with this direction. Though, making shadowsmith a PrC for soulknife isn't a bad idea, its certainly worth strong consideration and later I may create such a PrC (Likely posted under the same name, and as such I could just tack it on here).

Now, to bring this to the level of PrCs like the eldritch theurge or the Noctumancer, I'd need to tack on other abilities. The question lies in, however, what. What could I possibly add that neither component has on their own beyond this advancement that would fit thematically? I don't know. Perhaps in that i've hit a dead end.

But, while I'm at this, how about an analysis of what is here. Lets say you have a character who is; Soulknife 10/Shadowsmith 5/Shadowknife 5.


Can you qualify? Yes. The earliest entry to shadow smith from soulknife (without multi-classing) is 8th. So earliest entry into shadowknife is 9th.

Class Features: Mind blade, Weapon Focus (mind blade), Wild Talent, Throw mind blade, Psychic strike +4d8 (2d8 as Cold), +3 mind blade, Free draw, shape mind blade, mind blade enhancement +3, Speed of Thought, Bladewind, Greater Weapon Focus (mind blade), Access to 3 mysteries, Touch of shadow, Shroud of shadow, Shadow craft (Basic, Enchanted, Armor, Quickened, Shadow striking), Armor of shadow + 4 (Quickened), Widen shroud.
BaB: +17/+12/+7/+2
Fort Save: +5
Ref Save: +15
Will Save: +9
HP: 10d10 +10d8

Cieyrin
2013-04-01, 02:09 PM
The issue I have is twofold, in that 1) you want to be a Soulknife 15/Shadowsmith 10 in 20 levels and 2) there's no hoops to jump through to enter said PrC for this character, it's a gimme. Now, while a straight Soulknife could enter Shadowsmith at 8 and Shadowknife at 9, there isn't a strong incentive to, as 1 level of Shadowsmith only gets you Touch of Shadow and Shadowknife doesn't open anything up you didn't already have, for which it seems to me that you'd want to up the requirements to having Shadowcraft, the key ability of Shadowsmiths.

On the other hand, neither of these classes are especially powerful, as Soulknives are T5 and Shadowsmiths don't exactly cater to Soulknives anything they weren't already doing, so I suppose there isn't anything going wrong here that Mystic Theurges aren't already suffering from. Hence, though, I'd suggest remodeling Shadowsmith into a PrC that actually caters to Soulknives, which in your case seems to be all about melding shadow to psionic energies and making a more uber weapon. Consider taking what you see in Shadowsmith that you like and making a 5-10 level PrC that enhances and varies what Soulknife does, maybe add some Shadowcaster so you actually get a Mystery progression worth a damn, which would look less forced than stepping into Shadowsmith and than into this theurge. Look at Soulbow or Illumine Soul, it varies the Soulknife and makes it better, which seems more of what you're aiming at here.

Xuldarinar
2013-04-02, 03:10 AM
Update: I've added a version above which is basically the Shadowsmith turned into a Soulknife PrC. Don't know if its any good but, thats what feedback is for.

Cieyrin
2013-04-02, 08:09 PM
How does the Shadowcraft and Mindblade Enhancement bonuses interact? Overlap, stack, something else? As written, it's rather unclear.

Razanir
2013-04-02, 08:16 PM
Check your first table. You have them gaining 2nd and 3rd level mysteries at the same time, then losing 3rd level mysteries at level 6. (It's times like that last sentence I wish we'd stuck with AD&D's complicated system of different words for levels)

Xuldarinar
2013-04-03, 02:24 AM
How does the Shadowcraft and Mindblade Enhancement bonuses interact? Overlap, stack, something else? As written, it's rather unclear.


Overlap, i'll make that a bit clearer.



Check your first table. You have them gaining 2nd and 3rd level mysteries at the same time, then losing 3rd level mysteries at level 6. (It's times like that last sentence I wish we'd stuck with AD&D's complicated system of different words for levels)

Sorry. That was a typo. I fixed it.