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Fax Celestis
2007-02-07, 10:11 PM
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The Penumbracarnate is a master of both Shadow Magic and Incarnum. Despite the apparent disparity between the two, a skilled Penumbracarnate can use both to equal (if not greater) effectiveness than she normally would.

Abilities: Intelligence and Charisma set the maximum level of your mysteries and the DC for your mysteries, respectively, making these both important. Also important is a high Constitution (and potentially a high Wisdom) for your meldshaping.

Races: Azurin make up the majority of Penumbracarnates, though there are also many duskling Penumbracarnates.

Alignment: Penumbracarnates can be of any alignment.

HD: d8

Requirements
Mysteries: Ability to cast second-level mysteries.

Meldshaping: Ability to shape soulmelds.

Skills: Knowledge (The Planes) 7, Spellcraft 7

Class Features
Class Skills (2 + Int): Concentration, Craft, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (The Planes), Move Silently, Profession, Spellcraft, Spot

Mysteries: At each of the indicated levels, a Penumbracarnate gains new mysteries, an increase in spells know, and an increase in mysteries known as if she had also gained a level in her mystery-using class. She does not, however, gain any other benefits a character of that class would have gained. If she had more than one myster-using class before becoming a Penumbracarnate, she must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining mysteries per day, caster level, and mysteries known.

Meldshaping: At each of the indicated levels, a Penumbracarnate increases her meldshaper level, the number of soulmelds she can shape, the number and kinds of chakra binds she can create, and her essentia pool as if she had gained a level in the meldshaping class to which she belonged to prior to gaining the Penumbracarnate level. She does not, hwever gain any other abilities of that class. If she had more than one meldshaping class before becoming a Penumbracarnate, she must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining her essentia pool, meldshaper level, and the number of soulmelds and chakra binds available.

Shadowsight (Su): Starting at first level, a Penumbracarnate can use her affiliation with the Plane of Shadows to see through even magical darkness. Whenever a Penumbracarnate has a soulmeld bound to her brow chakra, she gains the ability to see in any darkness (even magical darkness) for 15' per point of essentia invested in the chakra bound to her brow. If there are four essentia invested in the chakra bound to her brow, she also is affected as if by a see invisibility spell.

Shadow Chakra: At second level, a Penumbracarnate gains the use of a unique chakra: the shadow chakra. Instead of binding a soulmeld to a chakra on her body, she binds it to a chakra on her shadow. The Penumbracarnate can bind any soulmeld she knows to her shadow chakra, just as if it were bound to any other chakra on her body that she could bind soulmelds to. However, due to the fact that it is bound to her shadow and not to her, each two points of essentia invested in the soulmeld bound to her shadow chakra only act as if one essentia were invested in it. For the purposes of binding, the Penumbracarnate can treat her shadow chakra as if it were any other chakra she has access to and may bind soulmelds to it even if she already has another soulmeld bound to the chakra the shadow chakra is mimicing.

Penumbracarnum (Su): At third level, a Penumbracarnate learns to channel the energies she draws from the Plane of Shadow to power her soulmelds. She may sacrifice a use of one of her mysteries to immediately gain a number of 'shadow essentia' equal to the level of the mystery sacrificed. These shadow essentia can be invested as any other essentia can be, but disappear in a number of rounds equal to the level of the sacrificed spell.


Shadowstride (Su): At fourth level, a Penumbracarnate's attunement with both her meldshaping and her mysteries furthers. Whenever a Penumbracarnate has a soulmeld bound to her feet chakra, she gains the ability to travel from shadow to shadow as if by a dimension door spell. the limitation is tha thte magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. The Penumbracarnate can jump up to a total of 15' for each point of invested essentia, usable once every five rounds.

Split Shadow Chakra (Ex): At fifth level, a Penumbracarnate's shadow chakra can have two soulmelds bound to it, each emulating a different chakra that the Penumbracarnate has access to. One of these chakra uses essentia as a normal chakra does, providing a 1:1 ratio for invested essentia. The second, being the weaker chakra, act as the shadow chakra described in the Shadow Chakra ability.

Shadowmantle (Su): At sixth level, a Penumbracarnate's admixture of meldshaping and shadow magic refines. Whenever a Penumbracarnate has a soulmeld bound to her shoulders chakra, she gains an insight bonus on saving throws equal to the amount of essentia invested in the soulmeld bound to her shoulders. If the soulmeld bound to her shoulders has four essential invested in it, she is also affected as if by the blur spell.

Penumbral Grasp (Su): At seventh level, a Penumbracarnate attunes her arms chakra to the powers of shadow. Whenever a Penumbracarnate has a soulmeld bound to her arms chakra, she gains a touch attack that deals 1d6 points of negative energy damage per point of essentia invested in the soulmeld bound to her arms. If the soulmeld bound in her arms has four essentia invested in it, she also deals 1d4 points of Wisdom damage.

Penumbracarnum Infusion (Su): At eighth level, a Penumbracarnate can unshape one of the soulmelds bound to her shadow chakra as a swift action to infuse the rest of her soulmelds. For a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier, all of the Penumbracarnate's bound soulmelds are treated as if invested with the maximum possible essentia for her class level.

Sustaining Shadow (Timeless Body) (Su): At ninth level, a Penumbracarnate's connection to both the essential lifeforce of the universe as well as the all-pervading energies of the Plane of Shadow becomes so complete that she no longer feels the physical effects of aging. She no longer takes penalties to her ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that she has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and she still dies of old age when her time is up.

Perfect Shadow Chakra (Su): At tenth level, a Penumbracarnate's shadow chakra becomes an incredible font of power. Any soulmeld bound to the Penumbracarnate's shadow chakra is treated as having twice the essentia invested in it as it actually does (to a maximum of four), so that a soulmeld bound to the Penumbracarnates shadow throat chakra with 2 essentia invested in it would be treated as having four.

Penumbracarnate Progression
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Mysteries|Meldshap ing
1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Shadowsight|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|+1 level of existing meldshaping class
2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Shadow Chakra|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|-
3rd|+2|+1|+1|+3|Penumbracarnum|-|+1 level of existing meldshaping class
4th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Shadowstride|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|+1 level of existing meldshaping class
5th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Split Shadow Chakra|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|-
6th|+4|+2|+2|+5|Shadowmantle|-|+1 level of existing meldshaping class
7th|+5|+2|+2|+5|Penumbral Grasp|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|+1 level of existing meldshaping class
8th|+6|+2|+2|+6|Penumbracarnum Infusion|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|+1 level of existing meldshaping class
9th|+6|+3|+3|+6|Sustaining Shadow (Timeless Body)|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|+1 level of existing meldshaping class
10th|+7|+3|+3|+7|Perfect Shadow Chakra|+1 level of existing mystery-using class|+1 level of existing meldshaping class[/table]

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-02-07, 10:40 PM
This has reminded me to finish my Truenamer/Martial Adept I started and never finished.

But anyway...I don't know much about Incarnum so I don't know if I can pass judgement. And the only person with magic of incarnum doesn't know much about shadow magic...but he guards his incarnum knowledge for his campaign.

Khantalas
2007-02-08, 09:05 AM
Hey, more incarnum is always welcome.

We have shadow magic / incarnum, arcane magic / incarnum, divine magic /incarnum and psionics / incarnum prestige classes. Not to mention my silly truename magic / incarnum monster.

cferejohn
2007-02-08, 01:00 PM
*Vastly confused*

I'm assuming there is at least one book I am missing vis a vis what the heck are mysteries and soulmelds...

Fax Celestis
2007-02-08, 01:02 PM
*Vastly confused*

I'm assuming there is at least one book I am missing vis a vis what the heck are mysteries and soulmelds...

Shadow Magic (mysteries) appears in the Tome of Magic, and Incarnum (soulmelds) appears in Magic of Incarnum. I highly recommend both.

Khantalas
2007-02-08, 01:02 PM
Magic of Incarnum. Get the book. Enjoy it.

Seriously, once you understand it (I know I couldn't for some time) and not hope to be a spellcaster, it's great.

The Vorpal Tribble
2007-02-08, 01:49 PM
I'll have to refamiliarize myself with the rules of incarnum, but as is it looks great to me.

Was going to comment on a few of my favorite bits but all of the abilities are extremely interesting.

*gives a thumb's up*

Macrovore
2007-02-08, 04:26 PM
Hey, more incarnum is always welcome.

We have shadow magic / incarnum, arcane magic / incarnum, divine magic /incarnum and psionics / incarnum prestige classes. Not to mention my silly truename magic / incarnum monster.
now we need a binder/incarnum PrC. THAT would be a REALLY powerful class. both systems allow for an immense amount of versality in their soulmeld/vestige selection, and both have a similar theme of binding vestiges.

Fax Celestis
2007-02-08, 05:08 PM
now we need a binder/incarnum PrC. THAT would be a REALLY powerful class. both systems allow for an immense amount of versality in their soulmeld/vestige selection, and both have a similar theme of binding vestiges.

Guess what I'm already working on...? :D

Macrovore
2007-02-08, 09:08 PM
schwiggity...

LordOfNarf
2007-02-08, 09:47 PM
looks like a cool prestige class, and I really like both Shadow Magic and Incarnum (though it took me three weeks of reading and re-reading the book to completely understand the rules).

Sadly, though, I cannot in good concience endorse any class taht combines any spellcasters or semispellcasters. The Mystic Theurge is the only PrC that can be simoltaneaously (sp?) under and over powered, and anything that keys off that Idea is just as broken.

I do really like the other powers though, and maybe Incarnum and Shadow magic combination make this less objectionable, since each is inherently more limeted than standard spellcasters, which (IMO) are unbalanced anyway.

illithid13
2007-02-09, 11:41 AM
From the foggy recesses of my brain that have been devoted to my Incarnum knowledge and Shadow Magic knowledge, this looks like it could prove to be a very entertaining character to run. If I have the time to brush up on the 2 systems, I might be able to provide more useful feedback.

Nice work!

Altharis
2007-02-10, 06:23 PM
Another dollop of awesomeness from Fax Celestis!

Although I don't know either of the two systems, to be a theurge-like PrC wouldn't the prereqs be 6 ranks in those two skills?

Very nice all in all.

Fax Celestis
2007-02-10, 09:41 PM
Nah. Having a prerequisite of "third-level mysteries" means they have to be at least 5th level; adding in the shaping soulmelds bit means they're at least 6th total. The skills are just there for...well, I dunno what they're for. Perhaps to make it not so easy to qualify without some dedication.

Macrovore
2007-02-10, 10:03 PM
hey, for the shadow stride ability, does it require a standard or move action to activate?
i would say it was a standard action, and a move if they have at least 4 essentia invested ('cause shadowmantle and shadow sight have an extra effect for 4 essentia)

Fax Celestis
2007-02-10, 10:32 PM
It's "as the dimension door spell". I actually got the text from the Shadowdancer Shadow Jump ability.

I'll think about changing that, though.

thevorpalbunny
2007-04-27, 02:19 PM
This is cool. I own both books, but I never seem to play either shadowcaster or incarnum-user, because shadowcasters run out of options too quickly and incarnum has too few options. (Although based on some commentary here I may be thinking about it wrong.)
The only critique I have is that it seems to mostly derive benefits for the incarnum side, not the shadow side. Did you consider anything like investing essentia in mysteries or new soulmelds that boost shadow?

Hyooz
2009-06-18, 07:39 PM
A couple general comments:

I might move Penumbral Grasp up closer to the beginning of the PrC. Something like that allows the Shadowcaster to ignore offensive mysteries more and focus on defense/utility, and the damage isn't all that worthwhile for 13th level, even with the Wis damage.

Also, Shadowstride mimics effects the Shadowcaster already has access to. I mean, Flicker is a mystery almost every Shadowcaster will take (assuming they are using the author's errata) and you have a mystery that mimics Dim Door and Teleport later on.

peacenlove
2009-06-19, 10:29 AM
I must say it is a very good PrC, and it will definitely be a part of a campaign i will run soon :smallbiggrin:


This is cool. I own both books, but I never seem to play either shadowcaster or incarnum-user, because shadowcasters run out of options too quickly and incarnum has too few options. (Although based on some commentary here I may be thinking about it wrong.)
The only critique I have is that it seems to mostly derive benefits for the incarnum side, not the shadow side. Did you consider anything like investing essentia in mysteries or new soulmelds that boost shadow?

Seconded. Even with my limited (non existent?) knowledge about incarnum almost all (with the exception of Penumbracarnum) of it abilities are based on incarnum. Not sure if its an actual problem though.