Iron Chef Optimization Challenge In The Playground XXVI

[Amphetryon]

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef XXVI. Here in Optimization Colosseum, contestants will endeavor to create an optimized and flavorful character using a specified D&D3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

Contestants: You will need to present your build at at least one of the following points: 5th level, 10th level, 15th, 20th, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Menu: For most challenges, the "special ingredient" will be drawn from Core plus Completes. There will, from time to time, be special challenges that showcase secret ingredients from other books--for example, the XPH.

32 point-buy is the presumed creation method, but we have generally allowed other levels of point-buy.
If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in elegance and/or power.

Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 11:59PM GMT on Friday, November 11th, 2011 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, Amphetryon. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 11:59PM GMT on Sunday, November 27th, 2011 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted. (Judges are getting a couple of extra days due to the Thanksgiving Holiday in America).

Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Secret Ingredient.

Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.

Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, will lose you points.

Presentation: Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.

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NAME OF ENTRY
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

7th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

8th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

9th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

10th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

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+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

11th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

12th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

13th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

14th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

15th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

16th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

17th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

18th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

19th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

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+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

20th|New Class Level|

+x

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+x

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+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities[/table]

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[b]NAME OF ENTRY[/b]
{table=head][b]Level[/b]|[b]Class[/b]|[b]Base Attack Bonus[/b]|[b]Fort Save[/b]|[b]Ref Save[/b]|[b]Will Save[/b]|[b]Skills[/b]|[b]Feats[/b]|[b]Class Features[/b]

1st|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

7th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

8th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

9th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

10th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

11th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

12th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

13th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

14th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

15th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

16th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

17th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

18th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

19th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

20th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities[/table]

For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)

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Spells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

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10th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

13th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

14th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

15th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

16th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

17th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

18th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

19th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

20th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]

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[b]Spells per day/Spells Known[/b]
{table=head][b]Level[/b]|[b]0lvl[/b]|[b]1st[/b]|[b]2nd[/b]|[b]3rd[/b]|[b]4th[/b]|[b]5th[/b]|[b]6th[/b]|[b]7th[/b]|[b]8th[/b]|[b]9th[/b]

1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

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15th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

16th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

17th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

18th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

19th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

20th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]

For other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.

Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until the "reveal," in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.

Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing!

This week's special ingredient is:
SRD's Shadowdancer!
We will have trophies for 1st through 3rd places, as well as a special trophy for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM.

Allez optimiser!

Contestants
Zipding
Akal_Saris
Venger
Dusk_Eclipse
Hunter_Killer
AMFV
OMG_PONIES
Elfstone
The_Gilded_Duke
Grey_McBannert
BillyBobJoe
Akto
Kestrel404
Mr.Smashy
Diefje
Lateral
TheGeckoKing
phatpack
vhfforever
Hand_of_Vecna
Maethirion
flabort
Darthteej
gbprime
Piggy_Knowles

Judges

The Builds
Lord McUmbra
Sandamir
Ensis Tenebra
Pumpkinhead
Osric
Lucian
Khariman Sandiga
Theodore Kaczynski
Vesper
Artou Defoor
Athek
Karn
The Raven
The Dancing Shadow
Claire, aka Mr. Dini
Tiesa
The Damned Drake
Domovoi

Past Competitions

Iron Chef I: Entropomancer
Iron Chef II: Psibond Agent
Iron Chef III: Cancer Mage
Iron Chef IV: Stonelord
Iron Chef V: War Chanter
Iron Chef VI: Master of Masks
Iron Chef VII: Green Star Adept
Iron Chef VIII: Pyrokineticist
Iron Chef IX: Animal Lord
Iron Chef X: Mythic Exemplar
Iron Chef XI: Blade Bravo
Iron Chef XII: War Mind
Iron Chef XIII: Vigilante
Iron Chef XIV: Seeker of the Song
Iron Chef XV: Drunken Master
Iron Chef XVI: Assassin
Iron Chef XVII: Ardent Dilettante
Iron Chef XVIII: Unseelie Dark Hunter
Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate
Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion
Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker
Iron Chef XXII: Dervish
Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader
Iron Chef XXIV: Tactical Soldier
Iron Chef XXV: Scion of Tem-Et-Nu

[Zipding]

I have an idea for this PrC, I hope it works out, I'm in.

[Akal Saris]

Good choice of PrC, it's one that I've been expecting for a while now!

It will be interesting to see what people will do with more than 1 level in the secret ingredient. Hopefully there will be something more imaginative than a bunch of shadow pouncers.

Sidenote: Back in 3.0, I think I remember that when a shadow died, it was dead permanently, not for 30 days

Good luck with being the chair, Amp!

[Venger]

Yay! as promised, I'm going to compete. I had a question about the flavour/fluff/backstory stuff. what is the etiquette on using pre-existing material for this (e.g. if I wrote about the tragic past of bruce wayne for vigilante the last time around) I haven't seen this done and wanted to make sure whether or not it was allowed or not since I didn't want to break any rules my first time around.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I have an interesting idea so this time I might end up competing... but I have one question, how have RHD been handled in the IC competitions? are they allowed?

[Private-Prinny]

I have an interesting idea so this time I might end up competing... but I have one question, how have RHD been handled in the IC competitions? are they allowed?

They are very much allowed, just don't expect to be able to get rid of them. Just look at last round's honorable mention.

[Zipding]

A build that actually went through my head before being immediatly scrapped was the Shadow Dancing Phase Spider from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. While that would be highly entertaining and probably really good on the original front, it would suck beyond belief.

[Hunter Killer]

Excellent. I love this class, and I'm really excited to see what we can do with it. The shadow pouncer, like Akal Saris was suggesting, was my first plan. Hopefully I can come up with something a little more creative than that...

Given the above I suppose this goes without saying, but I mean to compete. And this time, I'm going to win.

[Venger]

A build that actually went through my head before being immediatly scrapped was the Shadow Dancing Phase Spider from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. While that would be highly entertaining and probably really good on the original front, it would suck beyond belief.

well hey, there's more fronts to appeal to than just power. if your build's not the most powerful, you can pull your average up with elegance (and a shadowdancing phase spider screams elegance) since I can't think of a dancer who could out-elegance him/her.

[Thurbane]

Shadowdancer. Nice.

And welcome to our new chairman!

[AMFV]

A build that actually went through my head before being immediatly scrapped was the Shadow Dancing Phase Spider from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. While that would be highly entertaining and probably really good on the original front, it would suck beyond belief.

As a sidenote its normally considered poor form to discuss possible build elements before builds are released. As this can affect their originality scores and is generally not always the best idea.

Also I think I'm going to compete if I can come up with something good.

[Amphetryon]

As a sidenote its normally considered poor form to discuss possible build elements before builds are released. As this can affect their originality scores and is generally not always the best idea.

The man speaks truth.

[AMFV]

The man speaks truth.

Albeit in a confusing and rambling way. I should not post from my phone.

[The Gilded Duke]

I had a question about the Summon Shadow ability of the Shadowdancer. It says that your companion shadow gains 2 HD for every 3 levels you take of Shadowdancer. Does this count all of your shadowdancer levels, or just the levels after you gain the companion shadow?

In other words, at Shadowdancer level 3, would you have a 3HD shadow or a 5HD shadow?

[Venger]

I had a question about the Summon Shadow ability of the Shadowdancer. It says that your companion shadow gains 2 HD for every 3 levels you take of Shadowdancer. Does this count all of your shadowdancer levels, or just the levels after you gain the companion shadow?

In other words, at Shadowdancer level 3, would you have a 3HD shadow or a 5HD shadow?

Well, it doesn't really specify on the SRD, but the DMG does manage to muddy things a bit: "For example, a 9th level shadowdancer can have a shadow companion with 6 HD."

while on the one hand that would explain why they reprint "summon shadow" at lvl 6 and 9, their example is a little confusing.

normal shadows have 3 HD, not 2, so a 6th level shadowdancer's shadow would have 5 and then a 9th level shadowdancer's shadow would have 7, not 6, unless it "starts" with 2HD from your first 3 levels of shadowdancer (instead of its 3 racial HD from being a shadow) and then picks up HD after that since your shadow has a few immunities, which would make it add up. as a result, this seems more likely.

this is what happens when you change the rules from 3.0 and don't change the tables as you might guess from the table, in 3.0, a shadowdancer just summoned 3 shadows without the HD stuffs.

from the way I am reading it, you would have a 2HD shadow


does that answer your question?

[OMG PONIES]

Competing, at least for now.

[Amphetryon]

Yay! as promised, I'm going to compete. I had a question about the flavour/fluff/backstory stuff. what is the etiquette on using pre-existing material for this (e.g. if I wrote about the tragic past of bruce wayne for vigilante the last time around) I haven't seen this done and wanted to make sure whether or not it was allowed or not since I didn't want to break any rules my first time around.

We'll generally want to stay away from entirely or largely derivative backstories.

While some similarities between your entrant and pre-existing fictional characters is all but inevitable, highlighting the similarities is often - though not always - harshly judged in Originality.

[dextercorvia]

I'm going to watch this one carefully. If something suddenly springs out of the shadowy recesses of my mind, I will make an attempt. I've always felt like this class had more potential than a 1 level dip.

[Elfstone]

I think im going to throw my hat into the ring for this round. First time. Shadowdancer looks like fun.

[The Gilded Duke]

Already thinking of two builds.

[Hunter Killer]

I have a perfect build that I can whip up but the book is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally obscure. It's actually official Wizards material and also 3.5, however, I'd be surprised if any of you have heard of it.

Can someone who is going to judge let me know if they're docking for obscure material (because I'd rather not bother with it if it'll get me bent over and poked in the Elegance area)?

Furthermore, would Shadow Jump take a Standard Action or a Move Action to use? Looks like it doesn't specify in the ability, so normally that means Standard, but I thought I'd get a second opinion.

[OMG PONIES]

This is the Internet, friend. There are frightening new depths to "obscure." Also, I vote "the Elegance area" for favorite new euphemism.

[Hunter Killer]

I actually have a physically copy. It's one of a type which are all pretty rare. I'd rather not say which one because I found that it is quite easy to get with a quick Google search, and that would give away my plans.

[TroubleBrewing]

This is the Internet, friend. There are frightening new depths to "obscure."

Truly, truly frightening depths.

Welcome to the new chairman, and I'm in for this one.

[Private-Prinny]

Furthermore, would Shadow Jump take a Standard Action or a Move Action to use? Looks like it doesn't specify in the ability, so normally that means Standard, but I thought I'd get a second opinion.

Shadow Jump specifies that it works as if you used Dimension Door, so it takes a standard action and ends your turn. The real question is whether or not you can bring people with you.

[Venger]

I have a perfect build that I can whip up but the book is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally obscure. It's actually official Wizards material and also 3.5, however, I'd be surprised if any of you have heard of it.

Can someone who is going to judge let me know if they're docking for obscure material (because I'd rather not bother with it if it'll get me bent over and poked in the Elegance area)?

exemplars of evil?

you're under no obligation to reveal, of course, it'll just bug me. I'll find out eventually

[Dusk Eclipse]

Another problem is that it doesn't specify the effective CL (unless SU abilities have a ruling on that)... and now that killed my first draft for a build... damn

[BillyBobJoe]

I'll try to get a build in for this on time.

[DaragosKitsune]

I think I'll judge again this round. I'll dig up my judging criteria sometime tomorrow.

[Draz74]

Just to clarify: I assume we're interpreting the Summon Shadow ability with "text over table"? Because the SRD Table still uses the 3.0 version of the ability, where you summoned multiple shadows rather than having one Shadow's HD progress.