I've been dabbling around with a shadowblade class lately. I think I have a solid foundation for it now, but I'm wondering if anyone has ideas for higher level abilities.
The spell list isn't set yet, that's why it's not on the page. But they'll get mostly Illusion and Transmutation spells.
It draws inspiration from the Sandman archetype, the plain old bard, the Beguiler from 3.5, and the Shadow Assassin from Super Genius Games.
Also the TES III: Morrowind Nightblade.
Stealthy Lineage (Ex): The shadowblade adds half her level, minimum 1, to Stealth checks. In addition, her shadowblade levels stack with sorcerer levels to determine the power of abilities from the Shadow or Umbral bloodlines. This does not grant her additional abilities from the bloodline and only serves to determine the power of the abilities from those bloodlines that she already possesses.
It just feels... remarkably specific. Not the type of ability I expect to see on a base class, y'know? I'm also a little worried about how high such a character's Stealth can get, if NO NPC EVAR can see them, that can be an issue.
Cool stuff, though. I like it in general.
I agree that it is remarkably specific, but the idea is that the shadows have chosen her, or something like that. She's a Thief / Sorcerer, really. Hence why it stacks for those specific bloodlines. I could just throw that in a sidebar saying "Yo GMs, consider this...". That's probably a better way of doing it.
A level 3 wizard can cast Invisibility on herself to get +20 to Stealth while moving, and this maxes out at 10 at level 20.
Plus, she can just cast Vanish / Invisibility on herself.
It didn't feel right that someone based on shadows didn't get some innate ability to be better at sneaking.
Thanks for the comments though! If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Ayeee! It's moving!
First time I have seen Google Docs adding changes made by the author in real time :D
I wasn't kidding about work in progress!
I've made it so it can be used as a base class for both Shadowdancer and Arcane Trickster, by adding talents.
If a shadowblade wants to get into Arcane Trickster, she can do so by taking Sneak Attack talent at 2nd and 6th level.
Shadowdancer is similar, but can take talents for Dodge / Mobility.
Maybe switch it up a bit. Umbral Blade at 1st, mw at 3rd, +1 at 5th, +2 at 9th, +3 at 13, +4 at 17th, +5 at 20th. Beginning at 7th level, get +1 abilities, +2 at 11th, +3 at 15th, +4 at 19th.
Smilo: Thanks for the feedback. Your post inspired me to get off my arse and finally make this.
The reason why it doesn't grant weapon enhancements is because SGG found in their playtest that that was unbalancing. Umbralblade is...very heavily...inspired by something of theirs. This guy is less martially inclined than their Shadow Assassin, so maybe it's possible that it'd work well with this guy.
I've finally added the spell list. Because of it's strange casting, coming up with a list that worked for the concept but wasn't extremely long was difficult.
Any spell suggestions would be appreciated. Note that when they cast Shadow Conj/Evoc, they choose from the Wizard's spell list.