PFS - Shadowdancer Advice

[Alwaysafk]

So, I'm thinking of building my favorite home character for society. I'm torn between Slayer - 11 or Slayer 7/Shadowdancer 4.

18 Str
16 Dex
12 Con
10 Int
12 Wis
7 Cha

The play style would be to bounce around with spring attacks, move/stealth->sneak attacking->move/stealth with a reach weapon.

The reason I'm torn between the two is that Shadowdancer may have a lot of table variance. Each GM seems to have their own take on how stealth rules and lighting conditions work. Issues could come up with how hard is it to find dim light to hide in, having the shadow auto-break some scenarios, having an undead (even non evil) may cause the party hardship.

Had anyone played with or GM'd a Shadowdancer? How did things go?

Also, metagame wise, I have an Ioun Stone with Continual Flame CL 11 cast on it on a lvl 7 sheet.

Slayer 11
1. Power Attack, Combat Reflexes
2. Ranger Feat (Mobility)
3. Dodge
4. Combat Trick (Spring Attack)
5. Skill Focus (Stealth)
6. Ranger Feat (Whirlwind Attack)
7. Hellcat Stealth
8. Fast Stealth
9. Critical Focus
10. Evasion
11. Bleeding Critical

Slayer 6/Shadowdancer 4/Slayer 1
1. Power Attack, Combat Reflexes
2. Ranger Feat (Mobility)
3. Dodge
4. Combat Trick (Spring Attack)
5. Combat Patrol(?)
6. Ranger Feat (Whirlwind Attack)
7. Hide in Plain Site, Lunge
8. Evasion, Dark Vision, Uncanny Dodge
9. Fast Stealth, Shadow Illusion, Summon Shadow, Iron Will
10. Shadow Call, Shadow Jump 40 ft
11. Improved Iron Will

[Draki]

My first character for society was a Ninja 7/Shadowdancer 4. Im currently one session from level 12 and here are some of my experiences with it. First off your right the shadow breaks scenarios. Giving the players a way to scout out building or caves that ambushes are supposed to take place in make GM's annoyed to angry and depending on how much u abuse it. You are also correct in that you will get into many arguments over many features of the shadowdancer class.

Dim-light will be a rather big argument as it greatly affects the shadows ability to stealth while scouting and u will have the argument of weather the foes you are sneaking up on would be looking at the ceiling behind them and constantly on guard to spot something that is a shadow. It will come down the the GM you are playing with to how much will be committed to killing your shadow and how harsh he will interpret the rules.

Another argument you will have targets the intelligence of the shadow 6. This is usually the point GM's will use to render your shadow's scouting ineffective arguing that it isn't intelligent enough to know what its looking at, or discern if the creature it is looking at is a demon or a human and if its a human if it is a fighter or a caster. This is probably the argument i have most with GM's and my argument is that many min/maxed characters can have 5 intelligence and will be allowed to function normally and choose what target they want to attack based on what they percieve to be a caster, boss, or minions and it is never a question for them if they are attacking a demon or the person you are supposed to be saving.

For your last question as far as having an undead chilling with you some paladins will have a problem with that. I usually just tell them to detect if its evil or not and being society it doesn't detect as evil. Most players will drop it at that but very few will insist that it is an abomination. Usually the player will warn u that this is how he plays his character. If so it tends to be easier to just have the shadow float in the ground beneath you and when it appears for fights simply have it disappear again and claim ignorance to what it was. If you ever do get that one player that just wants to be a (insert choice words) and attempts to attack u someone will most likely have reminded everyone that PvP isnt legal and most of the table will quell him. (but you know that his smite evil wont work on your shadow you can fight him from a distance as the shadow saps his strength to nothing and this isn't technically a pk because he is simply at 0 strength and unable to do anything having collapsed under his own strength.

That being said I love this character. There are so many more options that you are able to do when you enter a battlefield. The shadow wrecks havoc on beasts without high intelligence as they will waste fullrounds attacking it and not affecting it. It is awesome having a flank buddy that will always be in the position you want since it can fly though squares and most enemies arn't carrying a magic sword to do damage to it on an AO. Its synergy with control wizards is amazing as it can attack through spells most people can not such as aqua sphere and icy prism. He makes retrieve alive missions easier as you can sap the strength of something but not kill it but ensure they are helpless. And hide in plain sight is always a blast. Shadowdancer isn't a broken class its just vastly different with the companion you get compared to other creatures you can receive. A shadow dancer is alot of fun especially when u have the right group and I recommend giving it a try.