So the latest AP dropped yesterday, and it has a lot of quite nice PC options in the Shadow Plane chapter. This thread is to discuss them. They include:
Mystic Connection (Shadow)
Soldier Fighting Style (Gloom Runner)
Feats
Spells
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1. Mystic Connection (Shadow)
It's good! Did you want a ninja magician who constantly stealths away from harm? Because you're getting one.
Associated Deities: Eloritu, Lao Shu Po, Zon-Kuthon. LSP finally gets a second connection, and Eloritu keeps adding more and more.
Associated Skills: Intimidate and Stealth. There's a way to make both of these bonuses double via your connection powers, and there's a feat to make demoralization a move action.
Bonus Spells
1st - Gloom Mote: makes a patch of 5' dim light, lowers all other light within 20' by 1 step. Since you need dim light to make your connection powers work, this is great. Rounds/level, though.
2nd - Paranoia: From Signal of Screams #1. Target has to treat everyone as an enemy, including taking all AoO it can, become shaken if adjacent to 2+creatures. Meh unless you know you can get some friend AoOs to trigger.
3rd - Umbral Tendrils: It's the new black tentacles. Entangle and do some minor damage.
4th - Shadow Jump: Move action teleport to any patch of dim light darkness you can see. With concentration you can keep it going a few rounds and do several hops.
5th - Shadow Body: From Signal of Screams #1.Incorporeal for defensive purposes, total concealment in dim light, some other benefits like ignoring difficult terrain or climbing walls.
6th - Shadow Walk.
Connection Abilities
1st - Shadow Infusion: Darkvision, or extra range if you already have it. (Note that there's a feat to upgrade natural Darkvision to See in Darkness). You also double your connection bonus to stealth if you're able to stealth due to dim light or darkness, i.e. you aren't observed with darkvision.
3rd - Shadow Shroud: 1 RP and a move action gets you shrouded in dim light for 1 minute. Darkvision can't see through it, so double that stealth score all the time and enjoy that 20% miss chance.
6th - Shadow Weaver: If you're concealed in dim light or darkness, you can go invisible in 1 minute increments per level. Nice to get a Technomancer toy.
9th - Shadow Puppet: Twice per day (more if you use RP) you can cast 3rd level Holographic Image (plus with speech) if you're under the effects of Shadow Weaver or Shadow Blend (the next ability; I think they may have meant Shadow Shroud, though). Another nice Technomancer trick.
12th - Shadow Blend: When successfully hidden or invisible in dim light or darkness, you can't be found with blindsense, blindsight, or see through. (See Invisibility would work, but you'd still get your normal boosted stealth check.) Additionally, you can make noise or speak without pinpointing your location; they know which patch of dim light or darkness you're in, but not your square. Finally, when hidden in dim light or darkness you double your connection bonus to Intimidate for both bully and demoralize attempts. Spooky!
15th - Shadow Decoy: If you take damage in dim light/darkness, spend a reaction and 1 RP to halve that damage. You also must move 5', and can move up to half your movement speed, but that counts against your movement next turn. You can stealth to remain hidden after the move, apparently even if you move into bright light.
18th - Shadow Onslaught: Once per day as a presumed standard action and 1 RP, drag everyone within 60' into an isolated Shadow Plane battle arena that otherwise duplicates the features of wherever you were. Your enemies take cold and bludgeoning damage every round, and no one can enter or leave the shadow arena until you end it or round/level are up.
Thoughts
This seems like the most survivable Mystic, as you've got a decent chance to stealth and be undetected by at least some enemies every round. This is definitely true at 15th level when Shadow Decoy comes on line to mitigate big hits and crits.
But I'm sure how practical it is as an infiltrator given your lack of native computers/engineering to overcome obstacles while the rest of your party twiddles their fingers. If sneak attack existed or the divine blessing for Lao Shu Po wasn't so terrible you could maybe try assassination strikes, but no. What you can do is use your sky high stealth and perception to be the party scout. Which is pretty good.
This connection joins Empath as the only one that doesn't offer a connection power to boost or work through your telepathic bond.
This connection has lots of synergies with other stuff. The feat that grants see in darkness is amazing, especially combined with your Shadow Jump spell (teleport at visual range to distant mountains at night, or climb up high with your Force Soles Mk 2 to pick your landing spot). The flash suppressor from Armor to make sniping less punitive works with your stealth boost if you want to go that way. And you'll definitely want the feat that makes demoralize a move action after 12th level when you get the double intimidate bonus. Toss on a vampire voice mod and reliably soften up those single targets before you cast your spells.
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2. Soldier Fighting Style: Gloom Gunner
You've got a connection to the shadow plane that enhances your weapons.
1st - Gloom Weapons: All weapons and melee attacks you make are magic for DR and incorporeal damage purposes. So natural weapons and melee attacks have an answer to ghosts, now.
5th - Shadow Fusion: Free ominous fusion on any weapon you wield. You can affect the same creature more than once in 24 hours with this effect.
9th - Ominous Power: Three good things! First, you can apply your free ominous crit effect on top of any effect the weapon itself has. Second, if you succeed at making a target shaken with your crit, you can spend 1 RP to make it frightened instead. Finally, once per day you can reroll a mind-affecting save that you failed.
13th - Shadow Secrets: Two good things! First, you have a free ghost killer fusion on your weapons, which stacks with your free ominous fusion. Second, on every turn you can choose one of four benefits to apply to your weapon attacks. They are (1) extra 5' reach, (2) double range increment, (3) swift action dirty trick combat maneuver against an enemy you hit, and (4) ignore hardness equal to your soldier level.
17th - Shadow Attack: Spend 1 RP to ignore all cover and concealment for any target you are aware of. Ranged attacks must be within your first range increment. But shoot away at invisible targets, those in darkness, those underwater, or through walls if you have see through or just saw them close that door or duck around a corner.
Thoughts
It's a bit slow (although the 1st level ability is nice if you are a melee/natural weapons build or prefer kinetic weapons), but really takes off at 9th level.
Seems inspired by the gloomblade fighter archetype in Planar Adventures.
I feel Improved Demoralize is going to be very useful and find it's way into a lot of builds. And the new Infusion feat line seems to be designed to improve the new race Kayal.
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3. Feats
Corruption's Gift - If you're using the corruption rules (which you are if you're playing this AP), this feat lets you make the gift, but not stain, permanent. So once your corruption is removed you can keep the benefits. You can take it multiple times.
Improved Demoralize - You can demoralize with Intimidate as a move action. No prerequisites! Good for all those Mystics who have connection bonuses to Intimidate.
Shadow Infusion - Note: This feat is gated by the GM saying you've spent enough time on the Shadow Plane or otherwise have a strong enough connection to justify having it. But, if he lets you, this grants low light vision and darkvision 60'. If you already have darkvision, you instead get see in darkness.
Improved Shadow Infusion - 7th level. As a swift action you gain concealment, even in normal/bright light, as long as those watching can't see through darkness (so no darkvision). Rounds/level per day, doesn't have to be consecutive.
Greater Shadow Infusion - 13th level. As a reaction to damage, go incorporeal for damage reduction purposes. (No damage from nonmagical kinetic, 50% from energy/magic, 100% from ghost touch.) Once per day, plus uses for 1 RP. If it doesn't work (ghost touch) you don't pay.
Thoughts
I haven't read the shadow corruptions in a while, but some were probably worth a feat. But very GM and campaign dependent.
Improved Demoralize is really good, and largely obsoletes one of the Steward archetypes that did the same. Great for envoys and some mystics.
The shadow infusion line has some very strong abilities, with the second and third duplicating some shadow mystic connection abilities. See in darkness can be bonkers for snipers or long ranged combat.
Kayal's Shadow Bending looks useful, pushing concealment to 50% when standing in dim light. Mix that with Improved Shadow Infusion, and you have concealment when you need it. Shadow Infusion mixing with their vision gives the See in Darkness. And mix Greater Shadow Infusion with their Cold and Electricity resistance 5, and now you ignore kinetic while taking a massive chunk off of the energy.
I'm playing a Tiefling Mechanic in Against the Aeon Throne, and eventually hope to play in Signal of Screams with the same character.
Tiefling Fiendish gloom (basically Pathfinder Darkness for 1 minute at a time, 1 + half level times a day) plus even just the first Shadow Infusion feat seems good.
The Gloom Gunner's 5th level ability really pales vs. the Shock & Awe soldier (and I think the Star Knight?) who just gets to slap demoralize on a non-crit attack. The other stuff seems fun though.
Unless you are specific using it to get your natural attacks working against DR/magic and incorporrality, the Gloom Gunner feels to me like you don't even get a fighting style until 9.
Anyone using weapons can easily have no problem with bypassing that DR and affecting incorporeal enemies from character creation onward, and a free fusion that is an effect only on critical hits is... technically not useless, but the next best thing.
The level 9 and up abilities are good, but that's pretty far into your career.
4. Spells
Borrow Corruption: 4th level, Mystic/Technomancer. Touch a willing creature suffering a corruption, SPEND 2 RP!, and get their corruptions gifts AND STAINS for...rounds/level. LMAO. I need to reread the shadow corruption, they MUST be better than I remember. Don't they?
Gloom Mote: 1st level, Mystic/Technomancer. Creates dim light in one square, and lowers other light conditions by one level out to 20'. Medium range, can move 60' as a move action, rounds/level. Good for Shadow connection Mystics (who get it free), situationally useful for others to create some darkness/dim light against enemies who lack vision enhancements.
Shadow Jump: 4th level, Mystic/Technomancer. You and objects touched (not allies) can teleport as a move action to any dim/dark square you see within close range. It has a duration of concentration, up to 1 +1/3 level rounds, so when you first get it you have 4 rounds and up to 7 move actions to leap frog through dark/dim areas. Since you don't have a standard action while concentrating I'm not sure how useful that ongoing maneuverability really is. Bad for technomancers who have better options, good for shadow mystics, mediocre for other mystics.
Slithering Chain[i]: 1st level, Mystic only. Ranged trip attack, bonus is CL + key ability score + 4, so pretty good. If they're tripped they also have to save against 1d4 rounds of Shaken. You can also cast it as a full round to make two trip attacks against two different targets.
This would be a fantastic ranged support to your melee buddies, but they forgot to include the range in the spell description. Oops. Close, probably?
[i]Umbral Tendrils: 3rd level, Mystic only. It's Starfinders version of Black Tentacles. 20' spread, medium range. Creates difficult terrain, and unless you make a will(!) save you're entangled and take 4d6 damage per round. Initial save makes you never entangled, and take 1/2 or 1/4 damage the rest of the duration, depending on subsequent saves.
One really nice thing about this is that it has a +2 DC if cast in dark/dim light conditions.
Thoughts
Not much here for the Technomancer. Some nice battlefield control and weak mobility/teleportation for the Mystic. Hopefully we get a range for Slithering Chain soon.
Looks at yet another set of marginal-to-useless spells for technomancers...
Makes me sad that Black Tentacles Umbral Tendrils doesn't appear on the Technomancer list, but TBH it doesn't seem like a particularly good control spell or damage spell in any case. I'm still waiting for Paizo to start publishing some solid damage and control spells for the technomancer. Surely they will, eventually?
3. Feats
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Improved Demoralize - You can demoralize with Intimidate as a move action. No prerequisites! Good for all those Mystics who have connection bonuses to Intimidate.
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This is AMAZING! I was just about to write a post asking why on earth this talent wasn't included in the Core Rule Book, as it makes perfect sense!
I am so happy to find out it formally exists, I am going to give it to a PC of mine even though I don't have Signal of Screams yet.
Thank you!!