I am working a Fetchling gloomblade SHadowdancer.
Gloomblades receive a Shadow Weapon (Su) ability...with this change to fighter class:
"This replaces the fighter’s armor training and proficiency with heavy armor and shields (he retains proficiency in light and medium armor)."
If I take-
Armor Proficiency (Heavy) Type: Combat Requirements: either
( profwitharmor: TYPE.Medium at least 1, at least 1 Armor Proficiency ( Medium ) FEAT )
Description: You are skilled at wearing heavy armor. Benefit: When you wear a type of armor with which you are proficient, the armor check penalty for that armor applies only to Dexterity- and Strength-based skill checks.
-at level five I regain the armor prof without losing the Shadow Weapon, as it does not state any ability will be lost taking this feat or even wearing Heavy armor when not prof with it...correct?
That said, I'm not sure it's a good idea.
You get acrobatics and stealth, dex based skills. You probably want to advance your dex and use those skills because it pairs well with the abilities you get from shadow dancer. You need 13 dex for the feats that are prereqs for shadowdancer, as well as 5 ranks in stealth. And the features of hide in plain sight, etc aren't great if you have a poor stealth skill. You also get evasion, which is only useful if you have a decent reflex save.
All in all, not investing in dex and stealth is a bad idea if you're taking shadow dancer.
And if you're investing in dex, you shouldn't bother will heavy armor.
A mithral breastplate will probably do exactly what you need.
If for some reason you decide you don't want to be a shadowdancer, then yeah I could see ignoring dex and grabbing heavy armor proficiency with a feat.
Thank you....there are lore reasons and character progression; it mostly has to do with the shadow Companion, Shadow Jump and Dimensional Savant reasons.
i DO appreciate your detailed response :}
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
-at level five I regain the armor prof without losing the Shadow Weapon, as it does not state any ability will be lost taking this feat or even wearing Heavy armor when not prof with it...correct?
Well, you don't really regain anything, because you never had heavy armor prof. That aside, what an archytype replaces has no bearing on how it functions. I don't think any ability gets shut down by the existence of proficiency with something, and unless an ability explicitly says it doesn't work while wearing a certain type of armor (or armor in general), it works even in armor the class/archetype does not grant proficiency in.
Indeed, loss of armor proficiency is often used in archetypes to deliberately weaken it, basically making you pay a feat (or a dip) if you want to go strength-based, or suffer lower AC.
You also get evasion, which is only useful if you have a decent reflex save.
It's even worse than that, as Shadowdancer's evasion, like most of them, only works in light or no armor.
Of course, there are ways to make a low dex Shadowdancer work, and not everyone cares about all class features.
I was thinking along the lines of monks that wear armor lose certain abilities etc. thank you for expanding it.
-at level five I regain the armor prof without losing the Shadow Weapon, as it does not state any ability will be lost taking this feat or even wearing Heavy armor when not prof with it...correct?Well, you don't really regain anything, because you never had heavy armor prof. That aside, what an archytype replaces has no bearing on how it functions. I don't think any ability gets shut down by the existence of proficiency with something, and unless an ability explicitly says it doesn't work while wearing a certain type of armor (or armor in general), it works even in armor the class/archetype does not grant proficiency in.
Indeed, loss of armor proficiency is often used in archetypes to deliberately weaken it, basically making you pay a feat (or a dip) if you want to go strength-based, or suffer lower AC.
You also get evasion, which is only useful if you have a decent reflex save.It's even worse than that, as Shadowdancer's evasion, like most of them, only works in light or no armor.
Of course, there are ways to make a low dex Shadowdancer work, and not everyone cares about all class features.