Hello,
At current, the Shadowdancer Prestige Class as mechanically envisioned in PotM is more or less uninspiring. It requires two generally pointless feats for any Dexterity-based characters (
Dodge and
Mobility), and only offers
one element of benefit at its first level, that being
Hide in Plain Sight. Thus, due to Multiclassing rules, no one will take more than five levels in this Prestige class, with the realization that mechanically, those are best saved for last. In light of recent listings of upcoming updates, I have decided to take a good, measured look at this class and decided on what could be done toward its benefit.
First of all, it was this feat that inspired me to write this:
Shrouded Dance
Type of Feat: General
Prerequisite: Hide 12 ranks, Perform 5 ranks.
Benefit: The character can seem to be where he isn't. Once per day, as a free action, he can attempt a DC 30 Hide check. If he succeeds, the character gains 50% concealment for one round and instantly hides in plain sight as if he had the feat.
Use: Selected.
Now, what are the implications of a feat like that being in play, even with increased requirements and DCs? The answer is that Shadowdancer have now lost their only mechanical appeal. If you are a talented player, you generally do not need the
Hide in Plain Sight ability to begin with - corner sneaking will suit just fine for the same purpose, or a bottled black. However, when someone does need
Hide in Plain Sight, they also generally will only need a single use of the ability to turn the tables entirely around on an encounter, or give them the opportunity to escape and retaliate at a later point, be it PvE or PvP. This is why Shadowdancers were good, despite not having much use past five levels. They are a class of exceptional roleplay potential, but are, however, one trick ponies. Their Shadow is pointless, as are the rest of their abilities, plain and simple.
This ability will now be open to every class that can stealth. Even Rangers may reach the Perform requirement with a Rogue dip, or just a cross-class with the current numbers if they really wished the ability earlier than 17 and to be used somewhere other than wilderness. This essentially nullifies a Shadowdancer's existence, and I am very open to debating this point if anyone should wish to.
However, my suggestions, I feel, would make the class more appealing to take for more levels than just five, and they are simple in concept (if not in implementation).
- Remove Dodge and Mobility as requirements, add Blind Fight and Skill Focus: Perform.
- Give Shadowdancers sneak attack progression at levels 1, 5, and 9.
- At level 10, the Shadowdancer will gain access to the Shadowlord feat:
Copies the Shadowdancer's appearance, description, name and weapons (if any) to the Summoned Shadow. The Shadow gains its attached person's ability scores, saves, HP, etc, however it deals no damage. In addition, the Shadow will have its DR increased to 15/+3, and added a regeneration of +3 / round. The Shadow retains its pre-existing immunities and vulnerabilities. - Shift Hide in Plain Sight to level 5 Shadowdancer.
Now for some explanations. For the first point, I feel as if the Shadowdancer roleplay has... very little to do, necessarily, with the afforded quick reflexes. Theirs is an art, a type of sleight of hand and attunement with the plane of Shadow - they are called
dancers for a reason, hence the perform requirement and now,
Skill Focus: Perform. In addition, fighting in darkness, in shade, against their very element, should be as if second nature, hence,
Blind Fight.
The Sneak Attack progression is probably the main reason for why the class is uninspiring in combat. They lose 3d6 of sneak attacks if you take 5 levels. That is a huge margin of damage simply lost. Now, some might argue that it is compensated by the fact that, hey, they can disappear from sight once a round - but they do not always need that. They are weaker in PvE and rely on spamming HiPS to get any damage off in PvP encounters. Thus, if a character takes 9 levels in the class (though with these changes, they'd really want to take 10), they will be at least returned 3d6 out of 5d6 damage lost, rather than none at all. Monks, Rangers, and Bards, as opposed to Rogues, gain plenty of damage modifiers and thus it may be a possibility to make this progression be only if the character has at least 3 Rogue levels, if mechanically possible to implement.
Next, the
Shadowlord. For this point and the next, I have taken very obvious inspirations from a different NWN server, which I think gave this class a wonderful treatment. Although their version is much stronger, this version is still a valid companion and RP tool, able to soak some hits in order to allow the Shadowdancer to escape encounters it can't stealth out of in PvE, or, if we feel like adding a command for the Shadowdancer to
speak through it, become an exceptionally desirable ability to have for roleplay effects.
Moving
Hide in Plain Sight to level 5, I think, is an obvious choice. Player characters already take a minimum of five levels in this class, and giving it to PCs at around level 8 or lower (character) feels a bit cheap to me, especially as it is mostly spammable.
I think that does it for my feedback. If I missed something, please point it out. If you would like to leave suggestions, remarks, critiques, please do so as well.
Thank you for reading.