Shadow Blade Assassin (D&D 3.5 PRC)

[Frog Dragon]

Shadow Blade Assassin

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6264/shadowwarrior4.jpg

Shadow Blade Assassins are sneaks who use their knowledge of the Sublime Way to augment their skills. Many Shadow Blade Assassins are unscrupulous characters or killers for hire though some are benevolent. All use shadow to achieve their goals and no matter their motives, few care for the ways used to achieve their goals

Prequisites
Feats: Shadow Blade
Maneuvers: One Shadow Hand Stance. One Shadow Hand Maneuver. Ability to initiate third level maneuvers
Class Features: Sneak attack 2d6 (You must have the actual class feature. Any temporary sneak attack ability like Assassin's Stance doesn't qualify )
Profiencies: Profiency with all martial melee weapons
Skills: Hide 10 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks, Sleight of Hand 6 ranks

Skills: A Shadow Blade Assassin gains 6 Skill Point (+ Int mod) per level
A Shadow Blade Assassin's skill list is as follows.
Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Local) Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), Use Rope (Dex)

HD: d8
SHADOW BLADE ASSASSIN
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+2|Sneak Attack +1d6, Acrobat

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+3|Shadow Blade Recovery, Shadowport

3rd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+3|Sneak Attack +2d6

4th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Shadowfade

5th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Sneak Attack +3d6, Darken the Way

6th|
+4|
+2|
+5|
+5|Sublime Sneak

7th|
+5|
+2|
+5|
+5|Sneak Attack +4d6,

8th|
+6|
+2|
+6|
+6|Twin Augment

9th|
+7|
+3|
+6|
+6|Sneak Attack +5d6

10th|
+7|
+3|
+7|
+7|Sublime Assassin[/table]

Weapon and Armor Profiency
A Shadow Blade Assassin gains no additional weapon or armor profiencies

Class Features

Maneuvers
at first level choose an existing meneuver class to stack with this class. So you could have a Rogue 5/Swordsage 4/ Shadow Blade Assassin 10 and have an initiator level of 16,5 for both Swordsage and Shadow Blade Assasin maneuvers. You can also use Shadow Blade assasin readied maneuvers to ready maaneuvers from you other maneuver classes, though not the other way around.
Shadow Blade Assassins have the indicated number of maneuvers at any given level. The total number is shown. It includes all previous meneuvers.
You may chosoe maneuvers known from the Shadow Hand maneuvers list.

Level|Augments Known|Maneuvers Known|Maneuvers Readied|Stances Known
1.|0|0|0|0
2.|1|1|0|0
3.|1|1|0|0
4.|2|2|1|1
5.|2|3|1|1
6.|3|3|2|1
7.|3|4|2|1
8.|4|5|3|1
9.|4|5|3|2
10.|5|6|4|2

Augments
Augments allow you to channel myriad abilities to your maneuvers, making them more potent.
All augments known are usable once per encounter.
To use an augment you specify using it while initiating a Shadow Hand maneuver. The strike gains the bonuses of the augment as well as it's normal bonuses. You may only use one augment per maneuver until you get Twin Augment. The save DC for any Augment is 10+Class Level+Int Mod
Note. You pick augments from the list. You do not automatically know them all. Refer to the table for amount of augments known

Augments (Su)

Shadow Hand Stun
Your knowledge of ths sublime way and your ability to hit the weak spot allow you to stun enemies.
Target must make a fortitude save of be stunned for one round

Shadowed Strike
As you strike you are surrounded by black mist and smoke making you hard to hit
Yoy gain concealment for two rounds

Force Shadow
You strike and the light stings your enemy, attuning to shadow
Your enemy is affected by light blindness (as per the drow racial trait) for two rounds unless (s)he succeeds in a Fortitude save

Shadow Sickness
Shadow engulfs your target sickening him/her
The target must make a Fort Save or be nauseated for two rounds

Shadow Winds
Shadow flows from your blade all around you as you strike
Every creature withing 30 of you, excluding ones in your square, are affected by Shadow Winds. It deals 1d6 negative energy damage per class level. Reflex save for half

Shadowsword
Your blade channels negative energy into your target, weakening him/her
The target must succeed on a Fort save or take one negative level that persists for 24 hours

Darkness
Your strike fills the area with imprenegrable darkness.
An effect equal to the darkness spell appears, centered on you for 1 round/level. The Shadow Blade Assassin can see through it.

Shadow Attune
Shadow engulfs you vision as you maneuver, aiding it
Gain Darkvision out to 60 feet for 2 rounds/level. If you already have Darkvision increase it's range by 60 feet




Sneak Attack (Ex)
This is exactly like the rogue ability of the same name. The extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 every other level (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th). If a Shadow Blade Assassin gets a sneak attack bonus from another source the bonuses on damage stack.

Shadow Blade Recovery (Ex)
Once per encounter when you succesfully sneak attack, you may automatically regain one Shadow Hand maneuver.

Sublime Sneak (Ex)
once per day for every 2 class levels you may add your initiator level to your sneak attack damage.

Sublime Assasin (Ex)
As Sublime Sneak except that now it deals 2x initiator level worth of bonus damage.

Twin Augment (Ex)
You may use two augments on the same maneuver

Shadowport (Su)
You may use dimension door once per day when in a shadowed area. The maximum range this ability travels is 30ft

Shadowfade (Su)
When in shadowed area you may become ethereal for 5 minutes per day. It may be divided as wanted. if you go out of shadow, the effect is automatically dismissed

Acrobat (Ex)
A Shadow Blade Assassin gains a +10ft enhancement to speed and a +4 competence bonus on, jump, climb, balance and escape artist checks

Darken the Way (Su)
Five times per day, over the course of ten minutes you may affect the illumination of an area. The area turns into a low-illumination area for six hours when using this. The effect is extremey subtle and you must make a will save against a DC 10 + class level + Cha mod







Comments? I personally find it came out OK though if anyone can point any glaring balance flaws I'll be happy.

Also the picture isn't mine. I just found it.

I was aiming for an Initiator/Rogue mix class that synergizes its abilities.

[ErrantX]

Okay, first off: I absolutely love the picture. It's awesome.

Now on to business. Entry requirements: Put some skill requirements, like 10 ranks of Hide and 10 ranks of Move Silently, 5 ranks of Intimidate or Bluff. I'd also recommend dropping Diplomacy from the skill list (they don't seem like the friendly sort) and replacing it with Knowledge (local) as they should know the people who can employ them. The weapon requirements shouldn't be there either, I'd simply say you need to be proficient with martial weapons. That pretty much necessitates needing a martial adept class or something comparable. I'd replace it with Weapon Focus (any Shadow Hand weapon). The sneak attack entry is steep, I feel, I'd drop it to 2d6 myself. But to each either would be okay I guess.

Next up, lets talk maneuver progression. I think you have too little maneuvers know, too many readied, and too many stances. In a 10 level prestige class like this, I'd give it a new maneuver every even level, a new readied maneuver at 3, 6, and 9, and a new stance at 3 and 8. This puts it more in line with published materials. I approve of the class' focus on Shadow Hand, puts it more like Deepstone Sentinel and Bloodclaw Master, but keep in mind: they're only 5 level classes. You may want to put an additional discipline in there, like Diamond Mind, but I wouldn't say its necessary.

Sneak attack progression is fine, but I have to say that Shadow Blade Recovery is just way too strong. A halfway decent player will never run out of maneuvers. (As an aside, a possible loophole in this class is Assassin's Stance (as it gives +2d6 sneak attack), a rogue 1 / swordsage 5 can qualify.) It's just too easy to get a sneak attack off. A build with Improved Feint can be monstrous to a more stationary target. Feint as move, sneak attack while using a maneuver, recover that maneuver; rinse and repeat. I can't really think of an easy fix for it, unfortunately, my only recommendation is just to remove it. Perhaps limit it to once per encounter? Recovery abilities like this work fine if they expendable abilities like turn undead or bardic music, not with passive abilities like sneak attack. Or replace it with the assassin class' death attack.

Augments are a cool idea, but you may want to specify that they have to pick from the list and that they are learned almost like maneuvers. They don't automatically have access to all of them, if I'm reading your class right. If that's the case, you should specify that. But I do like the augments, none of them really jump at me as overbalanced, but I'd put a level requirement on a couple of them.

I'd change Sublime Sneak to work once per day for every 2 class levels and start it lower in the class myself, and have Sublime Assassin simply do it's doubling effect.

All in all, a very promising class that could use some tweaks and reworks to bring it in line for a bad ass sublime assassin. Very good ideas here.

Cheers,
-X

[Frog Dragon]

I made some changes. I changed the maneuver progression and prequisites a bit. Also the class features (sans augments) have gone through minor revamps. I didn't see what to give the level requirement to.

Also the fourth level might seem like it's dead on the first glance, but it's not. You get a new stance, a new augment, a new maneuver known and a new readied maneuver. It's actually a very good level to be a Shadow Blade Assassin.

[ErrantX]

Looks a lot better Frog Dragon.

I did however make a mistake in my recommendation in so far as martial weapon profs, in that swordsages only get all martial melee weapons. You may want to revise that a little, so that way rogues would either have to dip swordsage or warblade/fighter (w/ martial study feats) to do this.

Otherwise, looks a lot better :)

-X

[Mr.Moron]

I like it, it reminds me of something I had rolling around my head (actually seeing this thread inspired me to finish it up).

There are some formatting issues that could use some cleaning up, however that's minor. You should clarify which abilties are (Ex) & (Su).

Augments:

"Darkness"
Non-Magic Darkness strikes me as wonky, but it's a minor quibble. Also, how long does this last? It probably wouldn't hurt to let the Shadowhand Assassin see through it normally.

"Shadowed Strike"
Feels out of place, given there is an AoE-darkness augment, a blindness augment, and Child of Shadow is a 1st level Shadow Hand stance. If you're a Shadowhand Assassin, you've already got enough in the way of concealment abilties

Not even considering any magic items, or allied spells you may have to deal with the issue.

"Force Shadow"
"Light Blindness" as far as I know, is not actually a condition. If this is different from normal blindness, it should be clarified.

"Shadow Sickness"
Feels somewhat weak compared to the other augments.l think nausea would probably be a more appropriate effect, given the level of the other abilties.

I tend to dislike save-negates abilities, they just feel to frustrating the user. Perhaps some kind of minor effect even on a save is in order, just to keep the resources feeling useful all the time. I don't even think you'd have to touch the main abilties to make the adjustment. Given how many effects in the game have Fortitude(Partial) with stronger base affects, it's no big deal.

Full BaB on a class based on Swordsage & Rogue abilties (both 3/4ths classes) seems like a funny decision. I don't think it's overpowered, rather it's just putting the power in the wrong place. Thematically, I think this class is screaming to tie into the Shadow Hand school's teleporting abilties. I'd personally recommend dropping the BaB down, and throwing in some abilties related to mobility/stealth.

[ErrantX]

Full BaB on a class based on Swordsage & Rogue abilties (both 3/4ths classes) seems like a funny decision. I don't think it's overpowered, rather it's just putting the power in the wrong place. Thematically, I think this class is screaming to tie into the Shadow Hand school's teleporting abilties. I'd personally recommend dropping the BaB down, and throwing in some abilties related to mobility/stealth.

Hmm... the more I think on this, the more I agree with Mr.Moron and second his opinion, especially on the Shadow Hand teleporting abilities.

-X

[Frog Dragon]

I dropped the BaB down to medium and added the Acrobatic, Shadowport, Shadowfade and Darken the Way abilities

Also added the (Ex) (Su) thingys

[Cieyrin]

Great Pic for the PRC, i loves it! XD

The only gripe I have is with the Darkness Augment, which makes no sense. It's a supernatural ability, by definition "magic". You're not going to be able to pull the augment as an Extraordinary ability, either, as creating darkness out of nowhere isn't non-magically possible and Shadowhand in general is a very supernaturally powered Style.

[Frog Dragon]

Umm.... I put (Su) after the Augments line before the spoiler.... and I did it before your post. Or were you just undermined by the server? (I had to
retry thrice before my edit got through.)

[Agrippa]

I think that this is a very promising prestige class. The class abilities, namely the augments, while powerful aren't over the top. I just have one question though, where did you get that picture?

[Trodon]

i would also like to know where you found the picture

[peacenlove]

i would also like to know where you found the picture

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6264/shadowwarrior4.jpg
right click on the image and select "properties" or "image properties" (my Vista is greek so i cant be sure)

[Trodon]

sweet thanks

Edit: oh and btw amazing class i want to use it in a game

[PrinceOfThieves]

Nice class. Also, thank you for providing me with a picture of my longest running D&D character. I do appreciate it.

[LunarWolfPrime]

I have a question about the Augments that effect the Shadow Blade Assassin.
What is the duration of those augments, I know Shadowed Strike is explained clearly, but these are the ones I am wondering about:

Darkness
Your strike fills the area with imprenegrable darkness.
An effect equal to the darkness spell appears, centered on you. The Shadow Blade Assassin can see through it.

Shadow Attune
Shadow engulfs you vision as you strike, aiding it
Gain Darkvision out to 60 feet. If you already have Darkvision increase it's range by 60 feet

[Frog Dragon]

Darkvision doesn't go through the Darkness spell effect.

[Trodon]

I have a question about the Augments that effect the Shadow Blade Assassin.
What is the duration of those augments, I know Shadowed Strike is explained clearly, but these are the ones I am wondering about:

Darkness
Your strike fills the area with imprenegrable darkness.
An effect equal to the darkness spell appears, centered on you. The Shadow Blade Assassin can see through it.

Shadow Attune
Shadow engulfs you vision as you strike, aiding it
Gain Darkvision out to 60 feet. If you already have Darkvision increase it's range by 60 feet

he is wondering how long they last

[Frog Dragon]

.....I always forget durations:smallannoyed:...