Dark vision and a sneaky swordsage

[Rev.Scarecrow]

I have been working on making a human swordsage focusing on being sneaky. So dark vision would be good. I have the feats Intuitive Attack (wisdom based guy), adaptive style, and Aberration Blood: Flexible Limbs.

Now I'm getting Aberration Blood: Flexible Limbs for the feat that gives dark vision. Is there a better path? I don't plan to do multi classing so I guess dwarf would work but I like the Aberration Blood path... I guess I should ether be a dwarf or suck it up that I can't sneak well until level 6 or so when I get dark vision (10'). I'd also like to get the flying (starspawn) feat. The things is that I also wanna get this feat called able learner which would really help with some cross class skills I'm working with. So I have a solution but there have to be better ways of getting it and that's what I'm looking for really.

The classes I'm taking are assassin and swordsage. Prestige classes are fine but I'd like to avoid taking like 20 levels in them to get there.


So in summary what are some good ways of getting dark vision aside from what I already said.

[Anonanimal]

Goggles of night give you darkvision, but they run at 12,000 gp.

[SurlySeraph]

Goggles of Night (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#gogglesofNight) are always good.

Some builds benefit from the Blindfold of True Darkness (in the Magic Item Compendium), which gives you Blindsight in a good radius at the cost of actual sight when you're wearing it.

You could take a level in Warlock for the Devil's Sight invocation, which gives you darkvision.

Abberation Blood has some good things. Deepspawn is great for a sneak attacker. Deepspawn + Inhuman Reach + Spiked Chain + Improved Trip, etc. = awesome shenanigans.

I wouldn't recommend Starspawn as a top choice, since it's more for frontline fighter types (since it's keyed off Constitution). But it's certainly not bad, and if you want it go for it.

[ghashxx]

For combat then a wand of darklight is amazing. It's a 3rd level spell out of the spell compendium that makes a 30' radius ball of magical darkness that so long as the caster (in this case you) are inside it then you can see through/out of it. It negates darkvision so really no one else can see through it unless they've got truesight.

[MichielHagen]

There is a race called Underfolk (?) in Races of Destiny (?) i believe. Which is kind of similar to humans. It has the Human subclass and also gets extra skills, but no extra feat. It has Darkvision.

You could also try to convince your DM that because of your background you should have Darkvision and in return you get Light Sensitivity.

[Person_Man]

Do you have any caster in your party? Because Light (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/Light.htm) is a 0 level spell that pretty much everyone has access to. There's also a spell called Ebon Sight or something similar in the Spell Compendium, which gives Darkvision and the ability to see in magical Darkness. Either way, there is no reason you should have to expend resources on Darkvision.

[Yakk]

Light isn't very good if you are being sneaky.

[MichielHagen]

Do you have any caster in your party? Because Light (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/Light.htm) is a 0 level spell that pretty much everyone has access to. There's also a spell called Ebon Sight or something similar in the Spell Compendium, which gives Darkvision and the ability to see in magical Darkness. Either way, there is no reason you should have to expend resources on Darkvision.

Ebon Eyes does not give you Darkvision

[Person_Man]

Light isn't very good if you are being sneaky.

Actually, illumination has no effect on your ability to Hide (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/Hide.htm). All you need is cover or concealment, which can be provided in dozens of different ways.

If you don't like the Light spell for fluff reasons, you can cast Darkness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/darkness.htm) instead. It creates an area if shadowy illumination, which you can see in. But it also provides concealment, and thus you can use it as a trigger for Hide as well. The 20% miss chance can be negated with Pierce Magical Concealment (which is useful for a variety of different things).

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Tome of Magic gave us the Dark template. +1 LA, but generally considered worth it for sneaks just for the HiPS, not to mention the move speed +10, and the hide/move silently bonuses. Darkvision rarely is mentioned as one of the reasons the template is awesome, but it is.

[Stegyre]

How about Otherworldly, from PGtF?
It makes you a native outsider, which brings with it a few other benefits, in addition to dark vision: not affected by "humanoid"-targeting spells, weapon proficiency.
By RAW, it's a regional feet for elves, spirit folk an deep imaskari, but particularly if you're not playing in Faerun, see if you can't get the DM to handwave those away.

[Rev.Scarecrow]

Goggles of Night (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#gogglesofNight) are always good.

Some builds benefit from the Blindfold of True Darkness (in the Magic Item Compendium), which gives you Blindsight in a good radius at the cost of actual sight when you're wearing it.

You could take a level in Warlock for the Devil's Sight invocation, which gives you darkvision.

Abberation Blood has some good things. Deepspawn is great for a sneak attacker. Deepspawn + Inhuman Reach + Spiked Chain + Improved Trip, etc. = awesome shenanigans.

I wouldn't recommend Starspawn as a top choice, since it's more for frontline fighter types (since it's keyed off Constitution). But it's certainly not bad, and if you want it go for it.
Not bad I don't really mind not flying far but it will help slow falls and getting across small gaps that I couldn't normally jump. Plus I have freaking wings and that's awesome.


There is a race called Underfolk (?) in Races of Destiny (?) i believe. Which is kind of similar to humans. It has the Human subclass and also gets extra skills, but no extra feat. It has Darkvision.

You could also try to convince your DM that because of your background you should have Darkvision and in return you get Light Sensitivity.

Underfolk wouldn't be that bad really I would miss the extra feat but dark vision is a pretty decent trade. Better than dwarf since you don't lose the extra skill points.


Light isn't very good if you are being sneaky.

Exactly the enemies will see a glowing thing floating around which needs to be checked out.


Tome of Magic gave us the Dark template. +1 LA, but generally considered worth it for sneaks just for the HiPS, not to mention the move speed +10, and the hide/move silently bonuses. Darkvision rarely is mentioned as one of the reasons the template is awesome, but it is.

I hate level ajustments but that looks pretty awesome maybe it might be worth it. I need to do some number crunching to see how bad the level adjustment will effect leveling.


How about Otherworldly, from PGtF?
It makes you a native outsider, which brings with it a few other benefits, in addition to dark vision: not affected by "humanoid"-targeting spells, weapon proficiency.
By RAW, it's a regional feet for elves, spirit folk an deep imaskari, but particularly if you're not playing in Faerun, see if you can't get the DM to handwave those away.

I talked to my DM he says that only elves (I assume half elves too) can get that or the races it mentioned. Which is ok with me.

[MichielHagen]

I hate level ajustments but that looks pretty awesome maybe it might be worth it. I need to do some number crunching to see how bad the level adjustment will effect leveling.


You can also gain the Dark Template with an item. Umbral Collar or so? check the items section in the same book. It costs 10k for a limited item, 22k for a continuous item if i am correct. The extra bonuses are well worth it.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I hate level ajustments but that looks pretty awesome maybe it might be worth it. I need to do some number crunching to see how bad the level adjustment will effect leveling.

Hit level 3, pay 2000 XP, and buy off the LA, if your DM lets you.

Then you never need to worry about it again.

[Harperfan7]

What book do the abberant blood and starspawn feats come from?

[starwoof]

What book do the abberant blood and starspawn feats come from?

Lords of Madness. There are a whole lot of sweet 'Aberrant Bloodline' feats there. I'm really partial to water spawn.:smallbiggrin:

[mostlyharmful]

Belt of Dwarvenkind is rockin good value at 14900gp. +2 Con, Darkvision, +2 saves versus things that matter.... good stuff.