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deephelldragon
2010-05-11, 07:10 AM
So i thought that it would be a fun idea to run a shadow dancing prostitute and i dont know how i would do that so if you could help that would be great i think that being this will help me to do stuff that would other wise be harder to do like assasionating royalty or somthing like that.

Farlion
2010-05-11, 07:15 AM
Look into the Cloaked Dancer PrC from complete Scoundrel, I think that cowers your theme pretty good.

deephelldragon
2010-05-11, 07:29 AM
Do you think that this would help me to do stuff other players would have to do the hard way.

kamikasei
2010-05-11, 07:37 AM
Is this character supposed to be played in a party?

Assassin types have a disadvantage at the table in that they work best alone, using stealth or social manipulation that their allies might hamper. Such a character can work well in solo play or in a game with plenty of downtime where they can complete or lay the groundwork for a job while other characters are setting up their Martial Academy or forging their magical rings or whatever, but in a standard game they're likely to either have nothing to do or hog the spotlight obnoxiously.

What's the intended context here?

HunterOfJello
2010-05-11, 08:26 AM
Dark Template can give you Hide in Plain Sight, without having to go mess around with qualifying for prestige classes.

Greenish
2010-05-11, 08:38 AM
Dark Template can give you Hide in Plain Sight, without having to go mess around with qualifying for prestige classes.Dark template HiPS is weaker than most of the others though, since you can't actually hide in plain sight with it, you need cower.

That said, Assassin is both easier to qualify for and stronger than shadowdancer, though it gets HiPS later. Wilderness rogue (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rogueVariantWilderness Rogue) variant also gets ranger HiPS (and camouflage to make it work), earlier than an actual ranger.

Person_Man
2010-05-11, 11:51 AM
Dark template HiPS is weaker than most of the others though, since you can't actually hide in plain sight with it, you need cower.

Cover or concealment. Concealment is quite easy to get via a variety of magic items and spells. You can also buy the dark template with a magic collar for 20,000gp. The larger point is, Shadowdancer is a weak way to get HiPS.

Ravens_cry
2010-05-11, 12:02 PM
Cover or concealment. Concealment is quite easy to get via a variety of magic items and spells. You can also buy the dark template with a magic collar for 20,000gp. The larger point is, Shadowdancer is a weak way to get HiPS.
20,000 gp or single level dip in a prestige class you will have almost everything you need to qualify for as a sneaky type anyway.
I am not sure I agree with you there, Person_Man

Greenish
2010-05-11, 12:06 PM
20,000 gp or single level dip in a prestige class you will have almost everything you need to qualify for as a sneaky type anyway.
I am not sure I agree with you there, Person_ManThere's the feat tax. Three feats, one of which is decent.

Person_Man
2010-05-11, 01:29 PM
20,000 gp or single level dip in a prestige class you will have almost everything you need to qualify for as a sneaky type anyway.

I am not sure I agree with you there, Person_Man

Shadow Dancer requires Dodge, Mobility, Combat Reflexes, Move Silently 8 ranks, Hide 10 ranks, Perform (dance) 5 ranks. And the class has 3/4 BAB. So you're spending one class level, 2 mostly useless feats, and 5 useless Skill ranks, and potentially a point of BAB. Combat Reflexes is also mostly pointless unless you have a build which depends on AoO. You're also giving up and/or delaying what you would have otherwise gained with an additional level of another class, such as more Sneak Attack, Rogue Special Abilities, Factotum abilities, spell progression (Beguiler, Bard), psionic powers (Psychic Rogue), more/better vestiges (Binder), essentia and soulmelds (Incarnate), etc.

The Collar of Umbral Metamophosis costs 10,800 gp for 10 minutes a day (broken up into one minute segments) or 22,000 gp for the all day version.
It grants Hide in Plain Site, Darkvision, superior low light vision, Cold Resistance 10, +8 Hide, +6 Move Silently (both untyped bonuses), and +10 ft to all modes of movement (again untyped).

You can also get HiPS via Warlock, Dragonfire Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57352), Assassin, Stalker of Kharesh 4, Paladin 6 (Shadow Cloak Knight substitution level from web enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060327a)), and a dozen other methods.

So while I respect the desire to play any class for fluff reasons, I think it's clear that there are more efficient methods of getting HiPS. I'd also point out that a Wand of Swift Invisibility is even cheaper and essentially a superior version of HiPS against everyone who doesn't have Blindsight/True Seeing/etc. And that using Hide (or sneaky tactics in general) during combat basically just prevents enemies from attacking you for a certain period of time. It doesn't prevent enemies from attacking your other party members. So you're just temporally shifting the danger to them.