Shadow Creature Template: Acquired or Inherited?

[VGLordR2]

Hey, guys. I was looking at the Shadow Creature Template, and I can't figure out if it is acquired or inherited. I don't see anything in the entry that specifies which it is. Does anyone know?

[Steward]

Do you mean the shadow creatures from Lords of Madness? The way it's worded, I always assumed that it was an inherited trait.

[VGLordR2]

I wasn't aware that the template could be found anywhere else. Does the text specifically say that it is inherited, or is that what your best assumption is?

[Demonic_Spoon]

The Shadow Template also appears in Manual of the Planes, I'd say it's inherited, since you're native to the shadow realm, and that presumably only happens if your born there. So if you imported some cattle to the shadow realm and those cattle then made calves, those would presumably be Shadow Calves.

To the best of my knowledge however neither version explicitly states that it is inherent or acquired.

[Steward]

It can be found in Lords of Madness and the Manual of the Planes, and the way those are worded (describing the creatures as natives to the Plane of Shadow and extraplanar beings, rather than as Material Plane creatures that have been converted into shadow in some way).

Here's the thing though: the Dark Template from Tome of Magic is explicitly stated to be a streamlined version of the Shadow Creature template, designed to be more easily applied to base creatures without having to do a lot of extra math. And, unlike the other template, it has this line:


“Dark” is an acquired or inherited template that can be added to any creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

It sounds to me like it would work both ways, but only if you/your DM allows in Tome of Magic and accepts the idea that the Dark template is interchangeable to the Shadow template.