Shadowblade. Shadowsmith. What?

[Marlowe]

Sorry if this has been brought up before. But just looking at these two ToM PrCs.

Shadowblade. Requires Hide, Move Silently, Bluff. Lots of sneaky abilities. Sudden Strike. Seems like a Rogue-esque class.

Only: Only 2 skill points per level, good Fort saves, poor Ref and Will.

Below that; the Shadowsmith. Requires Crafts skills and some Knowledges. Abilities based around making your own enhanced armour and weapons out of shadow-stuff (to paraphrase the Shadowcaster Handbook: "You know you can just BUY equipment, right?"). Full BAB. Fewer skills than the Shadowblade. It's a Martial Class with a bit of Shadowgishiness.

Only: 6 (six) skill points per level, good Ref saves, poor Fort and Will.

Did somebody mix up the skill points and save progressions here?

[A Tad Insane]

It is ToM, so probably

[gorfnab]

Most likely yes.

If a player in my campaigns wanted to actually take either of the classes I would just tell them to gestalt the two prestige classes together. At that point it might actually be a playable option.

[Troacctid]

Shadowblades are intended to be a little more Fightery, and Shadowsmiths are intended to be a little more Roguey.


Along with the shadowblade, the shadowsmith allows even players uninterested in portraying casters to take advantage of the material presented in this chapter. While the shadowblade is a heavy fighter, however, the shadowsmith is the perfect choice for lighter warriors, rangers, and rogues.

So I'd say it's probably not a mistake.

[Psyren]

Shadowblades are intended to be a little more Fightery, and Shadowsmiths are intended to be a little more Roguey.



So I'd say it's probably not a mistake.

That is belied by the requirements for each though. Shadowblade requires the roguey stuff, while Smith requires the skills a fighter might lean towards (crafting.)

My guess is that the blurb you quoted is also an error.

[Troacctid]

I don't think so. The expected entry for Shadowblade is a Fighter/Rogue multiclass:

Multiclass fighter/rogues are the most common shadowblades, because they possess both the martial ability and the skills necessary.

[Marlowe]

You can meet BAB requirements earlier for Shadowblade by taking Fighter (or other martial) levels, and Fighter bonus feats make the Blind-Fight requirement easier, but it's not necessary to have martial levels at all. All that's required to get in are Bluff and stealthy skills, a feat slot, and a pulse.

I'm not sure if 3/4 BAB, d8 Hit dice, and class features based around surprise and stealth really scream "heavy fighter" to me. The only thing that looks Martial about them is the low skill points.

[Chronos]

It's possible that one designer created the crunch for the class, including getting the skills and saves mixed up, and then another writer was tasked with writing the fluff, and was left trying to reconcile the oddity.

[Psyren]

I don't think so. The expected entry for Shadowblade is a Fighter/Rogue multiclass:

Right, so rogue is intended.

[malonkey1]

You can meet BAB requirements earlier for Shadowblade by taking Fighter (or other martial) levels, and Fighter bonus feats make the Blind-Fight requirement easier, but it's not necessary to have martial levels at all. All that's required to get in are Bluff and stealthy skills, a feat slot, and a pulse.

My Necropolitan Shadowsmith shakes his head in annoyance.

[ZamielVanWeber]

I never noticed that before. That is extremely odd; I honestly don't know what I would make of it if a player asked me about it.

[Marlowe]

It occurs to me that the Shadowsmith needs high ranks in Craft:weaponsmith and armoursmith in order to use its class features properly, so that might explain its very high skill points. But this doesn't explain the business with the saves or why the Shadowblade is left up Skill creek without a skill-point-paddle.