PrC Contest XXII: Darkness on the Playground

[Magicyop]

Nightbeast



After a time, you come to realize that light is pointless. Unnecessary. Only by rejoicing in the simplicity of the shadows can we achieve power. And only by extinguishing every last spark of light can we achieve happiness.
-Frothor, a Nightbeast

Each person has a shadow. But is the shadow reflecting you, or are you reflecting the shadow? Nightbeasts know that the most real part of a person is their shadow, and that by reveling in darkness, great power can be found. The true face of reality is darkness. All light must be snuffed out.

BECOMING A NIGHTBEAST
Anyone can become a Nightbeast. Spellcasters may lose their way and decide that only by filling the world with darkness can they achieve their goals. Rogues and other stealthy classes are often attracted to the class. To become a Nightbeast, one must complete a complex ritual without any light, proving that they can live forever in the darkness.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +3 or higher
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 4 ranks.
Special: Must undergo a complex ritual taking 48 hours in a place of complete darkness. If any light gets in at any time, you must start the ritual over.
Alignment: Any evil.


Class Skills
The Nightbeast's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (CHA), Hide (DEX), Intimidate (CHA), Knowledge(any) (INT), Move Silently (DEX).
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + int

Hit Dice: d10

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells per Day

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|

+2

|Sightless, Aura of Darkness|—

2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+3

|

+3

|Shadow Specialist +1|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

3rd|

+2

|

+1

|

+3

|

+3

|Midnight Ability|—

4th|

+3

|

+1

|

+4

|

+4

|Quench, Shadow Specialist +2|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

5th|

+3

|

+1

|

+4

|

+4

|Daylight Powerlessness, Pitch Black Heart|—

6th|

+4

|

+2

|

+5

|

+5

|Midnight Ability, Shadow Specialist +3|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

7th|

+5

|

+2

|

+5

|

+5

|Everywhere In The Darkness|—

8th|

+6

|

+2

|

+6

|

+6

|Death of Light, Shadow Specialist +4|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

9th|

+6

|

+3

|

+6

|

+6

|Midnight Ability|—

10th|

+7

|

+3

|

+7

|

+7

|Born Of The Void|+1 level of existing spellcasting class[/table]

Weapon Proficiencies: A Nightbeast gains no proficiency with any weapons or armor.

Spell per day/Spells known At levels 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in one spellcasting class that he already has at least one level in. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one spellcasting class, he must decide to which class he adds each level of Nightbeast for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Sightless (ex): A Nightbeast's vision undergoes rapid changes, allowing them to more deeply dip into the 'real' world. They gain a cumulative -1 on Spot checks every level, but gain clearer vision. At 1st level, they can see through darkness of any sort, magical or otherwise.

At 6th level, they gain Blindsight 20 ft., and the range of their Blindsight increases by 20 ft. every level after that, to a maximum of 100 ft. at 10th level. Also at level 6, their regular vision is destroyed. Spot checks are now impossible. If they are in an area of darkness (apart from their aura, see below) their Blindsight range is doubled. By level 6, they are immune to gaze attacks.

Aura of Darkness (su): The Nightbeast is known for his aura of darkness. A supernatural sphere of shadows surrounds one, rolling like a wave through towns and into the dark crevices of the world. All light is dimmed within 10 ft. per class level, providing partial concealment (20% miss chance) to you and anyone else inside. For the purposes of being defeated by light, this counts as being of a spell level equal to your class level.

Shadow Specialist: A Nightbeast works best in the darkness, as they can see more clearly, and the mysteries of the world seem simpler there. If you are in an area of darkness other than your aura (or it is nighttime), you gain +1 to armor class, attack rolls, damage rolls, skill checks, saves, and spell DCs. In addition, if you are a spellcaster, you may take a special version of any spell which normally uses the [light] descriptor, and make it use the [darkness] descriptor. Effects are otherwise the same except that you channel focused shadow instead of light.

At levels 4, 6, and 8, your bonus increases by a cumulative +1.

Midnight Ability: Each Nightbeast tunes their aura of darkness to their liking. At levels 3, 6, and 9, they may select one effect below. Effects cannot be chosen more than once unless otherwise stated.

Bringing Nightmares: Anything in your aura of shadowy darkness must make a will save or be shaken as long as they remain within and for 1d4 rounds after. Anything within your area of pure darkness must make a will save or be frightened as long as they remain within and for 1d4 rounds after. Save DC is equal to (10 + 1/2 class level + cha modifier) If the creature is an ally of yours and has known you for at least a month, you may opt to exclude them from this effect. Anything that succeeds on their save is immune to your fear effect for 24 hours.

Servant Darkness: Anything you designate an ally gains 1/2 your shadow specialist bonus while inside your aura.

Teeth In The Night: Your aura is home to many indistinct creatures of the night. These attack anything in your aura, dealing 1 damage per turn. You may opt to not attack certain things. You may take this ability more than once, increasing the damage by 1 each time. Additionally, any living creature vulnerable to the darkness’ damage that begins its turn in a square occupied by the aura of darkness is nauseated for 1 round; a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + cha modifier) negates the effect. Spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a Concentration check (DC 20 + spell level). Using skills that involve patience and concentration requires a DC 20 Concentration check.

Dark Rising: The radius of your aura increases by 50%.

Hour of Supreme Shadow(requires Death of Light): You may block one light of your choosing, despite its level of power. This stops the light from hitting an area of radius 500 ft. * your charisma modifier. This remains for 10 minutes per point of charisma modifier. You may do this 1/day. You may even affect the sun. If blocking the light leaves you in darkness, your shadow specialist bonuses apply.

Tainted Transportation: Shadow has no form, no substance. Once per day, for a number of minutes equal to your charisma modifier, you may increase 1 movement speed of your choosing to 50 feet.

Quench: Any ordinary light your aura of darkness touches is instantly put out. You may also put out magical lights, if your class level is higher than the spell level used to cast the light spell.

Daylight Powerlessness: If directly exposed to daylight, you may take only move actions and the radius of your aura is halved. You are more shadow than flesh, now.

Pitch Black Heart: At the center of your aura of darkness is a shell of utter blackness. While within this, you and anyone else inside gain total concealment. (50% miss chance). The radius of your core is half of your aura of darkness, or 5 ft. per class level.

Everywhere in the Darkness (su): A Nightbeast may disperse and travel along the shadows when they wish. Once per day per point of charisma modifier, they may leave their physical form (also negating their aura) and move into a shadow. For all intents and purposes, they are invulnerable while in the shadow, though a DC 25 spot check will detect that they are in the shadow. They may travel to any shadow which is directly touching the shadow they are in at double their normal movement speed. If any magical light spell touches the square they are in, they take 1d6 damage per level of the spell. If they are in at least a 15' radius patch of darkness, they may return to their natural form.

Death of Light: You are the true bane of all light. Any light quenched by your 'quench' ability can never be relit. If you walk past an archway with two torches, those two particular torches will never blaze again (though they can be replaced with other torches.)

Born of the Void: You leave your physical body behind, it is just holding you back. You become nothing more than your shadow. You are now incorporeal (50% miss chance, you are immune to nonmagical weapons). In addition, your movement speed increases by 10 ft. and your type changes to outsider, gaining all the benefits of that type. However, you suffer severe damage from anything that would upset your darkness-- a spell with the [light] descriptor deals and additional 1d6 damage per spell level, even if it originally did not deal damage. Each turn you heal 1d6 of the damage you have taken from light. You also gain a deflection bonus to AC equivalent to your charisma modifier. When using your 'death of light' ability, from now on, a snuffed out light traumatized the air around it. The space it was extinguished from, for a radius of 5 ft., will remain eternally dark unless effected by a light spell powerful enough that it would defeat your aura of darkness. (at this point, only epic magic).

PLAYING A NIGHTBEAST
You are what small children are afraid of. You disappear, shielding yourself and making yourself more dangerous. It's very hard to kill a shadow. Your job is to confuse the enemy by immersing them in darkness. And snuff out every light that you see.
Combat: A Nightbeast generally tries to keep their enemies disoriented and prevent them from making plans. You have very little to fear, and you can turn the combat around just by being there.
Advancement: Many Nightbeasts are sorcerers. Some continue hiding in the shadows, going into Rogue or even a prestige class like Shadowdancer.
Resources: Nightbeasts may not have many resources. When they try to go into towns to buy anything, people usually run in fear and light all their torches to stave off the darkness.

NIGHTBEASTS IN THE WORLD
Last night, my child woke me up, screaming that everything had gone dark. Tonight, the darkness woke me up on its own. Every light in our home has gone out. None of the candles will light and the torches are completely destroyed. Outside is a broiling wave of shadow, and it's seeping in through the windows. In a moment, everything I hold dear will be swallowed by the night.

Nightbeasts are hated. Since they have no way of suppressing their aura of darkness, simply their appearance usually earns them attack by the city guard. Most of them are evil creatures and commit atrocities which further garners hatred for them.
Daily Life: Something about becoming one with the shadows like this fills you with a great longing to extinguish light. Almost all Nightbeasts desire to put out any light they find and fill the world with darkness. Many Nightbeasts become nocturnal, since night is the time they are most powerful.
Notables: Frothor (NE Human Sorcerer 6/Nightbeast 8) is one of the more gruesome examples of a Nightbeast gone wrong. He drifts like a black cloud of evil into a village, then slowly turns off all its lights and murders each person within, unless they leave the town. He has started in the northern end of his continent and worked his way south, leaving a trail of permanent darkness in his wake. However, he keeps his movements unpredictable to avoid adventurers seeking his destruction. No one knows his true nature, all they know is that the lights in their village went out, and people started dying.
Organizations: Nightbeasts are not organized, usually. Once there was a guild known as the Maw of Night, which united multiple Nightbeasts to form a dangerous, roiling pool of darkness even in the middle of the day. However, such a guild could not go unnoticed for long, and they were soon tracked down by powerful spellcasters with access to the power of light. The Maw was scattered and mostly destroyed.

NPC Reaction
"Dear god! Dear god! It's day, but a cloud just went over the sun, and all the candles went out. It's like something out of a storybook. Nighttime is falling, and it's almost noon."

NIGHTBEASTS IN THE GAME
Nightbeasts may or may not adapt well to group play. The tendency to become psychopathic often fails in a party. Mechanically, their aura of darkness is the biggest issue, their comrades may not want to spend their lifetimes immersed in shadow.
Adaptation: One adaptation of this class might involve being less evil, and simply desiring to live in the darkness. Perhaps a tragic accident made your character blind.
Encounters: Perhaps the local lord has heard rumors of a darkness creeping through sleepy villages. Maybe the PCs campfire goes out when night and brave adventurers become screaming, frightened lunatics.

Sample Encounter
EL 12: The PCs, after a harrowing dungeon crawl, emerge to the surface and head to a local village to rest and re-stock. However, when they get there, the village is completely empty and there isn't a single light lit. Maybe something else came out of the dungeon with them...

Frothor
NE Male Human Sorcerer 6/Nightbeast 8
Init +2, Senses: Listen +6, Spot -17, Blindsight 100 ft.
Languages: Common
AC 20, touch 20, flat-footed (18)
82 hp (14 HD)
Fort +4, Ref +10, Will +13
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Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee Quarterstaff +10 (1d4 bludgeoning)
Base Atk +9, Grp +9
Atk Options
Combat Gear
Spells Prepared
Supernatural Abilities: Aura of Darkness, Everywhere in the Darkness
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Abilities Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 22
SQ
Feats
Skills
Possessions

Work in progress!