[3.5] Shadow Sentinel (Remake) - PEACH

[Niezck]

Well I absolutely love playing Illumians, and the concept of the Shadow Sentinels really interests me. However, the class itself is somewhat lacking I find, so I figured I'd try to fix it up best I can.

Please bear in mind this is my first ever real homebrew, so it's most likely very off in terms of power and whatnot. So yeah, PEACH.



Shadow Sentinel

HD: d10

Entry Requirements:

Race: Illumian
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Feats: Weapon Focus (any slashing weapon)
Special: Must pass combat examination from sentinel leaders.

Class Skills: (4+Int modifier per level) Climb, Craft, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (The Planes), Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Spot, Swim, Tumble

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: A Shadow Sentinel gains no proficiencies.

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

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+0

|Umbral Blade +1, Morphic Blade (type), Shadowstrike

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+0

|Elirhondas Elite

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

|Umbral Power (+1)

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|Umbral Blade +2

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|Morphic Blade (Material), Umbral Power (+2)

6th|

+6

|

+5

|

+5

|

+2

|Umbral Blade +3

7th|

+7

|

+5

|

+5

|

+2

|Shadow Drain, Umbral Power (+3)

8th|

+8

|

+6

|

+6

|

+2

|Umbral Blade +4

9th|

+9

|

+6

|

+6

|

+3

|Morphic Blade (Alignment), Umbral Power (+4)

10th|

+10

|

+7

|

+7

|

+3

|Umbral Blade +5, Sentinel of the Citadel[/table]

Class Features:

Umbral Blade (Su): As a new member of the class, you receive an Umbral Blade in an elaborate ceremony conducted in the Tombs of the Brave in Elirhondas. In the henads of anyone not trained in its use, an Umbral Blade is merely a weapon with a +1 enhancement bonus made of some unusualally dark, oily metal. An Umbral Blade may be any kind of slashing melee weapon from a dagger to a longsword to a greataxe; each new Shadow Sentinel can choose the specific weapon. You can infuse the Umbral Blade with the power of shadow itself, unlocking greater powers. Your Umbral Blade acts as a lens, focusing your power to accomplish feats no other weapon can match.
In time your Umbral Blade grows in power as you become more familiar with it. At 4th level your Umbral Blade gains a +2 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls. The enhancement bonus rises to +3 at 6th level, +4 at 8th level and +5 at 10th level. This enhancement bonus only applies when you wield it; for any other character it is only a +1 weapon.
You can't add other special properties to your Umbral Blade except through other class features of the Shadow Sentinel.
You can only have one Umbral Blade at a time. If you lose your Umbral Blade you can transform any slashing melee weapon that has at least a +1 enhancement bonus into a new Umbral Blade (with all the appropriate powers for your class level) by meditating and infusing the blade with the power of shadow. Doing so costs 100XP and takes 24 hours.

Morphic Blade (Su): Even as a beginning Shadow Sentinel, you have rudimentary control over your Umbral Blade. You can change the dimensions of your weapon, turning it into a slashing melee weapon of your choice (sized appropriately for you). This change lasts for 24 hours or until you change the [i]Umbral Blade[i]'s dimensions again, whichever comes first.
At 5th level, you can empower your Umbral Blade to mimic a special material (such as adamantine, silver, or cold iron). This effect lasts for 24 hours or until you change the Umbral Blade's special material again, whichever comes first. Your Umbral Blade retains the normal hardness and hit points for a weapon of its type.
At 9th level, you can empower your Umbral Blade to mimic a specific alignment (chaos, evil, good, or law) for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. This effect lasts for 24 hours or until you change the Umbral Blade's alignment again, whichever comes first. If the weapon has a different alignment (such as granted by your race or subtype), the new one supresses the original alignment for the duration of the effect.

Shadowstrike (Su): As a swift action, you can momentarily turn your Umbral Blade into fluid shadowstuff, enabling you to pierce an opponent's defenses. Your next attack with your Umbral Blade (if made before the start of your next turn) is treated as a touch attack. The attack even ignores any AC bonus from cover (except total cover) that the target may have, since the blade's fluid nature allows it to reach around barriers. This ability is useable once every ten rounds at level one. This duration is reduced by one round for each Shadow Sentinel level gained, until it is useable every round at level ten.

Elirhondas Elite: You are the elite of the great shadow metropolis. As such, Illumians revere you and the Gith fear you more than any other of your kin. You gain a +5 circumstance bonus on all Charisma-based checks involving another Illumian, additionally all Illumians start as friendly toward you.
You also gain Frightful Presence out to 30ft that only affects Githyanki and Githzerai. Any time you perform a dramatic action (usually charging, attacking or making an intimidate check) all Gith within 30ft must make a Will Save (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha mod) or become frightened for 5d6 rounds. A successful save prevents the Gith from being affected for 24 hours.

Umbral Power: As your mastery over your Umbral Blade advances, you learn how to shape your reservoir of shadowstuff to grant your Umbral Blade powerful abilities. At 3rd level, you can give your Umbral Blade a single weapon enhancement of +1 value for 1 minute per class level. At 5th level you may instead grant your Umbral Blade a combination of special abilities equal to +2 or less for 1 minutes per class level. At 7th level you may instead grant up to +3 worth of abilities and at 9th level you may grant up to +4 worth of weapon abilities. Activating this ability is a standard action.

Shadow Drain (Su): At 7th level and higher, each strike from your Umbral Blade against a living creature will permanently drain 2 points of strength. You can drain a maximum amount of strength per creature equal to one-half (rounded up) your class level.

Sentinel of the Citadel: Your life is dedicated to the protection of the metropolis of Elirhondas. As such, you become accustomed to the changing shadowstuff it's composed of. The city itself begins to morph to your will to a very slight degree, recognising you as a protector of the Illumian sanctuary. Your type changes to Outsider (Native). You no longer need to eat or sleep (but may do so if you wish), although you still need to breathe. You gain darkvision out to 60ft. You become immune to ability damage and drain. You gain Blindsense out to 30ft. Additionally, so long as you're in the city of Elirhondas, you always knows your way around the city and you can use the spells Dimension Door and Improved Invisibility at-will with a caster level equal to your HD.

(Just a note: Shadow Drain, Shadowstrike and the Umbral Blade stuff is unchanged. As are skills, requirements, BAB, saves and proficiencies. Elirhondas Elite and Umbral Power are new and replace Shadowbane and Shadowsharp. Morphic Blade has been changed to increase the duration to 24 hours.)

[jiriku]

Not bad, but this is a very conservative attempt at improving an extremely weak class. There's room for considerably more power before you'd need to worry about game balance. Since most of the powers granted are pretty trivial for the level at which they're gained, consider the following set of modifications:

Skills: Add Hide, Knowlege (the planes), Move Silently, and Tumble.

Skill Points Per Level: Increase to 4.

Shadow Points: Eliminate the shadow point system. All powers are usable at will.

Shadowstrike: Activating this power is a swift action.

Elirhondas Elite: Save DC is 10 + 1/2 character level + Cha bonus. This will give you a smoother save DC progression and ensure the ability remains useful even after you max out the Shadow Sentinal class and move on to another class.

Umbral Power: Activing this power is a standard action that automatically dismisses any previous use of Umbral Power that is active on your weapon. The duration is always 5 minutes.

Shadow Drain: This power is always active, and deals 2 points of Strength drain per strike.

[Niezck]

Not bad, but this is a very conservative attempt at improving an extremely weak class. There's room for considerably more power before you'd need to worry about game balance. Since most of the powers granted are pretty trivial for the level at which they're gained, consider the following set of modifications:

Skills: Add Hide, Knowlege (the planes), Move Silently, and Tumble.

Skill Points Per Level: Increase to 4.

Shadow Points: Eliminate the shadow point system. All powers are usable at will.

Shadowstrike: Activating this power is a swift action.

Elirhondas Elite: Save DC is 10 + 1/2 character level + Cha bonus. This will give you a smoother save DC progression and ensure the ability remains useful even after you max out the Shadow Sentinal class and move on to another class.

Umbral Power: Activing this power is a standard action that automatically dismisses any previous use of Umbral Power that is active on your weapon. The duration is always 5 minutes.

Shadow Drain: This power is always active, and deals 2 points of Strength drain per strike.

Wouldn't at-will Shadowstrike be a bit OTT? Don't really have much else to spend swift actions on, so its pretty much constant. Plus, itd be available at level 1.

Ill change the skills now.

As for the Umbral Power - sounds good. Is the progression alright though?

Ill fix Elirhondas Elite.

Wouldn't thr strength drain be a bit much? Full attacking with some extra attack stuff and extra actions could make that so horribly powerful.

Thanks for the critique :)

[jiriku]

Wouldn't at-will Shadowstrike be a bit OTT? Don't really have much else to spend swift actions on, so its pretty much constant. Plus, itd be available at level 1.

You could limit it to being usable once every other round. Being able to use it only on a single attack per round already limits it somewhat.

As for the Umbral Power - sounds good. Is the progression alright though?

It's on the strong side, but then again a fancy shadow sword is the iconic power of the class, so it should be. I'm ok with it.

Wouldn't thr strength drain be a bit much? Full attacking with some extra attack stuff and extra actions could make that so horribly powerful.

This ability is gained at level 12. These are just a few of its competitors. If anything, 2 Strength drain per attack is quite weak. I considered recommending 4.

[Niezck]

Updated the OP with based on your suggestions, but slightly modified. (Like the cap on str drain.)

[Niezck]

Bumpity. Added a capstone ability. Its not that mechanically powerful I don't think, but it seems very appropriate.

[Lix Lorn]

I'm assuming you know that Weapon Focus sucks and are doing that deliberately. (nods)

Shadowstrike once per round seems a bit strong to me, but I could be wrong.

Minor formatting error: you wrote '[i]Umbral Blade's[i]' in the Morphic Blade's entry. Forgot the slash.

For the capstone... it's done EVERYWHERE. Every class and it's mother makes you a native outsider. Maybe add something else?
Sentinel implies watchfulness. Blindsense maybe?

Oh, and: What are shadow points?

[Niezck]

I'm assuming you know that Weapon Focus sucks and are doing that deliberately. (nods)

Shadowstrike once per round seems a bit strong to me, but I could be wrong.

Minor formatting error: you wrote '[i]Umbral Blade's[i]' in the Morphic Blade's entry. Forgot the slash.

For the capstone... it's done EVERYWHERE. Every class and it's mother makes you a native outsider. Maybe add something else?
Sentinel implies watchfulness. Blindsense maybe?

Oh, and: What are shadow points?

Yeah, I know WF sucks, but its in the original so I figured I'd keep it.

Formatting fixed.

Well yeah, but its appropriate. Plus I figured the immunity to ability drain made it a bit more specific. (Plane of Shadow and all). I've added blindsense and remove the shadow points thing. That was a copy error from the theurge (which you should totally go and PEACH)

[Lix Lorn]

Not saying it's not fitting, just that it needs more. Which it has!

(Eyeroll) Link me?

Also, thought: At will Invisibility and Dimension Door is a bit strong... no?

[Niezck]

Not saying it's not fitting, just that it needs more. Which it has!

(Eyeroll) Link me?

Also, thought: At will Invisibility and Dimension Door is a bit strong... no?

So you'd say its good enough now?

Its on the front page. Linking with my phone is a pain.

Its only in Elirhondas and only at ECL 15 ir above so I wouldn't say its that good. More flavorful.

[Lix Lorn]

Yeah, but I am NOT a balance expert.

Kaaaay.

...good point. (nods)

[Tetrasodium]

I'm not familiar with the original class, but isn't Shadowstrike every round a bit over the top? It's pretty tough to miss a touch attack with a full 1/1 BaB/level class. Even dragonbreath is every 1d4 rounds with feats (in draconomicon) that can reduce it or strengthen it while increasing how long between uses.

[Niezck]

I'm not familiar with the original class, but isn't Shadowstrike every round a bit over the top? It's pretty tough to miss a touch attack with a full 1/1 BaB/level class. Even dragonbreath is every 1d4 rounds with feats (in draconomicon) that can reduce it or strengthen it while increasing how long between uses.

I'm kinda inclined to agree, I was just going off what the previous poster said. I figured it was balanced by the fact its a swift action and only applies to the first attack. ill see what other posters think.

[cooperflood]

Umbral Power still uses the Shadow Points Mechanic.

Personally I have no problem with the Shadowstrike mechanic. It's certainly good, but it's not game breaking. We are talking about level 15 for an once around touch attack. Warlock gain the ability to make touch attacks at-will at first level.

[Niezck]

Thanks for spotting the Umbral Power thing! OP updated.

[IcarusWings]

Umbral Blade also says that making a new one uses up all shadow points for the day.

[Niezck]

Ill fix that in a little while :)

Any other comments? :)