Shadow Prestige Class : Master of Shadow
"What need have I of living servants when the shadows themselves rise to my command?" - Thanielle Tiergan, Duchess of Ohr
Some driven or domineering souls seek nothing less than mastery of darkness itself - the ability to turn the very shadows into their agents and allies. These are the masters of shadow, commanders of soldiers as dark and insubstantial as night itself. For those with the force of will to enter their ranks, the very shadows serve at their beck and call.
Shadowcasters are the most common masters of shadow, since they can most easily enter the class. Sorcerers, wizards, clerics, and even the occasional druid can multiclass just enough to gain access, however. Few martial types do so, because the class demands specialties far removed from combat skills.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Master of Shadow, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 5 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 8 ranks
- Feats: Shadow Familiar,
- Mysteries/Spellcasting: Caster level 5th
Class Skills
The master of shadow's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Spot.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
As you progress as a master of shadow, you gain command of an increasingly powerful dark servant.
Shadow Servant (Su): At 1st level, your shadow familiar permanently transforms into a Medium shadow elemental. It loses all familiar traits, but gains new abilities as your shadow servant (see the Shadow Servant sidebar).
Should your shadow servant die, you can summon a replacement after 24 hours pass. Your shadow servant cannot travel farther from you than 30 feet + 10 feet for each of your master of shadow levels (40 feet at 1st level and a maximum of 130 feet at 10th level), if it is forcibly separated from you by more than this distance, the servant dissipates instantly, and you must wait 24 hours to summon a new one.
Master's Bidding (Su): At 1st level, as a standard action, you can focus your affinity with shadow to enhance your shadow servant, granting it one special ability for 1 round. The special abilities available to your shadow servant are described in the Shadow Servant sidebar, and depend on your class level. For example, at 4th level you could give your servant any of the following special abilities: interact with corporeal, fast healing 1, extra attack, or cold damage +1d8.
At 5th level, you can grant your shadow servant a special ability for 1 round by taking only a move action rather than a standard action. You can choose to use two move actions in the same turn to grant it two abilities. Additional move actions granted by spells, class features, or the like can also be used to further enhance your shadow servant.
At 10th level, you can grant your shadow servant a special ability for 1 round by taking only a swift action rather than a move action. You can still use move actions to give it additional abilities. Thus, a 10th-level master of shadow who does nothing else in a round can choose to give his shadow servant three special abilities (using one swift action and two move actions).
Resistance to Cold (Su): At 2nd level, the shadow in your essence provides resistance to cold 5. This resistance increases to 10 at 4th level and 20 at 6th level. At 10th level, you have immunity to cold damage.
Mysteries/Spellcasting: At 2nd level and every level thereafter, you gain new mysteries or spells per day and an increase in caster level (and mysteries or spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a casting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefits a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one casting class before becoming a master of shadow, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells or mysteries known.
Rapid Shadow (Su): After you reach 10th level, if your shadow servant dies you can summon a replacement 10 minutes later.
| Master of Shadow | Hit Die: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Shadow servant, master's bidding (standard action) | - |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Resistance to cold 5 | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 3rd | +1 | +3 | +1 | +3 | - | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 4th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Resistance to cold 10 | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 5th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Master's bidding (move action) | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 6th | +3 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Resistance to cold 20 | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 7th | +3 | +5 | +2 | +5 | - | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 8th | +4 | +6 | +2 | +6 | - | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 9th | +4 | +6 | +3 | +6 | - | +1 level of existing casting class |
| 10th | +5 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Immunity to cold, master's bidding (swift action), rapid shadow | +1 level of existing casting class |
Shadow Servant
A master of shadow's servant is an unquestionably loyal, devoted companion. As the master increases in power, the shadow servant also becomes tougher, gaining Hit Dice and special abilities. A master of shadow can focus his power and will upon a servant and make it do his bidding.
| Level | Bonus HD | Dex Adj. | Special | Master's Bidding |
| 1st | +0 | - | - | Interact with corporeal, fast healing 1 |
| 2nd | +1 | - | Resistance to cold 5 | Extra attack |
| 3rd | +2 | - | Size becomes Large | - |
| 4th | +3 | - | Resistance to cold 10 | Cold damage +1d8 |
| 5th | +4 | +2 | Deliver touch spells | - |
| 6th | +5 | - | Resistance to cold 20 | - |
| 7th | +6 | +4 | - | Reach +5 ft. |
| 8th | +7 | - | - | DR 5/- |
| 9th | +8 | +6 | - | Speed +20 ft. |
| 10th | +9 | - | Immunity to cold | - |
Shadow Servant Basics: Use the base statistics for a Medium shadow elemental, but make the following changes.
Level: The character's master of shadow level.
Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the shadow servant's base attack and base save bonuses as appropriate for an elemental. A shadow servant's base attack bonus is the same as that of a cleric or druid of a level equal to the elemental's HD. A shadow servant has good Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the elemental's HD). A shadow servant gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster's Hit Dice (MM 290-291).
Dex Adj.: Add this value to the shadow servant's Dexterity score.
Resistance to Cold (Ex): A shadow servant of a 2nd-level master of shadow gains resistance to cold 10. When the master reaches 6th level, the resistance increases to 20.
Size Increase (Ex): A 3rd-level master of shadow's servant grows to Large size. It never increases beyond Large, regardless of its Hit Dice.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If its master is 5th level or higher, a shadow servant can deliver touch mysteries or spells for him. If the master and the servant are in contact at the time the master casts a touch mystery or spell, he can designate his servant the 'toucher.' The servant can then deliver the touch mystery or spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another mystery or spell before the touch is delivered, the designated mystery or spell dissipates.
Immunity to Cold (Ex): The servant of a 10th-level master of shadow has immunity to cold.
Master's Bidding
A master of shadow can shape the essence of his shadow servant, granting it special abilities and qualities. In this way, a master customizes his servant to his needs of the moment.
At first, enhancing a servant in this manner is a standard action, but higher-level masters eventually reduce the effort to a move action and finally a swift action. Even when a master of shadow has the ability to bid his servant to gain multiple abilities, any single ability can only be gained once.
Interact with Corporeal (Su): When you grant your shadow servant this bidding, it can perform simple tasks at your command, in a manner identical to the unseen servant spell, except that it retains its own hit points.
Fast Healing (Su): A shadow servant can be bid to regain hit points at a rate of 1 hit point per round.
Extra Attack (Su): When making a full attack action, a shadow servant can be bid to make one extra attack. The attack is made using the creature's full base attack bonus, plus any modifiers appropriate to the situation.
Cold Damage (Su): A master of shadow can bid its servant to deal an additional 1d8 points of cold damage on a successful hit (stacked with the cold damage that shadow elementals normally deal).
Reach (Su): A shadow servant bid to extend its shadowy arms in this manner increases its reach by 5 feet.
Damage Reduction (Su): Bidding your shadow servant to ignore damage grants it DR 5/-.
Speed (Su): A master of shadow can bid its servant to be quick, increasing the servant's speed by 20 feet.
Source: Tome of Magic