- biography of a shadow adept Bhaalspawn

SHADOW ADEPT: Shadow adepts hurl themselves into the abyss of the Shadow Weave, immediately acquiring all the gifts available to casual students and discovering secrets unavailable to all but the most dedicated. Advantages: – Hit Die: d6 – May use Shadow Magic. SHADOW MAGIC: Spells of the Shadow Weave are usually more powerful than regular magic, but drains the caster's life force. When a spell is cast, the shadow adept must make a Save vs. Death at a modifier equal to the spell level (e.g. -1 for 1st level, -9 for 9th level) or temporarily lose Constitution equal to the level of the spell cast for 3 rounds. If the shadow adept's Constitution reaches zero, is killed instantly. The Shadow Weave is a mysterious and dark entity, far more alien and harder to control than that of Mystra's equivalent. As such, a great amount of mental acuity is required in order to master shadow magic. High intelligence, wisdom and charisma benefits those who choose to stray into Shar's domain. INTELLIGENCE: Bonus spell slots WISDOM: Increased spell duration CHARISMA: Bonus saving throws and elemental resistance – Gains the Darkvision innate ability. DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light, permanently gaining infravision and immunity to blindness. – May cast one additional spell per level. – +2 bonus to saving throws against spells of the Enchantment, Illusion and Necromancy schools. – 4th level: May use the Shield of Shadows ability once per day. SHIELD OF SHADOWS: The shadow adept surrounds self with a barrier of purpleblack force. This shield of shadows functions like a shield spell, setting armor class to 4 (2 against ranged weapons) and absorbing magic missiles cast at for 1 hour per 2 levels to a maximum of 9 hours. From 8th level onwards, the shield of shadows also grants +4 to saving throws vs. death and +1 to all other saving throws. – 5th level: May use Shadowstep once per day. Gains one use every 5 levels thereafter. SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow adept cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane. – 6th level: May use Find Shadow Familiar. This ability is only available to the protagonist. FIND SHADOW FAMILIAR: The shadow adept may, once in their lifetime, bind a creature from the Plane of Shadow to them permanently, sacrificing four points of Constitution (which gradually recovers over several weeks) to summon a shadow familiar. – 14th level: May use the Shadow Double ability once per day. SHADOW DOUBLE: The shadow adept creates a copy of self out of shadowstuff. The copy is at 60% of the caster's level and has all the spells and abilities that the caster would have at that level. Disadvantages: – Suffers a -2 penalty to casting speed and caster level while in daylight. – -2 penalty to saving throws against spells of the Invocation and Alteration schools. – May not learn or use spells from the Weave. – Alignment restricted to non-good. Prime Requisites For Dual-Classing: Intelligence, Charisma

NIGHTSINGER: A rare class of bards that choose to study the power of the Shadow Weave gain access to its dark powers, bestowing upon them a dirge capable of cursing their enemies. Advantages: - The Nightsinger's Bard Song, "Dirge of Despair", curses their enemies, reducing their morale and saving throws. 1st level: -1 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale 11th level: -2 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale 21st level: -3 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale - May use Shadow Magic. SHADOW MAGIC: Spells of the Shadow Weave are usually more powerful than regular magic, but drains the caster's life force. When a spell is cast, the shadow adept must make a Save vs. Death at a modifier equal to the spell level (e.g. -1 for 1st level, -9 for 9th level) or temporarily lose Constitution equal to the level of the spell cast for 3 rounds. If the shadow adept's Constitution reaches zero, they are killed instantly. The Shadow Weave is a mysterious and dark entity, far more alien and harder to control than that of Mystra's equivalent. As such, a great amount of mental acuity is required in order to master shadow magic. High intelligence, wisdom and charisma benefits those who choose to stray into Shar's domain. - Gains the Darkvision innate ability. DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light. They permanently gain infravision and immunity to blindness. - +2 bonus to saving throws against spells of the Enchantment, Illusion and Necromancy schools. - 6th level: May use the Shield of Shadows ability once per day. SHIELD OF SHADOWS: The shadow adept surrounds themselves with a barrier of purpleblack force. This shield of shadows functions like a shield spell, setting their armor class to 4 (2 against ranged weapons) and absorbing magic missiles cast at him for 1 hour per 2 levels to a maximum of 9 hours. From 8th level onwards, the shield of shadows also grants +4 to saving throws vs. death and +1 to all other saving throws. - 7th level: May use Shadowstep once per day. Gains one use every 5 levels thereafter. SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow adept cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane. - 18th level: May use the Shadow Double ability once per day. SHADOW DOUBLE: The shadow adept creates a copy of themselves out of shadowstuff. The copy is at 60% of the caster's level and has all the spells and abilities that the caster would have at that level. Disadvantages: – Suffers a -2 penalty to casting speed and casting time while in daylight. - -2 penalty to saving throws against spells of the Invocation and Alteration schools. - May not learn or use spells from the Weave. - Alignment restricted to Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral or Neutral Evil.

SHADOW MONK: Little is known about the secretive order of shadow monks, other than the fact that they draw upon the power of the Shadow Plane to wield dark ki. They are masterful assassins, manipulating powerful illusions to their advantage and skilled at striking from the shadows, but their ritualistic training has taken a toll on their physical stamina. Advantages: - +1 bonus to Dexterity. - Gains the Darkvision innate ability. DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light. They permanently gain infravision and immunity to blindness. - Gains the Life-Drain innate ability. LIFE-DRAIN: Shadow monks channel the power of the Shadow Plane into their fists, gaining bonus effects based off of their level. 1st - 9th level: Drains 1 hit point on hit. 10th - 19th level: Drains 2 hit points and lowers target's strength by 1 for 2 rounds (save vs. death to avoid strength drain) 20th level onwards: Drains 3 hit points, lowers target's strength by 1 and 20% chance to drain one level permanently on hit - Has a backstab multiplier of x2. Increases to x3 at 11th level and x4 at 21st level. - 3rd level: May use the Shadow Pool ability. SHADOW POOL: Shadow monks wield the power of the Shadow Plane and can manipulate it in order to cast a limited amount of Shadow Magic. The shadow monk must first spend one round drawing energy from the Shadow Weave then cast the spell. The shadow monk's concentration may be disrupted during the channeling or the casting time. Level 1 (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th levels): Shadow Missile, Blinding Darkness, Shadow Veil, Decoy Level 2 (7th, 10th, 13th, 16th levels): Dark Mirage, Black Mist, Ghostly Visage, Shadow Walk Level 3 (11th, 17th, 23rd levels): Shadowblast, Lifedrinker Touch, Shadow Comets, Impose Level 4 (15th, 21st, 27th levels): Fireshield (Shadow), Shadeskin, Summon Shadow, Shar's Blessing - 5th level: May cast Shadowstep once per day. Gains an additional use every 5 levels thereafter. SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow monk cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane. - 12th level: May cast Shadow Door once per day. Gains additional uses at 16th and 20th level. - 15th level: May use the Deathstrike ability once per day. DEATHSTRIKE: The shadow monk teleports to a chosen target and turns invisible for one round. Their next attack within one round is a guaranteed critical hit and drains six levels from the target. Disadvantages: - Hit Die: d6 - -2 penalty to Strength. - -4 penalty to Constitution. - Alignment restricted to non-lawful and non-good. - Uses the shadowdancer's high level abilities table instead of the fighter's, with the exclusion of Use Any Item. - May not use the Lay On Hands ability. - May not use the Stunning Blow ability. - May not use the Quivering Palm ability.