Arelith

With all of the benefits and reworks that various classes have been earning, I would like to brainstorm possible means to improve one of my personal favorite (and in my opinion, mechanically weakest) prestige classes; the Shadowdancer.

In the past I have been opposed to any kind of change for the class due to my preference for it to be used for RP-builds, but my curiosity has admittedly been piqued due to the Warlocks, Weave Masters, and other similar classes gaining changes without the need for haks.

The Shadowdancer is, in my own opinion, a defensive alternative to the other rogue-centric prestige class of the Assassin. While HIPS "makes" the (vanilla) class viable, in its absence I would suggest that the defensive/utility capabilities of this class be expanded upon.

At present I only have a few ideas, and I'm not sure how viable they are either mechanically or competitively.

- 1 use/level of Shadow Evade, similar to Bardsong
- An increase to the HP/level in the vein of Warlocks
- An additional usage of Shadow Daze every 4-5 levels?
- A more powerful Summoned Shadow (matching, if possible, the alignment of the Shadowdancer)
- The feat Self-Concealment upon reaching level 15+ with the class, to encourage developing it

These are just off the top of my head. If anyone has better ideas or directions to take the class, feel free to add your feedback.

I believe shadow reworks are under development at the moment.

An increased number of shadow evade and shadow daze uses would be welcome, though, and self concealment wouldn't be amiss, I think, and would be thematically super appropriate for the class. Maybe 1 count of it for every level past 15, allowing a level 20 SD to have Self Concealment V.

This all sounds perfect.

Perhaps for 17+ levels of SD they can have HiPS back? This rewards heavy investment in the class.

Would rather give them something like self concealment in that range, to fit with the tanking theme, personally, than give them access to a feat that so drastically changes how stealth works.

I'd say let the self concealment kick in at 12, then every two til it peaks at V at 20th. But that's splitting hairs.

I'd like to see them get +1 Hide AND Move Silently, every level. They aren't just shadows! They're dancers too.

I'm not really against any of this, except the hide in plain sight. I think that still doesn't have a place on Arelith. I agree with Self Concealment every two levels starting at 12 also. I think the defensive angle is very appropriate. This may or may not have to do with the fact that my Shadowdancer is a path of the healer. *wink*