Shadow Walker

ello, magistrate.” The voice that seemed to come out of nowhere was soft and lilting, definitely female, likely elven. The startled scribe spilled his inkwell as he spun around to face the intruder. His eyes darted back and forth, desperately trying to find someone. He reached to the candle on his desk, holding it in front of him — partly for illumination, partly as a talisman against whatever approached. Then it was snatched out of his hand. The candle seemed to float for a moment, as if under its own power. Then, as light slowly pushed back shadow, he could see her. Before him stood a small female elf, holding his candle to illuminate herself. Dark, unbound hair streamed down her back and melded into the darkness of the room behind her. Shadows still masked the rest of her features, cloaked in a black that was too deep to be natural. And no matter how hard the old man tried to make out details, he was thwarted by those shadows. “H-h-how did you get in here?” The door had never opened; the bar was still in place. The only sound in the room had been the occasional sputter of the candle on the desk. Even now, he could barely hear her delicate breaths and the shift of leather against skin when she moved. “You asked that I be here, and so I am. Does it matter how?” If she weren’t speaking, and if he didn't have both eyes fixed on her shadowed form, he was certain she would simply fade back into the shadows from which she had come. Worse still, if she moved even the slightest bit, his eyes scurried the darkness of the room to find her again... “V-v-very well, Lady Sunveil.” The old man tried to force the stutter from his voice, regretting his decision to hire one of the mysterious shadow walkers. He had sent a missive to her only yesterday, and uneasily wondered how she had gotten here so quickly. But it was too late to back out of this now. Putting on a serious, studious look, he dared to lift his eyes to meet hers. “Please, have a seat.” He motioned to the only other chair in the sparse room. “Call me Myra,” was all she spoke before bowing her head graciously and taking a seat.

The plane of shadow is a dark and mysterious place to many. But for the Shadow Walker, it becomes a second home. Walking the boundaries between the material plane and the plane of shadow, they often lose touch with society, preferring lives of seclusion. The ability to remain hidden is both a blessing and a curse to these men and women, slowly distancing them from the rest of the world.

Shadow Walkers make excellent couriers and spies. Their ability to travel great distances, and do so undetected, is invaluable to many. They have a rogues sensibilities, with just enough arcane savvy to afford them special attention.

Hit Dice: d8.

Requirements

To qualify to become a shadow walker, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Concentration: 3 ranks
Hide: 10 ranks
Knowledge (the planes): 8 ranks
Survival: 5 ranks
Feats: Endurance, Skill Focus: Knowledge (the planes)

Class Skills

The shadow walker’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The shadow walker gains no additional proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su): A shadow walker can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as she is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, a shadow walker can hide herself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. She cannot, however, hide in her own shadows.

Shadow Jump (Sp): Beginning at 1st level, the shadow walker gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. The shadow walker can jump a total of 10 feet each day in this way. Every two levels thereafter, the distance a shadow walker can jump each day doubles (20 feet at 3rd level, 40 feet at 5th level, 80 feet at 7th level, and 160 feet at 9th level). This amount can be split up among many jumps, but each jump, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment. (For instance, a 5th-level shadow walker who jumps 32 feet cannot jump again until the next day.)

Darkvision (Su): Upon reaching 2nd level, a shadow walker can see in the dark as though she was permanently under the effect of a darkvision spell.

Shadow Walk (Sp): At 2nd level, the shadow walker gains the ability to walk the edge of the Material Plane where it borders the Plane of Shadow. In effect, this functions identically to the spell shadow walk, except for the shorter duration and, initially, it applies only to herself and the equipment she carries. By the time she reaches 6th level, she is able to bring one person touched along with her. At 10th level, she may bring along two such travelers. The shadow walker can remain in this state for 10 minutes at 2nd level, increasing the duration to 20 minutes at 4th level, 40 minutes at 6th level, one hour at 8th level, and two hours at 10th level.
   Because of the ever-shifting dimensions of the shadow plane, the duration of this ability is seldom long enough to traverse the distance between planes. Therefore, shadow walkers rarely attempt to travel to other planes of existence using this ability.

Shadow Step (Su): Upon reaching 4th level, whenever the shadow walker is in the presence of shadows, her footfalls land just along the edge of the Plane of Shadows. In doing so, she leaves no trace of her movement on the Material Plane and, therefore, cannot be tracked.

Improved Darkvision (Su): A 5th level shadow walker’s darkvision improves, gaining the ability to see in total darkness as far as she sees with her normal sight.

Shadow Stride (Su): At 7th level, the shadow walker is able to shift effortlessly between Material and Shadow in order to avoid impediments that would hinder her. As long as the shadow walker is in the presence of shadows, treat her as if she were constantly under the effects of the freedom of movement spell.

Deeper Darkvision (Su): Upon reaching 9th level, a shadow walker’s darkvision improves yet again, and can penetrate even unnatural or magical darkness.

Shadow Stealth (Su): A 10th level shadow walker is so irrevocably tied to the Plane of Shadow, that she naturally remains in the in-between spaces between that plane and the Material Plane. As a result, she is always taking 10 on Hide checks whenever there is sufficient shadow nearby to activate her Hide in Plain Sight ability. Anyone attempting to locate the shadow walker must make opposed Spot checks to detect her presence. This ability cannot be turned off willfully by the shadow walker, it can only be dispelled by the absence of shadow. She can, however, still use other sensory queues to alert others of her presence.

Dungeons and Dragons ® and Wizards of the Coast ® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast and are used with permission. The D20 System and D20 System Logo are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 1.0. A copy of this License can be found at Wizards' d20 home page. This content is produced under version 1.0, 1.0a, and/or draft versions of the Open Game License, the d20 System Trademark Logo Guide, and System Reference Document by permission of Wizards of the Coast.

Designation of Product Identity: The following items are hereby designated as Product Identity in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License, version 1.0a: Any and all darketower.net logos and identifying marks and trade dress, including all darketower.net product and product line names; any locations, gods, historic events, magic items, organizations; and any and all stories, storylines, plots, characters, thematic elements, fiction and dialogue; web page design; and all artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, illustrations, maps and cartography, likenesses, poses, logos, graphic designs, except such elements that already appear in the D20 System Reference Document and are already OGC by virtue of appearing there. The above product identity remains the intellectual property of the credited creators, and is considered Closed Content.

Designation of Open Content: Subject to the product identity designation above, the following portions of this darketower.net website are designated as open game content: All prestige classes except the prestige class description (material between the name of the prestige class and the hit dice).

 This page was last updated on March 01, 2006 .