Just Coopers Shadowslip..

Thanks all for the help with my last tangent into Shadow Spawn constructs... the input and assistance on that thread is greatly appreciated..

But now I move onto another topic.. Originally my character was going to have an EoM Teleport ability, but due to the GM not being quite prepared to dump a new magic system into his game we decided to go Core rules...which shifted some of the mechanics under my character a wee bit... which leads to:

I am looking at taking the Mark of Passage to duplicate the EoM Teleport abilty, however in keeping with the whole 'shadow mage' concept I think I have a slightly more fitting mechanic and would like y'all good folks at EnWorld help me ensure its balanced... having a player make up his own rules is usually a bad thing?

So, my intent is to provide a balanced mechanic that simulates a character slipping into the realm of shadows for short periods of movement. My baseline is the dimension door ability of the Mark of passage. My goal is an ability that has the flavour of a shadow mage and the mechanics of a *poof, I am over here now!*

Initial concept:
Shadow Slip
As part of a normal move, you may slip into the shadow realm, gaining the incorperal subtype. You are still visible in strong light but characters must make a spot check vs DC of 10 + your Hide skill to notice your shadowy form while in a lighted area. The DC is 20 + your Hide skill in shadowy illumination. In any condition darker, you gain the benefits of invisibility.
You are limited to half your level of Move actions that you can spend in the Shadow Realm per day. {for the Mark this means character level, for spells this means caster level} This Realm Move Allowance {RMA} resets at Sundown
If you end your turn in the Realm and have no remaining RMA's that day, you are shunted out of the Realm, taking 1D6 + 1D6 per 10' of movement required to move you outside of any solid objects.
You may bring another Medium or smaller creature with you at the cost of 1 RMA. A Large creature counts as 2 medium creatures, etc. {as Dim Door spell}. If you release the creature while in the Realm, it is shunted out and takes damage as appropriate.
You are also limited in movement, with various degrees of difficult terrain as follows:
{Note, difficult terrain stops charging}
Fighting from the Realm is difficult.. for one, you are incorperal so you need to make the 50% chance or a Ghost Touch weapon. For two, unless you have the below feat, you are limited to only Move actions while in the Realm...so you can only attack if you manage to pull off an AoO.

special You cannot Delay while in the Realm.

Feat: Improved Shadow Slip
You gain 1 additional RMA usable within the Shadow Realm. You also reduce the additional movement costs 1 square for each 4 ranks of Knowledge: Planes.
{note, this will eventually negate the difficult terrain, allowing for the character to charge through the shadow realm..through a door, and into battle..}

Feat: Greater Shadow Slip
Prereq: Imp Shadow Slip, 10 Ranks Know: Planes
You gain the ability to take any type of action while in the realm, but are still limited in the number of actions you may take in the Realm. Entering/exiting the Realm does not draw an AoO.
<deleted>You may also use a 5' step to move into the Realm</deleted>

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Putting it all together: A 3rd level character with the Mark ability and Imp Shadow Slip. 6 Ranks in Know: Planes.

Realm Move actions per day: 2
Max distance moved, double move with no intervening structures: 50'

5th level, terrain reduced by 2
Realm Move actions per day: 3
Max distance moved, double move + 1 move with only doors in the way: 90'

9th level, Greater Shadow Slip, terrain reduced by 3
Realm Move actions per day: 5
Max distance moved, 5 rounds of running with buildings in the way.... lots
Can stop and fight, preferably with a Ghost Touch weapon
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Messy things you can do with this ability..
- Grab NPC, duck into a rock and drop him
- Manuever through a wall to gain a flanking position
- Dodge through a mass of BBEG's, hoping the 50% miss will save your hide
- Spring Attack and Greater Shadow Slip... leap from the Shadows to attack, then slip back out of sight!

Okay.. I think thats enough typing for me. Please rip, shred, and constructively critizise my silly idea

Perhaps I was not controversial enough with this....

Or maybe it was jsut the weekend crowd?

Bump for those of us skimming time from work to surf the forums!!!

I like the effect you are going for and the system seems good.

My intial thought is it seems a bit overpowered compared to dragon marks, this works out a bit nicer then the mark of passage ability. But I always thought there should be someway to improve the ability of aberant dragon marks and using feats to do so makes alot of sense.

If you had some kind of aberant dragon mark with all the social flaws that went with it I think this works out nicely.

The only thing as a DM that would worry me is the part in the Greater Shadow Slip feat about entering/exiting with a 5' step, seems very abusable. I like the visual of it alot though.

This whole thing reminds me of one of the bad guys from Ninja Scroll, wich is a good thing.

I wasn't sure about the 5' step deal either, and can easily cut that.

I also didn't have my books handy to compare against the Mark of Passage at the higher levels

The game I am in isn't Eberron, so its not quite a Dragon Mark.. the social stigma piece would not apply.. but definately fits. I was thinking that the additional skill point cost would balance the slighty higher power level, not only do you need to invest feats in this ability, but you need to drop skill points in a relatively obscure skill.

Unless there are other comments, I will be tossing this past my DM the next time I get to my home email.