squingynaut
First Post
A player in our D&D 3.5 game has recently rolled up a new character using a prestige class he has created based on a modified version of one he found on Giant in the Playground. Most of us have agreed that his prestige class seems far too powerful and are looking at constructive ideas on how to help him get it a bit more balanced. His prestige class is available at the bottom of this post (or on our campaign wiki here). The original version from GitP can be found here. Note, that this PrC uses rules presented in the Tome of Battle, which we use pretty heavily in our campaign. Please, any advice you could provide would be great, even if it's just "this thing is broken beyond repair".
Becoming a Shadow Hand Assassin
All Shadow Hand Assassins require some martial training before entering the class, with sword sage being the most common path. Many choose to multiclass with rogue or ninja to fulfill the sneak attack requirement while broadening their combat options while others prefer Ranger to help hone their hunting skills. Other martial adept classes can enter, but most require several additional feats to meet the maneuver prerequisites.
Entry Requirements
Feats: Darkstalker, Track
Martial Maneuvers: Must be able to initiate martial maneuvers, including 2 from the Shadow Hand discipline one of which must be at least 2nd level.
Skills: Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks, Survival 4 ranks
Martial Stances: Assassin's Stance (or Sneak attack +2d6, see below)
Class Features: Sneak attack +2d6 (or Assassin's Stance, see above).
Special: Only the Children of the Daughter of the Coming Raven know the arts of the Shadow Hand Assassin and even then only a member selected as part of a Pentifex receives the training.
Hit Die: D8
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level):
Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Survival (Wis), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Shadow Hand Assassin gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.
Maneuvers: At every level, except 3rd, 6th, and 9th, a Shadow Hand Assassin gains a new maneuver from the Shadow Hand, Setting Sun, Tiger Claw, or Diamond Mind disciplines. She must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. She adds her full Shadow Hand Assassin levels to determine her total initiator level and highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels, you gain additional maneuvers readied (and granted, if applicable) per day.
Stances Known: At 1st level, and again at 7th level, a Shadow Hand Assassin learn a new martial stance from the Shadow Hand, Setting Sun, Tiger Claw, or Diamond Mind disciplines. She must meet the stances prerequisites to learn it.
Assassin's Mark: A Shadow Hand Assassin is a methodical fighter that picks apart one enemy before turning to the next. By spending a swift action she can declare any creature she can see as a marked target. She gains a circumstance bonus equal to ½ her class level (minimum 1) on attack and damage rolls against the marked target. Additionally, certain class features work only against a marked target. She can only have 1 marked target at a time until she reaches 8th level. Any class that has the Favored Enemy class feature stacks with Shadow Hand Assassin levels to determine this bonus. Thus, a Ranger 6/Swordsage 1/Shadow Hand Assassin 2 would gain a +4 bonus from against someone effected by the Shadow Hand Assassin's Assassin's Mark.
Opportunistic Advantage: A good assassin understands that a single attack, while preferred, isn’t always possible and sometimes it’s better to set your enemy up for a more telling attack later at the expense of immediate damage. Starting at 1st level a Shadow Hand Assassin may sacrifice sneak attack damage to recover expended maneuvers. To use this ability she must use a standard action to make sneak attack against a target (targets immune to the extra damage from sneak attack are still susceptible to this ability so long as they meet the other requirements of sneak attack) and declare how many dice of sneak attack she is sacrificing before he makes her attack roll. If the attack hits she recovers one expended maneuver for each sacrificed dice of sneak attack. She cannot initiate any maneuvers on the turn he uses this ability.
Sneak Attack: Starting at 1st level a Shadow Hand Assassin gains the ability to strike disadvantaged targets for extra damage. This functions like the rogue ability of the same name. This bonus damage increases at 4th level and every 3 levels after.
Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and again at 7th, a Shadow Hand Assassin may select a bonus feat from the following list: Ambush Feat (Any), Athletic, Death Blow, Combat Expertise, Craven, Martial Study, Martial Stance, Improved Initiative, Opportunist, Quick Draw, Skill Focus (Any), Staggering Strike, Stealthy, Weapon Finesse, or any other feat with a sneak attack prerequisite.
Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 2nd level, a Shadow Hand Assassin can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If a Shadow Hand Assassin already has uncanny dodge from a different class she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.
Cloak of Shadows: No matter how careful the assassin, how quiet or stealthy, magic ferrets her out easily enough. Not so for Shadow Hand Assassin. She has learned to combine her supernatural prowess and skills of stealth to fool all but the most skilled of casters. This ability acts like a continuous Nondetection effect, using her initiator level for the caster level.
This ability also works against spells such as True Seeing or See Invisibility, but requires a successful Hide check opposed by a modified caster level check (d20 + caster level + spot modifier) by the caster of the divination. She must have some form of non-magical concealment in order to attempt this hide check, as normal for the skill, in order to attempt this check, unless she also has the ability to hide in plain sight.
This is a supernatural ability.
Thousand Faces: Starting at 3rd level a Shadow Hand Assassin's affinity with shadows allows her to conceal her identity underneath a veil of darkness. She can use Disguise Self as a spell-like ability at will with a caster level equal to her initiator level.
This is a supernatural ability.
Shadow Grace: When a Shadow Hand Assassin of 4th level or higher assumes a Shadow Hand stance her body is suffused and strengthened with the essence of shadow, granting a competence bonus on Str and Dex based skills equal to her class level.
This is a supernatural ability.
Hunter's Mark: Shadow Hand Assassins study their marks carefully learning to exploit every advantage when dealing with them. To that end, the 4th level Shadow Hand Assassin gains a bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks against their marked target equal to their class level. Classes that increase the benefit of Assassin's Mark increase Hunter's Mark as well.
Further, she can stalk her quarry with preternatural ability. Once per day she can sense the best route to a marked target, as per the spell Find the Path. This spell-like ability targets the mark rather than the location, but otherwise functions as the spell. Use her initiator level in place of the caster level for duration and for any caster level checks that may be required.
Improved Uncanny Dodge: A Shadow Hand Assassin of 5th level or higher can no longer be flanked. This defense denies another character with sneak attack or a similar class features the ability to sneak attack her by flanking, unless the attacker has at least four more levels than the target does. If she gains Uncanny dodge or Improved Uncanny dodge from another class the levels stack for determining the level needed by the attacker.
Shadow Hand Style: The Shadow Hand discipline emphasizes subtlety and surprise attacks. A Shadow Hand Assassin of 5th level learns to marry the natural strengths of Shadow Hand with her ability to exploit openings in their enemies’ defense. When she uses a Shadow Hand strike she may forgo the normal effects of the strike to inflict sneak attack damage against a target otherwise immune to precision damage, provided they otherwise meet the requirements to use Sneak Attack. She may deal only one die of Sneak Attack damage per level of the strike used in this fashion, up to her normal number of dice.
This is a supernatural ability.
Ambusher: A Shadow Hand Assassin of 6th level excels at taking an enemy unaware. If she engages in a surprise round she may take a full round’s worth of action as opposed to just a standard. She gains a +4 bonus on attack on damage rolls during the surprise round.
Maiming Strikes: Enemies who are too difficult to drop quickly need to be tenderized properly first, and a 6th level Shadow Hand Assassin has learned how best to do so. When in a Shadow Hand Stance and making a melee attack against a marked target, she may elect to forgo some or all of her Sneak Attack dice on the attack to impose a -1 circumstance penalty, per die, to the target's Fortitude Saves until the end of the her next turn. Making multiple maiming strikes does not stack the penalty, but does cause the effect to continue till the end of her next turn.
Use of this ability must be declared before making the attack and has no effect if the target is not subject to sneak attack damage. A successful heal check (DC 15+2/point of penalty) or Conjuration (Healing) spell that heals at least as many hit points as twice the total penalty ends the effect, but this amount is subtracted from the amount of hit points healed.
Hide in Plain Sight: Shadow Hand Assassins are masters of supernatural stealth and at 8th level she gains the ability to virtually disappear from sight at a moment’s notice. She can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as she is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, she can hide herself from view in the open without having anything to actually hide behind. She cannot, however, use her own shadow.
This is a supernatural ability.
Twin Marks: Starting at 8th level a Shadow Hand Assassin has developed the ability to split her focus between two targets so she can now maintain two Assassin's Marks instead of one.
Mark of Death: If an a Shadow Hand Assassin studies her marked target for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly either paralyzing or killing the target, her choice. While studying the mark, she can undertake other actions so long as her attention stays focused on the target and the target does not detect or recognize her as an enemy. If the victim of such an attack fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the Shadow Hand Assassin’s class level + the Shadow Hand Assassin’s Dex modifier) against the kill effect, she dies. If the saving throw fails against the paralysis effect, the victim is rendered helpless and unable to act for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per level of the Shadow Hand Assassin. If the victim’s saving throw succeeds, the attack is just a normal sneak attack. Once she has completed the 3 rounds of study, she must make the death attack within the next 3 rounds.
If a death attack is attempted and fails (the victim makes the save) or if the Shadow Hand Assassin does not launch the attack within 3 rounds of completing the study, 3 new rounds of study are required before she can attempt another death attack. A Shadow Hand Assassin can only study one mark at a time without interrupting the process.
Shadow Walker: Upon attaining 9th level a Shadow Hand Assassin's affinity for the shadows increases to the point where she can travel through them more easily. When using a Shadow Hand maneuver with the teleportation descriptor the range is doubled and she no longer need line of sight or line of effect to her destination.
Reap the Soul's Shadow: At 10th level, the Shadow Hand Assassin gains knowledge of the most feared ability in their arsenal. Anytime she hits a marked target with a Shadow Hand strike she carves out a bit of their essence, replacing it with shadow stuff. This imposes an effective negative level on the target. Negative levels inflicted this way are not caused by negative energy so do not heal undead, but still do not affect creatures immune to level drain or negative energy. These negative levels fade at the rate of 1 per hour and have no chance of becoming permanent.
In addition, whenever she delivers a killing blow to a marked victim suffering at least one such negative level, she can choose to steal a small but vital fragment of their essence and bind it to her own soul. While it is in her possession the victim cannot be raised or resurrected by any means, even by Wish or Miracle.
This stolen fragment has no physical form and becomes part of her soul until it expires (after a year and a day), she releases it (as a full round action) or she is killed. Otherwise, the fragment withers away and the victim can never be resurrected by mortal magic. Other forms of magic that attempt to draw upon the soul of the victim also fail, including speak with dead and any ability that attempts to create an intelligent undead from the victim’s remains. Holding this foreign bit of essence is straining on the soul. A Shadow Hand Assassin’s maximum hit points are reduced by 1 per Hit Die of each creature she holds a soul fragment from.
This is a supernatural ability.
Becoming a Shadow Hand Assassin
All Shadow Hand Assassins require some martial training before entering the class, with sword sage being the most common path. Many choose to multiclass with rogue or ninja to fulfill the sneak attack requirement while broadening their combat options while others prefer Ranger to help hone their hunting skills. Other martial adept classes can enter, but most require several additional feats to meet the maneuver prerequisites.
Entry Requirements
Feats: Darkstalker, Track
Martial Maneuvers: Must be able to initiate martial maneuvers, including 2 from the Shadow Hand discipline one of which must be at least 2nd level.
Skills: Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks, Survival 4 ranks
Martial Stances: Assassin's Stance (or Sneak attack +2d6, see below)
Class Features: Sneak attack +2d6 (or Assassin's Stance, see above).
Special: Only the Children of the Daughter of the Coming Raven know the arts of the Shadow Hand Assassin and even then only a member selected as part of a Pentifex receives the training.
Code:
Maneuvers
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Known Readied Stances Special
1st +0 +0 +2 +2 +1 — +1 Assassin's Mark, Opportunistic Advantage, Sneak Attack +1d6
2nd +1 +0 +3 +3 +1 — — Bonus Feat, Uncanny Dodge
3rd +2 +1 +3 +3 — +1 — Cloak of Shadows, Thousand Faces
4th +3 +1 +4 +4 +1 — — Shadow Grace, Hunter's Mark, Sneak Attack +2d6
5th +3 +1 +4 +4 +1 — — Improved Uncanny Dodge, Shadow Hand Style
6th +4 +2 +5 +5 — +1 — Ambusher, Maiming Strikes
7th +5 +2 +5 +5 +1 — +1 Bonus Feat, Sneak Attack +3d6
8th +6 +2 +6 +6 +1 — — Hide in Plain Sight, Twin Marks
9th +6 +3 +6 +6 — +1 — Mark of Death, Shadow Walker
10th +7 +3 +7 +7 +1 — — Reap the Soul's Shadow, Sneak Attack +4d6Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level):
Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Survival (Wis), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Shadow Hand Assassin gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.
Maneuvers: At every level, except 3rd, 6th, and 9th, a Shadow Hand Assassin gains a new maneuver from the Shadow Hand, Setting Sun, Tiger Claw, or Diamond Mind disciplines. She must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. She adds her full Shadow Hand Assassin levels to determine her total initiator level and highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels, you gain additional maneuvers readied (and granted, if applicable) per day.
Stances Known: At 1st level, and again at 7th level, a Shadow Hand Assassin learn a new martial stance from the Shadow Hand, Setting Sun, Tiger Claw, or Diamond Mind disciplines. She must meet the stances prerequisites to learn it.
Assassin's Mark: A Shadow Hand Assassin is a methodical fighter that picks apart one enemy before turning to the next. By spending a swift action she can declare any creature she can see as a marked target. She gains a circumstance bonus equal to ½ her class level (minimum 1) on attack and damage rolls against the marked target. Additionally, certain class features work only against a marked target. She can only have 1 marked target at a time until she reaches 8th level. Any class that has the Favored Enemy class feature stacks with Shadow Hand Assassin levels to determine this bonus. Thus, a Ranger 6/Swordsage 1/Shadow Hand Assassin 2 would gain a +4 bonus from against someone effected by the Shadow Hand Assassin's Assassin's Mark.
Opportunistic Advantage: A good assassin understands that a single attack, while preferred, isn’t always possible and sometimes it’s better to set your enemy up for a more telling attack later at the expense of immediate damage. Starting at 1st level a Shadow Hand Assassin may sacrifice sneak attack damage to recover expended maneuvers. To use this ability she must use a standard action to make sneak attack against a target (targets immune to the extra damage from sneak attack are still susceptible to this ability so long as they meet the other requirements of sneak attack) and declare how many dice of sneak attack she is sacrificing before he makes her attack roll. If the attack hits she recovers one expended maneuver for each sacrificed dice of sneak attack. She cannot initiate any maneuvers on the turn he uses this ability.
Sneak Attack: Starting at 1st level a Shadow Hand Assassin gains the ability to strike disadvantaged targets for extra damage. This functions like the rogue ability of the same name. This bonus damage increases at 4th level and every 3 levels after.
Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and again at 7th, a Shadow Hand Assassin may select a bonus feat from the following list: Ambush Feat (Any), Athletic, Death Blow, Combat Expertise, Craven, Martial Study, Martial Stance, Improved Initiative, Opportunist, Quick Draw, Skill Focus (Any), Staggering Strike, Stealthy, Weapon Finesse, or any other feat with a sneak attack prerequisite.
Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 2nd level, a Shadow Hand Assassin can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If a Shadow Hand Assassin already has uncanny dodge from a different class she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.
Cloak of Shadows: No matter how careful the assassin, how quiet or stealthy, magic ferrets her out easily enough. Not so for Shadow Hand Assassin. She has learned to combine her supernatural prowess and skills of stealth to fool all but the most skilled of casters. This ability acts like a continuous Nondetection effect, using her initiator level for the caster level.
This ability also works against spells such as True Seeing or See Invisibility, but requires a successful Hide check opposed by a modified caster level check (d20 + caster level + spot modifier) by the caster of the divination. She must have some form of non-magical concealment in order to attempt this hide check, as normal for the skill, in order to attempt this check, unless she also has the ability to hide in plain sight.
This is a supernatural ability.
Thousand Faces: Starting at 3rd level a Shadow Hand Assassin's affinity with shadows allows her to conceal her identity underneath a veil of darkness. She can use Disguise Self as a spell-like ability at will with a caster level equal to her initiator level.
This is a supernatural ability.
Shadow Grace: When a Shadow Hand Assassin of 4th level or higher assumes a Shadow Hand stance her body is suffused and strengthened with the essence of shadow, granting a competence bonus on Str and Dex based skills equal to her class level.
This is a supernatural ability.
Hunter's Mark: Shadow Hand Assassins study their marks carefully learning to exploit every advantage when dealing with them. To that end, the 4th level Shadow Hand Assassin gains a bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks against their marked target equal to their class level. Classes that increase the benefit of Assassin's Mark increase Hunter's Mark as well.
Further, she can stalk her quarry with preternatural ability. Once per day she can sense the best route to a marked target, as per the spell Find the Path. This spell-like ability targets the mark rather than the location, but otherwise functions as the spell. Use her initiator level in place of the caster level for duration and for any caster level checks that may be required.
Improved Uncanny Dodge: A Shadow Hand Assassin of 5th level or higher can no longer be flanked. This defense denies another character with sneak attack or a similar class features the ability to sneak attack her by flanking, unless the attacker has at least four more levels than the target does. If she gains Uncanny dodge or Improved Uncanny dodge from another class the levels stack for determining the level needed by the attacker.
Shadow Hand Style: The Shadow Hand discipline emphasizes subtlety and surprise attacks. A Shadow Hand Assassin of 5th level learns to marry the natural strengths of Shadow Hand with her ability to exploit openings in their enemies’ defense. When she uses a Shadow Hand strike she may forgo the normal effects of the strike to inflict sneak attack damage against a target otherwise immune to precision damage, provided they otherwise meet the requirements to use Sneak Attack. She may deal only one die of Sneak Attack damage per level of the strike used in this fashion, up to her normal number of dice.
This is a supernatural ability.
Ambusher: A Shadow Hand Assassin of 6th level excels at taking an enemy unaware. If she engages in a surprise round she may take a full round’s worth of action as opposed to just a standard. She gains a +4 bonus on attack on damage rolls during the surprise round.
Maiming Strikes: Enemies who are too difficult to drop quickly need to be tenderized properly first, and a 6th level Shadow Hand Assassin has learned how best to do so. When in a Shadow Hand Stance and making a melee attack against a marked target, she may elect to forgo some or all of her Sneak Attack dice on the attack to impose a -1 circumstance penalty, per die, to the target's Fortitude Saves until the end of the her next turn. Making multiple maiming strikes does not stack the penalty, but does cause the effect to continue till the end of her next turn.
Use of this ability must be declared before making the attack and has no effect if the target is not subject to sneak attack damage. A successful heal check (DC 15+2/point of penalty) or Conjuration (Healing) spell that heals at least as many hit points as twice the total penalty ends the effect, but this amount is subtracted from the amount of hit points healed.
Hide in Plain Sight: Shadow Hand Assassins are masters of supernatural stealth and at 8th level she gains the ability to virtually disappear from sight at a moment’s notice. She can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as she is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, she can hide herself from view in the open without having anything to actually hide behind. She cannot, however, use her own shadow.
This is a supernatural ability.
Twin Marks: Starting at 8th level a Shadow Hand Assassin has developed the ability to split her focus between two targets so she can now maintain two Assassin's Marks instead of one.
Mark of Death: If an a Shadow Hand Assassin studies her marked target for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly either paralyzing or killing the target, her choice. While studying the mark, she can undertake other actions so long as her attention stays focused on the target and the target does not detect or recognize her as an enemy. If the victim of such an attack fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the Shadow Hand Assassin’s class level + the Shadow Hand Assassin’s Dex modifier) against the kill effect, she dies. If the saving throw fails against the paralysis effect, the victim is rendered helpless and unable to act for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per level of the Shadow Hand Assassin. If the victim’s saving throw succeeds, the attack is just a normal sneak attack. Once she has completed the 3 rounds of study, she must make the death attack within the next 3 rounds.
If a death attack is attempted and fails (the victim makes the save) or if the Shadow Hand Assassin does not launch the attack within 3 rounds of completing the study, 3 new rounds of study are required before she can attempt another death attack. A Shadow Hand Assassin can only study one mark at a time without interrupting the process.
Shadow Walker: Upon attaining 9th level a Shadow Hand Assassin's affinity for the shadows increases to the point where she can travel through them more easily. When using a Shadow Hand maneuver with the teleportation descriptor the range is doubled and she no longer need line of sight or line of effect to her destination.
Reap the Soul's Shadow: At 10th level, the Shadow Hand Assassin gains knowledge of the most feared ability in their arsenal. Anytime she hits a marked target with a Shadow Hand strike she carves out a bit of their essence, replacing it with shadow stuff. This imposes an effective negative level on the target. Negative levels inflicted this way are not caused by negative energy so do not heal undead, but still do not affect creatures immune to level drain or negative energy. These negative levels fade at the rate of 1 per hour and have no chance of becoming permanent.
In addition, whenever she delivers a killing blow to a marked victim suffering at least one such negative level, she can choose to steal a small but vital fragment of their essence and bind it to her own soul. While it is in her possession the victim cannot be raised or resurrected by any means, even by Wish or Miracle.
This stolen fragment has no physical form and becomes part of her soul until it expires (after a year and a day), she releases it (as a full round action) or she is killed. Otherwise, the fragment withers away and the victim can never be resurrected by mortal magic. Other forms of magic that attempt to draw upon the soul of the victim also fail, including speak with dead and any ability that attempts to create an intelligent undead from the victim’s remains. Holding this foreign bit of essence is straining on the soul. A Shadow Hand Assassin’s maximum hit points are reduced by 1 per Hit Die of each creature she holds a soul fragment from.
This is a supernatural ability.
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