ElectricDragon
Explorer
The next two rituals are mostly written by and special thanks to Morphile and Dannyalcatrez.
Also special thanks to Grogg of the North: I disdained your suggestion originally, but kept coming back to it again and again later.
IV. Sealed Shadow Ritual
Shadowy assassins are the remains of greedy individuals for whom the score was all. This ritual promises untold wealth forever for just your mere soul.
A shadowy assassin is incorporeal by default, with the shadowstuff their life is transfered through becoming a form of Shadesteel and the immense negative energy utterly destroying their body, leaving them as a spirit of the Plane of Shadows, rather than the Ethereal like conventional ghosts. The item housing the last of their life can be drawn fully into the Plane of Shadows, but it must be within the Prime Material for them to truly act upon the Prime Material. If this Shadesteel anchor (the bone dagger) is destroyed, they are trapped within the Plane of Shadows until they form a new one and wait for a Hollow Night holiday to transfer the dagger back to the material plane (during the witching hour at the center of the ritual’s effects). Once its dagger is again material, the shadowy assassin can form an incorporeal form within 10 feet of the dagger.
“However, their status as being between the Prime Material and Plane of Shadows grants them the power of Shadow Illusions, and many were Shadowdancers, dark-handed Swordsages, and holders of potent Mysteries in life, granting them the power to shape shadow-creatures and shift to and from many shadows with ease to serve their hunger without a trace. The Shadowy Assassin, in contrast to the Soulless Knight and Lich, is driven by the all-too-mortal desire for material things. Their transition deprives them of mundane gluttony, so they devour the spirits of others, at times instead shaping their victims into Shadows, while many are driven by their mortal desire for mundane riches. Gold, jewels, potent artifacts and artwork, the lair of the Shadow Assassin houses much for adventurers willing to take the risk. Should one be foolish enough to face one in the Plane of Shadows, they shape the world around them with greater potency than all but the greatest Liches, crafting vast fortresses and great monstrosities with shocking ease.”
Quote almost word for word, [MENTION=6892324]Morphile[/MENTION].
Ingredients of the Ritual
5 intelligent prospective sacrifices
7 (or more) sycophants/fanatics/followers
Essence of a Will-O’- Wisp
The bay of a shadow mastiff
The essence of a nightshade (any type)
13 shadows rendered for their essence
The right hand of a thief (ground to dust)
The left shinbone of a thief (carved into a dagger, Craft (scrimshaw or sculpting) DC 20) (must be same thief)
Hollow Night holiday during the witching hour
Use the shadow essence, will-o’-wisp essence, and thief hand dust to make a salve under the baying of a shadow mastiff.
Use the salve to inscribe a magic circle around the carved dagger.
Drench the sacrifices in the essence of the nightshade.
Sycophants, followers, or fanatics (at least 7) circle the circle and recite the ritual chant in Draconic.
Kill the sacrifices with the bone blade, slitting their throats then set them on fire using mundane means.
After the 13th recitation of the verse, the ritual master must kill himself by thrusting the blade into his own heart inside the double circle.
This action, transforms the ritual master into a shadowy assassin, a type of incorporeal undead. The followers/fanatics/sycophants are also transformed into shadesteel shadows under the control of the shadowy assassin.
The dagger becomes the shadowy assassin's soul object much like a lich and its phylactery. If the ritual master uses his own hand and shinbone; the tie to the dagger is stronger and allows the shadowy assassin (if unformed on the Material Plane) to possess the wielder of the dagger once per day (treat as magic jar) for up to an hour.
The dagger is a slim bone blade that seems to radiate darkness in a 5- foot radius. 3rd level or higher Light descriptor spells can lessen this darkness so the dagger only seems drab for 1d4 minutes.
The dagger has the ghost touch ability and can be moved easily by either material or incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures use the weapon as if it were magical and gain a +2 on attacks and damage though the weapon has no actual magical enchantments other than being a soul object.
Material creatures that pick up the blade find it adheres to their hand, melding with it to make it impossible to both let go or be disarmed. Only destruction of the dagger, remove curse, break enchantment becoming incorporeal, or giving the dagger back to the shadowy assassin will allow the dagger to be released. Any damage dealt to the dagger is divided equally between the wielder and the dagger (odd points to dagger) no matter how accurate the attack is, then the dagger’s hardness, resistances and immunities apply for the damage to the dagger. While wielding the dagger, the victim gains a +10 shadow bonus to Climb, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Search, and Sleight of Hand checks. The dagger is AC 15, hardness 20, hit points 40, and takes half damage from acid, fire, and electricity. It is immune to cold. Spells with the Light descriptor treat the dagger as if it were undead (but hardness applies to Light spells that damage).
If unformed on the Material plane (during the days waiting to reform), the shadowy assassin can talk telepathically to the wielder of the dagger and often does so: inciting them to do evil acts, usually centering on murder of friends and allies or stealing important items from them, then murdering them. If the shadowy assassin can possess the victim it will await the time it can reform, then it will possess the victim, kill all it can and take treasured items of the victim and friends to its lair for safekeeping, usually ending with handing over the blade to the shadowy assassin who reforms at the end of the possession. The blade can always be given back to the shadowy assassin to rid oneself of it.
A shadowy assassin usually has a lair on the Material plane and another residence of imperial grandiosity on the Plane of Shadows.
An integral part of becoming a shadowy assassin is creating a shadow blade in which the character seals his essence surrounded by shadows. As a rule, the only way to get rid of a shadowy assassin for sure is to destroy its shadow blade. Unless its shadow blade is destroyed, a shadowy assassin reappears at full hp and powers within 10 feet of the shadow blade, 1d10 days after its apparent destruction. Some shadowy assassins keep their shadow blade in a secure and hidden lair, usually well-stocked with guardians and death traps. Others give it to an incorporeal guard to improve its attacks or keep it on themselves as a backup weapon. The shadow blade is Tiny, has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40 and after the ritual, it is made of Shadesteel.
Each shadowy assassin must acquire its own shadow blade (a dagger made of the thigh bone of a thief) to use in the ritual on the holiday of the Hollow Night where the prospective shadowy assassin calls upon dark powers to seal his shadow into the blade. The character must acquire the shadow blade (the thigh bone of a thief that has been crafted into a dagger), recite the ritual at the proper time during the Hollow Night holiday, offer the correct sacrifices [no less than five intelligent creatures drenched in the essence of a nightshade and turned into smoke using mundane methods], and pay 6,000 xp. The dark powers then bless the ritual master by sealing his shadow into the blade. The ritual master then plunges the blade into his own heart to finish the ritual and the dark powers gift him with unlife with his essence stored in the shadow blade in exchange for the five souls sacrificed. The ritual requires a character level of at least 12th.and the shadow blade has a caster level equal to the base creature's character level at the time the ritual was finished.
The shadow blade must be shadow-proof. [As opposed to light-proof]
Prospective shadowy assassins must acquire the thigh bone blade for themselves (build, buy, or steal) and trade to Nethrancor for both the Sealed Shadow ritual (unless they can discover the ritual for themselves) and the Hollow Night ritual (unless someone else in the area is performing it). Unlike liches, shadowy assassins do not enchant a magic item to hold their life force, rather the ritual calls upon the forces of darkness (Nethrancor) to hide and protect the shadowy assassin's shadow as a focal point for his essence between the planes of shadows and not shadows.
Once manifest on the material plane, the shadowy assassin will seek to kill and steal as much as possible, take that back to his lair, and hit another area. Rinse, repeat. Shadowy assassins seek to have it all materially, like they do have it all on the shadow plane but it is all ephereal and only imagined-real there, whereas here on the material plane, it is really real and easy to get.
Shadow Blade
Strong Necromancy; Character Level: 12+; bone blade, Sealed Shadow ritual, Hollow Night holiday, essence of a nightshade, bay of a shadow mastiff, 13 shadow essences, will-o’-wisp essence, the right hand and left shinbone of a thief; Price: 150,000 gp and 6,000 xp; Weight: 0 lb.
Shadesteel refers to both a special material and a creature subtype.
Shadesteel (special material): Shadesteel is darkness made manifest in a real object. Shadesteel items of any sort are extremely rare. Items made of shadesteel radiate non-magical darkness in a 5 foot radius centered on the item. Shadesteel items have hardness 20 and 40 hp per inch. Shadesteel items can be dimmed for 1d4 minutes by application of a 3th or higher level Light descriptor spell or effect. This dimness negates the darkness but has no other effects. All shadesteel items have the ghost touch ability and are easily manipulated by both material creatures and incorporeal creatures. If the shadesteel item is a weapon it gains +2 to attacks and +2 to damage while wielded by an incorporeal creature though it has no actual magical plusses. Shadesteel armor provides both an armor bonus that also works against incorporeal creatures and a concealment bonus (20% miss chance) but provides no special visual capabilities to see through the darkness, creatures with darkvision or low-light vision can see through the darkness without penalty and are unaffected by the concealment chance. Most shadesteel items are not magical. Only weapons, armor, tools, and shields normally made of metal or wood can be fashioned from Shadesteel.
Shadesteel items are normally only made on the Plane of Shadows usually by enterprising shadowy assassins temporarily stuck in their shadowy empire or shadow-themed liches looking to outfit some incorporeal guards. Shadesteel items have no weight and both armors and shields made of shadesteel have a 0% spell failure chance, no max dex mod, and 0 armor check penalty, no matter the type of armor or shield. Thus, the armor is always full plate and the shields are usually tower shields. Movement while wearing shadesteel armor is as if unarmored. Shadesteel armor requires no special proficiency to gain the shadesteel armor’s full armor bonus with no penalties. Shadesteel weapons require no special proficiency to use the weapon, so most shadesteel weapons are martial and two-handed. Though shadesteel is not a metal, it has all the magnetic properties of ferrous metals. Shadesteel is not a wood either; so shadesteel is unaffected by spells that specifically affect metal or wood.
Shadesteel subtype creatures are all incorporeal and come from the Plane of Shadows. Such creatures have the ghost touch ability allowing them to manipulate physical objects as if they had substance. Most shadesteel creatures are created by shadowy assassins seeking to populate their shadowy paradise until they can again walk among the living to take their treasures. Some few shadesteel creatures are natural and native to the Plane of Shadows and can be summoned with the appropriate monster summoning spell.
Also special thanks to Grogg of the North: I disdained your suggestion originally, but kept coming back to it again and again later.
IV. Sealed Shadow Ritual
Shadowy assassins are the remains of greedy individuals for whom the score was all. This ritual promises untold wealth forever for just your mere soul.
A shadowy assassin is incorporeal by default, with the shadowstuff their life is transfered through becoming a form of Shadesteel and the immense negative energy utterly destroying their body, leaving them as a spirit of the Plane of Shadows, rather than the Ethereal like conventional ghosts. The item housing the last of their life can be drawn fully into the Plane of Shadows, but it must be within the Prime Material for them to truly act upon the Prime Material. If this Shadesteel anchor (the bone dagger) is destroyed, they are trapped within the Plane of Shadows until they form a new one and wait for a Hollow Night holiday to transfer the dagger back to the material plane (during the witching hour at the center of the ritual’s effects). Once its dagger is again material, the shadowy assassin can form an incorporeal form within 10 feet of the dagger.
“However, their status as being between the Prime Material and Plane of Shadows grants them the power of Shadow Illusions, and many were Shadowdancers, dark-handed Swordsages, and holders of potent Mysteries in life, granting them the power to shape shadow-creatures and shift to and from many shadows with ease to serve their hunger without a trace. The Shadowy Assassin, in contrast to the Soulless Knight and Lich, is driven by the all-too-mortal desire for material things. Their transition deprives them of mundane gluttony, so they devour the spirits of others, at times instead shaping their victims into Shadows, while many are driven by their mortal desire for mundane riches. Gold, jewels, potent artifacts and artwork, the lair of the Shadow Assassin houses much for adventurers willing to take the risk. Should one be foolish enough to face one in the Plane of Shadows, they shape the world around them with greater potency than all but the greatest Liches, crafting vast fortresses and great monstrosities with shocking ease.”
Quote almost word for word, [MENTION=6892324]Morphile[/MENTION].
Ingredients of the Ritual
5 intelligent prospective sacrifices
7 (or more) sycophants/fanatics/followers
Essence of a Will-O’- Wisp
The bay of a shadow mastiff
The essence of a nightshade (any type)
13 shadows rendered for their essence
The right hand of a thief (ground to dust)
The left shinbone of a thief (carved into a dagger, Craft (scrimshaw or sculpting) DC 20) (must be same thief)
Hollow Night holiday during the witching hour
Use the shadow essence, will-o’-wisp essence, and thief hand dust to make a salve under the baying of a shadow mastiff.
Use the salve to inscribe a magic circle around the carved dagger.
Drench the sacrifices in the essence of the nightshade.
Sycophants, followers, or fanatics (at least 7) circle the circle and recite the ritual chant in Draconic.
Kill the sacrifices with the bone blade, slitting their throats then set them on fire using mundane means.
After the 13th recitation of the verse, the ritual master must kill himself by thrusting the blade into his own heart inside the double circle.
This action, transforms the ritual master into a shadowy assassin, a type of incorporeal undead. The followers/fanatics/sycophants are also transformed into shadesteel shadows under the control of the shadowy assassin.
The dagger becomes the shadowy assassin's soul object much like a lich and its phylactery. If the ritual master uses his own hand and shinbone; the tie to the dagger is stronger and allows the shadowy assassin (if unformed on the Material Plane) to possess the wielder of the dagger once per day (treat as magic jar) for up to an hour.
The dagger is a slim bone blade that seems to radiate darkness in a 5- foot radius. 3rd level or higher Light descriptor spells can lessen this darkness so the dagger only seems drab for 1d4 minutes.
The dagger has the ghost touch ability and can be moved easily by either material or incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures use the weapon as if it were magical and gain a +2 on attacks and damage though the weapon has no actual magical enchantments other than being a soul object.
Material creatures that pick up the blade find it adheres to their hand, melding with it to make it impossible to both let go or be disarmed. Only destruction of the dagger, remove curse, break enchantment becoming incorporeal, or giving the dagger back to the shadowy assassin will allow the dagger to be released. Any damage dealt to the dagger is divided equally between the wielder and the dagger (odd points to dagger) no matter how accurate the attack is, then the dagger’s hardness, resistances and immunities apply for the damage to the dagger. While wielding the dagger, the victim gains a +10 shadow bonus to Climb, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Search, and Sleight of Hand checks. The dagger is AC 15, hardness 20, hit points 40, and takes half damage from acid, fire, and electricity. It is immune to cold. Spells with the Light descriptor treat the dagger as if it were undead (but hardness applies to Light spells that damage).
If unformed on the Material plane (during the days waiting to reform), the shadowy assassin can talk telepathically to the wielder of the dagger and often does so: inciting them to do evil acts, usually centering on murder of friends and allies or stealing important items from them, then murdering them. If the shadowy assassin can possess the victim it will await the time it can reform, then it will possess the victim, kill all it can and take treasured items of the victim and friends to its lair for safekeeping, usually ending with handing over the blade to the shadowy assassin who reforms at the end of the possession. The blade can always be given back to the shadowy assassin to rid oneself of it.
A shadowy assassin usually has a lair on the Material plane and another residence of imperial grandiosity on the Plane of Shadows.
An integral part of becoming a shadowy assassin is creating a shadow blade in which the character seals his essence surrounded by shadows. As a rule, the only way to get rid of a shadowy assassin for sure is to destroy its shadow blade. Unless its shadow blade is destroyed, a shadowy assassin reappears at full hp and powers within 10 feet of the shadow blade, 1d10 days after its apparent destruction. Some shadowy assassins keep their shadow blade in a secure and hidden lair, usually well-stocked with guardians and death traps. Others give it to an incorporeal guard to improve its attacks or keep it on themselves as a backup weapon. The shadow blade is Tiny, has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40 and after the ritual, it is made of Shadesteel.
Each shadowy assassin must acquire its own shadow blade (a dagger made of the thigh bone of a thief) to use in the ritual on the holiday of the Hollow Night where the prospective shadowy assassin calls upon dark powers to seal his shadow into the blade. The character must acquire the shadow blade (the thigh bone of a thief that has been crafted into a dagger), recite the ritual at the proper time during the Hollow Night holiday, offer the correct sacrifices [no less than five intelligent creatures drenched in the essence of a nightshade and turned into smoke using mundane methods], and pay 6,000 xp. The dark powers then bless the ritual master by sealing his shadow into the blade. The ritual master then plunges the blade into his own heart to finish the ritual and the dark powers gift him with unlife with his essence stored in the shadow blade in exchange for the five souls sacrificed. The ritual requires a character level of at least 12th.and the shadow blade has a caster level equal to the base creature's character level at the time the ritual was finished.
The shadow blade must be shadow-proof. [As opposed to light-proof]
Prospective shadowy assassins must acquire the thigh bone blade for themselves (build, buy, or steal) and trade to Nethrancor for both the Sealed Shadow ritual (unless they can discover the ritual for themselves) and the Hollow Night ritual (unless someone else in the area is performing it). Unlike liches, shadowy assassins do not enchant a magic item to hold their life force, rather the ritual calls upon the forces of darkness (Nethrancor) to hide and protect the shadowy assassin's shadow as a focal point for his essence between the planes of shadows and not shadows.
Once manifest on the material plane, the shadowy assassin will seek to kill and steal as much as possible, take that back to his lair, and hit another area. Rinse, repeat. Shadowy assassins seek to have it all materially, like they do have it all on the shadow plane but it is all ephereal and only imagined-real there, whereas here on the material plane, it is really real and easy to get.
Shadow Blade
Strong Necromancy; Character Level: 12+; bone blade, Sealed Shadow ritual, Hollow Night holiday, essence of a nightshade, bay of a shadow mastiff, 13 shadow essences, will-o’-wisp essence, the right hand and left shinbone of a thief; Price: 150,000 gp and 6,000 xp; Weight: 0 lb.
Shadesteel refers to both a special material and a creature subtype.
Shadesteel (special material): Shadesteel is darkness made manifest in a real object. Shadesteel items of any sort are extremely rare. Items made of shadesteel radiate non-magical darkness in a 5 foot radius centered on the item. Shadesteel items have hardness 20 and 40 hp per inch. Shadesteel items can be dimmed for 1d4 minutes by application of a 3th or higher level Light descriptor spell or effect. This dimness negates the darkness but has no other effects. All shadesteel items have the ghost touch ability and are easily manipulated by both material creatures and incorporeal creatures. If the shadesteel item is a weapon it gains +2 to attacks and +2 to damage while wielded by an incorporeal creature though it has no actual magical plusses. Shadesteel armor provides both an armor bonus that also works against incorporeal creatures and a concealment bonus (20% miss chance) but provides no special visual capabilities to see through the darkness, creatures with darkvision or low-light vision can see through the darkness without penalty and are unaffected by the concealment chance. Most shadesteel items are not magical. Only weapons, armor, tools, and shields normally made of metal or wood can be fashioned from Shadesteel.
Shadesteel items are normally only made on the Plane of Shadows usually by enterprising shadowy assassins temporarily stuck in their shadowy empire or shadow-themed liches looking to outfit some incorporeal guards. Shadesteel items have no weight and both armors and shields made of shadesteel have a 0% spell failure chance, no max dex mod, and 0 armor check penalty, no matter the type of armor or shield. Thus, the armor is always full plate and the shields are usually tower shields. Movement while wearing shadesteel armor is as if unarmored. Shadesteel armor requires no special proficiency to gain the shadesteel armor’s full armor bonus with no penalties. Shadesteel weapons require no special proficiency to use the weapon, so most shadesteel weapons are martial and two-handed. Though shadesteel is not a metal, it has all the magnetic properties of ferrous metals. Shadesteel is not a wood either; so shadesteel is unaffected by spells that specifically affect metal or wood.
Shadesteel subtype creatures are all incorporeal and come from the Plane of Shadows. Such creatures have the ghost touch ability allowing them to manipulate physical objects as if they had substance. Most shadesteel creatures are created by shadowy assassins seeking to populate their shadowy paradise until they can again walk among the living to take their treasures. Some few shadesteel creatures are natural and native to the Plane of Shadows and can be summoned with the appropriate monster summoning spell.
Last edited: