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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Klaus" data-source="post: 5533495" data-attributes="member: 607">In the original design, the vryloka (still named the vrykolaka) had a racial power triggered by killing a nonminion enemy, that allowed them to spend their second wind and regain additional hp equal to their surge value. That power would be most helpful when the vryloka was bloodied, but then their surge value would be reduced by 2. So the player had to decide "do I use it when I can get the most hp out of it, or when I need it the most?", which I thought was interesting.But the final version is based on their epic racial utility (Crimson Death in the final version, Red Death in the original draft), so it's all good. The versatility adds more power to the race.As for the shade, the race diverged a bit from what it started out to be. I didn't want an encounter racial power that simply added a bonus to Stealth or something. I wanted something at-will that allowed the shade not to hide better, but to hide on occasions where other creatures simply couldn't. Hence the "can hide in any cover or concealment, including that granted by allies" angle. The "allies" thing gets all the attention, but it's the bypassing of the "full cover or total concealment" requirement that is the real kick for this power.Now, One With Shadow was a minor action in the early draft, and at some point during R&D it was (probably correctly) that this was just too powerful, and it ended up a standard action. I think that might be too harsh of a penalty (personally, I'd keep it a Standard and include the actual rolling for Stealth into the same action).Still the shade isn't unplayable as it is. The standard action to activate the power means you have to look at other action types when building your character. The race, to me, leans more towards a controller or leader role (notice how many times other races are referred to as "pawns" in the description). A shade leader can use One With Shadow and a move action to hide, and then spend a minor action to heal or buff an ally, without worrying about being targeted by enemies. A shade controller can use that minor action to create a zone or summon a creature. Minor action attacks like Offhand Strike or Lightning Cuts become very tasty for a shade.If you want to beef up the shade, I suggest giving Born of Shadow as a bonus feat for shade characters. While the Shadowborn feats aren't meant to be racial feats for the shade per se, they are the ones that can benefit from them the most. Those feats, coupled with Twilight Torch means a shade can pretty much count on having +1 to saving throws, +5 bonus to second wind, +1 to all defenses and the ability to ignore difficult terrain inside the Torch's area.</blockquote>

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