Masterwork Characters: Born of the Shadows

[arwink]

Almost everyone has been afraid of the dark at some time in their lives. Sight is our most important sense, and darkness robs us of it. Our culture and language are filled with references to the power of darkness, associations between shadows and death, and tales of the terrifying things that can lurk in dark places. Fantasy fiction is filled with villains who command the very power of darkness itself, sly thieves who skulk in the shadows, and the dreadful monsters that emerge from literal or metaphorical darkness.

Born of the Shadows gives you new feats, prestige classes and magic, all designed to give a character some of the mystique and power that we associate with shadows, darkness and death. From the dark hand adept, whose touch brings shadowy death to his enemies, to the devastating terror inflicted by the shadowfear spell, Born of the Shadows offers all the tools you need to create a memorable darkness-themed character for your next game.

 

[Ace]

Disclaimer: I received a review copy


Masterwork Characters: Born of the Shadows details a plethora of options for your campaign, ranging from Prestige Classes to Feats, Spells and Psion powers. These pages contain enough hooks to keep your shadowy games going a long time and offer a little something for almost every DM.

Appearance:
Masterwork Characters: Born of the Shadows is 20 pages long. The PDF weighs in at 283K and it should be no problem to download even on dial up. It is sparsely illustrated and laid out in a way that both printing and on screen reading should be easy. The book marking is also excellent though I would have liked a listing for each spell.

Content:
This PD is very versatile covering everything from planar notes (in a sidebar on the plane of shadow to prestige classes and everything in between.

It starts with a template called Shadow Born which grants access to the Shadow feats in this pdf, 30 foot dark vision ,some minor boosts to spell casting and a racial bonus to intimidate in exchange for a –2 con. It looks balanced though the con hit is a bit painful and will deter a lot of players from taking the template. Also Preferred class Cleric seems a bit odd to me as well but that can easily be dropped.

Next up are the Secrets of the Shadows. There are a dozen of these feats with a nice mix for just about every class. Any character concept can find at least one feat that would be useful. I find this fact to be a really good design decision as it makes the book a lot more usuable
The feats are Blinding Strike, Darksight, Death in the Shadows, Duskwalker, Ebon Adept, Eyes of Ebon, Imbue Shadowtouch, Knife in the Dark, Owlsight, Shadowtouch and Spectral Voice.
All these feats are evocatively named and for the most pretty balanced. If anything they are a bit on the weak side

The next section details 3 prestige classes. These classes offer more shadow related options for Monks, Fighter types, and Arcane Casters. This layout is a nice synergy with the rogue oriented Shadowdancer. My one quibble here is that the book could have used a Shadow Priest type of class, just to complete the set

The prestige classes are

the Dark Hand, which offers mainly monks (or possibly other unarmed fighters) a wide range off negative energy based powers. This class would be great for a tainted chi type concept and look quite fun

The next is the Ebon Magus. This class offers 9 full caster levels along with a bunch of shadow related and shadow magic powers. The class might be a bit on the strong side but it is cool enough that many DM’s will overlook that. Frankly I kind of want to play one

The last class is the Shadow Knight. This class grafts some roguish abilities (including exotic weapon proficiencies) and some shadow powers into a kind of vigilante concept. It is an unusual class that looks versatile and interesting.

I normally don’t care much for PRC’s but these classes make me think of a party of Night Men with one of each and a Shadowdancer besides. That is unusual for me and I guess the best compliment I can pay is that I want to use them in my game soon.

Following this are the Secrets of the Shadows the Psion and Magic section
In addition to a Shadow domain there one psion ability Dark Flesh which grants a living darkness form and Nine spells.

These spells Blacklight, Dark Betrayer, Dead of Night, Night and Fog, Nightchills, Shadowfear, Shadowsight and Shadows Step. These spells seem to fit nicely with the SRD Shadow and Darkness related spells and are pretty well balanced for most games.

The final rules section are the Artifacts of the Shadows. There are 7 items, one weapon (the Midnight Star) 1 armor (The Blackmail) and 5 Wondrous items (Cloak of Darkness, Darklight Lantern, Dragon lenses, Flute of the Night, and Liquid Darkness) These items are well designed and useful for a wide range of characters. My personal favorite has to be the Flute of the Night, which is a rogue summoning version of the horn of Valhalla. I can imagine the mischief factor on that one already.

Ending this list is a solitary mundane item Metal Black. This item is a tad expensive at 5GP but a good edition to the adventurers pack anyway.

I like this book. It sticks to the theme, gives something for every class and is a very good deal at under $3.

 

[Capellan]

Glad to hear you liked it!

There are a dozen of these feats with a nice mix for just about every class. Any character concept can find at least one feat that would be useful. I find this fact to be a really good design decision as it makes the book a lot more usuable

This is actually a specific design intent for each Masterwork Characters book -- there should be a good variety of feats and PrCs that will be of use to all kinds of characters, regardless of their class.

My one quibble here is that the book could have used a Shadow Priest type of class, just to complete the set

Despite the name of the PrC, a cleric with the Shadow domain can qualify as an Ebon Magus pretty easily. She wouldn't get as much value out of the shadow magic class ability as a wizard would, but she'd do very well with the shadow reach ability.

 

[DragonTurtle]

Master Work Characters: Born of the Shadows

Master Work Characters: Born of the Shadows by Clockwork Golem Workshop is a 21 page black and white PDF with Bookmarks. I enjoy this type of PDF, it takes a subject like Shadow and expands on it giving you something that can plug easily into your game. Whether you have a character concept that can use some tweaking or an NPC that you want to stand out, I think this book has some options for you.

The book starts out giving you some of their design assumptions, this is a nice touch that lets you know the direction that the designer was coming from and provides some theme for the material within.

The first section after the Introduction is a racial template, the Shadowborn. This is a +0 LA template that can be added to any humanoid race. The Shadowborn are created when pregnant mothers survive being attacked by undead. The child from such a mother has a chance to be forever changed by this touch of negative energy. I liked the template; it keeps the traits from its original race, which does bring up the question of do they get two favored classes, as the shadowborn lists clerics, but would a dwarven shadowborn choose from fighter or cleric? This is really the only question that the template has and it can easily be ruled on by a GM without unbalancing too much anyway the GM decides.

The next section contains some new feats for shadow themed characters. A lot of these expand upon the sneak attack chain which makes sense when you think about what often lurks in the shadows. I would recommend taking a close look at the feats for balance issues. Most seem suitable for play, however Knife in the dark will allow a first level rogue to do an additional 2d6 sneak attack (for a total of 3d6) when striking from cover or when surprising an opponent. Personally this is a little powerful to me, but others may this acceptable. Overall I thought the feats did a good job expanding on the premise, I personally liked the Spectral Voice feat for Bards the best, it allows them to speak with dead by expending a bardic music use.

A couple of prestige classes appear in the next part of this PDF and are the Dark Hand, Ebon Magus and Shadow Knight. The Dark Hand is the first version of a monk that I have seen that incorporates shadow and darkness; it is a great addition to the other shadow like PrCs such as the Shadow Dancer in the DMG. The Dark Hand trades progression in monk abilities for a better BAB and a number of shadow abilities like going incorporeal and doing negative energy damage with his unarmed attacks. The Ebon Magus is a wizard or Sorcerer who specializes in Shadow Conjurations and Evocations. Again this is a great PrC that seems well balanced and intriguing for play. The Shadow Knight brings to mind images of Batman, which may have been the designers inspiration or not, although I suspect it is so. Either way, the PrC is an interesting take on a vigilante character that attempts to make the night a safe place for innocents. To combat the Batman like flavor, this could easily be linked to an organization or church.

If you were looking for new magic the next section details 9 new spells, 1 new manifestation and 1 new domain. I would have liked a spell list section as there are spells for a number of different classes, and when I play a spell casting class sometimes I skim spell lists for new spells instead of reading each description, this is particular useful when playing a Ranger, Paladin or Bard who don’t receive as many spells as Clerics or Wizards. The new magic all looks interesting, I would have liked to seen a few spells for the Assassin as well since they scream darkness and shadow to me, however no spell is designated for the class, not to say that a GM could not approve some of these. Shadow Step for one seems most suitable, as it increases the caster’s ability to move silently.

The last chapter before the OGL is on equipment, and mostly the magical kind. Every item here is interesting and looks balanced. There is a new alchemical item as well, Weapon Black.

Overview: I liked this PDF as I think it did exactly what it intended to do; it expands on the realm of shadow and darkness for those looking for such a thing. Art and layout are functional but barebones, which keeps the cost down under $3.00. While not enough here to plan a whole campaign based on shadows it does add new options for characters to explore. This is a very solid 4 star product and anyone interested in this topic should take a look.

 

[Wraith Form]

Awesome; I bought this a few hours before reading this review, but haven't had a chance to look at the PDF yet....so this is a good thing.

 

[Capellan]

Re: Shadowborn favored class

Favored Class: Cleric. A multiclass shadowborn's cleric class does not count when determining whether they take an experience point penalty. This favored class replaces the favored class of the parent race.

Glad you liked the book!

 

[Pinotage]

Masterwork Characters: Born of the Shadows is a pdf product from Clockwork Golem Workshop, one of several in the Masterwork Characters series. This pdf features a number of shadow-related options to enhance characters or monsters, including the shadowborn race template, new prestige classes, new feats, new spells, and new mundane and magical items. It's a 21 page pdf written by Adam Windsor, of which 20 pages are devoted to the content. This pdf normally retails for $2.95. This review was done as part of Crothian's Review Project.

Disclaimer: The reviewer is also d20 freelance writer with recent published material. Every effort has been made by the reviewer to ensure that this is an impartial review.

Initial Impressions:

This pdf from Clockwork Golem Workshop has a very simple layout in two columns, and is easy to read with well-written text. There are two pieces of good artwork in the pdf, both taken from work done by Louis Porter Jr. Design. From a general presentation perspective, it's a no-frills pdf, with low art content, but very high on the crunch and mechanics, something that it does well at. There are one or two minor editing errors in the text, but I think Adam Windsor does a good job of providing some additional options around the shadows, darkness and death theme.

The Details:

Despite the lack of a table of contents (the pdf is fully bookmarked for navigation), the pdf is divided into five different sections, each touching on a different shadow-related topic. The material hangs together well, with feats used in the prestige classes and magical items based on feats and spells contained in the pdf. It's always good to see a more cohesive mechanical presentation, rather than a number of seemingly disjointed pieces of work. The material within this is useful to both DMs and players alike, for PCs and NPCs, which is an added advantage for a good value for money pdf.

Shadowborn: The pdf starts by presenting a new race template, the shadowborn. These people of the shadow are born with the taint of shadow and negative energy, and as a result have certain racial abilities different from the norm for their race. Very good background material is provided, discussing characteristics of the shadowborn, appearance differences to those of their race not tainted, and loads of other information to allow players to create interesting shadowborn characters. Shadowborn characters gain racial attributes such as bonuses to intimidate, penalty to Constitution, darkvision, and the shadowtaint feat as a bonus feat (which grants resistance to death effects, negative energy and the like) among other characteristics. All in all certainly something useful, and the idea of entire cultures formed from the shadowborn congregating together has some appeal in a campaign world.

Feats: Twelve new feats are presented in the next section, offering a number of different feats for characters and NPCs to take. Examples include Blinding Strike, where you forgo sneak attack damage to blind and opponent, Death in the Shadows, where you can sneak attack even when your opponent has concealment, Ebon Adept, which allows spellcasters to cast spells with the Shadow descriptor at a higher caster level, shadowtaint which grants a save bonus against death effects and negative energy effects, and Shadowtouch, which allows you to deal negative energy damage on a successful touch attack. In general the feats are good and useful, most usable to all classes rather than the 'sneaky' types only.

Prestige classes: There are three new prestige classes presented in this pdf: the Dark Hand (those focusing on using their shadowtaint in a martial style of discipline and meditation), Ebon Magus (a spellcaster powerful in shadow magic) and Shadow Knight (a vigilante capable of using the shadows to strike at their foes). Each prestige class is provided with ample background describing the nature of the prestige class, and training and culture characteristics. All three are good and well-presented, although probably on the strong side. The Shadow Knight, for example, gains an ability called Combat Insight that allows him on a special Sense Motive check, to deny his opponent his Dexterity bonus to AC for a number of round equal to half his class level. For characters specializing in sneak attacks, this is an extremely deadly ability, particularly given that ranks in Sense Motive can easily outstrip BAB used in the opposed check, and the fact that this ability can be used unlimited. Overall though, a strong selection, with perhaps one or two abilities that would require some DM attention.

Spells: About a dozen new spells are provided, most of them appearing to focus on alternative uses of the darkness spell and similar large area concealment effects, such as Shadowfear, Nightchills, Night and Fog and Blacklight. Other spells include Shadowsight, allowing a character to penetrate glamers and figments, and Shadowstep, that grants a bonus to Hide checks. A useful selection, but focusing perhaps too much on one idea and not expanding enough on the shadow theme.

Magic: The last section details a number of new mundane and magical items. Mundane items include metalblack which reduces the armor check penalty for hide checks, while magical items include liquid darkness (to create a limited darkness effect), blackmail (a special armor), and the flute of the night (a horn of Valhalla variant that summons rogues). There are some good ideas presented in this section, and useful material.

Conclusions:

Masterwork Characters: Born of the Shadows, presents a plethora of new material based on a theme of shadow, darkness and death. The author does a good job of presenting mechanically solid material with a good balance of fluff and crunch, allowing players and DMs alike to use this material in a creative fashion. Feats, spells, magical items and prestige classes are included, with lots of useful material in each section, although the prestige classes may be somewhat on the strong side with some strong abilities. In general it's a well-written, simply presented pdf that's good value for money at the price based on the large amount of content it contains. Based on mechanics, balance, usefulness and presentation, I'd grade this pdf with three and a half stars, rounding up to four stars.