Shadowdancer....are they possible?

[Gloombunny]

Wild speculation: shadowdancer will be a paragon path, but it will be possible to mix rogue and warlock to make a viable character in that theme at low levels.

 

[Voss]

The whole source/role this in growing on me, like an exotic fungus. Reminds me of Rolemaster, and that's never a bad thing.

True. There's something very precious about a memory of making people cry with the simple words 'You'll be making characters'

 

[The_Pugilist]

True. There's something very precious about a memory of making people cry with the simple words 'You'll be making characters'

I remember my first (only) game. It was a time travel game using the original science fiction rules (Space Master?). I had a specific character concept but the GM used the big book o' Talents. It took me 4 hours to create my paranormal investigator, whose abilities in his "chosen field" were far outstripped by his completely random total mastery of several foreign languages.

I will admit, however, that I did enjoy parts of the process. It was like one of those Russian massages where they beat you with sticks, you probably feel better afterwards but never want to go through it again.

 

[Lizard]

I remember my first (only) game. It was a time travel game using the original science fiction rules (Space Master?). I had a specific character concept but the GM used the big book o' Talents. It took me 4 hours to create my paranormal investigator, whose abilities in his "chosen field" were far outstripped by his completely random total mastery of several foreign languages.

I will admit, however, that I did enjoy parts of the process. It was like one of those Russian massages where they beat you with sticks, you probably feel better afterwards but never want to go through it again.

Don't forget that if you roll poorly, you might not actually know any spells when you begin as a caster... Good times, good times...

Back on topic, the whole Arms/Mentalism/Channeling/Essence/Arcane thing in RM does seem to be reflected in the Martial/Arcane/Divine/Primal/Shadow/Psionic/??? thing in 4e. The thing I am wondering is if mixed power sources will be possible (i.e, a Primal/Martial striker). I can see that happening in 2-3 years when the main source/role combos are played out. (A lot depends on how multiclassing works;it might not be necessary.)

 

[Cadfan]

Lizard- I'm sure that somewhat mixed power source will be possible. We have the Paladin as an example- he uses the divine power source, but he also hits people in the face with a sharp piece of metal. Likewise, the Swordmage mixes arcane and martial.

I hope that's reflected in some actual overlap between class abilities, but I have no way of knowing if that's true.

 

[Lizard]

Lizard- I'm sure that somewhat mixed power source will be possible. We have the Paladin as an example- he uses the divine power source, but he also hits people in the face with a sharp piece of metal. Likewise, the Swordmage mixes arcane and martial.

I hope that's reflected in some actual overlap between class abilities, but I have no way of knowing if that's true.

I believe the Paladin is a "Divine Defender", though.

Remember, everyone in 4e has the same BAB, so everyone is (by default) just as good at hitting people in the face. It's only class abilities/feats/talents/whatever which make the fighter better than the wizard, and I assume all 'defenders', no matter their power source, will be close in attack power. (I suspect the fighter will be broader and know more weapon tricks than the paladin, whose abilities will be split between 'whack the baddy' and 'buff my buddy' more than the fighter's will)

It might be that 'role' will be enough to mitigate the need for mixed power sources, though I'm curious as to what an Arcane Defender or a Martial Controller might look like. I am VERY curious to see the differences between rangers and rogues - both Martial Strikers. How well they do that is likely to be the difference between "I will use 4e for freelancing, but my homebrew will stay 3x" and "I will play 4e and like it, dammit!"

 

[Klaus]

OK...even though it is not out yet, does anyone think it will be possible to make a 4E version of the Shadowdancer? At the moment, the Warlock seems like the class with the closest possibility, what with suspected Teleport abilities....just wondering.

Sidenote....my biggest beef WITH Shadowdancer is that it took 8 levels before one could get even a single level of Shadowdancer....

My wild guess? Rogue with Warlock Training (Shadow Pact).