saucercrab said:
Distracting Ember is a precedent for making an independent thingy; & it's only a 1st level maneuver so the duration fits. Make Summon Shadow a 7th level or higher maneuver, & give it a better duration, perhaps in rounds equal to PrC level or somesuch.
Salamander Charge is a good counter-example. Let me explain my reasoning for the stance, though.
Basically, I want there to be a cost associated. Not a cost in terms of expended resources -- that's the spellcaster way of thinking, where you have a limit on resources. I want a pure opportunity cost that applies exactly when you are gaining the benefit.
A Boost could do it, but not if it could last for multiple rounds, because you'd then be able to get your buddy ("buff up"), recover your maneuvers, and then start a fight. I don't want there ever to be a time when you use the feature and didn't pay for it that same round in some way.
I figured that a Stance would do the trick -- it's a concrete opportunity cost, and it's got a duration. If your shadow died, then getting your buddy back would be the same price as a Boost (Swift action), so you're still encouraged to keep it "alive".
The other thing is that I want the "flavor" of the core shadowdancer's ability, which has three roles: strong scout, moderate flanker, weak attacker. Getting a 5-round shadow companion limits its scouting ability... makes it annoying for me as a DM to adjudicate. But stances can last all day, and when you're scouting with your shadow, you're not also flying, spider climbing, etc.
saucercrab said:
Not what I'm talking about. The Rising Phoenix stance can end because of a condition that still affects the character.
Ironically, the condition ("falling") only affects the character
because the stance ends.
saucercrab said:
Stances seem either reactive, or rely directly on a character's continued actions. Maneuvers seem more the fire-&-forget type. Summon Shadow to me fits the latter category. You initially summon one, but then it acts independently.
I disagree. You can gain the benefit of a shadow companion for every round in which it exists. If you only pay for it in round 1 but it lasts until round X, then you just got X-1 rounds of benefit for free. (Which is fine for spellcasters, but IMHO not for martial adepts. ESPECIALLY not if you can summon more than one.)
To compare with Salamander Charge: the Wall of Fire is fixed in location and effect. Once you set it, it's "passive". People can walk around it (or just away from it). The shadow companion is an "active" effect. It can move to follow foes, it can adjust to flank, you can give it various orders.
Please let me know if the "opportunity cost" thing is making sense. It's not the way I'm used to thinking about balance, but it feels right when working on Martial Adepts (and Warlocks).
saucercrab said:
BTW (currently), if the shadow dies, but the character doesn't see it, would he know its dead & that the stance is over?
Yes. You know when your stance ends, and can infer a reason -- maybe it died, maybe it just moved out of range.
saucercrab said:
Not be a pain but it seems additional readied manuevers are still limited to certain schools. This doesn't seem to be a limit in the official PrCs.
Check out page 38. I don't need to specify where you can ready maneuvers from -- you always choose your readied maneuvers from all maneuvers that you know.
Basically, I can't limit these "slots" to specific schools.
Cheers, -- N