Shadow Lord (3.5e Class)

The Shadow Lord

Among all the living beings, some are born with the gift of darkness, and can learn to use its power to raise their army and destroy their enemies. The power to control darkness, the power to rule the shadows. A Shadow Lord rules over everything with the power of the dead, and darkness' might.

Making a Shadow Lord

A Shadow Lord is very versatile, and based on the stats he decides to absorb from his minions, he can fit in any role as he gets stronger and stronger, raising his levels and his army's numbers.

Abilities: Intelligence is the most important stat, since it determines the number of minions that the Shadow Lord can control, as well as how many times he can use his other powers, and how intelligent his troops will be. Constitution for some extra HP since a d6 is squishy, Dexterity if you want him to be harder to hit.

Races: Any race can be allured by the power of darkness, but generally, humans are the easiest to corrupt.

Alignment: You follow the path of darkness and use it masterfully in order to reach your goals, so Lawful-Evil is the most adapt, but even Chaotic-Evil and just Neutral-Evil are selectable.

Starting Gold: 2d6 x 10gp (70gp)

Starting Age: as Rogue

Table: The Shadow Lord

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Total Darkness Soldiers	Total Harvested Shadows
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Shadow Harvest 1, The Power Of Darkness 1	1	5
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Minor Darkness Call	1	10
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Persistent Darkness 1	2	15
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Quiet Like A Shadow	2	20
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Darkness Without Limit 1/day	3	25
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Shadow Harvest 2, The Power Of Darkness 2	3	30
7th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Improved Darkness Call	4	35
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Persistent Darkness 2	4	40
9th	+5	+3	+3	+6	Invisible Shadow	5	45
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Darkness Without Limit 2/day	5	50
11th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+7	Shadow Harvest 3, The Power Of Darkness 3	6	55
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Major Darkness Call	6	60
13th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+8	Persistent Darkness 3	7	65
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Shadow Travel	7	70
15th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+9	Darkness Without Limit 3/day	8	75
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Shadow Harvest 4, The Power Of Darkness 4	8	80
17th	+9/+4	+5	+5	+10	Superior Darkness Call	9	85
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Persistent Darkness 4	9	90
19th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+11	Shadow Stalker	10	95
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Darkness Without Limit 4/day	10	100
Class Skills (8 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are the class features of the Shadow Lord.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Shadow Lord is proficient in the use of all simple weapons, war weapons and light armor.

Shadow Harvest (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

The Power of Darkness (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Minor Darkness Call (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Persistent Darkness (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Quiet Like A Shadow (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Darkness Without Limit (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Improved Darkness Call (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Invisible Shadow (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Major Darkness Call (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Shadow Travel (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Superior Darkness Call (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Shadow Stalker (Ex): <-class feature game rule information->

Ex-Shadow Lords

Shadow Lords who abandon the Evil alignment, no matter the reason, loose all of their class feats except for weapon armor/proficiency and The Power Of Darkness, until they gain the right to be Shadow Lords once again, as a paladin usually does.

Epic Shadow Lord

Table: The Epic Shadow Lord

Hit Die: d6

Level	Special	Total Darkness Soldiers	Total Harvested Shadows
21st	Shadow Harvest 5	11	105
22nd	Supreme Darkness Call	11	110
23rd	Persistent Darkness 5	12	115
24th	—	12	120
25th	Darkness Without Limit 5/day	13	125
26th	Shadow Harvest 6	13	130
27th	Absolute Darkness Call	14	135
28th	Persistent Darkness 6	14	140
29th	—	15	145
30th	Darkness Without Limit 6/day	15	150
(6 + Int modifier) skill points per level.

Shadow Harvest (Ex): At 21th level, a Shadow Lord's max failing chance while harvesting a shadow becomes 50%. At 26th level, it is lowered even further, to 40%.

Supreme Darkness Call (Ex): At 22th level, a Shadow Lord can summon his Darkness Soldiers with 2,5 times the original creature's HP, BAB and all modifiers.

Persistent Darkness (Ex): At 23th level, a Shadow Lord's Darkness Soldiers can all be reanimated 5 times each per day. At 28th level, their revivals rise to 6.

Darkness Without Limit (Ex): At 25th level, a Shadow Lord can use Darkness Without Limit 5 times per day. At 30th level, his daily uses rise to 6.

Absolute Darkness Call (Ex): At 27th level, a Shadow Lord can summon his Darkness Soldiers with 3 times the original creature's HP, BAB and all modifiers.

Human Shadow Lord Starting Package

Weapons: Short Sword, Short Bow.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 6 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Bluff	4	Cha	—
Diplomacy	4	Cha	—
Intimidate	4	Cha	—
Listen	4	Wis	—
Search	4	Int	—
Spot	4	Wis	—

Feat: Focus Weapon, Persuasive.

Gear: Chain Mail.

Gold: 2d6

Playing a Shadow Lord

Religion: A Shadow Lord worships no god or deity. All they have faith in, are their own capabilities.

Other Classes: A Shadow Lord will easily get along with wizards and sorcerers, especially summoners and necromancers, but he will usually have trouble grouping with good clerics, paladins and druids. They will get along with rogues and bards no problem, and they won't have any issues with fighters, rangers, barbarians and monks.

Combat: Based on which and how many stats he borrowed from his numerous shadows, a Shadow Lord will either summon his minions and make them fight on the front lines, or join the battle personally. Depending on the stats he takes from his shadows, he can use any battle strategy really. Tank, Mage, DPS, Assassin, Support and so on.

Advancement: As still as he keeps adding the enemies' shadows to his collection during his adventure, a Shadow Lord will always be extremely useful to his team.

Shadow Lords in the World

“	"People run from their darkness. I embrace it. "	”
—Shogu, Human Shadow Lord

Daily Life: A Shadow Lord lives his life like any adventurer, they eat, sleep, go hunt in dungeons and so on.

Organizations: A Shadow Lord is a solitary creature, they will rarely group with a party, if they think they can't reach their goals by themselves.

NPC Reactions: Since they are basically a rare type of necromancer NPCs react to them the same way.

Shadow Lord's Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Religion) or Knowledge (History) can research Shadow Lords to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (Religion) or Knowledge (History)

DC	Result
10	They use the powers of a necromancer.
15	They have some kind of unique powers regarding shadows.
20	They are superior to a necromancer in many ways, including the quality of their minions.
30	They are chosen by the powers of darkness since their birth. They are privileged beings with immense power over their own darkness and others'.

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