Shade, Unwilling (4e Racial Trait Variant)
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Unwilling Shade[edit]
Some choose the Trail of Five Shadows for power, others for knowledge... Some do not choose this path at all...
| Racial Traits |
| Average Height: 5'8" - 6"3" |
| Average Weight: None |
| Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity; +2 Charisma or +2 Wisdom |
| Size: Medium |
| Speed: 6 squares |
| Vision: Darkvision |
| Languages: Common, any other languages your race had before their transformation. |
| Skill Bonuses: +2 Stealth, +2 Bluff |
| Fleeting Shadow: You can use Fleeting Shadow as an encounter power. |
| Hiding in the Shadows: You are trained in the Stealth skill. |
| Shadowborne: You are considered to be a shadow creature for the purpose of effects relating to creature origin. |
| Outshined: You cannot use Healing Surges or Second wind in direct sunlight. |
| Paper Tiger: You have 1 less healing surge. |
| Fleeting Shadow | Shade Racial Power |
| The shadows bind you, the shadows hide you | |
Encounter  Encounter, Move Action, Personal
| |
| ' | ' |
| Effect: You move at your speed. Until the end of your next turn, you are insubstantial. | |
| Special: If you move to cover on your next turn make a DC 15 stealth check, if successful, you are insubstantial until the end of your next turn. | |
Ambitious, ruthless, and paranoid, shades are humans who trade part of their souls for a sliver of the Shadowfell's dark essence. Even more so than the Shadowborn - shades are gloom incarnate. No matter what nations or land one was first born into, each shade undergoes a dark rebirth that transforms him or her into a creature of stealth and secrecy who is caught between life and death. Some shades however, are subjected to this transformation without their consent, or under duress. These Unwilling Shade cling onto everything they once were, fighting an eternal battle with the shadow that lingers inside them.
Play an Unwilling Shade if you want...
- To play a character who longs for vengeance for what has happened to you.
- To play a character who lost all they held dear to them.
- To play a character bound to the shadows.
- To be a member of a race that favors the Rogue, Scout and Assassin classes.
Physical Qualities[edit]
Though Shades resemble their former selves in height and appearance, they are near pitch black in complexion, with wisps of the shadow that resides inside them seeping out from within them. Their eyes are hues of black, red, or purple. Shades by nature, prefer subdued hues of clothing, preferring Leathers or dulled metals; their weapons are also dulled using oils or dyes to prevent reflection and attention. Their lifespans dwarf their previous selves as they stand on the precipice of life and death, and some have been known to transcend mortality all together.
Playing an Unwilling Shade[edit]
Unwilling shades cling onto their previous lives with every once of determination they can. Unwilling shades are not too different from their former selves, an Eladrin shade would still have the grace and elegance of their former self, while a Shade Dwarf would still have the elegance of a wererat. Unwilling shades use aliases and clever disguises to incorporate themselves into society, in hopes of one day claiming vengeance on the individual or group that turned them into a creature neither alive or dead.
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