Shadow Lord (3.5e Class)

The Shadow Lord

Among all living things, 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 how intelligent his troops will be. Strength for some extra damage and 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): At 1st level, a Shadow Lord can see a Shadow where any kind of creature was killed (or destroyed, for undead and constructs), or simply died naturally, and can try to harvest that Shadow. This process is a free action that doesn't cause opportunity attacks. The process can fail or succeed, based on the following parameters. For every 10 minutes after the creature's 'death', the process has a 10% chance to fail. For every 2 hit dices exceeding the Shadow Lord's, the process has a 10% chance to fail. Both of these failing chances stack with each other AND alone. Following this explanation, if the creature has 'died' less than 10 minutes ago and has less than 2 exceeding hit dices, the process succeeds automatically. If the process fails, the Shadow disappears, and it can't be harvested anymore. At 6th level, the maximum failing chance becomes 90% and its further reduced to 80% at 11th level, and 70% at 16th level.

Minor Darkness Call (Ex): At 2nd level, a Shadow Lord can use the Shadows he harvested to summon Shadow Soldiers. Shadow Soldiers have the same Intelligence as the Shadow Lord's real stat, and can receive orders telepathically, quite like a familiar with their master. They have the same Race, Type and Sub-Type Traits as the original creature (with a few exceptions), and can do anything the creature could do when it was alive (or undead). A Shadow Lord can use his Shadow Soldiers to translate anything that is written or said in a language they knew when they were alive. Shadow Soldiers are destroyed when their hp hit 0, similarly to constructs, but they can't be destroyed permanently. When a Shadow Soldier is 'killed' it goes back inside the Shadow Lord's shadow, and can't be used again for 1 hour (Persistent Darkness prevents this cooldown). Shadow Soldiers created from undead, can be Turned by paladins and clerics, but they don't disappear forever. Instead, they go back inside the Shadow Lord's shadow. Shadow Soldiers aren't summoned from another dimension but from the Shadow Lord himself, so spells like Dismiss and such, have no effect on them. From the moment of their creation, Shadow Soldiers will attach to the Shadow Lord's shadow, ready to serve their master at any time. A Shadow Lord can summon his Shadow Soldiers anywhere around him, in a radius of 7,5m + 1,5 x his Shadow Lord level. At this level, Shadow Soldiers have only 1/2 of the original creature's Hit Dices, BAB and Modifiers.

The Power of Darkness (Ex): At 2nd level, a Shadow Lord can take any of the Shadow Soldiers in his possession and link them to his body and soul, allowing him to switch its current Constitution, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, or BaB with his own. Alternatively, he can use a linked Shadow Soldier to create a copy of a +0, non-magic weapon, armor or shield that it possessed when it was alive. The Shadow Lord is proficient with any equipment they copied from their linked Shadow Soldiers. He can only take ONE stat/equipment piece from every Shadow Soldier, and can't take the same from 2 different ones. Linked Shadow Soldiers cannot be summoned by the Shadow Lord, until he breaks the link. Linking and un-linking a Shadow Soldier is a free action that doesn't cause opportunity attacks. At 6th level, this power is extended to Skill Grades as well. At 11th level, a Shadow Lord can copy any Spell, or Capacity (be it Magic, Natural, Supernatural or Extraordinary) from his Shadow Soldiers. A Shadow Lord's Caster Level is equal to his Shadow Lord Level. At 16th level, a Shadow Lord can copy any Race Trait, Type Trait or Sub-Type Trait from his Shadow Soldiers, one different trait for each Shadow Soldier. Copying 2 traits from the same Race, Type or Sub-Type is allowed, as long as there is the needed amount of Shadow Soldiers of that type.

Persistent Darkness (Ex): Shadow soldiers become more resistant with the Shadow Lord's power. At 3rd level, Shadow Soldiers can be summoned again even immediately after they are 'destroyed'. This capacity works only once per each Shadow Soldier. At 7th level, they can all be re-summoned 2 times. 3 at 13th level, and 4 at 18th level.

Quiet Like A Shadow (Ex): At 4th level, as a fast action, a Shadow Lord can use the power of darkness to become silent. This is treated as an effect of a Silence spell cast on the user.

Darkness Without Limit (Ex): The Shadow Lord starts to understand the potential of his army. At 5th level, once per day, a Shadow Lord can temporarily increase the amount of Shadow Soldiers he can control simultaneously. After he activates this capacity, for 1 hour, he can summon and control simultaneously a total of Shadow Soldiers equal to his normal amount for his current Shadow Lord level x his real Intelligence Modifier. At 10th level, a Shadow Lord can use this capacity 2 times per day, 3 at 15th level and 4 at 20th level.

Improved Darkness Call (Ex): At 7th level, Shadow Soldiers have the same Hit Dices, BAB and Modifiers as the original creature's.

Invisible Shadow (Ex): At 9th level, as a fast action, a Shadow Lord can use the power of darkness to become invisible. This is treated as an effect of a Invisibility spell cast on the user.

Major Darkness Call (Ex): At 12th level, Shadow Soldiers have 1,5 times the original creature's Hit Dices, BAB and Modifiers.

Shadow Travel (Ex): At 14th level, as a movement action, a Shadow Lord can blend himself with the shadows and travel through them. This is an effect identical to a Shadow Walk spell.

Superior Darkness Call (Ex): At 17th level, Shadow Soldiers have 2 times the original creature's Hit Dices, BAB and Modifiers.

Shadow Stalker (Ex): At 19th level, a Shadow Lord can hide any amount of his Shadow Soldiers inside other creatures' shadows, allowing him to summon them from there instead. If the target is an enemy, all the Shadow Soldiers in their shadow have a free action before they are noticed by them. The Shadow Lord decides who does what. The targeted enemies are considered Caught by Surprise.

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 60%. At 26th level, it is lowered even further, to 50%.

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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