Darkness

A shaman that selects the darkness spirit has a mysterious and entrancing air about her, yet she seems to go by unnoticed. When she calls upon the spirit’s abilities, her appearance fades as her shadow elongates and darkens, and nearby candles and lights flicker and dim as if being extinguished, if only for a moment.

Spirit Magic Spells: shadow stream (1st), dust of twilight (2nd), deeper darkness (3rd), shadow conjuration (4th), vampiric shadow shield (5th), shadow walk (6th), greater shadow conjuration (7th), greater shadow evocation (8th), polar midnight (9th).

Hexes

A shaman who chooses the darkness spirit can select from the following hexes.

Cloak of Darkness (Su): The shaman conjures a cloak of shadowy darkness that grants her a +4 armor bonus and a +2 circumstance bonus on Stealth checks. At 7th level, and every four levels thereafter, these bonuses increase by +2. She can use this cloak for 1 hour per day per shaman level. The duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-hour increments.

Enveloping Void (Su): The shaman curses one creature with the dark void. As a standard action, the shaman can cause one enemy within 30 feet to treat the light level as two steps lower: bright light becomes dim light, normal light becomes darkness, and areas of dim light and darkness become supernaturally dark (like darkness, but even creatures with darkvision cannot see). This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to the shaman’s level. A successful Will saving throw negates this effect. Whether or not the save is successful, the creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 24 hours.

Fading Memory (Sp): The shaman can curse a creature to make its thoughts fade away, clouding its memory with darkness. This functions as a memory lapse spell, making the creature forget what happened between the use of this hex back to the beginning of its last turn. For every five levels the shaman possesses, this curse removes the memory of an additional round, up to a total of 5 rounds forgotten. A successful Will save negates this effect. Whether or not the save is successful, the creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 24 hours.

Shade Sight (Sp): The shaman gains a bonus on Perception checks to locate invisible or incorporeal creatures equal to half her shaman level (minimum 1). At 7th level she can, as a standard action, look into shadows to see out of another area of darkness nearby. This functions as clairaudience/clairvoyance, but only for sight (not hearing). The shaman must be in an area of dim light or darkness to use this ability, and can only scry upon another area of dim light or darkness. A creature’s shadow counts as dim light for this purpose, but if the creature moves from its current space the effect ends. Unlike with clairaudience/clairvoyance, the shaman’s low-light vision, darkvision, and see in darkness abilities function through the sensor (if she has them). The shaman can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to her shaman level, but these rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Sight Unseen (Ex): The shaman gains Blind-Fight as a bonus feat. At 8th level, she gains Improved Blind-Fight as a bonus feat. At 15th level, she gains Greater Blind-Fight as a bonus feat. The shaman does not need to meet the prerequisites of these feats.

Spirit Animal

The shaman’s spirit animal becomes faded and shadowy, as if always in an area of darkness. The spirit animal gains darkvision 30 feet. If it already has darkvision, it is increased by this amount. Additionally, whenever the spirit animal is in dim light, the miss chance granted by concealment increases to 50% instead of the normal 20%. This does not grant total concealment; it just increases the miss chance.

Spirit Ability

A shaman who chooses the darkness spirit as her spirit or wandering spirit gains the following ability.

Umbral Touch (Su): As a standard action, the shaman can perform a melee touch attack that deals 1d6 points of cold damage + 1 point for every two shaman levels she possesses. At 7th level, the touched creature must also make a Fortitude saving throw or be fatigued for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 the shaman’s level. This has no effect on a creature that is already fatigued. The shaman can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier.

Greater Spirit Ability

A shaman who chooses the darkness spirit as her spirit or wandering spirit gains the following ability upon having access to the greater version of that spirit.

Dark Presence (Su): The shaman gains darkvision 60 feet. If she already possesses darkvision, the range instead increases by 30 feet. In addition, the shaman can turn herself into a natural shadow, as the shadow form spell, for a number of minutes per day equal to half her shaman level. This duration does not have to be consecutive, but must be spent in 1-minute increments.

True Spirit Ability

A shaman who chooses the battle spirit as her spirit or wandering spirit gains the following ability upon having access to the true version of that spirit.

Eternal Darkness (Sp): The shaman can cast power word blind and orb of the void each once per day with a caster level equal to her shaman level.

Manifestation

Upon reaching 20th level, the shaman become a master over darkness. She becomes immune to blind, dazzle, death effects, and energy drain. When she uses shadow conjuration or shadow evocation spells, her creations are 20% more real, and any creatures she creates gain the benefits of the Augment Summoning feat. Once per day, she may cast shades as a spell-like ability, using her shaman level as her caster level.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Path of Shadows, © 2015, Ascension Games, LLC; Author Christopher Moore

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