Paladin Options: Blackguard and the like (3.5E, 4E, PF). Also: Diseases

Class Options allow you to add particular classes into 13th Age without the need of extensive reinventing of the wheel, so to speak.  Instead of having to make an entirely new class, re-flavoring and adding of a few talents and powers here and there would allow you to faithfully render the class you want, with less effort.

The Blackguard, Anti-Paladin, Paladin of Tyranny and Paladin of Slaughter all have one thing in common: we have no stinkin' righteous goody-two-shoes lurking over here.  They all are considered "evil" one way or another, but their intentions might make them more "non-good" rather than outright evil.  Because the Paladins of 13th Age aren't really alignment-restricted anyway, I felt that making these classes key off the Paladin was simply appropriate.

Re-Tweaking Suggestions

Allow the Paladin to take the Ranger's Animal Companion talent and the Rogue's Sneak Attack class feature, as well as the Defender Aura talent found in my blog (see it here); the only mechanical adjustment needed for the Ranger's Animal Companion might be to add the "undead" trait to them.

Reflavor the Paladin's Challenge as a talent that inflicts fear on your foes, so long as they avoid attacking you.  Also, reflavor the auto-kill of Turn Undead so that the undead become permanently rebuked, fleeing from battle and never coming back; it's a much simpler option than trying to manage a situation where PCs take control of entire undead armies, or even the Lich King... but if you're up to the challenge, feel free to changed "destroyed" to "confused (21+ impossible save ends if the creature is your level or lower, 16+ hard save ends if the creature is up to two levels higher than you, and 11+ save ends for creatures more than two levels higher than you)" and allow the creatures to stay confused even after battle.

Summoning of creatures and imbuing magical effects on equipment do not exist yet in 13th Age, but feel free to take talents and spells that let you do just that, trading one talent for one spell if needed.

New Talents

Corrupting Touch

Special: You cannot take this talent if you took Lay on Hands.

Twice per day as a quick action, you can corrupt a creature with a successful touch.  Make a Strength vs. PD attack against one engaged enemy.  On a success you lose one recovery and the target takes negative energy damage equal to your recovery value. On a failure you still lose one recovery, but the target takes half the damage you would've normally dealt, and after a short rest can use this talent one more time during the day.

(Adventurer Feat): On a success, the target also takes ongoing damage equal to your Charisma modifier.  Increase the ongoing damage to twice your Charisma modifier at level 5, and thrice your Charisma modifier at level 8.
(Champion Feat): On a success, the target is also weakened (save ends both).
(Epic Feat): You can sacrifice one recovery or use of this talent to also stun the target (save ends all).

GM Note: Feel free to allow this to work like Lay on Hands for undead type creatures.  Given the lack of disease rules in 13th Age, you can also allow the player to give up one use of Corrupting Touch to instead inflict a disease that you and the player agree upon, using the same attack as mentioned above.  See Diseases rule below.

Shroud of Darkness

The first time an enemy hits with an attack against you each battle, that enemy must reroll with a -2 penalty to hit as a free action.
(Adventurer Feat): Once per day, deal negative energy damage equal to twice your Charisma modifier against the triggering attacker.
(Champion Feat): If the reroll still hits, you have resistance 12+ against that attack.
(Epic Feat): The reroll's penalty to hit is now -4, instead of -2.

Diseases

Using D&D 4E as inspiration, contracting a disease usually takes effect after a scene.  After being exposed to any contagions in an area -- be it an attack by a diseased enemy, or a cloud of toxins, the PCs must make a d20 roll and add their Constitution modifier to it.  Usually on either a 16+ or a 21+ they are safe, but rare diseases might need a 26+ to avoid being exposed.

Diseases have four stages:

• Cured Stage, where the disease is removed.
• Initial Stage, where the disease is initially contracted or heavily suppressed.
• Worsened Stage, where the disease matures but isn't fatal or permanent in effect (yet).
• Final Stage, which is usually fatal or permanent in effect, unless a powerful spell or ritual is used to fully restore you, like Resurrection.

Going up or down these stages requires an ability check pertaining to treating or shrugging off diseases, typically one attempt per diseased PC per daily heal-up (although more fatal diseases might require attempts to be made during each short rest AND daily heal-up instead!).  The DC to improve by one stage is usually hard or VERY hard, and dependent on the disease's environmental origin.  The more lenient DMs can choose to make the disease worsen only on a natural 1, but the default assumption is the same as that of death saving throws: failing to treat the illness immediately can result in fatalities.

Herbs and simple rituals can be used to remove the need to roll, but most diseases picked up while adventuring in champion or epic environments can only be maintained at best -- meaning creatures don't get worse, but they don't get better either -- and would likely require a more powerful solution to improve by at least one stage without having to make treatment/survival checks, usually in the form of elaborate rituals with hard-to-find components, or exotic herbs from far-away lands that are either expensive or hard to acquire (usually both).

With regards to diseases and Corrupting Touch, while it might not make sense to inflict diseases when enemies are killed off on a regular basis, for those who might want to play in a less combat-intensive campaign as a darker anti-hero, or an outright villain, they might want to reserve the ability to spread diseases with a touch for non-combat scenes.  Also, DMs can rule that either the creature's corpse, or even the creature itself should the PCs choose to simply knock them out of the fight rather than kill them outright, would become the disease's carrier.  In any case, the disease-related portion of Corrupting Touch is obviously campaign-specific, so it's not written as part of the talent's default effects.

The Half-Breeds: Half-Ogre, Half-Rakshasa, Half-Minotaur, and Half-Dwarf

Just like half-elves and demontouched, there has been no definitive explanation on how they are born, and half-breeds sometimes spontaneously appear in the Dragon Empire, although not always to the delight of their parents and communities.

Simple Reflavoring

For GMs who want a quick and dirty conversion that doesn't require the features below, feel free to reflavor the Dwarf, Dark Elf or Half-Orc into either the Half-Ogre/Half-Giant or the Half-Minotaur, the Dwarf into the Mul, , and the Half-Elf as the Half-Rakshasa.  For those who want more distinct mechanical differences, see below.

Also, in keeping with the theme, the following half-breeds already exist in 13th Age: Half-Dragon (Dragonspawn), Half-Fiend (Demontouched), Half-Celestial (Aasimar) and Half-Drow (Half-Elf).

Half-Ogre/Half-Giant

+2 Strength OR +2 Constitution
Ogrish Toughness: Once per battle as a quick action, you can spend a recovery to gain temporary hit points equal to the rolled result.

(Champion Feat): One battle per day when you trigger Ogrish Toughness, add 1d6 per level damage whenever you miss with a melee basic attack.

GM Note: Notice that the Half-Ogre/Half-Giant and the Earthborn/Stone-Touched both share the same benefits for their racial power.  If you wish to use both races, but want to make the Half-Ogre/Half-Giant different, replace the Half-Ogre/Half-Giant's Ogrish Toughness with the following racial power (racial feat stays the same):

Monstrous Strength: Once per scene when making a Strength-related check, you can choose to lower the check's DC by an amount equal to your Strength plus the current escalation die.  You can do this even after finding out the result of your check.

The reason why I didn't want to make this the default racial power for Half-Ogres/Half-Giants would be because it doesn't feel "right" for me to grant this strength-specific power to them.  But if that works for your campaign, then so be it.

Half-Rakshasa

+2 Intelligence OR +2 Charisma
Shapechange: Once per scene as a standard action, you can change your form to that of any humanoid. While shapechanged, you retain all of your statistics, and you can turn back to your own form as a standard action, although being reduced to 0 HP also forcibly turns you back to your own form.
It takes a successful hard save for nearby creatures to notice that there's something... different, about you, and other factors (like trying to mimic a particular person, acting out of character, or trying to look discreet) that could make the save normal, easy, or impossible (GM discretion).

(Champion Feat): Whenever a creature trying to determine if you're what you look like rolls a 5 or lower on their saving throw, you can change it to a natural 1 and improvise on how their attempt to see who you really are actually works in your favor.  Perhaps they expose useful information about the creature you're trying to appear as, or they can even become friendly to you (until they find out who you really are).  The better the storytelling improv, the better the result, though if the GM thinks your suggestion is going too far, they can enforce a smaller version of your improv or call for an unmodified d20 roll (high roll likely gets what you want).

Note: This race easily works for Changelings and the like.

Half-Minotaur

+2 Strength OR +2 Wisdom
Goring Charge: During your turn, when you make a melee attack a staggered enemy you were not engaged with at the start of your turn, add damage equal to your Strength modifier on a hit.  Increase this damage to twice your Strength modifier at level 5, and three times your Strength modifier at level 8.

(Champion Feat): You also pop the enemy free from any other creature they're engaged with except you, and they have a -2 penalty to disengage checks against you until the end of their next turn.

GM Note: This is the only race I would design to overlap with the Barbarian's Slayer talent, and generally benefit from a charge-like ability.  This is due to the iconic nature of the Minotaur's goring charge.

Half-Dwarf

+2 Strength OR +2 Constitution
Half-Dwarf Endurance: Once per scene you are able to perform strenuous tasks for longer periods of time.  This will usually come in the form of lower DCs for one Constitution check, but may also involve other activities that can put significant strain on your character, such as heavy lifting or hurried tome-scribing.  Discuss with your GM how this feature works during character creation.

(Champion Feat): Increase the number of recoveries that you have by one, and the first time you rally each battle can be done as a quick action instead of a standard action.

GM Note: This is a rather tricky thing to resolve mechanically, but for those who are more familiar with D&D's Mul race might have an easier time with this racial feature.

Of Epic Destinies (4E)

In my post explaining my personal conversion guidelines, I mentioned the following:

Epic destinies and equivalent I would not want to touch mechanically, as I prefer them to be story-driven elements that, alongside with their Relationship Dice, One Unique Thing, motives and backgrounds, eventually become the pinnacle of character development, with story-based and rulings-based benefits.

Now I'd like to revisit this, since I've already homebrewed multiclassing anyway.  This may also aid 4E DMs not only in converting their groups to 13th Age, but also in conceptualizing mechanical benefits for players who, through story, are able to access these features.

But first, a bit of overview on D&D 4E's Epic Destinies mechanically:

• Level 21 is a mechanical benefit, usually specific to each epic destiny
• Level 24 is usually an anti-death feature (with lots of exceptions)
• Level 26 is usually a utility power
• Level 30 is at least supposed to be the most "broken" feature of an epic destiny, something that would make it all worth the effort

Thematically...

• Epic destinies are all about writing down the end of your character's tale, in the most glorious fashion possible: by fitting them into the universe in a way that's most appropriate to them
• One of the most ignored aspects of epic destinies -- Immortality -- provides the tale of your character's lasting memory to the world, something that they will always be remembered for

Here are the problems:

• Sometimes it doesn't make sense that a certain feature -- being a Demi-God for instance -- only appears when you're level 21; it's as if the epic destiny would have to be wedged into the character's story
• In the more extreme sense, it's difficult to swallow something like a Fighter who became an Archmage solely because he multiclassed into being a Wizard (especially if he did the multiclassing at level 20)

The fixes to these problems can already be found in my above quote -- utilizing Relationship Dice, Unique Things, etc. -- but I do realize that some people really like their mechanics, especially if the flavor is enticing and thematically appropriate.  

So here are two epic destinies for your perusal and enjoyment.

- - - - -

Archmage

Prerequisite: Depending on how the Archmage is usually chosen in the campaign world.  Is it a test of skill between spellcasters?  Is it an attempt to learn magic so advanced that even the most prominent of casters fail to achieve it?  Is it a ritual so profound that a few, if any, know of its existence in hearsay, but is so powerful that it would literally open your soul to the infinite vastness of magic? Is it only achieved through appointment, meaning that only by being the most trusted, gifted and powerful apprentice are you able to truly have a chance at gaining the title of "Archmage"?

Immortality: You have a choice: as the title-bearer of "Archmage", you have a responsibility towards the Dragon Empire and the Emperor himself, as well as your predecessor who has had the responsibilities of handling the various wards that keeps everyone alive and safe from various threats.  As the wielder of the Archmage's power, you have every incentive to explore the vastness of magic, even the possibility of attaining complete god-like immortality is very real for you.

Talent: Archmage. During each heal-up, choose one of your daily wizard (or sorcerer) spells. You can use that spell twice between heal-ups.

Epic Feat. Once per day when you die, you can choose to become a spirit of pure magic for 5 minutes or until the battle ends.  While in spirit form, you gain the Ghostly attribute (resist 16+ all except force and can move through solid objects during your turn), and can only cast at-will and per-battle spells.  Dying in spirit form is permanent.

If your body goes missing when the battle ends, you can continue to adventure as a spirit.

Epic Feat. You can spend a standard action to recover a spell you have used this day.  The first time you use this between heal-ups it works automatically, but for each additional attempt you must roll a hard save to succeed.

Epic Feat. Choose one of your daily wizard spells.  This spell is now a per-battle spell instead.

Thief of Legend

Prerequisite: Must be able to figure out how to steal the intangible.  Either that, or at the very least, try to one up the Prince of Shadow in his own game (being a better thief than the best thief in the world).

Immortality: Even though the Thief of Legend has claimed to have the ability to steal laughter, the colors of the rainbow, or even the dice of Fate, there is always that last challenge that's too tempting not to undertake. The question is, what can't the Thief of Legend steal?

Talent: Thief of Legend. You can choose to steal an intangible aspect of any creature you reduce to 0 HP -- a memory, a color, etc. -- with specific benefits as discussed between you and the DM.

Epic Feat. Whenever you die and are not raised after one hour, your body and all its possessions vanish. The next time a heal-up takes place, you can reappear alive and at full hit points at any place you are familiar with and is at the same plane that you died in.

Epic Feat. Once per day you can cause an unattended object or vehicle to disappear and reappear elsewhere (so long as the destination is in the same plane, and you're familiar with the destination).  Whether this is through magical teleportation or a very intricate network of spies and trusted folk, only you know.

Epic Feat. Level 10 only. If you do not have Shadow Walk, you gain it.  If you already have Shadow Walk, you can choose to take 10 instead of roll your Charisma to remove yourself from play.  In both cases, you can appear at any spot in the area (instead of just nearby your previous location), and can choose to sustain removal from play instead of taking an action.

DM Idea: Relationships on a Fumble

Taking a few ideas from http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=9059 , whenever a PC fumbles, the player gets to choose which relationship to use to explain how he fumbled.

• If he rolls a 6, the relationship actually saves him from the fumble, allowing him a favorable effect when fumbling
• If he rolls a 5, the relationship explains why he fumbled (overall minor disadvantageous effect related to the Icon of choice)
• If he rolls a 4-2, I roll a d12 to determine which influence had fumbled his roll (overall minor disadvantageous effect related to the resulting roll, instead of the Icon of choice; if the d12 result is the same as that of the selected icon, then it's the Prince of Shadows that influenced the roll)
• If he rolls a 1, I roll a d12 to determine which influence had fumbled his roll (major disadvantageous effect related to the resulting roll, instead of the Icon of choice)

So if for instance you fumbled and you rolled your relationship with the Archmage...

• a 6 might have caused a magical spark to come off your weapon, causing your opponent to stumble and fall to the ground (which explains why your attack missed completely).  Enemy is stuck and dazed for a round.
• a 5 might have caused the same magical spark to come off your weapon, but the experience numbed your hand causing you to shout in pain as if you were jolted by lightning.  You are constrained for a round (or take a little damage).
• a 4-2 would have me roll a different Icon.  Perhaps with the Crusader causing you to fumble you actually tripped.  You are dazed for a round.
• a 1 would have me roll a different Icon.  Perhaps with the Crusader causing you to break your weapon.  Weapon downgrades to simple (but if already simple, weapon becomes unusable) until repaired, since you can still use your broken weapon as an improvised one.

When a monster fumbles, the nearest PC can roll a relationship to determine how bad the monster's fumble is.

• A 6 would result in a major disadvantage for the monster, whose effect is related to the chosen Icon
• A 5 would result in an overall minor disadvantage for the monster, whose effect is related to the chosen Icon
• A 4-1 would result in an overall minor disadvantage for the monster, whose effect is related to a different Icon

Unlike PCs, monsters would not gain any advantages for their fumbles, but for DMs who want a more "fair" treatment of their monsters, the natural 1 would result in an overall minor advantage for their monsters.

I'll update this after I run this through with my players, but feel free to comment on this idea, especially if you've tried it already on your table.

- - - - - -

Overall minor disadvantage refers to a combination of an advantage and a disadvantage given to the creature in question: perhaps a major disadvantage is made less problematic by the introduction of a compensation factor, or perhaps the disadvantage is clearly minor.  For instance, maybe you can't make an attack (major disadvantage), but nearby enemies are dazed when attacking you (compensation)... or maybe you can't benefit from the Escalation Die momentarily (minor disadvantage).

Overall minor advantage refers to a combination of an advantage and a complication factor given to the creature in question, not so different from rolling a 5 in a relationship die roll.

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DM Idea: Collaborative Mapping

This is a re post of my blog entry at Wizards of the Coast's community section, since I wouldn't want my idea to disappear because of system issues on their part. I would also add updates and corrections to the post as originally commented in that blog entry, but unfortunately since the post was originally from 12 January 2012 and there's problems accessing the entry, I sadly cannot give full credit to those who gave the excellent comments on the subject (until they approach me and allow me to give them full credit on the matter).

This post might feel weird for some, because it has always been one of the DM's tasks to provide maps for the group. And for good reason: maps have always been one of the key elements of an encounter, adventure and campaign, especially when combat is involved. And maps have always been the guide for both players and DMs alike to know who or what is where.

[ Before I continue, let me point this out: I am not referring to just board-based maps, I'm including in the discussion mentally-pictured maps, in the so-called "gridless games". Even if you don't draw a map, the fact that, even if it's just in the mind of the DM, you've pictured how many prison cells are in the section of a prison, and where the guard station is relative to the prison cells, and where in the guard station the guns, rations, and other supplies, and where the PCs are relative to everything else, that's still everything mapped out in your mind. ]

This post isn't going to tackle map-making tricks like pre-drawing maps, having players have their own maps that they'll track, "fog of war", and other techniques that other DMs have done and posted. No, this isn't "I'll have one player draw my map for me", either. This post is going to do something completely different: have the players do the map-drawing. Not other DMs, the *players*.

Heretical? Lazy DMing? Maybe, but hear me out first: Last week, I was in a bit of a pinch. I had quite the mental roadblock in our weekly Eberron campaign, as I was able to make my monsters, and I had a generic idea of what my encounters would look like, but I didn't know how to make those combat encounter maps more engaging and interesting. So, I told the players, "alright, I'm going to let you guys use your imagination on this, this is the situation, what do you see?"

The resulting map was very hilarious, as one player said that because they were on a snowy mountaintop, "it's snowing". Hence, the entire map involved slightly obscured and difficult terrain, among other unexpected outcomes.

Apparently, this approach isn't really THAT new; in http://story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=2982 [UPDATE: Error in accessing link, might no longer be available] jhosmer1 describes him allowing his players to contribute minor details on the map, that might be useful during their stay there. The difference is, instead of allowing players to just add dressing to the map that could potentially be useful, I've allowed my players to shape the map according to how they imagine it.

Also, part of the inspiration for this idea could be attributed to the Vignettes style of playing in the Dungeon Master's Guide 2, where players are assigned characters who they eventually role-play in ways they want, so instead of telling the story yourself, they tell the story in their manner.  In this case however, instead of telling the players what their characters see, the players tell the DM what their characters see.

Now, the first obvious problem with this is that players could abuse this right by placing in things that they know they could use to their advantage.  However, this only happens if you let them know of everything about the map (including monsters, traps and other nasty surprises), and if they generally treat the map as if they're the DM.  This can be avoided by making it clear to them that
1. You're only putting on the board what they see and know about.
2. There's a good chance that most of the map that they see, the enemy either sees it, or knows about it.

Now if a player rolls a high enough Perception or Thievery check, I could allow them to put something that the monsters in the map don't know about (but you as the DM know), or find something that normally they wouldn't know about (like a trap or two), but otherwise it's basically as above.

Update [this is based on the crucial bit that was commented in that blog]: Actually, let them.  The question is: if the players -- whose characters are level 1 for example -- put a +5 Vorpal Longsword in the middle of a seemingly nondescript room, why is it there?  What happened to its previous wielder that caused such a powerful blade to just lie there untouched? Having the story develop around this concept should help further enhance the fun of that session and campaign, because you give your players greater empowerment and the ability to express themselves in ways outside their character(s)... although as was taught to Spiderman: with great power, comes great responsibility. So it's not exactly my fault as a DM if the players explained that the Vorpal Sword was lying there because its previous owner was overwhelmed by the swarms of creepy crawly bloodsuckers... that are now heading towards the party... is it?





The second problem is that the DM does not have complete control over the map.  However, what some might view as a problem, I view as an opportunity: because the players are more engaged in the designing process, it's also a chance to be surprised at what could be possible during an encounter, and allow you to do some pretty interesting twists to the story.

I'm still exploring the whole "player-drawn encounter maps" concept as it stands, so I'm still going to see what are the advantages, disadvantages, and fixes, but so far here's how I've been doing it:

1.  Prepare your materials.  Expect some heavy refluffing and on-the-fly tweaking on your monsters and traps, if ever the players do something completely unexpected.



Update: Only do this if you're into preparing stuff.  For those who can afford to just make stuff up on the fly (e.g. using 13th Age's Relationship Dice, a chart or two and a bit of houseruling here and there), feel free to ignore #1 and head straight to #2.

2. Give a general description of the map and scenario.  For instance, telling the players that they are inside a dungeon, a forest, or some other area.  It's very likely that this would jumpstart the group's creativity.

3. Have players each contribute at least one feature of the map, whenever possible.  Alternatively, have the players interested in exploring the map contribute primarily to the map-building.

If ever the group lacks ideas on how the map should look like, that's when you fall back to drawing the map's features yourself.

Rogue Options: Assassin (4E, 3.5E)

Before I continue I'd like to thank +Casey Peavler and +Ryven Cedrylle for their contributions to this blog post.  While I might not be able to put in everything they wrote word-for-word, their input has been a great help nevertheless.

Some of the rarer cutthroats of Shadow Port practice a very unusual form of assassination, a form of magic that some say was stolen from the Underworld by the Prince of Shadows himself.  It's rumored that the highest forms of this shadow magic are what the Prince of Shadows himself uses to perform his most brutal of murders.

What's to say is true?  No creature, living or undying, has apparently come back to tell the tale.

Re-Flavoring Suggestions

Inescapable Blade could very well be Flying Blade.
Leaping Shade mechanically doesn't fit anywhere, but since the fluff involves shrouds digging into your target's flesh, this could easily be Sneak Attack refluffed; same with Shadow Storm.
Shade Form is easily Shadow Walk, same with Assassin's Shroud and 3.5E Death Attack.
Black Lotus Strike could easily be a way of acquiring Momentum, then Momentum + Swashbuckler could easily be reflavored into any of the Critical Attacks (better work with the GM on this one).
Overall the theme in reflavoring would involve adding shadow manipulation and corruption magic to a lot of the stuff you do as an assassin-type Rogue.

New Talents

Shadow Weaver

As a quick action you can cause the shadows surrounding you to solidify in your hand into an object whose size is that of a Small one-handed weapon or smaller. The normal benefit is that you can quickly create a Small throwing dagger in situations where you find yourself weaponless, but other benefits may include creating shadow-made keys and the like.

Adventurer Feat: You gain +2 to a stealth-related background, preferably involving shadow magic. You can raise this background's bonus to +6 if you want.
Adventurer Feat: You can manipulate the shadows surrounding a Small nearby object as a quick action, whose effects last until the end of your next turn.  Possible uses include dousing lantern-sized sources of light, although other effects may be possible, just remember to run it with your GM first if possible.
Champion Feat: Once per battle the shadows you can manipulate with the above feat can be of your size.  Possible uses involve giving you bonuses to Stealth-related checks, or rendering at least one nearby enemy blind for a round. This turns the talent into a spell-like ability, which allows you to use Shadow Weaver as a ritual.
Epic Feat: Once per day for an entire battle, you can teleport to any nearby enemy, instead of moving normally.

Soul Thief

Whenever you gain Momentum after reducing an enemy to 0 hit points, you can choose to steal a soul and contain it in a soul shard, instead of gaining Momentum.  You can only hold on to one soul shard at a time, and the soul shard dissipates at the end of a heal-up.

Expending a soul shard is a free action during your turn, and it could

• grant you Momentum if you don't have it already
• be used to activate certain powers

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle, when you hit an enemy with a Rogue attack, you can expend a soul shard to inflict ongoing damage equal to your level + Charisma modifier.
Champion Feat: Once per day, you can expend a soul shard as a quick action to double your damage.

New Powers

Inescapable Blade

[Level 1 At-Will Soul Shard Power]

Melee Attack; Requires Soul Shard

Target: One nearby foe

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage.

Miss: --

Author's Note: Because this is a melee attack, this will still benefit from Sneak Attack if the requirements are met, even though it's done against a non-engaged enemy.

Shadow Storm

[Level 1 At-Will Shadow Weaver Power]

Melee Attack; Requires Shadow Weaver Talent

Target: One engaged foe

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage. The target takes additional damage equal to the number of creatures engaged with it, twice if the natural attack roll was even.

Miss: Damage equal to your level + the number of creatures engaged with it.

Shade Form

[Level 3 At-Will Soul Shard Power]

Quick Action; Requires Soul Shard

You gain resistance 12+ for the next attack against you before the end of your next turn.

Author's Note: This does stack with Roll With It.

Well of Shadows

[Level 3 Encounter Shadow Weaver Power]

Close Attack; Requires Shadow Weaver Talent

Target: 1d3 nearby enemies

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. PD

Hit: 1d6 per level + Dexterity damage, and the target is pulled towards you and is forced to engage with you.

Miss: Damage equal to your level.

Black Spider Strike

[Level 5 Momentum Power]

Melee Attack; Requires Momentum

Target: One engaged foe

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. PD

Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage, and if the natural attack roll was even, the target takes ongoing damage equal to 1d4 times your level.

Miss: Ongoing damage equal to 1d4 times your level.

Temple Strike

[Level 5 At-Will Power]

Melee Attack

Target: One engaged enemy

Hit: Half of WEAPON + Dexterity damage, and the target is Weakened and Hampered until the end of its next turn.

Claim the Dead

[Level 7 At-Will Soul Shard Power]

Free Action; Requires Soul Shard

Expend a Soul Shard to spend a free recovery.

Assassin's Scalpel

[Level 7 Daily Momentum Power]

Quick Action, Requires Momentum

Target: One engaged enemy

The target is vulnerable to your attacks until you land a crit.

Note: Vulnerable in v.6 is "gains crit range 2+, usually to 18+"

Shadow Puppet

[Level 9 Daily Shadow Weaver Power]

Melee Attack, Requires Shadow Weaver Talent

Target: One engaged enemy

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. MD

Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage, and the target is confused (save ends).  Until it saves from this effect, you can order the target around a bit, like have the target intercept enemies in your stead -- popping free from you if it must do so to fulfill your order -- and attack itself if it has no allies it can attack. Other hilarities, like making the target dance crazily, may be possible, although stuff like making the enemy walk towards a cliff and jump may grant the target free saves before that happens, as the GM may rule.
Miss: Half damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).

Reaper in Black

[Level 9 At-Will Soul Shard Power]

Ranged Attack, Requires Soul Shard

Target: One nearby creature

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. MD

Hit: 9d12 damage, and the target is stuck until the end of your next turn. In addition, the target and each nearby enemy is subject to fear.
Miss: Damage equal to your level.

New Feats

Murderous Talent Adventurer Feat: Any enemy whose HP is reduced to an amount equal to your level is reduced to 0 HP instead.