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Shadowman

Appearance

A Shadowman could easily be confused with a shade or shadow, but they are not undead. They are servants of the Dark God who have traded their souls and have been granted profane knowledge and supernatural powers to further their service. A Shadowman is usually chosen from those who have served well. Upon their death they are raised again by its foul power and given a new directive: to infiltrate and to remove from the living those who oppose their masters will.
    A Shadowman is rarely seen except perhaps by those it intends to kill. Its natural form of a vaguely man-like shape built from solid wisps of shadow is seen even more rarely. Instead they take on the guise of those they walk among. In this illusionary state, a Shadowman could look like anyone. Some never take a mortal shell at all except in the brief moments before they murder their victim. Where someone to see them emerge from the Ethereal Realm they would observe the shadows gathering about to form their thin and deadly bodies.
    A Shadowman's behavior is implacably evil. It cares not for the creatures it walks among and stays focused on the task at hand. Though they must breath, for they are still alive, they do not tire and sleep or have need for food as the energies of fiendish realms sustain them for their continued service.

Combat

A Shadowman is exactly the kind of opponent waits and attacks when its opponents are unprepared. It follows nearby on the Ethereal Realm and watches, materializing when the moment is right.
    Etherealness (Su): A Shadowman can shift from the Ethereal Plane to the Material Plane as part of any move action. It can remain on the Ethereal Plane for as long as it desires.
    Sneak Attack (Ex): If a Shadowman can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from its attack, it can strike a vital spot for extra damage. The Shadowman’s attack deals extra damage any time her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the Shadowman flanks its target. This extra damage is 1d6 plus 1d6 for every two HD beyond its first. Should the Shadowman score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet. A Shadowman can sneak attack only living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is not vulnerable to sneak attacks. The Shadowman must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment or striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.
    Poison: Shadowmen almost always coat their weapons or even tip their claws with poison. (See page 297 Dungeon Master's Guide for example poisons).
    Disease (Ex): Creatures bitten must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ Moredhel HD + Cha. bonus) suffer from a disease called The Losing. The disease incubates for one day before beginning to ravage the hosts mind. Each day that passes thereafter the victim must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ Moredhel HD + Cha. bonus) or suffer 1d4 points of Charisma damage. The Losing causes creatures to become increasingly psychotic, unable to distinguish themselves from their surroundings until at its end they sit in a comatose stupor, trapped in bodies that they don't recognize as their own flesh and oblivious unable to tell an object from a creature.
    Berserker Rage (Ex): An imprisoned Moredhel or one that chooses to use its natural weapons in combat, enters into a berserker rage like that of a barbarian. While raging the Moredhel temporarily gains +4 Strength, +4 Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but it suffers a -2 penalty to AC because of its recklessness. Entering into a berserker rage is a full-round action for a Moredhel. A Moredhel can maintain its rage for as long as needed, but afterwards it is fatigued for 10 minutes while its body recovers. A Moredhel cannot "take 10" or perform skills which take longer than a standard action to perform and which are based on non-physical ability scores (Int, Wis, Cha) while raging.
    Evasion (Ex): A Shadowman can avoid magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If it makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save (such as a red dragon's fiery breath or a fireball), it instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the Shadowman is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless Shadowman (such as one that is unconscious or paralyzed) does not gain the benefit of evasion.
    Thousand Faces (Su): A Shadowman has the ability to change its appearance at will, as if using the disguise self spell (page 222 Player's Handbook). Changing disguises is a standard action.
    Profane Senses (Ex): Can react to danger before its senses would normally allow it to do so. A Shadowman retains its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if it is struck by an invisible attacker. However, it still loses its Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. Cannot be flanked and an react to opponents on opposite sides as easily as it can react to a single attacker. Is never flat-footed.
    Sacred Forbiddance: A Shadowman cannot enter within any area under the influence of the following spells (spells which do not have the good descriptor must be cast by a good creature to have effect): consecrate, circle of protection from evil, forbiddance, glyph of warding, hallow, holy aura or prayer. A Shadowman cannot enter a temple dedicated to any good deity. Presentation of a holy symbol will prevent a Shadowman from physically attacking its bearer.
    Forgotten (Su): The memory of a Moredhel, even in the most extreme circumstances is limited to the viewers short-term memory. Engaging in any task that requires concentration or focus, such spell-casting outside of combat against a Moredhel or even normal conversation if the Moredhel is out of sight, causes the loss of memory of the creatures participation in past events and eventually of the circumstances surrounding the entire encounter. One could take notes during the encounter describing what the Moredhel did; but only the act of writing it down would be remembered, not the circumstances surrounding it.
    In casual or uneventful circumstances, such as passing by a Moredhel on the road, a Spot check is required to even notice the presence of the Moredhel. Moredhel always receive a roll of 10 on all Hide and Move Silently checks, unless they directly engage or pose a direct threat to the observer.
    There is no saving throw against a Moredhel's forgotten effect, though modify memory and similar spells can retrieve the memory of a Moredhel's passing from obscurity. The effect can lead to some odd paradoxes of memory which we leave as an exercise for the Dungeon Master to arbitrate. Moredhel and other spawn of the Dark God are immune to the effects of forgotten.
    Reborn (Su): Unless a Moredhel suffers more than 50% of its damage from acid, fire, or holy water then it will rise from the dead after 1d10 minutes. Rising from the dead is a full-round action during which all wounds on the Moredhel are healed, severed limbs are regrown. Each time the Moredhel rises from the dead its Constitution increases by one. A Moredhel's Constitution cannot be raised by more than twice its Hit Dice in this fashion; thus a typical 5 HD Moredhel with no class levels can at most have a 23 Constitution score. The process of returning to life is incredibly painful, causing the Moredhel to screech and wail aloud as its wounds rapidly heal. Most Moredhel will try to avoid dying since the process is so unpleasant.
    Moredhel Traits: Immunity to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease and poison. Moredhel are not at risk of death from massive damage. Moredhel cannot be raised from the dead, although a resurrection can bring one back to life. Moredhel do not age and do not suffer the physical effects of living a prolonged life.
    Vulnerability to Imprisonment: Moredhel that are subject to imprisonment quickly undergo a drastic transformation. The orbits of their eyes widen, their fingers distend into claws, their mouths project into jaws, they begin to salivate excessively, their breath hyperventilates, their hair whitens to gray, and a feral demeanor takes hold of their body. A Moredhel savagely attempts to escape captivity regardless of at what cost to themselves.
    Skills: Due to the nature of their forgotten power, all Moredhel receive a +5 circumstance bonus to all Hide and Move Silently skill checks. At the same time, the forgotten effect is an impediment to any Moredhel who wishes to exercise Diplomacy or other skills which require lengthy interaction with creatures that are affected by the power.

Ecology

A Shadowman is effectively immortal, sustained by the divine spark which returned them to the living. Since the disappearance, some say banishment, of the Dark God, no more have been created. Since there were few to begin with, they are a rare opponent. Now, without the direction of their master, they roam free. Some play sadistic games, not satisfied with mere killings they taunt and tantalize authorizes, flaunting their powers on a never-ending chase. Some have found service to other vile powers and others may work as mercenaries or lead assassins guilds from behind the scenes.
    Shadowmen, despite being alive, do not eat or sleep. They do not participate in the crafting or creating of things and they do not store up wealth for themselves. They do not seek pleasure, it is said that they cannot feel such a thing, and they do not play a constructive role in the societies which they walk among.

History

Shadowmen were only rarely created by the servants of the Dark God for their transformation could only be done through recovery of a Moredhel's corpse that had truly died. They process of raising a Moredhel to become a Shadowman was very expensive and dangerous as well, requiring large sacrifices to appease the Dark God to invest some of its power into such a creature. Even so, the Dark God might require the lives of those petitioning it once the Shadowman had been created. Thus, thankfully few were raised.
    Those which were created proved to be every bit as elusive and effective at what they were created for as one might suspect. The leadership of entire cities could be wiped out with no one to say how it had been done or by whom. They were sent forth against heroes that would defy the Dark God and seek to banish it beyond the Veil and there are some who say that they were used against servants of the Dark God itself who become to greedy for power or negligent in their duties.
    Wherever there had been the work of a Shadowman, there were hundreds of tales of terror to accompany it and word spread like wildfire of unseen assassins that could lurk anywhere or be anyone. The paranoia and fear they evoked were nearly as great a weapon as the actual presence of one.

Creating a Shadowman

"Shadowman" is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature. The creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature) must have an Intelligence and a Charisma score of at least 6. A Shadowman uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
    Size and Type: Creatures with the Humanoid type become Monstrous Humanoids; other creature types do not change. Recalculate the creatures base attack bonus, saves, and skill points. Size is unchanged.
    Hit Dice: The base creature uses Hit Dice appropriate for its monstrous type.
    Speed: +10 to base speed for each movement type had by the base creature. Shadowmen are gifted with supernatural speed.
    Attack and Full Attack: A Shadowman retains all the attacks of the base creature.
    Special Attacks: A Shadowman retains all special attacks of the base creature. The Shadowman gains the following special attacks (see above): sneak attack.
    Special Qualities: A Shadowman has all the special qualities of the base creature as well as the following (see above): Etherealness, evasion, thousand faces, profane senses, sacred forbiddance, cold resistance 10, and electrical resistance 10.
    Abilities: +20 Dexterity and +10 Charisma. Shadowmen are gifted with unearthly grace and guile by the dark powers.
    Skills: Shadowmen have a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks because of their thousand faces talent.
    Environment: Any, often as base creature.
    Challenge Rating: +4
    Treasure: None
    Alignment: Base creature's alignment changes to Always Neutral Evil.
    Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +5.

Variants and Resources

In the World of Sulerin, a Shadowman is a creature created by the Dark God. In another campaign world they might be the servants of any especially powerful fiend or perhaps they are the divine servants of a god whose major aspect is one of mystery or death.

Behind the Scenes

Great care must be exercised by Dungeon Masters who intend to use a Shadowman as an opponent of the player characters. When played accurately to their nature, an encounter with a Shadowman is likely to occur when its victim is alone and vulnerable. A player character who is unaware that a Shadowman has chosen to slay them may be killed before they have a chance to defend themselves; a situation which neither encourages roleplaying, problem solving, or fun on the target player character's behalf.
    In the World of Sulerin, Shadowmen are almost exclusively made from Moredhel base creatures. This is a deadly combination when combining a Shadowman's thousand faces ability with a Moredhel's forgotten power. Allowing such a creature to enter all but the most secure facilities with ease.
    To give your player characters some clues to help them combat such an elusive opponent consider giving the Shadowman a well thought out personality. Such a creature might be vain of its abilities and intentionally leave behind a calling-card (a consistently similar clue to be found at each scene of its crimes) which identify it as the source of the crime, as a way for the Shadowman to antagonize investigating player characters but which also allows them to make some judgements about their foe and its nature. There should be bystanders (probably not witnesses) who can tell inquisitive player characters about what kind of people were in the area at the time of the crime and so forth. However, no one is going to remember seeing a Moredhel so it will be traces of its passing that are the clues a player character must follow.