User:Zhenra-Khal/Twilight Assassin (3.5e Class)

Author: Zhenra-Khal (talk) Date Created: 11/5/2018 Status: In the Twilight Zone. Editing: Clarity edits only please

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A martial initiator and ninja/rogue/assassin-type class, focused around mobility and shadow magic. 20 1 Moderate Poor Good Poor Alternate Magic, Martial Maneuvers, Sneak Attack, Other Other

Twilight Assassin

Description pending; Awaiting enough creativity to make a description that doesn't just rehash every other "shadow rogue"-type class.

Making a Twilight Assassin

Twilight Assassins are mobile and good at dealing with foes both one-and-one and/or in groups, depending on readied maneuvers.

Abilities: Dexterity and Intelligence are your most important attributes, affecting your skills and AC. Charisma is also important if you intend to be the party face, and Constitution helps you survive longer.

Races: Generally, most Twilight Assassins hail from graceful or inherently intelligent races, such as elves, halflings and the like.

Alignment: Any, though most are nongood due to the obvious ramifications of killing people for a living.

Starting Gold: 4d10×10 gp (220 gp) - A surprise to none, a lot of people are willing to pay a good sum of money to see a lot of other people dead.

Starting Age: Moderate.

Table: The Twilight Assassin

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Assassin's Strike			Maneuvers
		Fort	Ref	Will		Light	One-Handed	Two-Handed	Known	Readied	Stances
1st	+0	+0	+2	+0	Trapfinding, Assassin's Strike, Assassin's Mark	+1/+x0	+0/+x0	+0/+x0	31	3	1
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+0	Evasion, Poison Use, Cunning Focus	+1/+x0	+1/+x0	+0/+x0	4	3	1
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+1	Opportunist, Bonus Feat, Dagger Roll	+1/+x0	+1/+x0	+1/+x0	5	3	1
4th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Improved Proficiencies, Uncanny Dodge	+1/+x1	+1/+x0	+1/+x0	5	4	1
5th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Assassinate	+1/+x1	+1/+x1	+1/+x0	6	4	2
6th	+4	+2	+5	+2	Shade	+2/+x1	+1/+x1	+1/+x1	6	4	2
7th	+5	+2	+5	+2	Advanced Proficiencies, Bonus Feat	+2/+x1	+2/+x1	+1/+x1	7	4	2
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Improved Uncanny Dodge	+2/+x2	+2/+x1	+1/+x1	7	5	2
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3	Improved Dagger Roll, Shadow Swap	+2/+x2	+2/+x1	+2/+x1	8	5	2
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Improved Evasion, Bonus Feat, Improved Assassinate	+3/+x2	+2/+x2	+2/+x1	8	5	2
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3	Shadow Stance	+3/+x2	+2/+x2	+2/+x1	9	5	3
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4		+3/+x3	+3/+x2	+2/+x2	9	6	3
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Bonus Feat	+3/+x3	+3/+x2	+2/+x2	10	6	3
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4	Shadow Boost	+4/+x3	+3/+x2	+2/+x2	10	6	3
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+5	Greater Assassinate	+4/+x3	+3/+x3	+3/+x2	11	6	4
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Bonus Feat	+4/+x4	+3/+x3	+3/+x2	11	7	4
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5		+4/+x4	+4/+x3	+3/+x2	12	7	4
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+6		+5/+x4	+4/+x3	+3/+x3	12	7	4
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+6	Bonus Feat	+5/+x4	+4/+x3	+3/+x3	13	7	4
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+6		+5/+x5	+4/+x4	+3/+x3	13	8	4
In addition to the Twilight Stealth maneuver, learned automatically at 1st level.
Class Skills (8 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Including Alchemy) (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 (All taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Assassin) (Locksmith) (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (None), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Twilight Assassin.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Twilight Assassins are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longsword, rapier, scimitar, bastard sword, hand crossbow, shortbow, longbow, kukri, short sword, scythe, kama, nunchaku, sai, siangham, whip, shuriken, bolas, two-bladed sword, and spiked chain. Twilight Assassins are also proficient with Light armor, but not with shields.

At 4th level, the Twilight Assassin gains proficiency with the Assassin Dagger, Assassin Needles, Banded Scythe, Battle Sheath, Bisento, Bladed Fan, Bloodstar, Brass Knuckles, Chain Longhook, Chainclaw, Chakram, Combat Cane, Discblade, Combat Parasol, Dragon Claws, Executioner’s Blade, Fluteknife, Garrote, Great Sickle, Gunblade, Hook Sword, Jambiya, Jian, Kagi-Nawa, Kamayari, Karambit, Katana, Katar, Lajatang, Macuahuitl, Manrikikusari, Maralchion, Metal Sleeve, Meteor Hammer, Naginata, Paired Knives, Pata, Revolver, Ribbon Blade, Ribbon Whip, Sang Kauw, Sasumata, Seven-Branched Sword, Shotel, Slashing Gauntlets, Snake-Sword, Sniper Rifle, Spatha, Sticky Bomb, Submachine Gun, Swordcane, Three Section Staff, Three-Stringed Bow, Throwing Cards, Uchigatana, Uzi, War Cleaver, War Greaves, Yari, and Yo-Yo.

At 7th level, the Assassin gains proficiency with the Assault Bow, Bladed Nunchaku, Brutal Lash, Bullpup SMG, Crescent Scythe, Double Scythe, Dragonblood Arm, Eastern Greatblade, Executioner’s Blade, Fluteknife, Garrote, Grand Scythe, Il'Avel, Kusarigama, Quickening Katana, Serrated-Blade Lash, Six-Spheres Staff, Slicing Blade, Spinning Spear, Urumi, Waveblade Greatsword, Xyston, Zweihänder, and with the Chained versions of any melee weapon they have gain proficiency with via this class, that does not already contain a chain.

Maneuvers: You begin your career with any three maneuvers known from the Twilight Viper, Shadow Hand, Desert Wind, Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Tiger Claw, Setting Sun, Amaranth Eclipse, Army of One, Black Rain, Blighted Serpent, Broken Blade, Chthonic Serpent, Coin's Edge, Dancing Goddess, Mystical Rain, Short Blade, Surreptitious Bandit, or Thousand Daggers disciplines. In addition, all Twilight Assassins learn an additional maneuver, called Twilight Stealth, from the Twilight Viper discipline, in addition to the three maneuvers they begin play with. This maneuver works differently from most, in that it is treated as always readied, and instead uses a pool-like resource system.

At 2nd level and every odd-numbered level thereafter, you gain a new maneuver known from one of the above disciplines. You must meet a maneuver’s prerequisites to learn it. You add your full Twilight Assassin levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known. At 1st level you can ready all of your maneuvers known, but as you learn more maneuvers, you must decide which ones to ready, as shown on the table above.

In order to regain an expended maneuver, you must meditate as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity; If damaged or otherwise interrupted, you must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the damage dealt) or you do not regain the maneuver. You also regain a single manever of your choice as a free action upon killing a target with an Assassin's Strike or Assassinate attempt.

Stances Known: At 1st, 5th, 11th, and 15th levels, you learn a new martial stance from the Twilight Viper, Shadow Hand, Desert Wind, Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Tiger Claw, Setting Sun, Amaranth Eclipse, Army Of One, Black Rain, Blighted Serpent, Broken Blade, Chthonic Serpent, Coin's Edge, Dancing Goddess, Mystical Rain, Short Blade, Surreptitious Bandit, or Thousand Daggers discipline. You must meet a stance’s prerequisite to learn it.

Trapfinding (Ex): At 1st level, you gain the Trapfinding ability of a Rogue.

Assassin's Strike (Ex): Beginning at 1st level, the Twilight Assassin learns how to put their blows where it counts, finding niches in armor and flesh alike. Whenever a target is denied their Dexterity bonus against an Assassin's attack, the attack is automatically considered a critical threat (But is not subject to abilities that automatically confirm critical threats). Ranged attacks suffer a penalty on the critical confirmation roll equal to the penalty on attack rolls incurred by range (This is in addition to the normal penalty incurred by range; Thus using Assassin's Strike on a target within the second range increment of your weapon would incur a -4 penalty on the critical confirmation roll, not -2). Assassin's Strike can only trigger on one attack per round. On attacks that strike more than one target, such as with Whirlwind Attack or Sweeping Strike, you roll to confirm each individual critical strike individually.

At the levels shown on the table, your ability to confirm Assassin's Strikes, as well as your critical damage multiplier, increases. Flat damage bonuses, such as from Strength or from Enhancement bonuses, are only multiplied by the weapon's original crit multiplier. Larger weapons hit harder, but are more difficult to aim at precise vital spots, so while your Assassin's Strikes grow in effectiveness as you grow in level, your Assassin's Strikes with one-handed and two-handed weapons will lag behind their Light-weapon counterparts proportionately. Weapons that don't have a normal handedness, light ranged weapons, double weapons, and natural weapons, all use the One-Handed value on the table above, unless they are Finesse weapons (Like the Rapier and Spiked Chain), in which case they use the Light value.

Every odd-numbered level in this class counts as +1d6 Sneak Attack/Sudden Strike for the purposes of prerequisites. You can "trade in" Sneak Attack and Sudden Strike from other classes; When taking your first level in such a class, you choose whether to gain Sneak Attack/Sudden Strike dice, or to increase your Assassin's Strike ability. If you choose to increase your Assassin's Strike, then your levels in that class stack with your Twilight Assassin levels for the purposes of determining the effectiveness of Assassin's Strike.

Assassin's Strike cannot be affected by anything that automatically confirms critical hits, nor by abilities that increase your critical multiplier (The latter functions on a normal critical hit, but not on an Assassin's Strike).

Assassin's Mark (Su): Upon landing a successful Strike from one of the Twilight Viper, Shadow Hand, Desert Wind, Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Tiger Claw, Setting Sun, Amaranth Eclipse, Army Of One, Black Rain, Blighted Serpent, Broken Blade, Chthonic Serpent, Coin's Edge, Dancing Goddess, Mystical Rain, Short Blade, Surreptitious Bandit, or Thousand Daggers disciplines, you choose one target within your melee reach who was affected by that Strike. That target is Marked until the end of your next turn; You may only have one Marked target at a time. Moving 30ft away from your Marked target refunds 1 round of Stealth and causes them to lose their Dexterity bonus to AC against the next attack you make while the mark persists. This attack can be a normal attack, another Strike, a spell, and so forth; But whether or not it lands, the Mark is consumed. Assassin's Mark cannot be applied to a target in the same round an Assassin's Mark upon them was consumed, even if the Mark would be applied by a different Twilight Assassin.

Evasion (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, when you succeed on a reflex saving throw against an effect that would normally deal half damage on a successful save (Such as a Fireball), you instead take no damage, as the Rogue feature of the same name. At 10th level, this ability improves, causing you to take only half damage on a failed save and no damage on a successful save.

Poison Use (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, you no longer risk poisoning yourself when applying poison to a weapon, as the Assassin feature of the same name.

Cunning Focus (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, the Twilight Assassin can enter a state of focus, honing their mind to know exactly when and where an enemy is going to strike, allowing them greater dexterity than most. Entering this trance requires a Concentration check (DC 15 + Class level) as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. In order to enter and maintain this trance, the Twilight Assassin must be wearing armor no heavier than Light, carrying no heavier than a Light load and not using a shield.

While not denied your Dexterity bonus to AC, you may add one point of your Intelligence bonus per 2 class levels as a Dodge bonus to your AC, as well as to your Initiative checks, Reflex and Will saving throws, Tumble, Concentration, Spot and Listen checks, and to the number of Attacks of Opportunity the Twilight Assassin may make per round. The bonus to AC doubles against attacks of opportunity provoked by movement.

Failing a Will saving throw, or being dazed, stunned, knocked prone, knocked unconscious or put to sleep, will remove you from your Cunning Focus. If you take damage, you must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the damage dealt) in order to maintain your focus.

Opportunist (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, the Twilight Assassin can, once per round, make an attack of opportunity against a target who has just been stuck for damage in melee by another character. This counts as their attack of opportunity for the round; Even if they can make more than one attack of opportunity per round, they may still only use the Opportunist ability of the same name. This is the same as, and does not stack with, the Opportunist ability of the Rogue.

Bonus Feat (Ex): At 3rd level and every 4th level thereafter (7th, 10th, 14th and etc.), the Twilight Assassin gains a bonus feat they meet the prerequisites for. This feat must be a Fighter, Combat, Style, Ambush, Metacombat, Metamaneuver, Speed, or Tactical feat.

Dagger Roll (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, once per round, whenever you successfully Tumble at least one-half your movement speed, you can, as part of the action, make a single attack of opportunity at any target within the first range increment of your weapon (Or within melee reach if the weapon isn't ranged). At 9th level, this ability improves, allowing you the option to replace that single attack with a single Strike whose initiation time is one Standard action or less, and changes the range of the Strike to equal the first range of your reach increment (If the weapon you're using is ranged). In either case, the ability still consumes one of your attacks of opportunity for the round, and can only be used once per round.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Beginning at 4th level, you don't lose your Dexterity bonus to AC when caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker, as the Rogue ability of the same name. At 8th level, or upon gaining Uncanny Dodge from another source, this ability improves, preventing you from being flanked, unless the enemy flanking you has at least 4 more levels in a class that grants Uncanny Dodge than you.

Assassinate (Ex): Beginning at 5th level, you gain the ability to attempt to kill a weakened target outright, by studying the target for 3 rounds undetected and then making a successful Assassin's Strike. If the target's current health is equal to or less than half their maximum, they must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 class level + Intelligence modifier) or be slain outright. If the saving throw succeeds, the attack still deals damage as normal for an Assassin's Strike. At the Twilight Assassin's option, the target may instead be paralyzed for 1d6 rounds, plus 1 round per two levels of the Twilight Assassin, as chosen by the Twilight Assassin at the time of the attack; If they choose to paralyze their target instead of killing them, reduce the time of study by 1 round.

While studying your target, you can take other actions, so long as your focus stays on the target, and target does not detect you or recognize you as an enemy. Once you have completed the 3 rounds of study, you must attempt to Assassinate them within the next 3 rounds; If the Assassination attempt fails (Either from a missed attack, failed critical confirmation roll, or successful saving throw on the victim's part), or the Twilight Assassin does not launcher the attack within 3 rounds of completing the study, 3 new rounds of study are required before they can attempt another Assassination.

At 10th level, you may use this ability on a target at or below 3/4 of their maximum HP. If used on a target below 1/2 of their maximum HP, reduce the study time by 1 round.

At 15th level, you may use Assassinate on a target with any amount of health. However, if used on a target with 3/4 or less of their maximum health, reduce the time to study by one round (To 2 rounds), or if used on a target at or below 1/2 of their maximum health, reduce the time to study by 2 rounds (To 1 round). Note that if a Twilight Assassin of 15th level or higher attempts to paralyze a victim at or below half health, no period of study is required.

Shade (Su): Beginning at 6th level, you can manifest your Shade, separating your shadow from your body to fight alongside you. Doing so is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, and summons your Shade into a square adjacent to you. When you summon it, you reduce your maximum hit points by a number up to your highest initiator level; This is how many hit points your Shade will have. When it is reduced to 0 HP, you are dealt any damage that exceeded its remaining hit points, and your maximum hit points return to normal, but your current hit points remain as they are (Minus the excess damage). If dismissed early (A standard action), not only do your maximum hit points return to normal, but you regain whatever health the Shade had when you dismissed it. When your Shade is destroyed or dismissed, you once more cast a shadow, and you can't summon your Shade for 2 rounds for every 1 round it was active.

Your Shade has the same type and subtype as you, with the addition of the Partial Incorporeality ability, which it cannot turn off. It is vulnerable to Radiant damage as if it were undead, and counts as a Shadow creature for all interactions. Your Shade uses your ability scores and AC, with the exception that it has no Strength score (And thus uses Dexterity instead) and gains a Deflection bonus equal to your Charisma bonus (Min +1, regardless of your actual Cha modifier). It uses your saving throw bonuses, skills, base attack bonus and so forth, and it uses shadowy versions of your weapons, dealing the same amount of damage. When it fails a Fortitude or Will save, unless the effect specifically affects objects, you suffer the full effects, such as charm, poison, or etc.

Your Shade has its own set of actions (Acting on your initiative count alongside you), and can use any of your class features, including martial maneuvers; However, its initiator level is half of yours, meaning it can't access your higher-level manuevers. Thus, if you're level 14 (With access to 7th-level maneuvers), your Shade can only initiate maneuvers of 4th-level or lower. It obeys your mental commands to the best of its ability, but must remain within Close range of you (25ft +5ft per 2 initiator levels) or it winks out of existence, returning to you as if dismissed.

Some abilities and maneuvers are restricted to your Shade, and thus can only be used by you while your Shade isn't active on the battlefield, or by your Shade personally while it is active.

Shadow Swap (Su): Beginning at 9th level, you can expend any readied maneuver as an immediate action to swap places with your Shade; If you were subject to an attack, it suffers the effects of the attack instead. Once used, this ability can't be used again for 1 hour, and the maneuver expended can't be recovered until Shadow Swap is available to use again.

Shadow Stance (Su): Beginning at 11th level, your Shade can maintain a Stance even when not active; You gain the full effects of the Stance in addition to your normal Stance, but only while your Shade is not summoned. Whenever you change Stances, you can choose for your Shade to change its Shadow Stance as well. Stances initiated by your Shade still suffer the normal limitations your Shade has (Having only 1/2 your initiator level).

Shadow Boost (Su): Beginning at 14th level, your Shade can initiate Boosts while it isn't active. You gain the full effect of the Boost in addition to any other Boost you may initiate, though your Shade is still limited by its reduced initiator level.

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