Shadowdancer

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My Rogue 5 / Ranger 2 has now met all the qualifications for the Shadowdancer prestige class. I'm keen to give that class a go. Who else has tried that class? Is it worthwhile? Which of the Shadowdance special powers did you find most useful?

 

A lot of people find that investing only 1 level into shadow dancer gives the most pay off, as it grants the hide in plain sight feat. This feat is basically the only worthwhile thing about the class, but you just need to remember to be wary of true seeing enemies. (the class is useless in the online mod, Escape from Undermountain).

I usually combine the SD with the Assassin, but thats just my roleplaying preferences. It gives more of a trained killer feel to the assassin class that i find lacking.

Usefulness wise, id recommend adding 3 or 4 levels as a wizard instead. You should have enough intellegence as a rogue for spells, and in addition to being able to cast invisibility (the replacement for hide in plain sight) you can cast and use so much more (true strike is really handy), making your character very versitile. The access to spells also makes it a replacement for the assassin, for with the exception to the additional death strike, you get all of the assassins bonus spells and more.

 

Interesting. But if I start adding wizard classes I will encounter XP penalties eventually. Shadowdancer would be a much closer fit to the roleplaying aspect of this particular character. Assassin is out of the question as she is Chaotic Good.

 

I'm playing a fighter/rogue combination, and will try for Weapon's Master. I think that may work better. I've never been sold on Shadow Dancer...

 

Shadowdancer is a great class. The Hide in Plain Sight (HiPS) ability is spectacular, especially for a Rogue. Sneak attack someone, HiPS, then sneak attack again. A Rogue with SD levels will get far more sneak attacks than a plain Rogue.

As for how many SD levels to take, since you are a Rogue only a one level dip is needed. Non-Rogues would benefit from a second level to pick up Evasion and Uncanny Dodge. Darkvision granted by a class is inoperative in the game so do not grab the second SD level just for that. Otherwise, you should grab one level of SD and stick to Rogue for the remainder of your career - the purpose of the SD level is to improve the number of times you can sneak attack so you need lots of Rogue levels to have the sneak attack damage to make it count.

 

Personally, I would add one level of shadowdancer and then level up as a rogue to pump up the sneak attack damage. The hide in plain sight ability is all you need to turn a rogue into a cheesy sneak attacking monster.

You are limited to three different classes in NWN so unless you want to start again adding both shadowdancer and assassin/wizard levels isn't an option.

If you want to get REALLY cheesy try using the character as an archer - fire an arrow, take a step, hide in plain sight, monster is hit but does not react becuase you have hidden yourself, repeat until all of the enemies are dead.

I was tempted to try creating a bard/shadowdancer/arcane archer to see how cheesy it would be but I never got around to doing so. Actually, I think that the rogues sneak attack damage would be cheesier anyway.

 

So, nobody ever uses the illusory daze or summon shadow abilities?

 

They can be great. Search the bioware boards for a lot of builds and info like:

http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=400925&forum=42&highlight=shadowdancer

and

Think of a shadowdancer levels as being about defense and a rogue levels as being about offense. The shadowdancer also gets slippery mind, defensive roll, and improved evasion for free at the right levels so, if you combine with a rogue, use your special rogue feats on other feats.

The ranger may benefit from high shadowdancer levels more if you weren't going with high rogue levels as well. You just have to decide what type of character you want.

Lots of sneak attacks? Great defensive character? Some mixture?

 

Hide In Plain Sight rocks. It was the only chance my character had to defeat Zor the Minotaur (after Sharwyn had been despatched in about three hits). It allowed her to go around the corner, heal herself, and then come back for another sneak attack (thankfully, Minotaurs are sneak attackable).

Go the Shadowdancer!

 

I tend to view all classes in NWN from a roleplaying point of view. When you have what you want from the point of view of roleplaying your character, you learn to use it to your advantage and to offset the downsides you may have... that's how it works for me, although I do some planning in advance sometimes and make "strategic investments". Shadowdancer looks like a good class to combine with Assassin or Shifter (hiding in shadows and changing your form... like those from Dune). You could also couple it with Harper Scout or Blackguard, maybe also Arcane Archer.

 

Getting Shadowdancer AND Shifter would be a bit of a trick. You'd need to have your druid take ranks in Hide, Move Silently, and Tumble. Are they class skills for Druid?

 

@Harbourboy
None of those skills are druid class skills. IIRC Move Silently is Shifter class skill, but not Hide. Or the other way around

But, really, there's no real point in combining Shadowdancer with a Shifter.
Shifter already has Kobold commando form which offers Hide in Plain Sight. The offside is, it's sneak attack is barely 2d6 in normal and 5d6 in epic form. So the better thing to do would be taking rogue levels for extra backstabbing damage.
In fact, the second most popular tertiary class for druid/shifter is a rogue. Far behind monk of course, but it offers even greater versatility.

I doubt any other class can cope with the adaptability of a druid/rogue/shifter.