Base Class - The Twilight Adept

[Garryl]

Twilight Adept base class
In the time before the fall of the Temple of the Nine Swords, the House of the Fallen Sun was nothing more than an underworld information network. The organization's services, like those of many others, were purchased in service of the Shadow Tiger horde. After the horde's disastrous assault on the Temple of the Nine Swords, many of the martial adepts that fought within its ranks found themselves bereft of purpose. Turning to any sense of the familiar, some of them found themselves in the employ of the very groups that they had purchased the services of just months prior, including the House of the Fallen Sun. The information network was more than willing to bring these skilled assassins, infiltrators, and warriors under its sway. Over time, these martial adepts adapted the techniques they had learned under the tutelage of Reshar and his students to better suit their new activities. These new twilight adepts combined their knowledge of the nine martial disciplines with the mundane and magical techniques employed by other agents of the House.

Hit Die: d6

Table: The Twilight Adept

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Maneuvers Known	Maneuvers Readied	Stances Known
1	+0	+0	+2	+2	Elusive Strike +1d6/-0, Trapfinding	4	3	1
2	+1	+0	+3	+3	Elusive Dodge 10%	5	3	2
3	+2	+1	+3	+3	Elusive Strike +1d6/-1	6	3	2
4	+3	+1	+4	+4	Swift Stealth	6	3	2
5	+3	+1	+4	+4	Elusive Strike +2d6/-1	7	4	2
6	+4	+2	+5	+5	Uncanny Dodge	7	4	3
7	+5	+2	+5	+5	Elusive Strike +2d6/-2	8	4	3
8	+6/+1	+2	+6	+6	Elusive Dodge 15%, Elusive Evasion	8	4	3
9	+6/+1	+3	+6	+6	Elusive Strike +3d6/-2	9	4	3
10	+7/+2	+3	+7	+7	Camouflage	9	5	3
11	+8/+3	++	+7	+7	Elusive Strike +3d6/-3	10	5	3
12	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Elusive Mind	10	5	3
13	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Elusive Strike +4d6/-3	11	5	4
14	+10/+5	+4	+9	+9	Elusive Dodge 20%	11	5	4
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+9	Elusive Strike +4d6/-4	12	6	4
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Improved Evasion	12	6	4
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Elusive Strike +5d6/-4	13	6	4
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+11	Hide in Plain Sight	13	6	4
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+11	Elusive Strike +5d6/-5	14	6	4
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+12	Elusive Dodge 25%	14	7	5

Class skills (8 + Int modifier per level): Appraise, Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Disguise, Escape Artist, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (history, local), Listen, Martial Lore, Move Silently, Open Lock, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Swim, Tumble, and Use Rope.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As a twilight adept, you are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, and short sword, and with light armor.

Maneuvers: You begin your career with knowledge of four martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to you are Diamond Mind, Phantom Battlefield, Revealing Light, Setting Sun, and Shadow Hand.

Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by a twilight adept is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. Your maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you initiate one.

You learn additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on the table above. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. See Table 3-1 (TOB 39), to determine the highest-level maneuvers you can learn.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered twilight adept level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), you can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one you already know. In effect, you lose the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. You can choose a new maneuver of any level you like, as long as you observe your restriction on the highest-level maneuvers you know; you need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. For example, upon reaching 10th level, you could trade in a single 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd- or 4th-level maneuver for a maneuver of 5th level or lower, as long as you meet the prerequisite of the new maneuver. You can swap only a single maneuver at any given level.

Maneuvers Readied: You can ready three of the four maneuvers you know at 1st level, and as you advance in level and learn more maneuvers, you are able to ready more, but you must choose which maneuvers to ready. You ready your maneuvers by meditating and exercising for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to meditate again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in meditation, you can change your readied maneuvers.

You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (until you recover them, as described below).

You can recover all expended maneuvers with a single swift action, which must be immediately followed in the same round with a withdraw action or a total defense action. You cannot initiate a maneuver or change your stance while you are recovering your expended maneuvers, but you can remain in a stance in which you began your turn.

Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one stance from any discipline open to twilight adepts. At 2nd, 6th, 13th, and 20th level, you can choose additional stances. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you are currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description.

Unlike with maneuvers, you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.

Elusive Strike (Ex): As a twilight adept, you learn to notice and seize upon even the smallest opening an opponent gives you. When you attack a foe that has left such an opening, you can strike a vital spot for extra damage.

Attacks you make with strike maneuvers against open opponents deal an additional 1d6 points of damage at 1st level. This extra damage increases by 1d6 every 4 levels thereafter. Like all bonus damage dice, should you score a critical hit, the extra damage is not multiplied. If you perform multiple attacks with the same strike, you deal with bonus damage only once to each open opponent with the first hit you score against them.

A creature is open to you if it would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not). Whenever a creature attempts to attack you or target you with an ability but either fails due to concealment or due to accidentally targeting an illusion of you instead, it also leaves itself open to you for 1 round as your deception manipulates it into leaving itself vulnerable.

Ranged attacks can count as elusive strikes only if the target is within 30 feet.

With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage, such as a sap (blackjack) or unarmed strike, you can make an elusive strike that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. You cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in an elusive strike, not even with the usual -4 penalty.

The bonus damage from elusive strike is a form of precision damage, just like a rogue's sneak attack. You can elusive strike 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 elusive strikes. You must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. You cannot elusive strike while striking a creature with concealment or striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.

Abilities and effects that modify a rogue's sneak attack can be applied to elusive strike, instead.

Starting at 3rd level, open opponents also suffer a -1 penalty on their saves against your strike maneuvers. This penalty increases by 1 every 4 levels thereafter. Any creature not subject to the bonus damage from elusive strike likewise is not subject to the save penalty.

Trapfinding (Ex): At 1st level, you gain trapfinding, as per the rogue's trapfinding ability.

Elusive Dodge (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, your evasive maneuvers and deceptive combat style cause all attacks and targeted effects to have a chance to fail against you. Any attack against you has a 10% miss chance, and any effect targeting you against which you are not willing has a 10% chance to fail to target you. This is different from concealment and produces a separate, independently-rolled chance for attacks against you to miss. This miss chance and targeting failure chance improves by 5% for every 6 levels beyond 2nd, to a maximum of 25% at 20th level.

Whenever a creature misses you or fails to target you as a result of elusive dodge, it leaves itself open to you for 1 round, allowing you to perform elusive strikes against it.

Elusive dodge does not function against creatures that are flanking you or against which you would be denied your Dexterity bonus to AC (whether you actually have a Dexterity bonus or not), nor does it apply while you are immobilized, helpless, or unaware of the attack or effect directed against you.

Elusive dodge only applies against attacks and effects that specifically target you. Area effects (such as a color spray spell) ignore its protection, although it does protect against effects that specify multiple individual targets within an area (such as a chain lightning spell).

Swift Stealth (Ex): Starting at 4th level, you no longer take the normal -5 penalty on Hide and Move Silently checks for moving at your normal speed.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Beginning at 6th level, you gain uncanny dodge, as per the barbarian's uncanny dodge ability.

Elusive Evasion (Ex): Beginning at 8th level, you gain evasion, as per the rogue's evasion ability.

Additionally, whenever you succeed on a Reflex save against an effect that allows for a saving throw for reduced effect and negate that effect entirely due to evasion, the creature that produced the effect leaves itself open to you for 1 round, allowing you to perform elusive strikes against it.

Camouflage (Ex): Starting at 10th level, you can use the Hide skill as long as you are within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, allowing you to hide yourself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. You cannot, however, hide in your own shadow.

Elusive Mind (Ex): Beginning at 12th level, you gain slippery mind, as per the rogue's slippery mind special ability. Additionally, whenever you succeed on your normal Will save against an effect that slippery mind could grant a second save against, the creature that produced the effect leaves itself open to you for 1 round, allowing you to perform elusive strikes against it.

Improved Evasion (Ex): Beginning at 16th level, you gain improved evasion, as per the rogue's improved evasion special ability.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): Starting at 18th level, you can use the Hide skill even while being observed.


Change Log

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23/05/2022: First posted.

[Nanshork]

That maneuver recovery mechanism is rough.

Elusive Strike requiring denied dex is also rough (although that's how sudden strike works so I'm not saying that it's too rough).

Elusive Dodge helps the roughness of Elusive Strike but feels like it might be a bit much.  I don't do math about anything, this is just a gut feeling.

The rest of it just seems fine, it's a more rougey initiator than the swordsage in the sense of replacing the core class.

[phaedrusxy]

Starting at 3rd level, open opponents also suffer a -1 penalty on their saves against your strike maneuvers. This penalty increases by 1 every 4 levels thereafter. Any creature not subject to the bonus damage from elusive strike likewise is not subject to the save penalty.

Why?

[Garryl]

That maneuver recovery mechanism is rough.

Better than the Swordsage's. It made more sense in an earlier draft where Elusive Strike applied to all attacks like Sneak Attack, rather than just martial strikes. I might change it to let you recover with an attack, like the Warblade, but only if it's against an open opponent.

Elusive Strike requiring denied dex is also rough (although that's how sudden strike works so I'm not saying that it's too rough).

Elusive Dodge helps the roughness of Elusive Strike but feels like it might be a bit much.  I don't do math about anything, this is just a gut feeling.

Elusive Strike trades out activation via flanking in exchange for being activated more easily by your maneuvers and abilities. There are a lot of maneuvers among the disciplines available, especially Phantom Battlefield and Shadow Hand, that can induce being denied Dex or provide miss chance or illusionary defenses that can trigger being open. I'm considering having openness trigger on any counter that negates an attack so the Setting Sun maneuvers can get in on the action, too.

Despite how much verbiage is devoted to it, Elusive Strike isn't supposed to be a primary class feature like Sneak Attack is for Rogues; that would be the maneuvers. It's meant to enhance your maneuvers when you can get it, but not be so vital that you feel weak without it, just a little less strong.

The rest of it just seems fine, it's a more rougey initiator than the swordsage in the sense of replacing the core class.

That's the intention.

Starting at 3rd level, open opponents also suffer a -1 penalty on their saves against your strike maneuvers. This penalty increases by 1 every 4 levels thereafter. Any creature not subject to the bonus damage from elusive strike likewise is not subject to the save penalty.

Why?

Are you asking why give a penalty to saves, or are you asking why the penalty is subject to the precision damage limitations? The save penalty is because maneuvers are about more than just damage, so a making the saves more difficult was the next best way to enhance that. Turning it off like precision damage was so that the whole ability, and your whole reason to care about whether an opponent is open or not, follows the same conditions, rather than different parts having slightly different criteria.

[Nanshork]

Elusive Dodge feeling like it is a bit much has nothing to do with elusive strike and has everything to do with a permanent miss chance vs everything starting at level 2. 

[Garryl]

Elusive Dodge feeling like it is a bit much has nothing to do with elusive strike and has everything to do with a permanent miss chance vs everything starting at level 2. 

Whoops. Misread that as Elusive Strike being a bit much, not Elusive Dodge.

Comparing Elusive Dodge to a Swordsage's AC Bonus, it's not dissimilar. Assuming a chain shirt, 14 Dex, and 12 Wis, that's AC 17 for the Swordsage and AC 16 w/ a 10% miss chance for the Twilight Adept. They're both hit 45% of the time by attackers with a +5 attack bonus, with the hit rate rising faster against the Swordsage as the attack bonus rises, but also dropping faster against it as the attack bonus decreases. At CR 2, monsters typically have attack bonuses between +4 and +7. If we go up to typical 28 PB characters with 16 Dex and 14 Wis, the AC 19 Swordsage gets hit less often than the AC 17 Twilight Adept until the attacker has an attack bonus high enough to hit the Twilight Adept on a natural 1. The chances are fairly close (85% vs. 85.5%) at a +15 bonus, which hits the Twilight Adept on a 2 and the Swordsage on a 4. This general pattern continues as long as the Swordsage picks up an extra +2 to Wisdom every 6 levels (ie: a +2 item at level 8, a +4 item by level 14, and a +6 item by level 20), which sounds reasonable for a secondary ability score that also controls a saving throw. Elusive Dodge's miss chance also goes away while flanked or denied Dex to AC, unlike the AC Bonus, so it's a bit less consistent. That said, Elusive Dodge does have a few major benefits going for it.

First, it applies to targeted spells and effects, not just attacks. That is big, and I'm not actually sure how big. It's comparable to having SR 3 + level, scaling up to SR 6 + level by level 20. That's not amazing, but it's better than it sounds. Nobody cares about the Spell Resistance armor properties or the Mantle of Spell Resistance, but they would be comparable at mid levels if the opportunity cost to afford them wasn't so high (ie: when you can afford them, but not when you necessarily can afford them just from flexible spare change). It's weaker than SR would be against lower-level opponents, but it's better than SR would be against higher-level opponents and spellcasters with Spell Penetration. It doesn't apply to area effects or while denied Dex or flanked by the attacker, but it does apply to extraordinary and supernatural abilities and to SR: No spells. I don't want to minimize it, but I probably inadvertently will, just because I don't have much to say about it compared to everything else. I'm still refamiliarizing myself with 3rd edition D&D after a multi-year hiatus, so I haven't yet reclaimed the system mastery needed to properly evaluate this aspect of the ability.

Second, it doesn't require any investment. A Swordsage's AC bonus can certainly provide a better defense against attacks at a mid-level of optimization; getting enough AC to make 50% of attacks miss you increases to 70% with a +4 AC bonus, the equivalent of instead adding a 40% miss chance. However, if you don't invest into keeping your AC at least a few points above your attackers' attack bonuses, the Swordsage's AC bonus does absolutely nothing, while Elusive Dodge is still chugging away with a 15-20% miss chance. Getting your AC that high far from free past the first few levels, especially if you can't count on a spellcasting party member to buff you up with Barkskin or Magic Vestment or Protection From Evil or the like. On the other hand, getting better than the base 10% miss chance from being a level 2 Twilight Adept also requires investment, just in class levels instead of items and spells. A Swordsage could multiclass or PrC out after just a 2 level dip and keep scaling that Wis-based AC Bonus.

I just noticed that Elusive Dodge is missing the light or no armor clause. Making a note here to fix that. Possibly also bar shield usage with it, like the Swordsage's AC Bonus?

Edit: For reference, I found this table I made comparing miss chances to AC bonuses from the aura classes. I was with respect to an attack-based miss chance only (as opposed to attacks and targeted effects like Elusive Dodge).

With Grace you made the dodge bonus to AC the boost effect.  A) I think the miss chance is significantly more powerful and B) you didn't specify how many points their AC goes up by.

Good catch. Technically, only minor auras defaulted to using your aura bonus, so all of the other auras that didn't explicitly say so were undefined. This has been fixed.

Miss chances are among the "standard" auras I've been making (Deception for Divine Minds and Elusive Defenders for Marshals), alongside +AC (Motivate Care for Marshals, Defiance for Paladins). Miss chance is more valuable if enemies are hitting you on a low roll. AC bonus is better if they don't auto-hit already. Dunno where I'm going with this, really, but they're closer than they appear if you haven't dumped AC.

Aura Bonus	Miss Chance	Parity when enemies need to roll X to hit
+1	15%	14
+2	20%	11
+3	25%	9
+4	30%	7
+5	35%	6