Hide in plain sight

[Gromm]

Cast daylight.
Then kill him.

We had a Shadowdancer a while back, it was a really neat ability, but overall it didn't seem too powerful. If abused it could be, but the then DM can just rule theres no shadows around to hide in or that the opponents get a huge bonus to see them when theres little to no cover.

Seriously though, it can't be worse than a Rogue with a Ring of Blinking and GhostTouch weapons. And thats so old it makes me cough up dust. Either way, just cast Blur to counter it (or get that cool Psion armor that makes you blurred), or getsome Fort Armor.

 

[kreynolds]

(or get that cool Psion armor that makes you blurred

...or get the magic version from OA. (I think that's where it was)

 

[Gez]

Seriously though, it can't be worse than a Rogue with a Ring of Blinking and Ghost Touch weapons.

Always something lovable ! With one level of ranger, the rogue, so he can make some more sneak attacks during the combat round...

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I've had two players become shadowdancers. One actuaslly followed through with the pretige class, the other basically took it for HiPS. The 1st was fine in my oppinion, the second was a powerhouse. Shot on the run+HiPS just got sick, not tons of damage every round since it was only one attack though a really nice sneak attack, but it was absurdly hard for people to counter attack him especially when you consider there were plenty of visible threats from the rest of the party to contend with.

And by the way while you can't use you own shadow, that doesn't stop you from using you parties shadow, or even the shadow of the person who decides to attack you.

I have seen the same thing with Improved Invisibility and it is really no big deal. The downside is that this tactic forces the NPCs to concentrate their firepower on targets they can see. Nice for the Shadowdancer, bad for the party.

It is not really difficult to create a shadowless area using magic. 2 Daylight spells plus Continual Flame on every combatant would do it. A bag of Continual Flame marbles thrown about the combat zone will also do it.

 

[Gromm]

I have seen the same thing with Improved Invisibility and it is really no big deal. The downside is that this tactic forces the NPCs to concentrate their firepower on targets they can see. Nice for the Shadowdancer, bad for the party.

It is not really difficult to create a shadowless area using magic. 2 Daylight spells plus Continual Flame on every combatant would do it. A bag of Continual Flame marbles thrown about the combat zone will also do it.

Or Faerie Fire for that matter.
I like the idea of continual flame marbles for a lot of reasons. Never thought of that one.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

One it isn't that easy to make a shadowless area. Unless you surround an area in light, light will generally just create more shadows.

Two why do you surround the area with light. How do you know its a shadowdancer and not just someone with a ring of invisibility, and even if you knew it was a shadowdancer how the heck do you know how to deal with it. I'm sure the shadowdancer guild advertises all their weaknesses for the world to know in some campaigns, but In my games, and in most games I'd suspect the secret of needing shadows would be one of the best kept secrets in the world. The player who is a shadowdancer would be breaking huge guild secrets in my games for even telling other party members, and would likely get killed for it and would get the party killed if anyone found out he had blabbed.

Ridley's Cohort said,"I have seen the same thing with Improved Invisibility and it is really no big deal. The downside is that this tactic forces the NPCs to concentrate their firepower on targets they can see. Nice for the Shadowdancer, bad for the party."

This I can agree with to some point. The problem is many combatants shouldn't have the combat training to ignore a target that is using these hit and run tactics. Also likely counters will be tried like see invis etc in an attempt to find the shadowdancer.

Gromm said,"Seriously though, it can't be worse than a Rogue with a Ring of Blinking and GhostTouch weapons. And thats so old it makes me cough up dust. Either way, just cast Blur to counter it (or get that cool Psion armor that makes you blurred), or getsome Fort Armor."

Sure until the rogues learn to counter this tactic at least. I haven't seen a high level rogue yet that doesn't acquire a gem of true seeing to counter virtually all magical look at me I'm concealed and sneak attack proof tactics.

 

[chengarino]

Don't forget Listen and Scent

As powerful and useful HiPS is, don't forget opponents can 'listen' (counter Move Silently) or smell opponents (for those creatures with such ability).

The Shadowdancer may be 'hiding' in some shadows, but if he is moving around, you can hear him and attack with an area of effect weapon/spell.

 

[Werdnam]

Re: Don't forget Listen and Scent

As powerful and useful HiPS is, don't forget opponents can 'listen' (counter Move Silently) or smell opponents (for those creatures with such ability).

The Shadowdancer may be 'hiding' in some shadows, but if he is moving around, you can hear him and attack with an area of effect weapon/spell.

True, but any character with Hide in Plain Sight and any sense at all will also have a jacked-up Move Silently skill. I know the ninja in my group does. With HiPS, Move Silently, and his Climb skill, he's virtually undetectable.