Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Crazy idea, maybe too much work maybe not.

Would it be possible to make a shadow dancer’s shadow work like the spell shadow simulacrum in appearance?

It occurred to me for two reasons. One, I was reading the lore about them to flesh out my character and the shadow is supposed to resemble them.

Two, the shadow is more familiar than undead creature which is what it currently resembles... thus creating all kinds of RP conflicts depending on who I happened to be grouped with.

I think if the shadow did actually resemble the caster it would be interesting in terms of RP.

If it’s a crazy amount of work then definitely not worth it, I just figure maybe if the mechanic was already in place via another spell it might not be terrible.

I'm curious about the lore you've read about shadows resembling them. All material that I've encountered about it was that the Summon Shadow ability is just that. Summoning a Shadow. Not animating your own shadow, it doesn't make your own shadow alive or anything. It's just summoning a shadow that's more of a familiar rather than a minion.

there is nothing saying a SD's shadow looks like them but it is a common thing in rp because there is also nothing that governs or says what exactly the shadow looks like other than the fact that is it a special shadow that is not actually an undead, just a shadow that shares the SD's alignment - which is where people generally take it as meaning the shadow likely resembles the SD

given a shadow can take any form its not wrong or right, only the assumption that a SD's shadow is undead is wrong

Ravial wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2019 11:16 pm I'm curious about the lore you've read about shadows resembling them. All material that I've encountered about it was that the Summon Shadow ability is just that. Summoning a Shadow. Not animating your own shadow, it doesn't make your own shadow alive or anything. It's just summoning a shadow that's more of a familiar rather than a minion.

It was from some wiki. Theres a few out there. And they don’t always agree.

But most seem to think along the same lines as Blackman D that it’s not an undead thing but a familiar of sorts.

I just the the NWN2 game took the easy road by creating a feat that just summoned a generic shadow.

The bgtscc shadow is greatly improved by the way. Mechanically they took an otherwise pretty useless ability and made it quite useful.

well the fact that it is not undead and its more of a familiar is straight from the 3.5 DMG (dungeon masters guide) that details the class, so its from source

the familiar comparison is that when a sorc/wiz's familiar dies they have to do a save or be depressed

an SD has to do something similar if they try to unsummon their shadow at all

Blackman D wrote: ↑Sat Sep 21, 2019 9:37 pm well the fact that it is not undead and its more of a familiar is straight from the 3.5 DMG (dungeon masters guide) that details the class, so its from source

the familiar comparison is that when a sorc/wiz's familiar dies they have to do a save or be depressed

an SD has to do something similar if they try to unsummon their shadow at all

Yeah, my main point was really from an RP perspective in this regard. Especially right now on this server. You summon your shadow that 100% resembles a giant rambling undead creature and everyone reacts like it is one.

A physical difference, especially if it’s not overly difficult to implement (I have no idea on that account) would cut down on the OOC discussion of what people are actually seeing.

yes

but i think one of the issues there has just been rotating devs and no one showing interest in wanting to look into i think? i cant remember, but it has been suggested for that reason before

The DMG specifically says that it is an undead shadow, just with special rules. Alignment, third-party control and turn immunity, basically. It's also bound to the shadowdancer.

Well he’s MY undead shadow and I love him!

is there a way to just make a custom shadow like a character creation screen but for a summon (obviously only once when you gain it)

Even though I made the request, I don’t really see it being worthwhile if it’s a lot of work. Plenty of other things to focus on... and it’s kind of cool looking anyway.