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Shadar-kai

2020-03-21T03:01:08Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:F498:905C:6325:FC1F: alright bet: boasting and general capital-P Pride is far too vague to be /pol/. ennui-induced self harm isn't really *emblematic* of 4chan per se. the jock thing still holds up, though p. sure none of it involves guns or anything remotely /k/

[[File:4e Shadar-kai.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Ow the edge.]]
[[File:4e Shadar-kai 2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Even more edge.]]
Shadar-kai are a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] creature where you really have to specify what edition you're talking about. Both versions have a gothy sadomasochistic theme (imagine a whole race of Cenobites from Hellraiser), but the difference between 3e and 4e really couldn't be much greater.

==In 3rd Edition==
An obscure beastie, the 3.5 shadar-kai is a species of Fae that has been dwelling on the Plane of Shadow for generations. This has caused them to suffer a magical affliction where they steadily fade away into nothingness, unless they can stimulate themselves. The most easy way to do this is via torture and self-mutilation, to the point that their iconic gear are arm-bands with cold iron spikes on the inside, which they drive into their own flesh to keep them "anchored" into reality. They hate all mortals for not having to put up with the same effect, blaming them for their choice to live in the Plane of Shadow in the first place.

==In 4th Edition==
Debuting in [[Dragon Magazine]] #372, the shadar-kai of the [[World Axis]] became both a humanoid race and a playable species. Basically, they're the descendants of humans who migrated to the [[Shadowfell]] in pursuit of immortality. They got it... of a sort. If they can keep themselves active, amused and interested in life, they can live forever. If they succumb to ennui, they start fading out of existence. Their culture is thusly [[Dark Eldar|dedicated to stimulation of all sorts]]: [[Slaneesh|carnal experimentation and sadomasochism]], boasting contests, athletic contests... in essence, they're a race of "live for the moment" loudmouthed jocks, with a tendency to cut themselves when things get boring.

:: '''Ability Scores:''' +2 Dexterity; +2 Intelligence or +2 Wisdom (originally, they were a Dex/Int race, with Dragon #397 letting them trade the Int for a Wis bonus instead.
:: '''Size:''' Medium
:: '''Speed:''' 6 Squares
:: '''Vision:''' Low-light
:: '''Languages:''' Common, one language of choice
:: '''Skill Bonuses:''' +2 Acrobatics, +2 Stealth
:: '''Shadow Jaunt:''' Once per encounter, as a move action, teleport 3 squares and become Insubstantial until the start of your next turn.
:: '''Shadow Origin:''' Considered a shadow creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin
:: '''Winterkin:''' +1 racial bonus to Fortitude defense, +2 racial bonus to death/unconscious saving throws

In [[Dragon Magazine]] #391, the article "A Legacy in Shadow" officially canonized/examined the presence of shadar-kai in the [[Forgotten Realms]], saying they began to spontaneously arise as a result of the [[Spellplague]] touching the shadowborn humans brought back to Toril by the Shadovar of Returned Netheril. This not only provided a number of new racial feats, but also included the subraces/alternative powers for shadar-kai descended from [[shade]]s and [[krinth]], represented as a pair of Heritage Feats:
* Krinth Heritage: +2 to Intimidate, become Insubstantial until the end of your next turn when you suffer a critical hit from an enemy, replace '''Shadow Jaunt''' with '''Demonic Aggression''' (1/encounter, as an immediate reaction to being damaged by an enemy within 3 squares, teleport to an unoccupied square adjacent to that enemy and gain combat advantage until the end of your next turn).
* Shade Heritage: Vision becomes Darkvision 5, +2 to Stealth checks (so +4 total), replace '''Shadow Jaunt''' with '''Shade Stride''' (1/encounter, teleport either to any square within 5 squares or to any dark or dimly lit square within 10 squares as a move action).

==In 5th Edition==
Shadar-kai made an appearance for 5e in the November 2017 issue of [[Unearthed Arcana]]; whilst the focus was purely on crunch, their fluff was essentially a clumsy amalgamation of their lore from before - in a nutshell, taking all of their 4e lore, but making their base race be [[elf]] rather than [[human]]. As such, they are mechanically a subrace for elves, although their entire statblock is repeated here because 1d4chan is awesome like that.
::+2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma
::Medium
::Speed 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Keen Senses: Proficiency in Perception.
::Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saves against being charmed, and immune to magic that puts you to sleep.
::Trance: Trancing for 4 hours yields the same effect as an 8 hour sleep.
::Deathly Cantrip: You know a single cantrip chosen from a list of Chill Touch, Spare the Dying and Thaumaturgy. This cantrip can't be changed at a later date. Your spellcasting ability score for this cantrip is Charisma.
::Blessed By The [[Raven Queen]]: You can use a bonus action to teleport to an unoccupied space within 15 feet. After teleporting, you gain resistance to all damage until the end of your next turn, during which time you appear translucent and ghostly. After using this ability, you must complete a short rest or a long rest to use it again.

Shadar-kai later appeared in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes but with some edits. Deathly Cantrip is removed but the range of their teleport is increased to 30 feet.

If you want something closer to the 4e version of the race, [[Ulraunt's Guide to the Planes]] has got you covered!
::Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 to an ability score of your choice
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
Shadow Blend: While in dim light or darkness, you can use a bonus action to become invisible, along with anything you are wearing or carrying. The invisibility lasts for 1 minute, until you make an attack or cast a spell, are in bright light, become incapacitated, or until you use a bonus action to end it. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
::Shadow Jaunt: When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
::Shadow Stealth: While in dim light or darkness, you can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
::Spiked Chain Proficiency: You are proficient with the spiked chain and the heavy spiked chain.
::Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common.
::Epic Racial: Ghostly Jaunt: When you reach 25th character level, after using your Shadow Jaunt, you gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn.

{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}

Class

2020-03-21T01:52:04Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:F498:905C:6325:FC1F: Undo revision 645092 by Phas (talk) cool that you know all that, but this is a list of abstracts for *fantasy settings*, and most of them don't have that much thought put in

A '''class''' is, in the broadest sense a division or category of similar things. A class of ships all have similar designs and roles, a class of students may share an age, achievement level, or graduation date, and so on. In the context of [[role-playing game]]s, there are two definitions of class that are most relevant: ''[[character]] class'', which is a career or set of skills, and ''social class'', which is a character's place in the social hierarchy.

== Character Class ==

A [[character]]'s class (e.g. [[ranger]], [[paladin]], [[rogue]]) encodes and/or influences her career (in fact, some role-playing games use ''career'' as the term for the class mechanic), skills, specializations, and role in the [[party]]. A character's class may provide bonuses to certain [[stat]]s and grant access to certain skills (or make certain skills cheaper to purchase) as a character gains levels in that class. Some games permit [[multiclassing]], where a character can pick up levels in different classes at the same time (leading to character classes like "Paladin 6/Wizard 1/Lawful stupid 10" and the like).

In [[Munchkin (Card Game)|Munchkin]], you have no class (heh) until you play a class card.

== Social Class ==
As most fantasy games (and some sci-fi games, like [[Warhammer 40,000]]) are set in a [[Medieval Stasis|quasi-feudal time period]], their societies tend to be fairly stratified. Feudalism and class systems from history could get quite complicated, but most game writers (and most players, for that matter) abstract things:

* Royalty is usually at the top of the chain. There might be some layering if the kingdom is a vassal state of an empire.
* Below them are the [[noble]]s. Often, there's too much land for a single royal family to control personally, so they parcel it out to families loyal to theirs, who might in turn divide their chunk into smaller pieces for lesser noble families to manage, and so on. Nobility is broken up into various stratified subclasses from those who rule provinces bigger than most kingdoms to podunk knights who are in charge of a square kilometer of marginal rocky farmland and a dozen dirt farmers.
* Some powerful organizations, like a state church or a society of [[wizard]]s, may sit parallel to the nobility -- they aren't families and don't have inherited titles, but they have holdings of comparable size and some kind of royal recognition.
* Artisans, [[guild]]s, and similar organizations occupy the next layer down. Their members are skilled and respected, but they're not born into noble families, so they don't get to have castles or armies. As roads improve, ship designs get better and cities grow these classes get more powerful. Most [[player character]]s are (or at least start out) in this layer.
* The largest group are [[peasant]]s (or "commoners" for a more polite term) who grow the food that everyone eats. Not all of them are happy in this situation (cf: the [[Wikipedia:French Revolution|French Revolution]]).
* The lowest class is the underclass. Pretty small in the grand scheme of things these guys do the really shitty jobs such as being nightsoil men and scavengers who looked through garbage middens for anything they might scavenge. If you're in this class '''''everyone''''' looks down on you.
*(Special mention should go here to the "classes" of [[Slavery|slaves and serfs]]. They don't really merit a formal entry as such on this list; Any society that practices the institution will almost never consider the slave population to be "human," or whatever the predominant species is, much less worthy of classification as anything other than chattel.)

Usually, the only way to move up a layer is to marry someone from a higher layer (good luck to those peasants in love with princes and princesses), get elevated by members of that layer (you ''might'' get a [[knight]]hood, but your kids won't inherit it), or force your way in by revolution (in which case, watch your back for people looking to do the same to you).

If one has an interest in East Asian societies and wants to use that as a template, the social hierarchy is structure a bit different due to Confucianism. It's laid out roughly as such...

*Scholars: Scholars are rich people (generally landowners) who have money to dedicate their lives to study of moral philosophy, history, arts and similar. This is a big deal because you get government jobs by passing exams about these things. Their wisdom and learning is to be valued above all. Fortunately for people who are not born into this class you to can become a scholar if you can pass the exams. Though you are going up against people who have been training for them from childhood and about 1 in 500 or so gets a passing grade. But there is paper evidence of it happening so it's a better chance then you might think of a peasant getting into the top of society. In Japan, you substitute [[Samurai]] for Scholars.
*Peasants: Peasants are technically ranked pretty high because they keep everybody fed and clothed. Without them, everyone would starve to death. The cynic would argue that this "high rank" is just a ploy to keep peasants happy and avoid rebellion.
*Artisans: Artisans are seen as less critical than peasants (if you don't have shoemakers you have to make your own shoes or go barefoot where as if you don't have peasants you starve to death) but still valued for their skills and abilities in taking what the peasants produce in terms of ore, clay, wood and food and making nice and important things out of them.
*Merchants: Merchants are at the bottom of this hierarchy. The peddlers are USEFUL, but they don't create anything. All they do is buy stuff from one person, move it, and sell it to someone else. In practice the merchants gain prominence and influence above their station by virtue of their wealth, much to the annoyance of the Scholar class and generally in spite of their best efforts to keep them down.

==See Also==
* [[Prestige classes]], which are character classes that provide extra specialization at later [[level]]s.

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{{Pathfinder-Classes}}