![]() Moreover, the normal range of a hand crossbow is only 30 feet- less than the range of Shadow Step! This attack is starting to look like a waste of an action. A high-level PC is probably going to have a Constitution save mod of between +2 and +8, meaning the shadowblade may have as low as a 30 percent chance of poisoning its target, to say nothing of knocking it unconscious. The NPC isn’t likely to have more than a +1 or +2 saving throw modifier-but even this is enough to give him or her a 45 to 50 percent chance of success. Given the shadowblade’s challenge rating of 11, its targets are likely to be high-level adventurers-or NPCs in the presence of high-level adventurers, which is a pretty different kettle of fish. ![]() Any comparative advantage is going to have to come from a debilitating condition. The Hand Crossbow attack, which consumes a full action, does an average of 8.5 damage, far less than a single Shadow Sword attack, let alone a Multiattack. Does initiating combat with this attack offer any advantage over jumping right into melee? Let’s see. In addition to its melee Multiattack, the shadowblade also has a fairly straightforward ranged attack that does piercing damage and may also impose the poisoned and unconscious conditions. (This stunt can be performed only once per turn, so even if the shadowblade has more than one patch of darkness lingering around, it can’t use both its Shadow Sword attacks to do this extra damage.) But with its Multiattack, on any Shadow Sword hit after the first, the shadowblade can direct that darkness into its enemy for a burst of additional necrotic damage. Even if the target has a light source that creates bright light, the creation of this magical darkness gives the shadowblade a “teleporter pad” by which it can use Shadow Step to slip away. By itself, Shadow Sword not only does piercing, necrotic and poison damage on a hit but also creates a patch of magical darkness. The drow shadowblade’s Multiattack consists of two Shadow Sword attacks that synergize into a nasty combination. If the shadowblade’s target lacks darkvision and is bumbling around in the murk without a decent light source, the sequence is less crucial, and the shadowblade is free to use Shadow Step to slip out of melee rather than to initiate it. Simply attacking while unseen grants advantage, too. That’s assuming, however, that a shadowblade needs Shadow Step in order to gain advantage on its attack. In addition, as a bonus action, shadowblades can use the Shadow Step feature to teleport up to 60 feet between one dimly lit or dark location and another doing so also grants advantage on “the first melee attack it makes before the end of the turn.” The wording is crucial, because it dictates shadowblades’ turn sequence and mode of striking: the bonus action must be taken before the attack, and the attack must be a melee attack, i.e., either Shadow Sword, grapple or shove. They also have the standard drow spell package of dancing lights plus one daily casting each of darkness, faerie fire and levitate. Like all drow, they have long-range darkvision plus Sunlight Sensitivity, confining them to nighttime and (more likely) subterranean operations. With proficiency in all of the “big three” saving throws (Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom) and with innate advantage against being charmed, shadowblades have little to fear from enemy spellcasters and can assail their desired targets without distraction. Their Constitution is high enough that they can handle a protracted battle, but they’d rather not. With extraordinary Dexterity serving as both their primary offensive ability and primary defensive ability, they’re shock attackers, striking swiftly and hard with the goal of taking out their targets as fast as possible. Drow shadowblades are spies and assassins, trained to strike from hiding.
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