Nightblade v1.1 by

## Nightblade Rogue v1.2
Nightblades practice an ancient art called the Shadow Dance, and are masters of stealth. Though they lack the poison drenched daggers of the assassin or the flair of the swashbuckler, their acumen on the battlefield and ability to hide in plain sight are unrivaled. The Dance originated as a ritual to honor an ancient god of the Shadowfell, and although much of that history has been lost, the patterns and steps of the dance still evoke the negative energy of that plane. Through their dance, these rogues become formidable combatants, and the most powerful among them learn to manipulate the raw energy of the Shadowfell to cast certain spells.

You should pick this subclass if you enjoyed playing a Shadow Hand Swordsage in 3.5e, or you enjoyed the Assassin from 4e.

#### Child of Night
Those who practice the Dance of Shadows have mastered the art of stealth. Starting at 3rd level:
* You can try to hide when you are lightly obscured from the creature from which you are hiding, and you can use cover granted by your allies both to become hidden and to remain hidden. 
* You gain darkvision out to 30 feet. If you already have darkvision from your race, the range is increased by 30 feet.
* You gain proficiency in the performance skill, if you did not already have it.

#### The Shadow Dance

Though you have practiced the Dance of Shadows for a long time, when you chose this archetype at 3rd level, you have perfected your first steps. You learn new maneuvers called Steps, that are fueled by special dice called dance dice.
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**Steps.** You learn three Steps of your choice, which are detailed under “Steps” below. Many steps in the Shadow Dance enhance an attack in some way. You can only use one step per attack. You learn an additional step at 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th and 18th level. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you may replace a step you know with a new one.

If a maneuver would cause a target to take extra damage, that damage is necrotic.
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**Dance Dice.** At 3rd level, you have 4 dance dice,  which are d6s. A dance dice is expended when you use it. You regain all of your expended dance die when you finish a short or a long rest. Additionally, when you score a critical hit or reduce a hostile creature of significant threat to 0 hit points (DMs discretion), you may regain a dance die, but you can not gain more dice than your maximum would allow. Your maximum amount of dance dice increases by 1 at 9th and 17th level.
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**Saving Throw.** Some of your steps require your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:
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* **Shadow Dance save DC** = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier.

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#### Conduit of Night
At 9th level, your connection to the Shadowfell has given you the ability to replicate certain spells using your dance die. As an action, you may spend two dance die to cast Darkness, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, or Silence without providing material components. You may use this feature twice, then you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.

Additionally, you gain the minor illusion cantrip if you didn’t already know it.

#### Doom Foretold
At 13th level, when you roll initiative, and have no dance dice remaining, you regain one dance die.

#### Avatar of Shadow
At 17th level, you can use your action to let the momentum of the dance consume you. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits.
This ability ends early if you are knocked unconscious.
* All attacks against you are made at disadvantage.
* When you take the attack action on your turn, you may attack twice instead of once.
* Whenever you expend a dance die, the next attack you make scores a critical hit on a roll of 19-20 on the d20.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

> ##### Design Notes
> There are a couple notable differences between the shadow dance maneuvers and the battlemaster maneuvers. 
>
>Most noticeable, the Nighblade's dance dice never increase above a d6. I chose the d6 because its thematic for rogues, and because I was worried about stacking too much damage on top of their sneak attacks.
>
>The second change is that nightblades can recover dice by dealing critical blows, or killing a threatening enemy. This may mean that they get to use their abilities significantly more often than a battlemaster, but in playtesting, this feature did not come up very often.
>
>The third change is that most nightblade maneuvers require the rogue to deal sneak attack damage. These maneuvers add a lot of flexibility and power to the rogue, so I wanted to place a minor limit on their use.
>
>I also changed the progression by which new maneuvers are learned, because I prefer learning fewer abilities more frequently, rather than more abilities with larger gaps between them.

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### Steps of the Shadow Dance
The steps are presented in alphabetical order.

**Assassin’s Stance.** 
When  you deal sneak attack damage to a creature, you can expend one dance die use your bonus action to prepare for a deadly counterattack. The target takes extra damage equal to the result of your dance die, and if the target misses you with a melee weapon attack before the start of your next turn, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the creature.

**Befuddling Strike**. When you deal sneak attack damage, you can expend a dance die to attempt to frighten the target. You add the dance die to the attack’s damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target is frightened of you until the end of its next turn.

**Bloodletting Strike.** When you deal sneak attack damage, you can spend a dance die to create a weeping wound. At the start of each of the wounded creature’s turns, it takes damage equal to the number rolled on the dance die, and it can then make a Constitution saving throw to end the effect of the wound. Additionally any creature can use its action to make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check to staunch the bleeding.

**Cloak of Shades.** When you deal sneak attack damage to a creature, you may spend a dance die to plunge the area around you into darkness. The target takes additional damage equal to the result of your dance die, and you may extinguish any non-magical light sources carried by the target of your attack.

**Dance of the Spider.** As an action, you can spend a dance die and summon black shadowy energy to cover your hands and feet, granting you a 30 ft. climb speed for one minute.

**Drain Vitality.** When you deal sneak attack damage, you can spend a dance die to drain your enemy’s health and grant yourself temporary hit points equal to the number rolled on the die. These temporary hit points disappear after 1 hour.

**Executioner's Noose.** When you deal sneak attack damage, you can expend one dance die to attempt to bind the target in a necrotic noose. You add the dance die to the attack’s damage roll, and if the target is large or smaller, it must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target’s speed is reduced to 0 until the end of its next turn.

**Fortifying Shadows.** When you deal sneak attack damage, you may spend a dance die to fortify yourself to future assaults. Once in the next minute, you may add the result of the dance die to one saving throw you make.

**Gloom Blade Technique.** When you make an attack roll, you may spend a dance die to summon your shadow for a twinned attack. When you make an attack roll against an enemy, chose a second creature you also threaten. If the attack roll would also hit the second creature, both targets take extra damage equal to the result of your dance die.

**Nerve Numbing Strike.** When you deal sneak attack damage to a creature, you can spend a dance die to attempt to damage a nerve in their arm. Add the result of the dance die to the attack’s damage roll, and the target must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it drops the object you choose. The object lands at its feet.

**Positioning Strike.** When you deal sneak attack damage, you may spend a dance die to safely distance yourself from the enemy. You may add the result of the dance die to your damage roll, and that creature can’t make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of your turn.

**Shadowy Guidance.** When you make an ability check using Dexterity, you may spend a dance die and add the result to your total.

**Silencing Strike.** When you deal sneak attack damage, you may spend a dance die to damage the target's vocal cords. Add the result of the dance die to your damage roll, and in addition, the target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target is magically mute until the end of its next turn.

**Step of the Dancing Moth.** When you roll initiative, you may spend a dance die, and add the result to your total.

**Thicket of Blades.** When you successfully deal sneak attack damage, you may spend a dance die to prepare yourself for a potential counter attack. You add the result of the dance die to your damage roll. Additionally, you gain a bonus to your armor class equal to the result of the dance die until the start of your next turn.

> ##### Credits
> Art is "Nightblade" by Raymond Swanland for Hearthstone.