Shadow Theme Revamped

[granny]

One of the primary things that makes shadows undead is their sentience and craving for life-force, and also that they reproduce by killing. Their victims soul is reanimated as a shadow, bound in an eternally hateful shadow image of once-life

I think it would be nice if there was an upgrade of the summon shadows theme or if we had a sorcerer perk related to this statement. We have had some confusion regarding the nature of the shadows as undead/ bad stuff and maybe this sort of scripting would help people finally get the feeling. Not to mention that it would be a neat thing to have more shadows to spawn at each time you kill something with them.

Alas, we got that zombie sorcerer theme that does something related to it, meaning that the scripting wouldn't be that deep far.

So, in sum, what I suggest is: make it so that every time a shadow kills someone, it spawns another shadow.

[Knight Of Pentacles]

Maybe make it similar to the elementals themes in that it's the same appearance but progresses to higher levels.  Call the creature "Shadow Entity" or something and give it a very ambiguous appearance to allow people to roleplay how it might appear.

[Dillusionist]

Personally i like the ambiguity of the shadow theme. I think making it too explicitly evil might be detrimental to Ibrandul concepts especially, who also would surely rely on summoned shadows - it should feel icky but you should be able to spin it as non-evil.

[granny]

If it is true that shadows are created by killing living beings... I think it would be a nice way of portraying their true nature...

... unless there are other sorts of shadow creatures in EFU that aren't like that. And if there are, maybe the shadows of the summon theme should be changed to outsiders or something?

[Haer Dalis 83]

Personally i like the ambiguity of the shadow theme. I think making it too explicitly evil might be detrimental to Ibrandul concepts especially, who also would surely rely on summoned shadows - it should feel icky but you should be able to spin it as non-evil.

Unless it has been changed on EfU, shadows are undead, I guess there is little doubt it is evil. Very evil.

[xXCrystal_Rose]

You open your eyes and there is all darkness around you. You know not where you are or how you are there, and only fleeting memories of your life linger in your mind. All the negative aspects, all the bad things that happened to you, but once in a while you can remember a good thing. You cling to these good memories, these fond memories of your life. They are all that seems real to you in this perpetual darkness, but light is starting to come and reveal the world. It is an empty world. There is no heat, there is no cold, there is nothing. It is nothing like how you remember. The warmth of a body, the feel of a loved one. It is a hunger that fills your very being. Your existance is so lonely and you crave these fond memories that exist in a world that is so dark, so empty, so lonely. You lust for the touch of skin, the soothing words of a loved one, and reach down to touch what should be your body. You feel nothing. You see nothing. There is complete emptyness. It becomes maddening, this craving for life, the hunger for what you have lost. A mind so filled with loss the only way to keep your sanity is to latch on to the memories of life, but they are just memories, and no matter how desperate you are you find it impossible to feel anything.

Then you see it. Far below you a group of people travel the caverns, and one of them seems weak. They are making a camp and this tired straggler is going distant. It breathes, it thinks, it feels, it has warmth. It lives. You slip through the darkness nearer, compelled by everything that makes it what it is, drawn to its life. It is an obsession. Like a starving man who has their favorite meal just under their nose you inch closer and closer. You haven't lost yourself completely and you don't overtly wish them ill, you just feel so utterly lonely, so empty, and maybe they can help you feel something. You have no body to touch, but maybe you can touch them. If you had cells the would all be on fire with an irresistible compulsion to reach out. Your shadowy figure, a mockery of what you once were -what were you, anyway? It doesn't matter anymore- drifts closer. You can see the dampness of their breath as you approach from behind and reach out to touch them, but you feel nothing. Your hand goes through them.

It is infuriating! You don't just want it, you NEED it. Nothing has ever been more powerful than the emotions you feel and are incapable of satisfying. You reach out desperate for this person, desperate for their sensations, desperate for their life and every time you do you pass through them. Not even the brush of air is felt, it is as though you do not even exist, and it drives you even more mad. It fills your obsessions, your desires, your fury as again and again you reach out but cannot feel the life you have been denied. Each time you do touch them however they begin to wither, they lose their strength, and come closer to death. You HAVE to interact with them, to savor their life, and quickly before they die. Maybe if you keep trying you can just for the briefest of moments experience what it is to live. Each touch also brings a brief sense of satisfaction in its own morbid way, but you refuse to accept that yet. Every touch feeds a different kind of hunger but also makes you even hungrier.

Eventually the victim crumples to the ground lifeless. You hover over the body. You would cry if you could, you would scream in frustration if you had a mouth. The anguish is unbearable. For a brief, fleeting moment you had company. For a brief moment you weren't alone. Then you killed them. You killed the one hope for life, the one aspect of goodness that remained. You cling to your memories of goodness, the good parts of your life, but the more you are drawn towards it the more you destroy it and become enveloped by the negative aspects. You need more. Maybe the next time will be different. There was something about this... a taste that you got from taking its life. You need to find more, you MUST find more! More life. You need more life. It is there, just at your fingertips, you just need to reach out and make it yours.

The victim stirs and a darkness envelops them. Their soul does not travel from this plane. It does not go to the hands of their god. The touch that killed them shreds their mortality and reincarnates them as a shadowy spectre of loss and despair. They open their eyes and there is darkness all around them. They know not where they are or how they are there, and only fleeting  memories of their life linger in their mind. All the negative aspects, all  the bad things that happened to them, but once in a while they can  remember a good thing....

And together, the risen spawn and yourself hunt down the rest. Hopeful, lonely, hungering. Maybe the next time will be different... maybe the next... until all the good memories of life are lost. Until you destroy all that you once were in your lust for lives, you forget why you wanted them, and you start to hate them. These things, these living, are everything that you are not. They have everything you want but cannot have, and you hate it, but in the passing of their lives you gain a brief taste of their soul. Of living. It hurts, it makes the darkness even darker, but your masochistic craving increases your hunger even more and you continue in an endless cycle of despair and darkness. Lost; you are a hungering shadow, a spectre of death, the tortured soul that holds no identity anymore. Only an obsessive craving for the living.

[xXCrystal_Rose]

And that is why they are undead and evil :) Pardon typos, Germany vs Argentina, and I am missing it! Back to the couch.

[Dredi]

Shadows are definately, very, very evil. Theres no doubt there.

Unless we perscripe to the area of thought that negative energy itself is not inherantly evil?

[Battle Beetles]

While the shadow theme does seem quite weak mechanically and I am all for a buff, this seems like a lot of scripting work/DM time that could be better spent elsewhere for little reason beyond "it would be cool".   The sorcerer perk used as an example of a similar system also works in a distinctly different way than the proposed idea, but that's vaguely FOIG territory.

[Brave Heart]

All themes are NOT equal or made to be equal in any way.  Some are insanely more powerful than others.  I believe that if your summon theme is 'weak' but you use them well or play an interesting character, often a player is rewarded with ways to have +1 or +2 ranks to their summons.  I know that I've seen this in the past.

They are effective and have been for the many players who've used them in the past.

[Stranger]

While the shadow theme does seem quite weak mechanically and I am all for a buff...

The current shadow theme is clearly designed to be used in combination with a Darkness effect. If you've ever struggled with a gloomcaster before, try that combo and watch things die horrible deaths.