[FOCI]
Path of the Planebreaker
Many adventurers and explorers exposed to the multiverse quickly grasp the vast panoply of riches that could be theirs. And not just material goods. To those with the proper training or connection, a wealth of spiritual treasure is available in the form of creatures from other realities. People have learned how to summon these creatures' essences by reaching through the dimensions. Once called, an extraplanar being can be quickly "stitched" to your shadow, giving you new abilities drawn from across the multiverse.
A handful of spellcasters know the secret of dimensional travel. In return for service or another recompense, they've taught you how to stitch the potential of an extraplanar entity to your soul. Now that this process is complete, you are free to pursue your own interests, unless their patron requires a boon at some later date.
It's also possible that you didn't deliberately choose to have a shadow stitched to your soul. Perhaps you found a portal or Path token and ended up in a strange dimension, and along the way you might have become intertwined with an anomalous entity snatched from a distant dimension.
You have a connection to a creature from another dimension. This creature might be as normal as a rat swarm, as strange as a devil or a dinosaur, or something that people have only heard about in stories. Your shadow always looks like the shadow of this creature. If the creature is normally larger or smaller than you, your stitched shadow shrinks or grows to approximate your actual size. The stitched shadow allows you to use your Shadow Action ability.
Even though your stitched shadow is a separate creature as well as your shadow, they can't be targeted independently of you, except starting at tier 6 when you use Manifest Monster.
Depending on what your shadow looks like, these attacks might look like claws, bites, weapons, or something else entirely. s
You call upon your stitched shadow for one or two effects.
Action to initiate.
Your shadow's ability to help you improves. When using Shadow Action to get a helping hand from your stitched shadow, they can assist you with an attack roll or Speed defense task.
Your shadow helps you attack a foe within long range, flitting to your target and grasping at their limbs, which eases your attack by two steps. The ability works for whatever kind of attack you use (melee, ranged, spell, and so on).
or
You and your stitched shadow increasingly comingle in mind and soul, so much so that you can switch places with them. You send your shadow racing to an unoccupied space you can see within a long distance. There must be no intervening barriers between you and that space. The shadow takes only a moment to get there, and when they arrive, you immediately teleport to them.
If you succeed at a stealth task, you and your shadow arrive at the destination unnoticed, as if you had moved there stealthily (even if it would be impossible for you to move there unnoticed on your own).
If you make a melee attack on your turn when you arrive, the attack is eased.
If you apply one or more levels of Effort to this ability, each level of Effort adds a short distance to how far you and your shadow can travel.
You merge with your shadow for one minute, which makes you partially out of phase. You gain an asset to sneaking tasks and Speed defense tasks, and can fly an immediate distance each round. While partially out of phase, you can move through solid barriers (but not energy barriers) at a rate of 1 foot (30 cm) per round, and you can perceive while phased within a barrier or object, which allows you to peek through walls. You can apply Effort to increase your flight speed (an additional short distance per round per level of Effort), increase the duration of this ability (an additional minute per level of Effort), or both.Action to initiate.
When you wish it, your shadow manifests three midnight.blackclaws that last for up to ten minutes. As an action, you can use the claws to attack, making a separate attack roll for each. Each claw inflicts 4 points of damage. Otherwise, the attacks function as standard attacks. If you don't use the claws to attack, they remain but do nothing.
For the next hour, you take on some characteristics of a shadow thanks to a fundamental adaptation of your flesh or a device you've kept secret. Your appearance is a dark silhouette. When you apply a level of Effort to sneaking tasks, you get a free level of Effort on the task. During this time, you can move through the air at a rate of a short distance per round, and you can move through solid barriers (even those that are sealed to prevent the passage of light or shadow), but not energy barriers, at a rate of 1 foot (30 cm) per round. You can perceive while passing through a barrier or object, which allows you to peek through walls. As a shadow, you can't affect or be affected by normal matter. Likewise, you can't attack, touch, or otherwise affect anything. However, attacks and effects that rely on light can affect you, and sudden bursts of light can potentially make you lose your next turn.
Action to initiate.
or
Your shadow becomes real, manifesting as the extraplanar creature you originally stitched to yourself, appearing in an unoccupied space adjacent to you. The creature remains for ten minutes, is level 5, and is friendly to you and your allies. They have their own place in the initiative order and obey your intentions (you don't need to verbally command them or use your action to give them instructions). You can apply Effort to their actions as if they were you (including using your Edge).
If reduced to 0 health, the creature disappears and becomes your shadow again. You can end this ability early as part of another action on your turn.
Action to create.
GM Intrusions: Your shadow ignores your command and does what it wants. Your shadow is weak or ineffective in a well.lighted area. Something restrains or traps your shadow.