Umbral Agent (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Servants of a dark cult with enormous prestige and power, umbral agents are the educated elite of a land of darkness. They serve under the clergy, in every capacity from administrators and judges to espionage and assassination.

Umbral agents' loyalty to their overlords and ideals does not extend to other agents. Many an agent has fallen to a poisoned dagger from a rival seeking greater power. These minor treacheries are overlooked, or even rewarded, by superiors, so long as they do not interfere with the relative peace and order. Agents who thirst for power often make deals with dark entities in order to stay one step ahead of their so-called allies, and it is not uncommon for agents to transform themselves into vampires or other types of undead.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype.

Prestige Class: Umbral agent from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige.

Build Class: Oracle.

Umbral agents are the elite of the nation of darkness.

Role: Some Umbral agents work in the open as diplomats and consuls, others in secret as spies, agitators, and agents provocateur. Most agents spend their time hunting down apostates and heretics, seeking to purge the world of inappropriate influences. Those acting abroad seek out positions in rival nations' halls of power. Regardless of their methods, all serve the will of their dark god with blind devotion.

Alignment: No more than one step removed from the patron of the order's alignment, on either the law-chaos or good-evil axis. All umbral agents serve the cult of an evil patron with dominion over darkness plus possibly such things as tyranny, torture, slavery, or chains.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills

The umbral agent's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int) and Stealth (Dex).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

These are all the class features of the umbral agent.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Umbral agents are proficient with all simple weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields). Umbral agents are also proficient with the favored weapon of their deities and with the spiked chain.

Aura (Ex)

An umbral agent has a particularly powerful evil aura (see detect evil for details).

Table: Umbral Agent
Spells Known

Level	Spells Known
	Zero	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	4	2	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	5	3	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	6	4	—	—	—	—	—
4th	6	4	2	—	—	—	—
5th	6	4	3	—	—	—	—
6th	6	4	4	—	—	—	—
7th	6	5	4	2	—	—	—
8th	6	5	4	3	—	—	—
9th	6	5	4	4	—	—	—
10th	6	5	5	4	2	—	—
11th	6	6	5	4	3	—	—
12th	6	6	5	4	4	—	—
13th	6	6	5	5	4	2	—
14th	6	6	6	5	4	3	—
15th	6	6	6	5	4	4	—
16th	6	6	6	5	5	4	2
17th	6	6	6	6	5	4	3
18th	6	6	6	6	5	4	4
19th	6	6	6	6	5	5	4
20th	6	6	6	6	6	5	5

Spells

An umbral agent casts divine spells drawn from the cleric spell lists. An umbral agent cannot cast cleric spells of level 7 or higher, and these are not on his spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, an umbral agent must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an umbral agent’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the umbral agent’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, an umbral agent can cast only a certain number of spells per day of each spell level. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Umbral Agent. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

Unlike other divine spellcasters, an umbral agent’s selection of spells is extremely limited. An umbral agent begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of his choice. At each new umbral agent level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Umbral Agent Spells Known. Unlike spells per day, the number of spells an umbral agent knows is not affected by his Charisma score; the numbers on Table: Umbral agent Spells Known are fixed.

In addition to the spells gained by umbral agents as they gain levels, each umbral agent also adds all of either the cure spells or the inflict spells to his list of spells known (cure spells include all spells with “cure” in the name, inflict spells include all spells with “inflict” in the name). These spells are added as soon as the umbral agent is capable of casting them. This choice is made when the umbral agent gains his first level and cannot be changed. Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third umbral agent level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), an umbral agent can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the umbral agent loses the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged. An umbral agent may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level. He cannot swap any cure or inflict spells, nor can he swap any spells gained from blessing of darkness. Unlike a cleric, an umbral agent need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level.

Blessings of Darkness

An Umbral agent gains the Darkness domain at 1st level, using his class level as his effective cleric level to determine the effects of its granted powers. If he already possesses the Darkness domain from another class, his Umbral agent levels stack with levels in that class when determining the effects of his Darkness domain powers.

The domain grants a number of domain powers, dependent upon the level of the umbral agent, as well as a number of bonus spells known. Add the spells of the darkness domain to his spell list and list of known spells as soon as he is able to cast spells of that level.

Unless otherwise noted, activating a domain power is a standard action.

Orisons

Umbral agents learn a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, as noted on Table: Umbral Agent Spells Known. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.

Deceitful

The umbral agent gains Deceitful as a bonus feat at 2nd level.

Tenebrous Magic

An Umbral agent receives Tenebrous Spell as a bonus feat at 3rd level, and can apply its effects to his spells without increasing their effective spell level or casting time. In addition, if the spell has the darkness or shadow descriptor or is of the illusion (shadow) subschool, the spell's effective caster level and any associated save DCs are increased by 2 (instead of 1), and any attempts at dispelling the spell in darkness or dim light take a –4 penalty on the dispel check (instead of –2).

Umbral Courtier (Ex)

At level 4, an Umbral agent gains a +1 bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Knowledge (nobility) checks. This bonus increases by one every four levels up to +5 at level 20.

Darkvision (Ex)

At 5th level, an Umbral agent gains darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If he already has darkvision, the range increases by 30 feet.

At 18th level, the range of the Umbral agent's darkvision increases by an additional 30 feet.

Shadow Chains (Sp)

At 6th level, an Umbral agent can use his touch of darkness ability from the Darkness domain one additional time per day. When using the touch of darkness ability, the Umbral agent manifests shadowy chains that increase the reach of his melee touch attack by 5 feet. A creature struck by these chains must succeed at a Reflex save (DC 10 + the Umbral agent's level + the Umbral agent's Wisdom modifier) or be entangled for 1d4 rounds in addition to the normal effects of the ability.

Shadow Jump (Su)

At 4th level, an Umbral agent gains the ability to supernaturally travel between shadows. This ability functions exactly like the shadowdancer ability of the same name.

Shadow Jump (Su)

At 7th level, a umbral agent gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a shadow step spell. A umbral agent can jump up to a total of 40 feet each day in this way; this may be a single jump of 40 feet or four jumps of 10 feet each. Every four levels higher than 7th, the distance a umbral agent can jump each day doubles (80 feet at 11th, 160 feet at 15th, and 320 feet at 19th). This amount can be split among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment.

Unnerving Gaze (Su)

At 9th level, an Umbral agent gains a gaze attack similar to the kyton ability of the same name. Creatures within 30 feet of the Umbral agent must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + the Umbral agent's level + the Umbral agent's Wisdom modifier) or be shaken for 1 round. The Umbral agent can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to his level; these rounds do not need to be consecutive. Activating this ability is a swift action. The Umbral agent is immune to the unnerving gaze of kytons (whether or not his own unnerving gaze is active). This is a mind-affecting fear effect that follows all the normal rules for a gaze attack.

As the Umbral agent gains levels, his unnerving gaze grows more potent.

At 13th level, creatures that fail their save are shaken for 1d4 rounds.

At 17th level, they are staggered for 1 round and shaken for 1d4 rounds after.

Grasping Darkness (Sp)

At 14th level, an Umbral agent can use his touch of darkness ability an additional time per day, and the reach provided by his shadow chains ability increases by 5 feet (to a total 10 foot increase). In place of entangling the target, the Umbral agent can attempt to grapple the target without provoking an attack of opportunity, using his Wisdom modifier in place of his Strength modifier for the purpose of determining his CMB. If both the Umbral agent and his target are in an area of dim or darker light, he gains a +5 bonus on this grapple check. The Umbral agent does not gain the grappled condition when using his shadow chains this way. He may make combat maneuver checks to maintain the grapple for as long as the effect of his touch of darkness ability persists.

Crushing Umbra (Sp)

At 20th level, an Umbral agent can use his touch of darkness ability at will, and the reach provided by his shadow chains increases by another 10 feet (to a total 20 foot increase). When he successfully grapples a creature with his shadow chains, the Umbral agent can begin constricting his victim as a free action, dealing 5d6 points of damage whenever he makes a successful grapple check. Creatures constricted in this way are also considered strangled, and cannot speak or cast spells with verbal components.

Table: Umbral Agent

Class Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						1	2	3	4	5	6
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Blessings of darkness, orisons	1	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Deceitful	2	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Tenebrous magic	3	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Umbral courtier +1	3	1	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Darkvision	4	2	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Shadow chains	4	3	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Shadow jump (40 ft.)	4	3	1	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6	Umbral courtier +2	4	4	2	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6	Unnerving gaze (shaken 1 round)	5	4	3	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7	Darkvision +30 ft.	5	4	3	1	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+3	+3	+7	Shadow jump (80 ft.)	5	4	4	2	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	Umbral courtier +3	5	5	4	3	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	Unnerving gaze (shaken 1d4 rounds)	5	5	4	3	1	—
14th	+10/+5	+4	+4	+9	Grasping darkness	5	5	4	4	2	—
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	Shadow jump (160 ft.)	5	5	5	4	3	—
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Umbral courtier +4	5	5	5	4	3	1
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Unnerving gaze (staggered 1 round)	5	5	5	4	4	2
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Darkvision +30 ft.	5	5	5	5	4	3
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Shadow jump (320 ft.)	5	5	5	5	5	4
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Crushing umbra, umbral courtier +5	5	5	5	5	5	5