Shadowdancer

Rogues are handy in a quest as they (and Artificers) are the only ones that can sense and take down most traps, giving experience bonuses for finding and disarming every trap.

But Rogues can't do their job well in many instances if they lacked two abilities outside of their disabling skill: Evasion and Hide/Move Silently. Without Evasion (as many Artificers can attest), it may be impossible to get to a trap control box without killing yourself. And if the enemy is close, disarming a box in the open could lead to an attack that interrupts the disarm. Monks are the perfect scouts in that they can fight very well solo if detected, and do not wear loud, clanking armor of any kind. They also have Evasion at level 2 and Improved Evasion by level 9 of their training. While they can't take down traps, they can easily bypass most of them with little to no damage with the right gameplay.

Another argument for stealth is the ability to completely bypass a fight, complete simple non-combat objectives, and then escape. "Haywire Foundry" and "The Claw of Vulkoor" are such examples where you may be able to fight very few enemies to achieve your goal.

Why choose stealth over Conquest? Speed.

For most quests a stealth-master gets Devious or Insidious Cunning experience bonuses, depending on the number of enemies slain (the fewer, the better). While you may not take time to smash breakables (which will attract attention) or kill legions of mobs, you can be in and out of a quest in half the time of a "slay-o-thon", with a very respectable amount of experience. In short, stealth can generate more experience in less time.

While any Monk can enjoy the benefits of the Shadowdancer, this Epic Destiny is certainly a good augmentation for the Ninja Spy.

For more on stealth tactics, see "The Power of Shadow."

Selecting Shadowdancer as your Destiny

You can only enable an Epic Destiny once your character reaches Level 20. You may select Shadowdancer as your first destiny without any charge at that time. You must have at least 6 levels of Monk, Fighter or Rogue to select this destiny.

To select your destiny, visit the Fatespinner, an NPC. She sits on a fallen pedestal in the Stormreach Marketplace, just a little west and north of the quest entrance to "Devil Assault." She also stands about near other class trainers in the village of Eveningstar.

Once you've chosen Shadowdancer as your Epic Destiny, you'll receive Innate Abilities. Some are spell-like items to activate with a cooldown, while others are always active.

Notable Abilities

Shadowdancer is an excellent destiny for Ninja Spies who like to play with their prey while growing stronger all the while.

• For each innate destiny, you gain 1 Sneak Attack die. Combine Sneak Attack with the bluffing attack Unbalancing Strike and add Improved Deception effects to cause bluffing, and you'll often land punishing hits with little effort.
• Shadowdancer's innate ability Shadow Training III works well to reduce the melee or ranged threat in combat.
• You gain a Dimension Door ability with Shadow Training IV, making it easy to complete a mission or objective and escape to the start, avoiding any enemies that spawned behind you.
• You're able to add more DEX or INT from this destiny. Generally, DEX is the way to go for all Ninja Spies as both their damage and attack roll stat.
• Training up Shrouding Strike/Shot is a key ability that creates Shadow Charges used to empower several upper-tier abilities.
• While Sealed Soul is a tempting ability (immunity from level drain), a smarter player might leverage Shadow Manipulation and Consume, letting enemies do the dirty work against enemy mages for you using a Domination spell or causing nearby enemies to simply wink out of existence.
• Similarly, Executioner's Strike/Shot supports your quick-kill abilities as a Ninja Spy.
• Tactically, Improved Invisibility, if fully trained, can be a marvelous way to trip heavily guarded switches, kill certain enemies or make your way through locations where using levers or doors would otherwise give your position away.
• Shadow Form is an excellent alternative for Ninja Spies to their Shadow Veil enhancement. Shadow Form is 25% persistent Incorporeality--no ki required.

Recommended Twist

Grim Precision (tier 3): This reduces enemy fortification by 15%. Combine this with the Precision feat and other fortification bypassing such as Armor-Piercing items to help take down Shroud portal gateways and heavily-fortified enemies that much quicker, no matter your weapon.