Nightshade Assassin

Nysska, Nightshade Assassin

CR 19 XP: 204,800

Female exodite rogue 8/fighter 2/assassin 10

NE Medium humanoid (exodite)

Init +10; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +23

AC 29, touch 21, flat-footed 19 (+8 armor, +1 deflection, +10 Dex)

HP 352 (18d8+2d10+180); fast healing 10

Fort +21, Ref +28, Will +12

Defensive Abilities Will +17 versus poison, +13 versus fear; Evasion, Improved Uncanny Dodge

Speed 120 ft.

Melee Bladestaff +30/+25/+20 Melee (1d6+10+1d6 cold/1d6+10+1d6 cold/1d6+10+1d6 cold 17-20) or Bladestaff +28/+28/+23/+23/+18/+18 Melee (all attacks deal 1d6+10+1d6 cold, 17-20)

Ranged Orb +25 ranged touch (10d6+38 force damage + 4 dexterity damage plus 1 round paralysis, 120 ft range)

Special Attacks Death Attack, Shadow Jump 200 feet, Shadow Orb, Sneak attack +9d6, stealth attack

Spells Prepared (CL 12nd) 

  6th-Shadow Walk

  5th-Overland Flight, Teleport, Wall of Force

  4th-Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin

  3rd-Dispel Magic, Gaseous Form, Haste, Heroism, Nondetection

  2nd-Glitterdust (DC 15), Invisibility, Mirror Image, Misdirection, See Invisibility, Web

  1st-Charm Person, Feather Fall, Grease (DC 14), Identify, Obscuring Mist, Shield

Before Combat Nysska buffs up with greater invisibility, nondetection, overland flight, stoneskin, and usually shield. Sometimes she will use her scroll of summon monster to soften up a foe, while herself remaining hidden.

During Combat Nysska’s stealth attack in combination with Shatter Defenses is horrifying, and she knows it. She is nearly impossible to capture or grapple thanks to her ring of freedom of movement. She uses her assorted movement-based abilities in combination with invisibility and stealth to run circles around her opponents, launching devastating surgical strikes. Her scroll of time stop gets used if the fight is looking difficult. As a parting gift against a more powerful opponent, Nysska will use mage’s disjunction. 

Morale If she’s been told to kill you, she’ll get it done.

Str 22, Dex 30, Con 26, Int 26, Wis 14, Cha 20

Base Atk +15; CMB +21; CMD 42

Feats Arcane Strike, Combat Reflexes, Dazzling Display, Defensive Combat Training, Double Slice, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Feint, Magical Aptitude, Shatter Defenses, Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Bladestaff)

Skills Acrobatics +33, Bluff +18, Climb +19, Diplomacy +28, Disable Device +28, Disguise +23, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (gather information) +23, Knowledge (local) +21, Perception +23, Stealth +33, Use Magic Device +32

Languages Common, Elven, Infernal, First One languages

SQ Hidden Weapons

Gear bracers of armor +8, keen blackfrost bladestaff of quickness +4,  belt of physical might +6, cloak of resistance +5, headband of mental prowess +4, ring of chameleon power, ring of freedom of movement,  scroll of disjunction, scroll of polymorph any object, scroll of summon monster IX, scroll of time stop, Baneviper Venom, wand of cure critical wounds

Blackfrost Bladestaff (Ex) Blackfrost is a special variety of frost enchantment. If the bladestaff deals more than 3 damage with the added cold effect, it also deals 2 points of dexterity damage.

Bleeding Attack (Ex) Nysska’s sneak attacks cause 9 points of bleeding damage at the beginning of a struck target’s turn. This damage can be stopped through healing or a DC 15 heal check as a standard action.

Angel of Death (Su) Once per day on making a successful death attack, Nysska can cause her target’s body to crumble into dust, preventing any revival that requires physical remains to succeed.

Combat Trick (Ex) Nysska gains Defensive Combat Training as a bonus feat.

Evasion (Ex) Nysska takes no damage on a successful reflex save.

Death Attack (Ex) Nysska may make a death attack as a normal assassin (after studying an opponent for 3 rounds, successfully landing a sneak attack forces a DC 28 Fortitude save or the opponent may be paralyzed or killed at her choice. Paralysis lasts for 1d6 rounds, +1 per assassin level.

Hidden Weapons (Ex) Nysska adds her assassin level to any skill check to conceal weapons with sleight of hand.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su) So long as Nysska is within 20 feet of shadow, she may use stealth as if she were unobserved. She is more skilled with shadow than most assassins.

Killing Touch (Ex) When Nysska lands a critical hit, apply double sneak attack damage to the strike, regardless of the opponent’s immunity or position.

Fast Stealth (Ex) Nysska may move at her full movement when using stealth.

Finesse Rogue (Ex) Nysska has weapon finesse as a bonus feat.

Poison Use (Ex) Nysska can use poisons without fear of poisoning herself.

Quiet Death (Ex) When using her death attack ability, Nysska may make a stealth check opposed by surrounding people’s perception checks to avoid detection. The observers will not notice the target is dead at first, allowing time for an escape.

Shadow Jump (Sp) Exodites can travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. An Exodite can jump up to a total of 10 feet per level each day in this way. At higher levels, this amount can be split among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment. Nysska may make this movement as a free action on her turn, and once again every round as a free immediate action when not on her turn.

Shadow Orb (Su) Nysska gains the ability to manifest a small orb of shadow. Manifesting the Orb is a free, immediate action, after which it remains until dismissed (dismissal is a move action). While active, all attacks against Nysska have a 30% miss chance. If this miss chance causes any melee attack to miss, the orb has struck the attacker, which results in 10d6+8 force damage. At mid level, the Shadow orb can move farther away from Nysska, allowing it to make, 1/round as a swift action, a ranged touch attack against a single target within 120 feet. If struck, this target is paralyzed for 1 round. At high level, the shadow orb energizes any area of darkness around Nysska. So long as she remains within the shadows while her orb is active, Nysska has Fast Healing 10.

Sneak Attack (Ex) Nysska has 9d6 dice of sneak attack.

Stealth Attack (Ex) Whenever Nysska uses her shadow jump ability in a round, all subsequent attacks she makes in that round gain a +8 circumstance bonus to hit and automatically count as half dice sneak attacks, regardless of the opponent’s immunity or position. If the attacks would qualify as regular sneak attacks, then they deal full dice as per normal. Each successful hit also deals 2 points of constitution damage, and forces a DC 28 fortitude save or else the target becomes shaken for 1 round.

Swift Death (Ex) 1/day, Nysska may make a death attack against an opponent without studying them for 3 rounds beforehand.

Trapfinding (Ex) Nysska gains a +2 bonus to perception checks made to detect traps.

True Death (Su) Anyone slain by Nysska’s death attack becomes more difficult to bring back from the dead. Spellcasters attempting to bring a creature back from the dead using raise dead or similar magic must make a caster level check with a DC 25 or the spell fails and the material component is wasted. Casting remove curse the round before attempting to bring the creature back from the dead negates this chance. The DC of the remove curse is 20.

Baneviper Venom (Ex) Venom from the baneviper, a horrible serpent from the boiling lava pits of Gehenna. On a successful strike, the target must make a DC 25 fortitude save or take an additional 6d8 fire damage and become paralyzed for 1 round as their blood ignites. Baneviper venom wears off after 5 successful strikes. A successful save halves the fire damage and prevents the paralysis. If a target is killed by a weapon envenomated with baneviper venom, their body is reduced to caustic elemental ash and they cannot be raised short of a wish.