02/01/2024

There are 3 more official classes added to Shadowdark in Cursed Scroll 1 – Diablerie!, the official zine of Shadowdark. These classes are created for The Gloaming, a “setting/sandbox adventure” that is included in the zine but these can be used in any setting.

The first class is the Knight of St. Ydris. “Cursed knights who walk the path of St. Ydris the Unholy,
the Possessed. They embrace the darkness in order to fight it, cleansing evil with a flurry of steel and forbidden sorcery.” These knights gain their power by ingesting the blood of St. Ydris, who is possessed by a mighty demon lord.

The Knight gets all melee weapons, crossbows, all armor, and shields. They are definitely built to be frontline combatants. They know the Diabolic language (probably because they have a little demon in them).

Their key feature is Demonic Possession. The Knight gets a bonus to damage for 3 rounds. The bonus is based on the Knight’s level and this bonus can be modified from the Knight’s talents. The wording of the damage bonus is a little confusing. “a +1 bonus to your damage rolls that lasts 3 rounds. In addition, add half your level to the damage bonus (round down).” I made a little table that shows how I interpret that:

Possession Damage
Character Level	Bonus to Damage (1 + 1/2 level [rounded down])
1	1
2	2
3	2
4	3
5	3
6	4
7	4
8	5
9	5
10	6

The Knight of St. Ydris does gain the ability to cast Witch spells, starting at 3rd level. This feels like the “half casters” in 5E (Paldains, rangers, etc).

Overall take: If you were playing in The Gloaming setting, I could see taking the Knight of St. Ydris, even just for the flavor it brings to the game, but otherwise I would avoid the Knight and take the Fighter. The Knight is similar to the Fighter, but the Fighter has a larger HD (d8 vs d6), adds their Consitution modifier to available gear slots, gets a +1 to attack AND damage rolls with one weapon type, and gets advantage on Strength or Dexterity checks to overcome an opposing force.

The second new class is the Warlock. “Howling warriors with sharpened teeth, wild-eyed doom-speakers preaching of The Dissolution, and cloaked lore-hunters bearing the hidden
Mark of Shune.” Unlike the D&D 5E, these Warlocks have no spells, just the Boons from their Patron.

Warlock has a limited selection of weapons but can wear leather or chainmail armor plus use a shield. They learn an additional language ( Celestial, Diabolic, Draconic, Primordial, or Sylvan) which I would assume to be a gift so they may communicate in the Patron’s native tongue.

The main feature is the Patron Boons. Each Patron has a set of unique Boons that they grant to the Warlock. The Patrons listed in Cursed Scroll 1 are all linked to The Gloaming settings, so the DM would have to work on a new set of Patron Boons if using the Warlocks in a different setting. A cool feature is the Warock can choose to roll on the Patron Boon Table or the Warlock Talent table. While some of The Gloaming Patron Talents sound like spells (mind reading, teleporting, hypnotizing, etc), these are all limited usage abilities that require no Spellcasting check.

Overall Take: These Warlocks are more like extremely devoted cultists than their 5E spellcaster cousins. I could see playing a character like this in The Gloaming setting easily. If I wanted to add this to another campaign, it would require more upfront work on the GM’s part to develop Patron Talents for the setting. If you include the player’s input in the development of the talent table, it would allow the player to feel more invested in the setting. Then again, death comes more often in Shadowdark and the Warlock could be killed before the player got to get many rolls for Patron Talents.

The last new class is the Witch. “Cackling crones stooped over cauldrons, chanting shamans smeared in blood and clay, and outcast maidens with milky eyes that see portents and secrets.” This class seems like the least tied directly into The Gloaming setting and would be easiest to import into your own world.

The Witch has a very limited weapon selection (dagger and staff, similar to the Wizard), but they can wear leather armor. They automatically gain the Diabolic, Primordial, and Sylvan languages and they get a small animal as a familiar that can speak Common. The Witch can even cast spells through their familiar!

For spellcasting, the Witch matches the Wizard in the number of spells per level but uses Charisma as their stat.

Overall Take: The Witch really feels like a Wizard with a little theatrical bend. They move away from Intelligence to Charisma and a spell list that sounds Halloween-themed (“Cat’s Eye, Frog Rain, Pin Doll, etc) The class feels more like a mashup of the Sorcerer and Warlock from 5E. The character can cast magic, but it is more rural and natural than scholarly.

Keep on gaming!