New Stealth Power

[gojj]

I was going to create a character that revolved around a Stealth power. Basically it allows the user to become a pool of shadow, allowing him or her to pass through, over, under, or around any physical object without any difficulty. It gains all the perks of Cloak of Shadows as well. I looked through the Custom Powers List and didn't see anything like this, but if it's already been discussed I couldn't find it. My rough draft looks something like this:

Shadow Form -2
See in the Dark Perception rolls are not penalized by darkness.
Melt into the Shadows When in a reasonably sized shadow you gain a +2 to Hiding.
Shadow Form You become a shadow, granting you a +2 to Skulking when in a reasonably sized shadow. Any difficulties due to passing through physical barriers (door, window, fence) are reduced to 0. Others can opt to use Lore instead of Alertness or Investigation when attempting to locate you. You cannot manipulate physical objects in anyway while in Shadow Form
Quite as a Shadow You cannot be heard and cannot make any noise.

I was thinking about adding some kind of armor against physical attacks (guns, knives, and fists), but I am stuck between what makes sense and what is balanced. I also decided against altering your senses while in Shadow Form for better of for worse, just to keep it simple. Others can certainly modify this or add optional powerups but I'm trying to keep this a two refresh power so that Minor Talents can take this if they want.

The mechanics of actually changing into Shadow Form would be identical to changing into a Wereform.

[Magus Black]

I think making a power than one-ups another power in its own field is not really a good idea. On the other hand you could simply make it an expanded-power from Cloak of Shadows, since it has two of the effects of your Shadow Form already.

Perhaps something like this,

Lesser Shadow Form -1
Skills Affected: Athletics, Stealth
Musts: Cloak of Shadow
Shadowy Passage : When under the effects of Cloak of Shadows a character with Shadow Form ignores up Boarder 2 when moving through zones under cover of darkness.
Quite as a Shadow: When under the effects of Cloak of Shadows the character does not suffer penalties, nor do enemies receive bonuses against it,  to Stealth for anything generate noise (examples: moving quickly; carrying loose objects; dry leaves on the ground; etc.). This ability doesn’t function when the character is trying to make noise.

The idea for things like armor and what not may be more expensive or require another power. Mind a Minor Talent is only ‘usually’ limited to one or two points of powers but that isn’t always the case, powers that fit the basic theme should be allowed as long as they can afford the Refresh…plus unless the game starts at the lowest Refresh Level any such character that isn’t one of the more expensive templates is expected to, even encouraged, to have far more than what they would start with (one of the listed examples is a werewolf with Earth magic).

But of course Your-Mileage-May-Vary.

[Haru]

My first reaction was "this would be better as an upgrade on cloak of shadows", so I agree with Magus.

However, I would make "Quiet as a Shadow" only reduce difficulty factors attributed to sound by 2, like the equivalent part of the speed power, not reduce it completely.

[InFerrumVeritas]

You could do something like Gaseous form.  Have the catch be normal weakness+anything which generates bright light. 

I would say that you can easily move around objects, but not through them.  So, if you're in a locked and sealed room, you can't get out, but you could slip under a space in the normal doors of a house.

[Sanctaphrax]

Amorphous Form might be the sort of thing you want, I suggest you check it out. It's on the list.

[Taran]

You could do something like Gaseous form.  Have the catch be normal weakness+anything which generates bright light. 

I would say that you can easily move around objects, but not through them.  So, if you're in a locked and sealed room, you can't get out, but you could slip under a space in the normal doors of a house.

It seems that, while you can't get out of a sealed box, you should be able to get out of a sealed glass box since a shadow can pass through anything transparent...but that might just be a narrative thing, or a tag on an aspect...

[InFerrumVeritas]

It seems that, while you can't get out of a sealed box, you should be able to get out of a sealed glass box since a shadow can pass through anything transparent...but that might just be a narrative thing, or a tag on an aspect...

I would entirely agree with that.  Additionally, a simple cloth bag would be much harder to get out of.