Base Class: Pugilist
Your shadow has awakened into a malevolent echo of yourself — a living silhouette that moves with intent, whispers in your voice, and tugs at your body like a puppeteer. It lingers a heartbeat too long when you step, shifts before you do, and sometimes stands just a little too straight, as if testing the limits of its independence. This entity is not a spirit, not a curse, and not an outsider; it is the part of you that grew in the dark, shaped by fear, instinct, and the pieces of yourself you never meant to look at.
You fight alongside it, against it, and sometimes because of it. In battle, it drags you through shadows, distorts your outline, and snaps your body into positions you never consciously chose. Outside of combat, it watches you with patient hunger, mimicking your movements with uncanny precision or breaking from them entirely when it thinks you aren’t looking. Whether it is guiding you, manipulating you, or slowly replacing you is unclear — but its presence is undeniable, and its influence grows with every flicker of darkness you step through.
Eclipse Break
Your shadow acts independently, distorting your position. At the start of each of your turns, roll a d8:
1. Stillness: Nothing happens.
2. Shadow Twitch: Flicker 5 ft in a random direction (no opportunity attacks).
3. Dark Lean: Shift 5 ft toward the nearest shadow; gain +1 AC until next turn.
4. Predator Pull: Shift 5 ft toward the nearest enemy; next attack deals +1 necrotic.
5. Umbral Slip: Opportunity attacks against you have disadvantage this turn.
6. Shadow Echo: Next attack against you has a 10% chance to miss.
7. Eclipse Flicker: Teleport 10 ft to a shadow you can see; next attack +1d4 necrotic; take 1 psychic.
8. Corruption Surge: Teleport 15 ft to any shadow; next attack has advantage and +1d4 necrotic; take 1d6 psychic, then make a DC 10 Wisdom save or gain a Corruption Mark.
When you gain a Corruption Point, roll a d6:
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Your shadow moves a half‑second early.
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Your reflection smiles when you don’t.
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Your pupils vanish briefly when angry.
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Your voice echoes faintly.
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Your shadow lingers after you move.
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Black liquid drips upward from your feet.
Every 3 Corruption Points, roll a d4:
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Hollow Pulse: You take –1 on your next saving throw.
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Shadow Hunger: Your first attack each combat deals +1 necrotic damage, but you take 1 psychic damage.
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Split Step: Your speed increases by 5 ft, but creatures have advantage on attack rolls against you until your next turn.
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Mirror Pain: For the rest of combat, whenever you take psychic damage, your shadow laughs audibly, and you can use a reaction to have a creature within your line of sight take the same amount of psychic damage.
Living Shadow
Your shadow has begun to think for itself, slipping out of sync with your movements and acting on impulses you don’t recognize. When a creature you can see ends its turn within 5 feet of you, your shadow reacts with predatory intent. When this happens, roll a d4 to determine how your shadow manifests:
1 — Silent Stare Nothing happens, but your shadow turns its head toward the creature independently of you.
2 — Shadow Flinch Your shadow jerks toward the creature. You take 1 psychic damage, and the creature has disadvantage on its next attack against you.
3 — Grasping Shade Your shadow’s hand stretches unnaturally and brushes the creature. Its speed is reduced by 5 feet until the start of your next turn.
4 — Corruption Nip Your shadow bites or claws at the creature’s silhouette. The creature takes 1 necrotic damage, and you must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom save or gain a Corruption Mark.
Corrupted Body
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can give the shadow control of your body. When you do, the shadow covers your body, and you gain the benefits below for 1 minute. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a Short or Long Rest.
Revenging Strike. When you are hit by a melee attack, you can take a Reaction to make an Unarmed Strike against the creature that attacked you if it is within reach.
Unslakeable Bloodlust. When you hit a target with an Unarmed Strike, you can roll the attack’s damage dice twice and use either roll against the target.
Shadowbound Instinct
Your shadow reacts before you do.
You gain the following benefits:
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When you roll 7 or 8 on Eclipse Break, you may move an additional 5 ft after the teleport.
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When a creature misses you with an attack, you may shift 5 ft into an adjacent shadow (no reaction required).
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You gain darkvision 60 ft, or increase existing darkvision by 30 ft.
Your shadow now moves noticeably before you.
Umbral Reversal
Your shadow can momentarily take your place.
When you take damage from an attack, you may expend a moxie point. If you do, you force the attacker to reroll the attack against your Shadow Echo instead.
If the attack hits the echo, you take no damage, and your shadow shatters into smoke before reforming behind you.
Additionally:
When you roll an 8 on Eclipse Break, you may choose to automatically succeed the Corruption save, but doing so deals 2 psychic damage.
Shadow Ascendant
Your shadow has grown powerful enough to separate from your body, acting as a fully independent echo of your movements. As a bonus action, you may enter your Ascendant State, which lasts until you end it early (no action required) or are knocked unconscious. You can use this feature once per long rest.
While in this state, the following effects occur:
Living Echo
Your shadow splits from you and occupies your space. It cannot be targeted, damaged, or moved. Once per turn, when you make an unarmed strike, your shadow makes a second unarmed strike from its position, dealing necrotic damage equal to your Constitution modifier.
Dual Position
You count as occupying both your space and your shadow’s space for the purpose of flanking, opportunity attacks, and triggering abilities like Eclipse Break.
Shadow Overdrive
Whenever you roll a 7 or 8 on Eclipse Break, you may teleport up to 30 feet instead of the listed distance, and your shadow teleports with you in a mirrored position.
Corruption Mastery
You no longer take psychic damage from Eclipse Break or Corruption Surge.
You cannot gain Corruption Marks or Corruption Points while Ascendant.
When the state ends, your shadow snaps violently back into you, and you take 2 psychic damage for each time your shadow made an extra attack during the duration.
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