Identity
Shadowstalkers are the seam between Rogue and Rifter. Their channeling is small — a few cantrips, a handful of weave-light tricks — but it is enough. A flicker of illusion to mask a doorway; a whispered command to redirect a guard; a silence-bubble cast for the seven seconds it takes to lift the cargo. Most Shadowstalkers trained at the edges of Wizard academies — auditors, hangers-on, washouts who took the practical half of the work and left the theory behind. A few are self-taught, and a vanishingly small number were directly tutored by an Ether-Rifter who saw use in a quieter pupil.
Features
- L3 Channelweave
You gain a small pool of Wizard channeling. You know three cantrips of your choice from the Wizard channel list and three 1st-level Wizard channels of your choice; Intelligence is your channeling ability for this feature. You have a Channelbook (Rogue-grade) recording these channels, which you can transcribe new channels into per standard Wizard rules. You gain channel slots according to the **Third-Caster** progression: 2 first-level slots at Rogue 3, scaling to 4 first-level and 3 second-level slots by Rogue 7, with higher slots arriving as you level (see the third-caster table in the channeling rules). At least three quarters of all channels you know must be drawn from the Etheric Rifting and Trickery channel schools; the remainder may be drawn freely from the Wizard list.
- L7 Magical Ambush
When you are hidden from a creature and trigger a channel that requires a saving throw against your channel save DC, that creature has disadvantage on the save. This feature applies only on the round in which you reveal yourself by casting the channel, and only against creatures that have not yet acted against you in the current combat.
- L11 Versatile Trickster
You learn the **Etheric Hand** cantrip if you do not already know it. As a bonus action, you may direct your Etheric Hand to harass a creature within 5 ft of it — flicking at the eyes, tugging at the cloak. Until the start of your next turn, you have advantage on attack rolls against that creature, provided the hand remains within 5 ft of it and you maintain concentration. A creature may use its action to swat the hand away, dispelling it; you must re-summon it as a normal Etheric Hand.
- L15 Channel Thief
When a creature within 60 ft of you casts a channel that targets you, includes you in its area, or that you can clearly perceive, you may use your reaction to attempt to steal the casting. Make an Intelligence saving throw against the caster's channel save DC. On a success, the original channel still resolves, but you also learn the channel — you may cast it once, using one of your own channel slots of the appropriate level, before the end of your next long rest. The stolen channel is treated as a Wizard channel for purposes of casting through your Channelbook. You may have only one stolen channel held at a time; learning a new one overrides any previously held. Channels of 6th level or higher cannot be stolen by this feature.
- L18 Imperceptible Capstone
You have refined your craft to a level the sensors of the modern galaxy cannot meaningfully challenge. Your passive Stealth score (10 + Stealth bonus, or 15 + Stealth bonus if you have Expertise) gains an additional +5. You cannot be detected by Tier III or below electronic sensors — biometric scanners, motion grids, security drones, thermal sweeps, comm-trace nets — when you do not wish to be. Tier IV sensors and direct line-of-sight observation by intelligent creatures function normally against you. Channeled detection (Tier III or below) is treated as Tier IV electronic detection for purposes of this feature — that is, it functions, but you remain entitled to your standard Stealth check.