The Shadowlands is a dimly lit dimension that exists parallel to the physical world.
Physical Qualities
The Shadowlands is a world of monochrome, but otherwise appears similar to the physical world.
The sky is black with neither sun nor stars. Landmarks in the physical world are recognizable in the Shadowlands, but they are twisted and warped — poor reflections of their physical counterparts. Despite the lack or light, various plants, animals, and people can be found in the Shadowlands.
The Shadowlands are constantly shifting, making charting a map of the world impossible, despite the presence of landmarks. If a visitor to the world sees a mountain range on one visit, it will still be there on their next visit, but the individual mountains may have moved about. Precision is a lost cause in this world.
Mechanical Qualities
The Shadowlands have the following effects:
- Control: Abilities that can create or control darkness and shadows can alter the landscape of the Shadowlands. Most of these changes, however, are only temporary, as the world is constantly shifting.
- Boost: The Shadowlands improves the effectiveness of powers with Darkness or Shadow as descriptors by a factor of 5 ranks. This lasts as long as the characters are in the Shadowlands and goes away as soon as they leave.
- Nullify: Powers with the Light descriptor are completely nullified within the Shadowlands.
Location: Dark City
If someone were to enter the Shadowlands from a location within the physical world's city, they would find themselves in a dark, largely abandoned version of that city. The parallels are not exact, so the person's favorite nightclub may be on a different street, be built in a different style, or may even lie in ruins. Differences between a physical city and dark city can be quite significant, such as a dark junkyard where a city park should be.
Inhabitants
Shadows walk in this world. These are the remnants of those who have died in the physical world. Shadows can be of humans, animals, or even sentient plants. So long as the creature was self-aware when it died, it's shadow will be in the Shadowlands. The following is a guide for converting any standard creature into a shadow creature.
- Abilities: Strength and Constitution become non-scores (—). They gain +5 Dexterity and Wisdom.
- Skills: The shadow creatures gain 4 ranks in Notice and Sense Motive.
- Feats: Shadows gain Favored Environment (Darkness) and Fearless as feats.
- Powers: Shadows can gain Concealment (Visual; Limited to shadows), Fatigue, Immunity, Insubstantial 4 (Permanent), Super-Movement (Slithering, Wall-Crawling) and Super-Senses (Darkvision).
- Combat: Shadows typically have half their power level in Attack and Defense.
- Saving Throws: Shadows have at least half their power level in Reflex and Will.
In addition to the above, a shadow in the Shadowlands loses Insubstantiality, but is always at maximum health.
