Shadaki Night Vision

[Matt B Carter]

Reading War of the Wizards last night, I came across a passage in which Grey Star realises that the pupilless eyes of the Shadaki grant them the ability to see in the dark. There seems to be no mention of this in the rulebook. Is this a deliberate omission? Was it a power granted to the Shadaki later on by Shasarak?

I think it's a neat racial ability, and it certainly has some interesting applications. The Shadaki Buccaneers could use it to gain a serious advantage during nocturnal piracy, Shasarak's enforcers could make terrifying night-time raids to root out rebels, and so on. Has anybody else incorporated this ability into their games? I know I will be - it's far too interesting to pass up. Imagine the PCs being hunted in pitch darkness by a team of Shadaki slavers with darkvision . . .

 

[Anonymous]

Nice catch! I would say this definately sounds like an unnatural ability, and as such would have been granted to the Shadaki under Shasarak, i.e. those loyal to him. Probably, this is not just limited to the Shadaki under him, but any human that serves under him.

As such, I think its not something normal Shadaki, (i.e. pc's or npc's) ought to have, unless they are Shasarak's cronies. (or excronies).

That said, being hunted through the Kaltese by a bloodthirsty Shadaki Pirate captain, who was once loyal to Shasarak, with this ability, could make for a thrilling mini-adventure.

 

[Matt B Carter]

Hmmm. It does seem like the kind of thing that would happen as a result of Shasarak flexing his magical muscles and rewarding his followers, or thrusting the ability on them to make them more useful.

I like the idea of it being a racial ability though, one that makes the Shadaki seem generally slightly alien. I think I shall apply it to all Shadaki characters from now on (good thing my campaign hasn't started yet!). My explanation shall be that it was a gift from Shasarak, but that was several generations ago and the ability has been passed on like a dominant gene, allowing player characters and their allies to possess creepy darkvision eyes.