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My PG is a Shade, so:

Racial Traits

As creatures of the Plane of Shadows, shades are considered to be of the outsider type.

So far so good. The problem is: if the Shade race is already a little unbalanced, how does the outsider type interact with it?

Do I get the Outsider features?

Outsider Type

Features

An outsider has the following features.

8-sided Hit Dice. Base attack bonus equal to total Hit Dice (as fighter). Good Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves. Skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die.

From: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#extraplanarSubtype

Verdict00
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  • Hi, welcome to the site! Great question—so great, actually, that we’ve already got an answer for it. Last time it was an alienist instead of a shade, but it works out the same way. – KRyan Apr 02 '20 at 02:11
  • @KRyan thank you. I have just read the answer for the associated post, but it is still unclear to me what "racial hit dice" are. – Verdict00 Apr 02 '20 at 02:18
  • @KRyan nevermid, i have just found the answer. This question is a duplicate, should I delete it? – Verdict00 Apr 02 '20 at 02:25
  • No, duplicates are useful—they help searches find the right place. Feel free to leave it alone. Also, I’d like to warn you, especially since you seem new to the game, shade is a really weak race because of the LA +4 on it. That means when you should be a 5th-level character, you’re 1st-level instead. Yeah, you have fast healing and invisibility and so on, but actual class levels are better. Unless your DM is changing how the rules with those work, you may find that an unpleasant experience. Your hp, saves, and skills will be really low and you’ll die really easily. – KRyan Apr 02 '20 at 02:28
  • (Trivia: So far as I can tell, shades are outsiders but don't also have a subtype like outsiders typically do. This makes shades nearly unique in that they never need worry about the extraordinary ability favored enemy. Folks don't usually sit around and worry about anyway, of course, but still.) – Hey I Can Chan Apr 02 '20 at 05:02
  • @HeyICanChan I found out that the Shade is actually a Template, not a race. It has been made clear in Forgotten Realms Campaign Settings at p.314. And moreover, the Shade's level adjustment becomes +2 instead of +4. From what I understand, it replaces the old creature's type with Outsider, leaving the subtype unchanged, may it be right? – Verdict00 May 07 '20 at 12:14
  • @Verdict00 Unless the DM's ruled otherwise, the shade template was updated by the 3.5 revision in Player's Guide to Faerûn 147–50 therefore that takes precedence over previous versions (see this question). The trivia above comes from my question a while back: A human that lacks a subtype that becomes a shade becomes an outsider, but should only have subtypes like augmented and extraplanar or native that a ranger's favored enemy ability can't find (unlike, for example, the subtype chaotic or earth). – Hey I Can Chan May 07 '20 at 12:19
  • @HeyICanChan I am sorry but I can't follow you, maybe it is because I am lacking some pecies of information to undestand. What confuses me is that I thought that Human is a Subtype with the Humanoid type, right? If the Shade template is assigned and no subtype is specified, shall the DM come up with a subtype? I am trying to understand this because my character is probably going to die soon and I would like to understand if a Shade that was a human could be resurrected or not. – Verdict00 May 07 '20 at 12:34
  • @Verdict00 Aha! We're approaching this from different angles. I was stuck still trying to answer the question How can a ranger take favored enemy (shades)? and you're saying Shades have the same subtypes as the original creature! We're both right: A ranger can't take favored enemy (shades) and the shade keeps its original subtypes—so a ranger's favored enemy could work on some shades if the ranger'd picked the shade's humanoid subtype as a favored enemy. My apologies. I've been other places. – Hey I Can Chan May 07 '20 at 12:51
  • Still, the Player's Guide to Faerûn shade is the one that's supposed to—officially (if that matters)—be used. The FRCS one's been superseded. – Hey I Can Chan May 07 '20 at 12:53
  • @HeyICanChan again, I'm lost. Am I looking to the wrong manual? I can not find the Shade's template in Player's Guide to Faerûn, all I can see is that under the Shadow Inhabitants' section of the Plane of Shadow it says "The ancient Netherese city of Shade sojourned in the Plane of Shadow long enough to spawn a new race, the shades (detailed in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Settings)" at p. 162-163. – Verdict00 May 07 '20 at 13:07
  • @Verdict00 Again, sorry. I'm several different places and have a demanding cat. The 3.5 shade appears in Races of Faerûn 147–9 not in the Player's Guide. – Hey I Can Chan May 07 '20 at 13:12
  • @HeyICanChan Ok now everything is clear thank you! One last question: in terms of lore and roleplay, what does not having an Outsider's subtype imply? – Verdict00 May 08 '20 at 02:35
  • @Verdict00 Not a lot, so far as I can tell. Mainly it just makes rangers sad… and frustrates folks who want to enter the prestige class shade hunter. :-) I'm not sure any other creature would even notice. – Hey I Can Chan May 08 '20 at 03:48
  • One of your questions was deleted whilst I was mid-comment. :-) I wanted to point you to this Giant in the Playground thread that's a fantastic (if just slightly outdated) resource for mid- and high-level semi-optimized play, which seems to be something you need. Apologies in advance if you're already familiar with it. – Hey I Can Chan May 09 '20 at 16:22
  • @HeyICanChan I am sorry, I deleted the question because I thought it was poorly worded and unclear. By the way, thank you for the Giant in the Playground thread, a Third Eye of continuous Favor of the Martyr is what I was looking for! – Verdict00 May 15 '20 at 10:01
  • @HeyICanChan may I bother you again?

    About the Extraplanar Subtype

    "Creatures not labeled as extraplanar are natives of the Material Plane, and they gain the extraplanar subtype if they leave the Material Plane. No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane; the transitive planes in the D&D cosmology are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow."

     – Verdict00 May 20 '20 at 11:13
  • If Shades do not have a subtype, does this description apply to them? In this case, would they became native outsiders? This is the last time I bother you on this topic, I swear :-) – Verdict00 May 20 '20 at 11:16
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    Try here. – Hey I Can Chan May 20 '20 at 11:45

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