Valiant Views: Shadowman
While the Valiant Adventures Quickstart gives you a feel for what it is like to play a tabletop RPG set in the Valiant Universe, due to space limits it doesn’t provide character creation info or a deeper look at some of the signature Valiant characters. In this preview, we look at Valiant’s mystical defender of the Deadside, Shadowman.
Along with Doctor Mirage, Shadowman is our other mystical character, perhaps the one most central to the Valiant Universe’s mystic upheavals. Overall, Shadowman’s Abilities are impressive, but largely because Jack Boniface is bonded with the Shadow Loa: giving him a list of Enhanced Abilites included in those Ranks. The Shadow Loa also makes Shadowman tougher, faster to heal, and essentially unkillable except through mystic means.
Shadowman’s other powers involve his Shadow Scythe, his signature weapon, which is effective against spirits and other creatures of the Deadside and a weapon he can swing in an arc to Multiattack. He also has a considerable Necromancy Array, particularly his power to summon darkness, travel to and from the Deadside, and to Command the Dead and the creatures of the Deadside when necessary. Extra Effort for some power stunts can add other Necromatic Effects to Shadowman’s Array temporarily, but he tends to rely on his physical prowess more than those powers anyway.
Jack has Undead as a Favored Foe Advantage, giving him an additional edge. He has some Combat Advantages, notably Menacing Attack, which lets him Intimidate after felling a foe, especially useful against groups of minions. He also has Leadership, more in the area of helping allies like the Abettors to shake off Conditions, and Fallen Inspiration, which lets him do the same even when he’s taken out of a fight!
His Skills rely fairly heavily on Intimidation and Occult, although his Expertise in History (he started out as a museum curator in New Orleans) comes in handy sometimes. It’s notable that Shadowman is a more effective close combatant, with slightly lower Defense against ranged attacks and no real ranged attacks of his own, unless he does a power stunt or throws something. He prefers to get right up into the fight whenever possible.
Shadowman’s Responsibility Complication is often at-odds with his Isolated Complication: He wants to do good and help others, but at the same time feels like he has to go it alone, making it hard for people to help him, as Alyssa and the other Abettors and his sometime allies will attest.
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