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King of Shadows

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The King of Shadows is part of NWN2's official campaign.

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Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
WARNING: MAJOR PLOT DETAILS

The King of Shadows is an ancient and powerful being featured in the NWN 2 official campaign. He is not a pre-existing Forgotten Realms character but one created specifically for NWN2.

He was created by a dwarf named Annaeus (The player will meet him as one of the spirits in the Gem Mines in Arvahn, in Act II) to be the ultimate guardian for the Illefarn Empire, an empire based off the friendship of dwarves and elves. He was a human (of whom we never learn his name) who sacrificed his very self to become the perfect guardian, a protector with no pride or ambition. He drew his power off the Weave and was thought to be able to protect Illefarn forever. However, during his reign, the Weave disappeared for an instant when Karsus tried to steal divinity from Mystryl, the then goddess of magic. Faced with a choice, either dying and leaving Illefarn unprotected or to turn to a darker alternative, the Guardian turned to the Shadow Weave as a new source of power. But in doing so, he became a creature of darkness and shadow that leeched life from everything around him.

When the Illefarn people realized what had happened, they sought to destroy him, seeing that he had become corrupted and was destroying the very thing he was created to protect. When they attacked him, the Guardian (now the "King of Shadows") saw them as enemies, after all, he was the protector of Illefarn and anyone who attacked him was perceived to be an enemy of Illefarn, even if they wore the Illefarn colors.

In the end he destroyed them all, but not before being driven into the Plane of Shadow and locked there for centuries. Now he seeks to return and to fulfill the very purpose he was created for...despite the fact the empire he was created to protect no longer exists and its enemies are gone as well.

Annaeus in Act II[]

Nwn2 official trailer 3

The King of Shadows on the right and a warlock on the left holding the Sword of Gith

In Act II, the player meets Annaeus (the creator of the Guardian) as one of the trapped spirits in the Gem Mines in Arvahn. During the conversation, Annaeus admits his fault 'but I would gladly endure my torments a hundred-fold, before I took back the decisions I made' and also adds that the Illefarn had tried twice to defeat him again after Annaeus's death. The Silken Sisters were first sent against the King of Shadows and in addition, Annaeus had counselled the Illefarn leaders and 'pulled up all our folk from the heartland...to make a plan'. However, the sisters died and his leaders turned against him.

We also learn that the Ritual of Purification was also a creation of Annaeus, working by 'reversing the processes that created the guardian.'

Prelude[]

From a dark chapter in Neverwinter's history, a war was ended before it ever truly began. Only a handful of annals exist on the rise and fall of the man they call the King of Shadows. Trembling hands recorded the reign of terror caused by his infernal cohorts -- nefarious denizens of the Lower Planes with a perpetual thirst for pain and blood.

To combat this threat, Neverwinter hastily assembled an army on a grim mission to defeat the King of Shadows' legions. The battle was fought in the swamp known as the Mere of Dead Men, crushing the village of West Harbor beneath the weight of the two armies. When the battle was all-but-lost, an unknown force decimated both sides and sundered the blood-soaked ground of the village.

Though the King of Shadows was defeated, not a single soldier survived to tell the tale. But the Harbormen carry the memory, ever-reminded by the dark scar that mars their village green.

The march of years has passed, and the King of Shadows is rising again...and this time, there may be no one who can stop him...

(From PC Gamer magazine December 2005.)

Traits[]

"The King of Shadows stands before you."

The battle against the King of Shadows consists of three phases, with different boss' statistics for each phase:

Traits (Phase 1)[]

Notes[]

  • Lacks Darkvision, amusingly enough.
  • Some of his feats are pointless due to lack of spells or a dagger. He also has double immunity to poison (one as property and one as feat) and 2 feats for saving throw bonus against them.
  • He has epic dagger feats despite being a boss from before epic levels were officially added.
  • His skills and some of his feats imply he was supposed to also have rogue levels.
  • King of Shadows of the first phase has Greater Two-Weapon Fighting without prerequisite feats. As result, he can make 3 attacks with his left hand yet receive -6 and -10 to AB of right and left hand respectively (already included in the stats above).
  • His weapons are enchanted to have 80% weight reduction. This serves no practical purpose but is an interesting detail.

Traits (Phase 2)[]

  • Race: Outsider
  • Outsider 7
  • Neutral evil
  • Abilities: STR 20, DEX 26, CON 10, INT 14, WIS 14, CHA 12
  • Hitpoints: 108 out of 103
  • Saves: Fortitude 5, Reflex 13, Will 7
  • AC: 30
  • AB: +10/+5
  • Damage: 1d3 bludgeoning + 2d12 negative energy, critical 20/x2 (slam)
  • Skills: Disable Device 15, Heal 15, Hide 15, Listen 15, Lore 15, Move Silently 15, Open Lock 15, Parry 15, Diplomacy 15, Sleight of Hand 7, Spot 15
  • Feats: Weapon Proficiency (creature), Cleave, Combat Casting, Deflect Arrows, Disarm, Dodge, Knockdown, Power Attack, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Stunning Fist (1/day), Toughness, Spring Attack, Combat Expertise, Feint, Dash
  • Immunity to knockdown, disease, critical hits, death magic, level/ability drain, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sneak attack and fear
  • Turn resistance 50
  • True Seeing
  • Spell resistance 30
  • Damage Resistance to acid, cold, electricity, fire, sound, positive energy and negative energy 10/-
  • Regeneration 4 (applied by script)
  • Can cast SLA Polar Ray at caster level 0 once per day/caster level 15 at will
  • CR 12

Notes[]

  • Small Shadow Kings too lack Darkvision.
  • Their Polar Rays have caster 0 and only one use normally but their AI script can force them to cast much stronger unlimited version.
  • They spawn with current hit points above the maximum.

Traits (Phase 3)[]

  • Race: Outsider
  • Outsider 20 Warlock 10 Frenzied Berserker 10
  • Neutral evil
  • Abilities: STR 21, DEX 36, CON 36, INT 36, WIS 36, CHA 36
  • Hitpoints: 1200
  • Saves: Fortitude 37, Reflex 31, Will 37
  • AC: 33
  • AB (right hand): +38/+33/+28/+23/+18/+13/+8/+3
  • AB (left hand): +32
  • AB (unarmed): +40/+35/+30/+25/+20/+15/+10/+5
  • Damage: 1d10+9 bludgeoning + 15 negative energy, critical 20/x2 (adamantine greatmaces +4)
  • Damage (unarmed): 1d3+5 bludgeoning, critical 20/x2 (unarmed strike)
  • Skills: Concentration 30, Disable Device 23, Heal 23, Hide 23, Listen 23, Lore 23, Move Silently 23, Open Lock 23, Parry 23, Diplomacy 23, Sleight of Hand 23, Search 23, Set Trap 23, Spellcraft 30, Spot 23, Taunt 30, Use Magic Device 23, Appraise 23, Tumble 23, Craft Trap 23, Bluff 23, Intimidate 23. Craft Armor 23, Craft Weapon 23, Survival 30
  • Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Weapon Proficiency (simple), Darkvision, Immunity to Sleep, Fearless, Hardiness vs. Illusions, Hardiness vs. Spells, Immunity to Paralysis, Immunity to Poison, Low-light Vision, Battle Caster, Cleave, Combat Casting, Disarm, Dodge, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Power Attack, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Resistance to Acid/Cold/Electrical/Fire/Sonic Energy, Spell Penetration, Toughness, Cloud Mind, Damage Reduction 1/-, Still Mind, Fear Aura, Spell Focus (Abjuration), Greater Spell Focus (Abjuration), Spell Focus (Divination), Greater Spell Focus (Divination), Spell Focus (Conjuration), Greater Spell Focus (Conjuration), Spell Focus (Enchantment), Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment), Spell Focus (Evocation), Greater Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Focus (Illusion), Greater Spell Focus (Illusion), Spell Focus (Necromancy), Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy), Spell Focus (Transmutation), Greater Spell Focus (Transmutation).
  • Damage reduction 10/+1 and alchemical silver
  • Immunity to knockdown, disease, critical hits, death magic, level/ability drain, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sneak attack and fear
  • Turn resistance 50
  • True Seeing
  • Spell resistance 30
  • Damage Resistance to acid, cold, electricity, fire, sound, positive energy and negative energy 10/-
  • Cloak of Shadows at will: damage reduction 50/good for 10 rounds, innate level 1
  • Cradle of Rime at will: long-ranged attack that covers 100ft sphere-shaped area, dealing 100 cold + 100 negative energy damage, Reflex saves against cold and negative respectively halves each (DC 24?), innate level 1
  • Known spells:
    • Eldritch Blast (5d6)
  • Script-casted spells at will:
  • CR 40

Notes[]

  • King of Shadows has either highest non-epic or actually epic ranks in all skills except for Perform, which is 0.
  • He doesn't know any invocations.
  • He also lacks proficiency to wield his weapons (that got bonus negative damage since first phase). Even if he could, he lacks dual-wield feats and thus would get high AB penalty in return for one more attack.
  • This variant of King of Shadows is one of the creatures with the highest Challenge Rating in the game.
  • Due to his high HD and massive turn resistance, third phase King of Shadows is considered level 90 creature for the purpose of Turn Undead, which is by far the highest in the game. Of course, you need epic feat Planar Turning to even try, so...
  • Cradle of Rime also has disabled knockdown effect.
  • Earlier version of Cradle of Rime was much weaker, dealing 10d10 negative damage in Huge area (reflex vs negative halves, DC 25) and causing knockdown.

Notes[]

  • All variants of the King of Shadows can also teleport through scripts.
  • King of Shadows is very script heavy - he is not intended to be used outside of his specific module area and reading his exact mechanics can be complicated.
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