The Shroudborn Multiclass is a 23 page PDF supplement, published under the GSL, from One Bad Egg and written by Fred Hicks. The product is full colour, has a number of graphics, one arena (see below), spirit tokens (for some of the powers) and power cards for all the new class powers (called invocations). The product is not bookmarked but it is glitzier than most PDF-only releases.
For those unfamiliar with the One Bad Egg’s GSL offerings they are built from a setting concept known as the shroud (the setting is not intended for full development). The Shroud is an area of the world blanketed by an dense fog that “changes everything it touches”. All characters built for adventures in the Shroud are by default considered to shroudborn. Being shroudborn alters the appearance of the character as well as allows for some race mechanic alterations as well as allowing them to take Shroud Attunement and potentially access to a host of new at-will, encounter, daily and utility shroudborn powers. The shourdborn multiclass seems to fit in the controller role.
The shroudborn powers are defined by the spirit power source that One Bad Egg introduced in to their Witch doctor product but suggests you could use arcane, shadow or psionics if you wish. Some of the powers also have the Arena keyword, which means the combatants will be moved from the battlefield to a different location for a period of time. The powers of the shroudborn are very flexible providing options for characters with high key stats in Str/Dex/Int/Wis/Cha as well are being able to use staves, rods, orb or shrouded weapons as implements. I think this versatility is built in to allow any character of the shroud to benefit from multiclassing as shroudborn.
One utility power I liked was the level 2 - Death Teaches a Lesson. This is an immediate reaction power that you can trigger when reduced to zero hit points or below you grant your allies resistance to the type of damage that you were dealt. Blood Seeks Blood and Pain Lure I think are my favourite encounter powers. The first tears the blood from a bloodied opponent and slaps his ally with it (Level 3), and the second causes an injured opponent to slide toward whoever hit him in combat. For daily powers, I liked all of the arena powers and Untethering Strike. Untethering Strike tears your opponent’s spirit from their body (hence the need for spirit tokens), if the target doesn’t stay near their escaping spirit they suffer additional damage. My favourite at-will power is Veil of Fear, that creates a wall of fear in five squares, deals necrotic damages and pushes your opponent backward. Here are several powers that target the spirit, separate the spirit or turn you into a spirit (so probably sticking with the Spirit power source would be a good idea).
As this is a multiclass option and not a class there are no paragon paths. There is, however, a shroudborn template for shrouding up your npc opponents.
My only complaint of the Shroudborn multiclass has to do with the powers. There is no shortage of powers in this supplement, the shroudborn has as many choices of at-will, encounter, daily and utility powers as any other full class choice. In fact, as a player I find it a little frustrating, because as a multiclass option I’m going to have access to three (maybe four depending on shroudborn benefit) of the created powers and I’m overwhelmed with interesting choices. I think my only option as a player is to fix the key stat choices (Cha and Dex), and develop basic class features so I can use shroudborn as a full class. I look forward to see what One Bad Egg hatches next.
