The Netherspawn Family - three subclasses with unearthly dark origins
I was thinking about a subclass that would be an arch-enemy of the Amazon, and came up with the Nightshadow. Sir Robin had a while ago mentioned ideas for a Succubus and a Blood Knight, but as presented they didn't seem quite playable (eg use Blood Star only, no armor or weapons). The focus on blood stars and mimicking demonics is here too, but the resemblance stops there :-) After developing the Nightshadow for the rogue, I came up with an interesting twist for warriors and sorcerors to play this variant -- see further down on this page for the 'Necromanacer' and the 'Death Knight'.

Note that the distinctive points for the Necromancer and Death Knight, compared to other Sorcerers, Warriors, Variants are a) the Necromancer's exclusive use of 'magic' spells (no fire/lightning), and b) the Death Knight's 'no retreat' rule. Also, both prize stealth ability. A note worth adding: these classes might seem like they would love to PK. This is no meant to be the case. First of all, their stealth Limits what they can see, NOT whether their opponent can see them. Second, the powers that be that summon them to Tristam require that they MUST not harm anyone whom they agree to play a game with, nor steal (ie. any game with a password binds them to behave themselves!) Acknowledgements to designers of the stealthy Ninja (Saxywoo?) variant and Sir Robin's idea for the Succubus and Blood Knight. Feedback is highly welcome.

Nightshadow - the Netherspawn subclass for the Rogue
Background: She lives for the night, to take life, and to destroy. She scorns the earth and its pitiful elemental magic, and serves no one but herself. The nightshadow is the spawn of a succubus/ human 'encounter', and is almost always an outcast.

Purpose: A challenging variant, a rogue who frequently uses 'magic', and stealth to wreak havoc.

Weapons: It not typically advantageous for the nightshadow to use a melee weapon. However, she enjoys sucking the life out of foes, and is frequently found wielding a weapon 'of the vampire', 'of the bat', 'of the Leech' 'of Blood'. Ones that are wicked, vicious, ruthless, etc., are also very good. Clearly she will not use weapons of the King, Champion, Knight (Lord and Master are ok, with their more sinister possible meanings). Bows? special, see below.

Shield: can use for defense while casting those blood stars, but Can *not* wear a sword and shield at same time

Armor: bah -- who needs items that are saintly, blessed, valiant, awesome, etc.? Also, how can anyone stalk an innocent victim in plate? Useable are light armor with pluses to magic, mana, strength, dex (except perfection), and all (but not Vim/Vigor/Life). Obsidian & (black) pearl are the only 'jewelry'-type prefixes allowed. (White, red and blue, ie. colors, are ok. Crimson, the color of blood, is ok too)

Spells: no lame elemental magic (fire or lightning), just pure magic. Blood star is *the* spell of the Nightshadow, and she also loves Bone Spirit and Flash. Stone Curse, Healing, Phasing, Teleport, and Mana Shield are fine. Heal Other is never allowed. Note that Elemental (according to Nightshadow lore) summons an actual demon to do her bidding, and is not a cooperative evokation of earth-based magic, hence the Elemental spell is acceptable. Golem and Guardian are likewise very nice.

Stealth: The Nightshadow loves the darkness and loves to sneak up and surprise her prey. Items 'of the Night', 'of the Dark' are highly sought out, and must be worn if found, up to -70% light radius (80 if she chooses, but not necessary). Infravision is definitely allowed (not 'fair'? bah - save 'fair' for those with honor!).

Bows: Through her twisted logic, while stealth is prime, she also loves the fear generated by unleashing visible and violent projectiles. For a bow to be interesting enough to use it *must* be either the exact bow she starts the game with (poisoned, unbeknownst to anyone but her), or a bow which has one of the following prefixes or suffixes: of Burning, of Thunder, Merciless, Savage, Meteoric, Ruthless, and can NOT have one of these: of the Heavens, of the Sky, any 'jewelry-name' prefix other than Obsidian, of Perfection, of Brilliance, of Vigor/Vim. All Unique Bows except Lightforge can be used: Bow of the Dead, Flamedart and BlackOak are particularly nice. If the only suffix found is Fire, Shock, or Lightning, it can be used *if* there is also a prefix, and that prefix is allowable (which marks the bow's power source as infernal, not elemental. Example: Crimon bow of shock)

Unique Items: same restrictions as any other items, with these points or exceptions - all armor is ok, and items with +light radius are not usable: Royal Circlet, Lightforce, Schaefer's, Inferno, Celestial Star, Dreamflange, Thunderclap, Lightsabre, Ring of Regha. -light radius objects are sought after, and include: Nightscape, Gotterdamerung, Gibbous Moon, Bow of the Dead, Doombringer, ShadowHawk, Staff of Shadows, Blackoak Bow, Blackoak Shield, Split Skull Shield, and the Executioner's Blade. Any unique item which is Wicked, Demonic, with -Vit or -hp, darkness, etc. A most prized item would be the Demonspike Coat (given no non-unique Plate may be worn). Those that help with their wizardly talents are allowed (even Naj's light plate, actually I see no problem with any of the unique armors). The Contricting Ring is another favorite.

Co-op: she will happily accept any usable legit item, especially items which reduce light radius, and Books of Blood Star and Bone Spirit. She will almost always play alone, but doesn't mind playing with another Nightshadow, and likes to team up with Ninjas who are also expert at stealth activities. They loathe Amazons, their fiercest enemies. They also feed off the souls of PK'ers :) (Ideally they should try to get a book of blood star and bone spirit, some +magic items, perhaps just on load to read them, and some kind of non-ridiculous darkness item, ie NOT a Gotter. These could be seem as gifts from their supernatural parents)

Scrolls: any (after all, a fire wall scroll used is one no longer available to someone else)

Staves: ok if prefix/suffix is acceptable.. no holy bolt or angel staff please!

Stats: at least one point must go to Magic each level up

Goal: The goal of the Nightshadow is more to replace Diablo than to rid The world of him. The first kill (dot) earns her the title 'Ethereal Nightshadow'. The second (dot) brings her 'Astral Nightshadow'. With the third dot she is called a 'Demonic Nightshadow'. If she can kill Diablo while in total darkness (-80%) on Hell difficulty with a Unique weapon (eg Bow of the Dead, Bonesaw, Shadowhawk), she achieves her highest status 'Nightshadow Mellitus'.

Approach: Her main goal is to suck the life out of foes, so blood star is best, bone spirit is very good, as is a weapon of vampire/bat/blood/ leech. These are the 'preferred' methods. If this is not possible (or too difficult in a specific situation), regular 'killing' of the opponent will have to do. Nasty bows can be used too, primarily as a defensive measure - for offense the other 'preferred' methods are advocated. (One additional preferred method with a bow: stone curse the opponent, and pounding them with a bow of burning/thunder/etc., to give them the pain and helplessness of knowing their life will soon be snuffed out. If an NTS plans to run around with a bow as her main offensive weapon, she should be stone cursing everything)

Special: the Streak (based on the BNM streak). When a Nightshadow finds an item of corruption, they will enter into the dungeon and plunge down as far as they can go until dying. The only difference with the BNM streak is that potions may be quaffed as they go, and blood stars may be used to clear the path of any who would block her quest for the stairs down.

Summary of Allowable Prefixes: azure, blue, cobalt, crimson, deadly, dragon's, drake's,ivory, jagged, massive, master's, merciless, meteoric, obsidian, raven's, red,savage, serpent's, sharp, snake's, soldier's, spider's, steel, strange, strong, warrior's, weird, white.

Allowable Suffixes: absorption, accuracy, ages, bashing, bat, bear, blood,burning, carnage, corruption, dark, deflection, giants, gore, haste, leech, magic, maiming, might, mind, moon, night, osmosis, pain, plenty, power, precision, puncturing, readiness, skill, slaughter, slaying, sorcery, speed, sprits, stars, stability, strength, structure, sturdiness, swiftness, thieves, thorns, titans, vampires, wizardry, zodiac. Also, the natural live force of the fox/eagle/tiger/lion/whale items does not permit their use, however, the necromantic power of items of the extinct mammoth gives her power in an acceptable way.

Necromancer - the Netherspawn subclass for the Sorceror
Rules same as for Nightshadow, with these changes:

Prefers magic, avoids bows and melee weapons except in defense Typically wields a staff, preferably of Apocalypse or Nova

Cannot wear chain mail or split mail (no plate mail either), but still allowed to wear the unique armor items Stealth is still fairly important, must use -lr items up to -50% (can wear more if he wants). No items that add to light radius.

Spells: same (remember, no chain lightning or fireball, etc.), except they have learned from their fathers (Magistrate) a means to generate death tendrils of a demonic source that look like electricity (read: they can use Charged Bolts, including on a Staff); the necromancer may twist the typical town portal spell to an ultraviolet hellish portal, which illuminates only the dungeon, not creatures - this is a method he favors to see his way around while not alerting monsters

Stats: at least +1 strength and +1 dex per level-up

Co-op: as above, and likes to play with Nightshadows and Death Knights mortal enemy to Invokers/Elementalists.

Misc: would not be caught dead buying something from Wirt; Necromancer's are the offspring of a Magistrate / Lich or similar matchup; will NOT attack Leoric, and attack those that do so in his presence; Streak: instead of Blood Star allowed, the Flash and Charged Bolt spells are allowed

Titles: for the three dots the (DK) is called 'Dark Necromancer', 'Abysmal Necromancer', and 'Diabolic Necromancer'

Death Knight - the Netherspawn subclass for the Warrior
Rules same as for Nigthshadow, with these changes:

Prefers melee, avoids bows (same limits as above, plus only vs ranged attackers. May use Knight's, Champion's and King's items. Prefers best weapons (Bastard Sword, Great Sword)

Can wear (prefers) plate mail, must wear Demon Spike coat if found Not *as* reliant on stealth, must use -lr items up to -30% (can wear more if he wants). Still no items that add to light radius

Shield: hmmm, was going to disallow all, but came up with 'no retreat' rule instead (see below), that would make this TOO painful.

Staff: not allowed

Spells: same, except no phasing, teleport, mana shield, flash or summoning; Blood stars will be hard for him to cast, but he will cast as many as possible whenever facing a unique creature, to suck out their life force; the death knight has also learned to twist the holy bolt spell to produce an 'unholy' bolt

Stats: at least +1 magic each level, and at *most* +2 vitality (emphasis of blood knight is on offense, not defense)

Co-op: as above, and likes to play with Nightshadows and Necromancers; mortal enemy to Paladins.

Special: Does *NOT* RETREAT. Period. No backing away, ducking around a corner, or fleeing via Town Portal if any monsters present. Advance carefully, avoid running into rooms, and/or increase stealth as needed. Taking a few steps back into a corner/against a wall to prepare for an onslaught, and sidestepping movements & running around ('happy feet') are ok if they are used to position yourself, avoid damage and corner an opponent, but not to lure foes away to a safer combat zone. (You really might want to improve your stone curse abilities!) If that's not clear: you can't leave a room, leave the line of sight of nearest enemies, or run away from enemies, but you can chase one enemy down who happens to be running in the direction you would like to go! The Blood Knight does not mind dying if he can take out as many as he can with him! This haughty attitude is to be contrasted with the 'those who run away live to fight another day' philosophy of the Nightshadow. The Necromanacer is intermediate, thanks to his delight in the Flash spell (hellfire: Ring of Demonic fire spell)

Misc: cannot pass up a chance to challenge Sir Gorash if on lvl 16; Death Knights are the offspring of Humans and Blood Knights; Streak: no spells allowed, but the Knight WILL use a corruption weapon to clear his path to the stairs, if necessary

Titles: for the three dots the (DK) is called 'Steel Knight', 'Doom Knight', and 'Death Knight'

Summary/Reference of Netherspawn Rules
Nightshadow(NTS), Necromancer(NEC), and Death Knight (DK) - for details, see above.

Class: Rogue(NTS), Sorceror(NEC), Warrior(DK)

Weapons: Vampire/Bat/Blood/Leech preferredall types allowed (though some prefix/suffix not); -Light Radius, of the of the Vampire/Bat/Blood/Leech preferred

Bows: only nasty pref/suffix, NTS' orig. bow, and most uniq. bows. DK's can only use bows vs ranged attackers

Armor: up to Ring Mail (NEC); up to Breastplate (NTS); all (DK)

Shield: ok (but not sword AND shield for NTS, unless -lr)

Items: Good/light/pretty/vim prefixes and suffixes disallowed; 'animal'+hp suffixes not allowed except mammoth; no King's or Champion's items allowed, & Knight's only for DK

Stealth: of the dark/night, if available, are required up to 30/50/70% for DK/NEC/NTS (this may be dropped to 20/40/60 and 10/30/50 before 2nd dot and before 1st dot, respectively, if the use of such items renders the character so weak they can do no harm, ie. trading a KSOV for Sabre of Night to get from 20 to 40% reduction in light). Each class has its own preferred method of 'seeing in the dark' -- infernal bow shot or bloodstar (NTS), hellish portal (NEC), unholy bolt (DK).

Spells: Blood Star, Bone Spirit, Stone Curse, Inferno, Elemental, Heal, Town Portal; NEC only: Charged Bolt also allowed; NTS & NEC: Flash, Teleport, Phasing, Mana Shield, Golem, Guardian

Scrolls: any

Staff: ok for NTS,NEC if pref/suffix and spell allowed; Angel/AA not permitted

Stats: not more than +2 Vitality/lvl; min. +1 Magic for DK and NTS; min. +1 Strength for NEC

Streak: as BNM streak, but allowing Blood Star(NTS), Flash/CBolt(NEC), Corruption Weapon(DK)

Other: DK's can never retreat; NEC's can't buy from Wirt