Gifts are rituals between two characters, where one character gives something up to boost the other character. Gifts are a metaphysical transfer from donor to recipient, which transfers advantages from the donor to the recipient.

Gifts can only be given by characters to others who are at least three levels lower than themselves. Gifts must be given freely without coercion or payment and always at the initiative of the donor. The receiver cannot ask for it (though they may suggest or have another petition on their behalf) and the donor cannot be forced through mental control, bribery or even trickery. The gift must thus be completely voluntary.

Note that gifts are not a balanced exchange. The recipient character benefits, but this is at the expense of the donor character. A donor can grant at most one gift to a recipient, but may grant different gifts to different recipients, so long as they have things to give.

With a gift, no physical object changes hands, but rather a metaphysical transfer is made from the donor to the recipient, which has a physical representation. For example, a character could grant the gift of their good looks, which would cause the donor to lose their good looks while the recipient would gain good looks. As such, though a metaphysical concept is exchanged, there is a distinct physical effect.

The exchange, that is the actual in game advantage of the physical part of the gift may vary. In the good looks example, the donor and recipient may swap their charisma stats, provided the donor has a high charisma and the recipient has a low charisma, but this is determined separately for each ritual and it depends heavily on the donor, the actual gift and the recipient. In all cases, a negative effect applies to the donor and a positive effect applies to the recipient. Exchanges must be balanced: the boost gained by the recipient must be matched in strength by the recipient loss.

The shadow appears as a physical undead shade entity to serve as long as the recipient pleases. This is identical to the Shadowdancers “Summon Shadow” ability except the shadows alignment matches the donors, not the recipients. If the recipient is a shadow dancer, the bonuses from that class apply to the donor's shadow.

If the shadow is killed in combat, it is unavailable to either the donor or the recipient for 30 days. The donor's penalties apply while the shadow is gone and the recipient gains no benefits.

After this period the shadow reappears with the recipient, who may then either dismiss it back to the donor, or keep it as she wills. The same xp penalty applies as with the Summon Shadow ability (count the recipient character as level 1 if she has no shadowdancer levels), only the xp penalty applies to the donor character, not the recipient, but only if the shadow is destroyed - not if it is dismissed back to the donor.

The recipient can pull the donor's shadow around themselves, obscuring them from view as darkness seems to draw around her. She gains a +5 circumstance bonus to hide checks and a +2 bonus on saves versus light spells.

The recipient gains Darkvision 60 ft or extends the range of their existing Darkvision by 60 feet.

The donor loses control of her shadow. While the recipient lays claim to the shadow, she does not cast a shadow, regardless of the lighting conditions. This may unnerve some people. The donor has no control whatsoever over when the recipient claims the shadow - her shadow was given to the recipient and is now under their complete control.

Losing control of her shadow, the donor suffers a -2 circumstance penalty to hide as darkness seems to flee away from her. While the shadow is claimed by the recipient, this penalty increases to -5.

Total value: +/- 60.000 gp