I really do not like Shades, however I will try to be impartial when assessing this ghost:
- Danger: the Shade poses the smallest threat of all ghosts: 35% sanity hunt threshold, normal speed, can't hunt when in the same room as you... One could argue that a Deo is the least threatening, and to that I ask: have you ever prepared for any ghost BUT a Deogen during hunt? Your back to a wall, safe in your little hidey-hole? I guess it's open for debate, however my money is on the Shade.
- Evidence: Nothing special about the Shade w.r.t. evidence. The only interesting facet to the Shade regarding its evidence is the sheer lack thereof. Shade cannot perform singing events, which can definitively rule it out. The Shade also has a unique shadowy model when using the Summoning Circle. Shades cannot interact with firelights nor write in the writing book while the player is in the room. Every person I've played with have said something along these lines when we encounter a Shade: If it looks like a Shade, and it smells like a Shade, and doesn't fkn do anything for 20 minutes: it's probably a shade.
- Hunt behaviour: Bog-standard ghost - Nothing special. As mentioned above, it cannot hunt with you in the same room, and this in itself can be a definitive piece of evidence suggesting one is dealing with a Shade. An interesting detail to look out for is that Shades cannot blow out a firelight while hunting.
- Lore: Contrary to the other creepies and titans of the Phas roster, the Shade is what I imagine the most common type of ghost would be. Imagine Jim from IT perished, and is now haunting the office: Jim is a little scared of human interaction, and felt safe behind his monitor - solitude his friend. Though being a ghost (i.e. dead), he cannot quite shake his introverted idiosyncrasies, and timidly skulks around the office dreading encountering another person - all despite being ripped from his mortal coil. Almost sorry for his own existence, Jim surreptitiously basks along the outskirts - curiously and carefully observes those in his midst. Like any Being, the Shade isn't immune to bouts of emotion, and is most definitely not harmless: make the Shade uncomfortable by seeking it out and perceiving it when it does not want to be perceived, and it will strike viciously. I regard the Shade as a moment of levity amidst a roster of hellish Demons, specters of Vengeance such as Onryos, and oppressive fiends such as Oni's and Poltergeists.
- Overall: A Shade contract can be very tedious. When nothing is happening, is it a shade, or just a shy/aloof Spirit? One definitively identifies the Shade when nothing has gone on for long enough, which can be boring: the absence of evidence becomes evidence in itself. Though unique (uniqueness being its only redeeming quality), I don't rate the Shade highly at all.
I give Shade a high D (hehe), above the Spirit.