Shadowcaster fixes by Mouseferatu

[jameswilliamogle]

OK, this is really old thread res, and I'm sorry for that, but I thought it the best place to question this.

I'm playing a Shadowcaster using Ari's Modified version (post 2 this thread), and I was wondering if the following was intentional:

Rule 3) allows one to jump around in order w/o requiring path-finishing (I think this is fine as is);
Rule 4) requires one to know the two previous level's mysteries BEFORE learning the next higher one (I think this is fine as is);
Rule 6) lets one swap mysteries like a sorcerer (I think there's a problem);

Looking at that, this means that after gaining Greater Shadow Evocation at 11th, I could swap a L1-4 mystery for another L6 maneuver at L12 (like, Greater Shadow Evocation again, for example).

ie, its like the Tome of Battle class's ability to lose previous prerequisite maneuvers to gain higher level maneuvers, as long as the prereq's are all met.


Was this intentional? Is it even unbalancing?

edit: NM! I see that sorcerers have to repick the same level spell when they relearn, so it doesn't work the way I thought.


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Also had a question w/o the modification:

Favored Mystery bumps a mystery to the next highest level: spells to Sp, Sp to Su. It doesn't give extra uses per day (unless its an Su already). However, the class ability does give extra uses per day, and the only requirement for the extra uses is if the mystery is Sp or Su. Thus, although the feat doesn't give extra uses, the class ability does.

Is this intentional?

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One other thing: does shadow evocation / greater shadow evocation still allow SR when it becomes an Su through the Favored Mystery feat?

 

[Sethvir]

And I am going to resurrect this thread once again.

I just started playing a shadowcaster in a new campaign I just joined. Been very interesting so far. The character has made a difference in the way combat flows, particularly when encountering large groups. He has become a battlefield control expert. Rooting foes in place, directing them around areas becasue they are aflame, etc. I just used Shadow Vision last night followed by Killing Shadows to maximum effect, as the character is 9th level, and dealt nearly 40 points of damage on each of two attacks.

Anyway, so the question I had isn't really related to this, but rather to Feats and interactions with Mysteries. On page 138 under Mysteries and Paths, talking about the characteristics of Mysteries, it states in the very last bullet that Mysteries cannot benefit from feats that enchance spells, such as metamagic feats.

The corollary to this is that for the Shadowcaster in the Bonus Feat section it states that the list of bonus feats includes any metamagic feat.

But if I am a mystery caster, and mystery's don't benefit from Metamagic feats, what's the point of having metamagic feats available as bonus feats?

Or am I missing something?

Thanks.

 

[Cadfan]

I think that's there to accommodate multiclassers. The shadowcaster was designed with multiclass very much in mind.

Man, I hope this class gets revived for 4e, this time with functional mechanics. I should write something up.

 

[Knightfall]

There are three new Paths of mysteries in the Cityscape web enhancement I wrote. You can find it here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307a

Excellent. {yoink!}

 

[Knightfall]

Ari, once you have a chance to respond, I'll slide this over into Rules.

That would be very much appreciated. The thread will disappear here in General really fast.

 

[Sethvir]

My shadowcaster that I have been playing for the last 7 months or so is approaching epic levels. He's about to level to 18 and the campaign is going to continue.

I was wondering if anyone had given any thought to an Epic Progression for this class? Since the Shadowcasters are a mix of Charisma and Intelligence and effectively casters, I was looking at making a rough progression based on a either the sorcerer or wizard progressions or some combination thereof.

Any thoughts or input would be welcomed.

Thanks.

 

[null]

Oooh! My turn to resurrect.

A quick question; how tall exactly are the flames for Blackfire. I've been using three feet but it comes up enough that I'd like to hear something close to official.

 

[ValidusVeritas]

My shadowcaster that I have been playing for the last 7 months or so is approaching epic levels. He's about to level to 18 and the campaign is going to continue.

I was wondering if anyone had given any thought to an Epic Progression for this class? Since the Shadowcasters are a mix of Charisma and Intelligence and effectively casters, I was looking at making a rough progression based on a either the sorcerer or wizard progressions or some combination thereof.

Any thoughts or input would be welcomed.

Thanks.

I played in a 30th Lvl adventure and used a Shadowcaster... basically all we did was make my Save DCs higher as appropriate and everything else that comes with the progression normally and then gave me access to one epic spell. I forget what it's called but its the buff one. My choice was of course CHA and my caster had like a 83 CHA at the end of the day. Which, makes his DCs pretty near impossible to hit, which makes the 8th and 9th Lvl Mysteries really really really good. Esp the save or die one and the prison of cold one that deals them Con dmg.

Oooh! My turn to resurrect.

A quick question; how tall exactly are the flames for Blackfire. I've been using three feet but it comes up enough that I'd like to hear something close to official.

We decided that since the Fire takes up a 5ft square, it would be a cube of fire. And since it's magical fire, it doesn't technically need anything to burn so you can stack the squares into a column. Which really came in handy when I needed to hit a flying dragon with it.

 

[mach1.9pants]

**Arise, Thrice Dead Thread**

 

[Sethvir]

Thanks for the replies. Also in the interim I have discovered over on the Giant In the Playground website forums some work by Realms of Chaos that expands the Shadowcaster into Epic levels and provides a whole host of new Shadow Magic related material. It's really quite good.

Descent of Shadows: Project Shadow Returns - Giant in the Playground Forums