Lesser Shadow Conjuuration/Evocation

[Pbartender]

So, in game, my Illusionist is planning on researching two new spells... Lesser Shadow Conjuration and Lesser Shadow Evocation... Partially to fill out the Illusion spell list, and partially to make himself a more versatile wizard.

Here's what I've got for the spells, it's a pretty simple conversion, but tell me what you think.

Lesser Shadow Conjuration

Illusion (Shadow)
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: See text
Effect: See text
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: Will disbelief (if interacted with); varies (see text)
Spell Resistance: No (see text)

The character uses material from the Plane of Shadow to shape quasi-real illusions of one or more creatures, objects, or forces. Shadow conjuration can mimic any sorcerer or wizard conjuration spell of 2nd level or lower. Shadow conjurations are minimally strong in comparison to the real things, though creatures who believe the shadow conjurations to be real are affected by them at full strength.

All those that interact with the conjured object, force, or creature can make Will saves to recognize its shadowy nature. Those who succeed do so.

Attack spells, such as flame arrow, have normal effects unless those affected succeed at Will saves. Each disbelieving creature takes no damage from the attack. If the disbelieved attack has a special effect other than damage, that effect does not occur. Mimicked spells allow the normal saves and SR.

Lesser shadow objects or substances, such as obscuring mists, have normal effects except against those who disbelieve them. Against disbelievers, they do not work.

Lesser shadow creatures have only one hit point (regardless of whether they’re recognized as shadowy). They deal normal damage and have all normal abilities and weaknesses. Against a creature who recognizes them as shadowy, however, such a creature deals no damage, and all special abilities fail to work. Furthermore, all shadow creatures have an AC of 10.

Those who succeed at their saves see the shadow conjurations as transparent images superimposed on vague, shadowy forms.

Lesser Shadow Evocation

Illusion (Shadow)
Level: Sor/Wiz 4
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: See text
Effect: See text
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: Will disbelief (if interacted with)
Spell Resistance: Yes

The character taps energy from the Plane of Shadow to cast a quasi-real, illusory version of a wizard or sorcerer evocation of 3rd level or lower. (For a spell with more than one level, use the best one applicable to the character.) For example, this spell can be magic missile, fireball, lightning bolt, or so on. If recognized as a shadow evocation, a damaging spell deals no damage. Regardless of the result of the save to disbelieve, affected creatures are also allowed any save the spell being simulated allows, but set the save DC according to shadow magic’s level (4th) rather than the spell’s normal level. Nondamaging effects (such as web’s ensnarement) have no effect when the shadow magic is recognized as mostly illusory.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

something i think you should keep in mind is the 'illusion: shadow' descriptor. this is what makes the spell quasi-real. the 'greater' versions of these spells still do damage, even when disbelieved. (this is detailed in the PH, pg 158) by taking any damage-dealing out of the spell, you should probably change the descriptor to illusion: glamer, and eliminate the 'quasi-real' portion of the text.

IMO, i would still allow the spells to do damage, based on the 20% damage of the original spells (maybe 10 or 15% of the spell the shadow illusion is mimicking)

 

[Spatzimaus]

I had actually made something very similar IMC. When disbelieved it did zero damage and summoned stuff had 1 HP, same as yours.

to Mr. Fidgit: he's just following the pattern, the existing ones change by 20% per level. It doesn't make it a glamer; notice that summoned stuff still has a hit point, it IS physically there, but just very tenuously woven together from Shadow matter.

The problem is, these shadow spells are one level higher than the spells they can mimic, and that hurts you far more at lower levels than at high ones. The dual saving throws make it too weak; one of the nice things about Shades (the level 6 one) is that even though it gives two saves, the slight increase in DC and 60% damage on disbelief actually keeps the average damage about the same.

Let's say I use your Lesser Shadow Evocation to throw a Fireball. Let's also say that it's DC 18 (I have an 18 INT and it's a 4th-level spell). I'm fighting a guy with a +5 save in both Reflex and Will, meaning he needs a 13 to save either way (40% chance). So, there's a 40% chance the spell does nothing (disbelief), a 24% chance the spell does half damage (believed but made save) and a 36% chance the spell does full damage. Average damage, 48%.
A straight Fireball has a DC of one less (45% chance of save); average damage, 77.5%. So, by increasing a spell level, you decrease the average damage by about 40% in exchange for the flexibility.
(I assumed for every Spell Focus or Headband of Intellect you have, the target has an Iron Will or Gloves of Dexterity, so the odds balanced)
To make it worse, most characters have either a good Reflex save or a good Will save, so the average damage drops even further.

Overall, still a nice set of spells. Great for Sorcerers (especially the Lesser Shadow Evocation, since there are very few level 4 Evocations I'd want). I added a few more IMC:
Minor Shadow Magic: level 2, lets you cast any level 1 Sor/Wiz Conjuration OR Evocation at 0% reality on disbelief.
Major Shadow Magic: level 8, lets you cast any level 1-6 Sor/Wiz Conjuration OR Evocation at 80% reality on disbelief
Shadow Storm: level 9, cloud spell, does 4d6 Fire, 4d6 Cold, 4d6 Lightning, 2d6 Acid, and 2d6 Sonic damage (half on disbelief) to everyone inside

(I wanted to add a regular Shadow Magic at 5 that mimics 1-3 spells at 40%, but it overlaps way too much with the existing spells IMHO)

Add Shadow Walk at 7, and suddenly you have a Shadow Domain for Clerics (except that for them it mimics Cleric spells instead of Wizard ones). Granted Power could be adding Hide/Move Silently to your class list or inherent Darkvision 60' or something.

 

[Pbartender]

Fidgit... Not to argue against giving myself a slightly more powerful spell, but Spatzi pretty much echoed my reasoning.

Though I suppose you could also reason that the percentage gets cut in half, instead of reduced by 20%.

Spatzi... Don't forget that there are two major advantages to these spells. 1. The spell mimics a Sorcerer's versatility, since you don't have to decide which Conjuration/Evocation spell to use until you cast it. 2. Shadow Conjuration turns Summoning spells into standard actions.

Plus, there are a handful of utility spells (Unseen Servant, Mount, Tenser's Floating Disk, Phantom Steed, Leo's Tiny Hut) that would not require the Will Save, since the person using the spell could simply fail the Save on purpose.

 

[Spatzimaus]

I know they add huge flexibility, that's not really the issue. I have a Sorcerer and he LOVES Shadow spells, to get around his limited spell list, and he groups with a Wizard who uses them to get around his memorization problem and specialization school limits.

It's that at a certain point they stop being useful, when the drop in effectiveness becomes too great. The flexibility is nice, but if you're only picking from a small group of spells, you don't gain as much. As I was trying to point out, the problem with something like Lesser Shadow Evocation is that if you're dropping 40% off the average damage thanks to the Will save AND being forced to use a higher spell slot, who would take it? You'd be better off just taking Fireball or Lightning Bolt, even against a monster partially resistant to that element.

As for monster summoning, I thought there was something (either in there, or in the errata, or in the Sage's stuff) that said if the mimicked spell has a longer cast time it uses that instead. Sorta like how Wish works.

Those Conjuration utility spells you listed wouldn't really be useful here. A Tenser's Floating Disk conjured with Shadow Conjuration is only 20% real, so whether you disbelieve or not it won't carry much weight. A shadow Phantom Steed won't go very fast at all (depending on DM's ruling, it's either 20% as fast, or has only a 20% chance of moving full speed).

If you're going to use these spells, just make sure you have Spell Focus: Illusion

 

[cerberus2112]

Relics & Rituals beat you to it

S&SS included very similar spells in Relics & Rituals. You might want to sneak a peak at those and see if its what you are looking for.