wykthor
First Post
Here are my impressions about a human shadowcaster 20 on a one-shot session:
Yesterday, I played a short story which was essentially the first attempt of the DM on a high-level adventure, just to know how the game would flow. I’m the first to admit the session was too easy and without constituting real danger, partly because the characters were way optimized, partly due to some inexperience from my friend and partly for the encounters, whose EL could be a little higher. The party was composed by:
- A Human Fighter 20, specialized in jovar (that fancy celestial greatsword from Planar Handbook).
- A Human Favored Soul 20, more into healing and buffing than front combat.
- A Human Shadowcaster 20, whose statistics follow below.
- A Gnome Rogue 7/Wizard 1/Arcane Trickster 2/Master of Masks 10
Basically, the story revolved around the classic BBEG wanting revenge after being defeated in the past (in that case, a banished marilith). But in the end it showed that the demon was not the perpetrator of the actions that drawn the party to the (obvious) ambush. The marilith was an ally of the true mastermind, a gargantuan great wyrm black dragon, who coveted the party’s resources and feared they could potentially ruin his schemes and decided to be proactive to stamp their menace. Unfortunately, the story didn’t cover much on the act of investigation and sneaking :-(. The session went through three encounters:
1) A fight against an eldritch giant (MM III, CR 15), and three halfspawn from MM IV. I don’t have this book, so I am not sure of the CR’s (and so the EL), but one of them was a “bluespawn godslayer” (I think) and the others had minis that looked like a wingless blue half-dragon rhinoceros. On the first round, the giant and one of the rhinoceros fell before they act, thanks to an area effect (no save) of 18 points of Dexterity damage, due to a quickened Flesh Fails Greater + a Twin Flesh Fails Greater (as I mentioned before, I wanted to check the potential abuse of this mystery in conjunction with metashadow feats). The favored soul employed an empowered Blood to Water spell (Spell Compendium) on the “godslayer”, whom failed the save and suffered 12 CON damage. On the second round, this monster suffered 22 STR damage from the Favored Soul, who cast a quickened empowered moonbolt (Spell Compendium) and a maximized moonbolt. The fighter made short work of it, and of the other rhinoceros too. The encounter ended without any real wounds (less than 40 hp to one PC, 20 to another).
Conclusion: The Shadowcaster used some other mysteries, like Flood of Shadow (no time to use) and Piercing Sight prior to the encounter (no need to use) and concentrated her offensive actions through the use of a 7th-level mystery (Flesh Fails, Greater) plus one extra use thanks to her high CHA. I still think the possible effect of 18 STR/18 DEX too high, but the other spellcasters can pull similar tricks with metamagic feats. For now, I still like the idea of allowing a Fortitude Save: partial to Flesh Fails Greater, meaning the target may avoid total ability loss and instead be reduced to STR/DEX/CON 1 on a successful save.
2) The party met two demons: the marilith (who was supposedly the big enemy) and a balor (EL21 approx.). The second encounter was trickier because there was some kind of weird antimagic field ( it’s from a miniatures’ map) that had to be disabled in order to combat the creatures effectively. The Shadowcaster used a Shadow Time mystery, followed by two Army of Shadows mysteries (one for the spell, one for the high CHA), which could do almost nothing while the antimagic field was generated. The Favored Soul and the Master of Masks acted as support meanwhile. After the magic returned, the Shadowcaster burned her highest remaining mysteries: Shadow Surge (Will DC 29) and Ephemeral Storm (Fort DC 31). The marilith was destroyed and the fighter finished the balor. Fortunately, before the combat began, the Fighter and the Shadowcaster had benefited from the Bolster mystery, so the death throes from the demon didn´t hurt too much.
Conclusion: The Shadowcaster used her big guns this time. The high DC is one of her main strengths, as of any full spellcaster who could achieve the same DC with spells (wizards: wail of the banshee, dominate monster; cleric: implosion). The shadow elementals created could be employed in the following encounter, so they proved could prove their usefulness, though it could be more interesting and challenging if the last encounter occurred later, without their help.
3) The showdown of the session happened when the Great Wyrm Gargantuan Black Dragon showed itself (personally, as a follower of B.A.D.D, I’d never use a fair, no-surprise, no spell preparation encounter when using a great wyrm). The combat was unfortunately short (two or three rounds, don’t remember). The Shadowcaster used a combination of Flood of Shadow plus Killing Shadows to avoid the beast’s SR while directed the Elder Shadow Elementals (1 was destroyed in this combat) who dealt only moderate cold damage. The Master of Masks shined with his sneak attack and the Fighter also made liberal use of his Momentum Swing (combat brute feat) to bring down the Dragon.
Conclusion: While the game session had only three encounters that could be tougher (EL: ?, 21 and 22 to a party of level 20), before the final battle the Shadowcaster had expended her “instant drop and kill” arsenal , which could mean a more prolonged battle with less damaging mysteries. That’s because the Quicken Mystery and Twin Mystery metashadow feats were already spent, which reduced her damage potential to 1.5x20d6/120 dmg (Shadow Storm, Life Fades Greater, Curtain of shadows and Killing Shadows mysteries), which is a good amount of damage, but nowhere could threaten a wizard’s or sorcerer’s might. But one thing is certain: the extra uses of mysteries granted by a high attribute has proven their importance.
All in all, although I can’t fully consider the session as reliable to test the potential of the shadowcaster (especially regarding sneaking and terrain controlling), it showed some interesting points. Regarding the Shadowcaster’s character sheet:
Alania – CN Human Shadowcaster 20
AC: 30 (+3 dex +4 natural + 8 armor + 5 deflection)
HD: 6 +19d6 +120 (192 hp)
Initiative: +3 BAB/Grapple: +10/+9
Saves: Fort +17 Ref +14 Will +17
Abilities (25 pt buy: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8; all 5 ability points bonus applied to CHA):
Str 8, Dex 16, Con 22, Int 19, Wis 10, Cha 30
Shadowcaster class abilities: Fundamentals, Mysteries, Sustaining Shadow, Umbral Sight
Skills (not counting synergy bonuses):
Concentration +22, Hide +23, Move Silently +31, Knowledge (arcana) +23, Knowledge (the planes) +20, Spellcraft +27, Spot +15, Use Magic Device +19
Languages: Common, elf, draconic, undercommon, abyssal
Feats:
1- Enlarge Mystery
1- (bonus: racial) Empower Mystery
3- Maximize Mystery
6- Quicken Mystery
6- Twin Mystery (bonus: Eyes of Darkness path completed )
6- Maximize Mystery (bonus: Ebon Whispers path completed)
9- Empower Mystery
12- Quicken Mystery
15- Path Focus - Breath of Twilight
18- Mystery Penetration (as Spell Penetration)
19- Path Focus, Greater - Breath of Twilight (bonus: Breath of Twilight path completed)
Fundamentals (Save DC 20, when applicable):
Arrow of Dusk (6/day)
Black Candle (3/day)
Caul of Shadows (3/day)
Liquid Night (3/day)
Mystic Reflections (3/day)
Sight Obscured (3/day)
Umbral Hand (3/day)
The starting fundamentals at 1st level were: Arrow of Dusk x2 and Black Candle. At 4th level Alania picked Mystic Reflections, at 8th chose Caul of shadows, at 12th Umbral Hand was chosen, at 16th Sight Obscured was selected and at 20th Liquid Night was taken.
Mysteries (and bonus uses/day for high CHA):
1st (Su) – Bonus uses/day: 3
Voice of shadow 3/day (Will DC 21)
Bend Perspective 3/day
2nd (Su) – Bonus uses/day: 3
Congress of Shadows 3/day
Piercing Sight 3/day
3rd (Su) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Killing Shadows 3/day (Will DC 23)
Flicker 3/day
4th (Sp) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Bolster 2/day
Warp Spell 2/day
5th (Sp) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Curtain of Shadows 2/day
Pass into Shadow 2/day
6th (Sp) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Flood of Shadow 2/day
Shadow Storm 2/day (Ref DC 26)
7th (Spell) – Bonus uses/day: 1
Life Fades, Greater 1/day (Will DC 29)
Truth Revealed 1/day (Will DC 27)
8th (Spell) – Bonus uses/day: 1
Tomb of Night 1/day (Fort DC 28)
Flesh Fails, Greater 1/day
9th (Spell) – Bonus uses/day: 1
Army of Shadow 1/day
Shadow Time 1/day
Ephemeral Storm 1/day (Fort DC 31)
Shadow Surge 1/day (Will DC 29)
Metashadow feats usable per day:
Quicken 2/day
Empower 2/day (not counting the use of Flood of Shadows)
Maximize Spell 2/day + 3/day on mysteries 1st -6th (metashadow rod)
Twin Spell 1/day
Magical equipment:
Heward’s Fortifying Bedroll (C.Mage)
Circlet of Charisma +6
Belt of Health +6
Gloves of Dexterity +4
Amulet of Natural Armor +4
Vest of Resistance +5 (C.Arcane)
Ring of Invisibility
Ring of Protection +5
Bracers of Armor +8
Wings of Flying
Metashadow Rod - Maximize (1st-6th mysteries)
Wand of Lesser Restoration
Wand of Avoid Planar effects
Bag of Holding I
Keoghtom’s Ointment
Boots of Elvenkind
Potion of Tongues
Potion of Remove Blindness
Potion of Protection from Fire
Potion of Endure elements
Tome of Leadership & Influence +4
Tome of Clear Thought +4
Manual of Bodily health +3
Cash: 11.000 gp
Swapping mysteries: As the sorcerer, the shadowcaster may exchange one mystery for another one of the same level when she reaches the shadowcaster level 4 and may exchange once again at each even-numbered level onward. While the mystery list above is the final one, this shadowcaster have swapped a few mysteries along her career:
Shadowcaster level:
2 – Life Fades (max dmg 5d6 at 5th level)
6 – Life Fades swapped for Bend Perspective - completes the Eyes of Darkness Path at this level, as Killing Shadows was chosen at 5th and Piercing Sight at 4th. In the same level, the mystery chosen is Flicker, so the Shadowcaster also completes the Ebon Whispers path (because Voice of shadow was chosen at 1st level and Congress of shadows at 3rd level).
So, Alania as Shadowcaster 6 obtains thus a total of 3 feats, obtaining maximize, twin and quicken mystery. Yes, this can be a serious problem until higher levels, which I imagine the other spellcasters may use more easily their metamagic feats. But until then, at 6th level of experience, a quickened Killing Shadows followed at the same round by a twin killing Shadows, dealing up to 18d8 dmg IS scary. Besides this and the massive ability damage cited earlier from Flesh Fails Greater Mystery, I haven’t found any other problems
Yesterday, I played a short story which was essentially the first attempt of the DM on a high-level adventure, just to know how the game would flow. I’m the first to admit the session was too easy and without constituting real danger, partly because the characters were way optimized, partly due to some inexperience from my friend and partly for the encounters, whose EL could be a little higher. The party was composed by:
- A Human Fighter 20, specialized in jovar (that fancy celestial greatsword from Planar Handbook).
- A Human Favored Soul 20, more into healing and buffing than front combat.
- A Human Shadowcaster 20, whose statistics follow below.
- A Gnome Rogue 7/Wizard 1/Arcane Trickster 2/Master of Masks 10
Basically, the story revolved around the classic BBEG wanting revenge after being defeated in the past (in that case, a banished marilith). But in the end it showed that the demon was not the perpetrator of the actions that drawn the party to the (obvious) ambush. The marilith was an ally of the true mastermind, a gargantuan great wyrm black dragon, who coveted the party’s resources and feared they could potentially ruin his schemes and decided to be proactive to stamp their menace. Unfortunately, the story didn’t cover much on the act of investigation and sneaking :-(. The session went through three encounters:
1) A fight against an eldritch giant (MM III, CR 15), and three halfspawn from MM IV. I don’t have this book, so I am not sure of the CR’s (and so the EL), but one of them was a “bluespawn godslayer” (I think) and the others had minis that looked like a wingless blue half-dragon rhinoceros. On the first round, the giant and one of the rhinoceros fell before they act, thanks to an area effect (no save) of 18 points of Dexterity damage, due to a quickened Flesh Fails Greater + a Twin Flesh Fails Greater (as I mentioned before, I wanted to check the potential abuse of this mystery in conjunction with metashadow feats). The favored soul employed an empowered Blood to Water spell (Spell Compendium) on the “godslayer”, whom failed the save and suffered 12 CON damage. On the second round, this monster suffered 22 STR damage from the Favored Soul, who cast a quickened empowered moonbolt (Spell Compendium) and a maximized moonbolt. The fighter made short work of it, and of the other rhinoceros too. The encounter ended without any real wounds (less than 40 hp to one PC, 20 to another).
Conclusion: The Shadowcaster used some other mysteries, like Flood of Shadow (no time to use) and Piercing Sight prior to the encounter (no need to use) and concentrated her offensive actions through the use of a 7th-level mystery (Flesh Fails, Greater) plus one extra use thanks to her high CHA. I still think the possible effect of 18 STR/18 DEX too high, but the other spellcasters can pull similar tricks with metamagic feats. For now, I still like the idea of allowing a Fortitude Save: partial to Flesh Fails Greater, meaning the target may avoid total ability loss and instead be reduced to STR/DEX/CON 1 on a successful save.
2) The party met two demons: the marilith (who was supposedly the big enemy) and a balor (EL21 approx.). The second encounter was trickier because there was some kind of weird antimagic field ( it’s from a miniatures’ map) that had to be disabled in order to combat the creatures effectively. The Shadowcaster used a Shadow Time mystery, followed by two Army of Shadows mysteries (one for the spell, one for the high CHA), which could do almost nothing while the antimagic field was generated. The Favored Soul and the Master of Masks acted as support meanwhile. After the magic returned, the Shadowcaster burned her highest remaining mysteries: Shadow Surge (Will DC 29) and Ephemeral Storm (Fort DC 31). The marilith was destroyed and the fighter finished the balor. Fortunately, before the combat began, the Fighter and the Shadowcaster had benefited from the Bolster mystery, so the death throes from the demon didn´t hurt too much.
Conclusion: The Shadowcaster used her big guns this time. The high DC is one of her main strengths, as of any full spellcaster who could achieve the same DC with spells (wizards: wail of the banshee, dominate monster; cleric: implosion). The shadow elementals created could be employed in the following encounter, so they proved could prove their usefulness, though it could be more interesting and challenging if the last encounter occurred later, without their help.
3) The showdown of the session happened when the Great Wyrm Gargantuan Black Dragon showed itself (personally, as a follower of B.A.D.D, I’d never use a fair, no-surprise, no spell preparation encounter when using a great wyrm). The combat was unfortunately short (two or three rounds, don’t remember). The Shadowcaster used a combination of Flood of Shadow plus Killing Shadows to avoid the beast’s SR while directed the Elder Shadow Elementals (1 was destroyed in this combat) who dealt only moderate cold damage. The Master of Masks shined with his sneak attack and the Fighter also made liberal use of his Momentum Swing (combat brute feat) to bring down the Dragon.
Conclusion: While the game session had only three encounters that could be tougher (EL: ?, 21 and 22 to a party of level 20), before the final battle the Shadowcaster had expended her “instant drop and kill” arsenal , which could mean a more prolonged battle with less damaging mysteries. That’s because the Quicken Mystery and Twin Mystery metashadow feats were already spent, which reduced her damage potential to 1.5x20d6/120 dmg (Shadow Storm, Life Fades Greater, Curtain of shadows and Killing Shadows mysteries), which is a good amount of damage, but nowhere could threaten a wizard’s or sorcerer’s might. But one thing is certain: the extra uses of mysteries granted by a high attribute has proven their importance.
All in all, although I can’t fully consider the session as reliable to test the potential of the shadowcaster (especially regarding sneaking and terrain controlling), it showed some interesting points. Regarding the Shadowcaster’s character sheet:
Alania – CN Human Shadowcaster 20
AC: 30 (+3 dex +4 natural + 8 armor + 5 deflection)
HD: 6 +19d6 +120 (192 hp)
Initiative: +3 BAB/Grapple: +10/+9
Saves: Fort +17 Ref +14 Will +17
Abilities (25 pt buy: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8; all 5 ability points bonus applied to CHA):
Str 8, Dex 16, Con 22, Int 19, Wis 10, Cha 30
Shadowcaster class abilities: Fundamentals, Mysteries, Sustaining Shadow, Umbral Sight
Skills (not counting synergy bonuses):
Concentration +22, Hide +23, Move Silently +31, Knowledge (arcana) +23, Knowledge (the planes) +20, Spellcraft +27, Spot +15, Use Magic Device +19
Languages: Common, elf, draconic, undercommon, abyssal
Feats:
1- Enlarge Mystery
1- (bonus: racial) Empower Mystery
3- Maximize Mystery
6- Quicken Mystery
6- Twin Mystery (bonus: Eyes of Darkness path completed )
6- Maximize Mystery (bonus: Ebon Whispers path completed)
9- Empower Mystery
12- Quicken Mystery
15- Path Focus - Breath of Twilight
18- Mystery Penetration (as Spell Penetration)
19- Path Focus, Greater - Breath of Twilight (bonus: Breath of Twilight path completed)
Fundamentals (Save DC 20, when applicable):
Arrow of Dusk (6/day)
Black Candle (3/day)
Caul of Shadows (3/day)
Liquid Night (3/day)
Mystic Reflections (3/day)
Sight Obscured (3/day)
Umbral Hand (3/day)
The starting fundamentals at 1st level were: Arrow of Dusk x2 and Black Candle. At 4th level Alania picked Mystic Reflections, at 8th chose Caul of shadows, at 12th Umbral Hand was chosen, at 16th Sight Obscured was selected and at 20th Liquid Night was taken.
Mysteries (and bonus uses/day for high CHA):
1st (Su) – Bonus uses/day: 3
Voice of shadow 3/day (Will DC 21)
Bend Perspective 3/day
2nd (Su) – Bonus uses/day: 3
Congress of Shadows 3/day
Piercing Sight 3/day
3rd (Su) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Killing Shadows 3/day (Will DC 23)
Flicker 3/day
4th (Sp) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Bolster 2/day
Warp Spell 2/day
5th (Sp) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Curtain of Shadows 2/day
Pass into Shadow 2/day
6th (Sp) – Bonus uses/day: 2
Flood of Shadow 2/day
Shadow Storm 2/day (Ref DC 26)
7th (Spell) – Bonus uses/day: 1
Life Fades, Greater 1/day (Will DC 29)
Truth Revealed 1/day (Will DC 27)
8th (Spell) – Bonus uses/day: 1
Tomb of Night 1/day (Fort DC 28)
Flesh Fails, Greater 1/day
9th (Spell) – Bonus uses/day: 1
Army of Shadow 1/day
Shadow Time 1/day
Ephemeral Storm 1/day (Fort DC 31)
Shadow Surge 1/day (Will DC 29)
Metashadow feats usable per day:
Quicken 2/day
Empower 2/day (not counting the use of Flood of Shadows)
Maximize Spell 2/day + 3/day on mysteries 1st -6th (metashadow rod)
Twin Spell 1/day
Magical equipment:
Heward’s Fortifying Bedroll (C.Mage)
Circlet of Charisma +6
Belt of Health +6
Gloves of Dexterity +4
Amulet of Natural Armor +4
Vest of Resistance +5 (C.Arcane)
Ring of Invisibility
Ring of Protection +5
Bracers of Armor +8
Wings of Flying
Metashadow Rod - Maximize (1st-6th mysteries)
Wand of Lesser Restoration
Wand of Avoid Planar effects
Bag of Holding I
Keoghtom’s Ointment
Boots of Elvenkind
Potion of Tongues
Potion of Remove Blindness
Potion of Protection from Fire
Potion of Endure elements
Tome of Leadership & Influence +4
Tome of Clear Thought +4
Manual of Bodily health +3
Cash: 11.000 gp
Swapping mysteries: As the sorcerer, the shadowcaster may exchange one mystery for another one of the same level when she reaches the shadowcaster level 4 and may exchange once again at each even-numbered level onward. While the mystery list above is the final one, this shadowcaster have swapped a few mysteries along her career:
Shadowcaster level:
2 – Life Fades (max dmg 5d6 at 5th level)
6 – Life Fades swapped for Bend Perspective - completes the Eyes of Darkness Path at this level, as Killing Shadows was chosen at 5th and Piercing Sight at 4th. In the same level, the mystery chosen is Flicker, so the Shadowcaster also completes the Ebon Whispers path (because Voice of shadow was chosen at 1st level and Congress of shadows at 3rd level).
So, Alania as Shadowcaster 6 obtains thus a total of 3 feats, obtaining maximize, twin and quicken mystery. Yes, this can be a serious problem until higher levels, which I imagine the other spellcasters may use more easily their metamagic feats. But until then, at 6th level of experience, a quickened Killing Shadows followed at the same round by a twin killing Shadows, dealing up to 18d8 dmg IS scary. Besides this and the massive ability damage cited earlier from Flesh Fails Greater Mystery, I haven’t found any other problems
