Tome of Magic - Shadowcaster

[WarlockLord]

My drow shadowcaster runs as more of an "assassin mage." He hides in the shadows, looses spells, and falls back. Repeat. That's the way I see him. Make every spell count

I might try the umbral mind path. I have voice of shadow and like it quite a bit. I'm not sure what other path tho take, but I'm thinking umbral mind. I, too, took 2 arrows of dusk.


My only problem with the shadowcaster is that, at low levels, he is nearly helpless against undead. We fought quite a few of those in my campaign, and I could have cried, I was so helpless. For some reason, the dice hated me, and the undead made all their will saves. There were way too many to be affected by carpet of shadow

Still, cool idea. I am determined to play one to the very end and see how he does.

 

[genshou]

Of three main offensive spells for the gestalt Shadowcaster I mentioned, two deal subdual damage. So far we haven't encountered any undead, but that's where a Shadowcaster looks like they would have serious trouble. I've got Black Fire to help out when that does happen, and we have a Dread Necromancer and two Clerics in the party, so I'm not too concerned.

 

[Cadfan]

For what its worth, I think there are two reasons that people feel the shadowcaster is underpowered.

1) I think people undervalue defensive abilities when thinking about a class' powerlevel. I think they compare offense, and ignore defense. In comparison to a sorceror's innate defense, the shadowcaster has a bigger hit die, can cast in armor (anything without an armor check penalty, so for me mithril shirt and buckler) at the expense of one feat, has a good fortitude save, has spot, has hide, and has listen. Its fair that the shadowcaster lose a little offensive power in exchange for these things.

2) When people think about arcanists, they compare to the wizard and sorceror in their most tricked out forms. That means they're comparing to two of the best classes of the game, classes that are arguably overpowered as is. I personally don't mind if new classes don't quite reach the power level of unrestrained arcane magic, because unrestrained arcane magic is... kind of obnoxiously good.

People also tend to pick the examples that best make their point, so if you discuss shadowcasters with people who don't like them, be prepared to hear a lot about level 6, and not a lot about level 7.

Anyways, I really enjoy the class as is, and don't think it needs a power boost. I think if you just bear in mind its defensive abilities and its skills, it is an overall balanced class.

 

[genshou]

Yep, they've got some great defensive abilities. I've got mine equipped with shadow silk hide armour (arcane spell failure 5% in dark areas, proficient with it because she's a gestalt Rogue), and we're stuck underground in a massive dungeon. Every PC has at least 60' darkvision. Even with that armour, using steel shadows would give a nice boost to AC due to the shield bonus, almost as good as mage armour. And the best defense is not a good offense; it's making sure your foe isn't aware of you to begin with. Shadowcasters excel at that.

 

[James Heard]

On the other hand, simply not getting hit isn't an awful lot of fun.

 

[Thomas Percy]

She's a grey elf with the dark template from later in the chapter, so I gestalted a class with the Level Adjustment and chose to give her full levels in Shadowcaster, even though Rogue would have given me more starting skill points. She has 4 Shadowcaster levels and only 3 Rogue levels.

Can you post basic statblocks of this elf?
The shadow magic users are main bad guys in the main campaign I DM, so I need many NPC on various class and levels and I'm particulary interested in your combo ideas.

Three new branches of magic! This is what I like in ToM. In many many adventures and campaigns the PCs meet alien/ancient etc. races/civilizations etc. and I think they should have NEW types of magic. Imagine an alien from the famous movie in D&D. He simply can't shoot with sleep, magic missile and color spray spells.

 

[genshou]

I can do better than that! All information is regularly tracked and updated, including mysteries used since last rest period (she just rested recently, so all she's used is a single arrow of dusk). Note that her speed is down to 30 ft. thanks to encumbrance.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I rather like the flavor of Shadowcaster - in particular the way it can replace levels of other arcane spell casters over time. (In my Iron Kingdoms game I only allow it to replace Sorcerer levels, which are inherent, rather than Wizard, which is through knowledge - Shadowcasting is almost like a disease, reworking the caster over time...) This is also a good mechanic to balance the 'weak at low levels' problem - allowing the character to come up to the average power in a relatively short time. And it may tie in to the Infernals of the setting. Pact Magic, from the same book, definitely does.

The Auld Grump, too many games, not enough time...

 

[Seeten]

Only problem with the Shadowcaster/Rogue? She's a creepy elf chick.

 

[genshou]

Only problem with the Shadowcaster/Rogue? She's a creepy elf chick.

Speaking of creepy elf chicks...