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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Realms of Chaos" data-source="post: 3732483" data-attributes="member: 54946">Behind The Curtain:Shadow Immersion/Desires Manifest: Of all mysteries, these have been the hardest to introduce. So, allow me to explain myself. First of all, with shadow immersion, the problem that it is forcibly “prepared” each day. Since its creation, I’ve changed its cost from instant death to a large backlash.As far as Desires Manifest, yes, I am making it pretty hard to use. The thing is, a wish cannot come cheap to a class that is balanced by its numerical lack of “spells”. Furthermore, no mystery to date has an XP cost (a trend I am unwilling to change), making the ability to imitate mysteries, create Items, or revive the dead a bit overpowering. In response, I enacted a fatal and unavoidable penalty. A harsh price but one that many will pay nonethelessThe Shadow Exclusivity Error: With most magic systems, the basic trend is that there is some feat or ability allowing others to emulate their abilities (to a certain extent) but the prestige classes are limited to those utilizing that system. Shadow Magic, for whatever which reason, ran completely contrary to this, allowing no outside access to mysteries outside of the Shadowsmith. On the other hand, their prestige classes are more open than others, especially to users of “traditional shadow magic” (spellcasters using shadow spells).This combination, while allowing for a gentle easing into shadow magic, both robs it of some exclusivity and isolates it as a class. Through a combination of racial substitution levels, alternate class abilities, and more exclusive prestige classes, I attempt to fix this problem. Don’t worry, the flavor of the class has not been harmed. If anything, a new level of flavor has been added. With alternate class abilities, there are more ways to introduce shadow magic into gameplay, some of which flow more smoothly. With racial substitution levels, the class seems to naturally fit into the world, allowing it to develop a niche. With more exclusive prestige classes, you have new ground to explore once the initial shock and novelty of shadowcasting wears off.Once again, I have solved a problem, not through rules tweaking, but by the addition of new material.Overlap: I feel as though there is a much smaller and (ImO) less severe error that I should point out. In the Tome of Magic, and in the later web enhancement (to cityscape, not tome of magic), I notice that no two paths seemed to share a theme. In the process of making new mysteries, however, this is almost impossible, for how would I unite old favorites like freedom of movement-overland flight-find the path, for example, without trampling upon the flavor of ebon roads. Making 20 new paths, it was incredibly hard to keep each path separate and there is some overlap. If you think I should rearrange the mysteries into different paths to isolate each path’s uniqueness, let me know and give me some ideas. Another unique step that I did was flavoring over some divine spells into mysteries. With my addition of the “divine” cultist base class, it seemed like a logical step.Abyssym: Overpowered?All warlock fans out there probably noticed the Abyssym. This prestige class looks amazing. Full shadowcasting and invocation progression, the ability to apply metashadow feats to your eldritch blast, and several small effects tacked onto both your mysteries and eldritch blasts. From many perspectives, this may be the best thing to happen to the warlock since the hellfire warlock (despite a bit of lack in eldritch blast progression, which can be made up for by said prestige class). The thing is, the class was made to look amazing. Every class deserves a truly awesome option. Try comparing this to the Planar Shepherd, Master of Many Forms, Abjurant Champion, Jade Pheonix Master, Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, Dweomer Keeper, Hulking Hurler and many, many others. This is meant to be a “high-grade”, power-gamer attention grabber, granting versatility to two classes renowned for their lack of versatility. Is it powerful? probably. Is it broken? Not quite. Inspirations: Intentional and Otherwise.Many of you out there may think that the cursed walker is a bit familiar. If you choose to associate it with an even darker version of the grisgol (MM 3), that is your business, but that was not my inspiration. Those of you who have the Dread Codex PDF file, however, may recognize the CR 12 Lector, another cursed-item hunting undead. This was my inspiration, although I turned much fluff into crunch.Also, a few of you might think that my night stone creation was inspired by some (drow?) items used in Bolder’s Gate. Having never played the game myself, this is pure coincidence. I only just realized the parallel myself.As far as deities, Dolus is the Greek god of trickery and Mutart is a combination of the Egyptian moon goddess (Mut) and the Amazon moon goddess (Artemis). A bit rough, but it works.ComplicationsThe Efficient Metashadow epic feat is probably the clunkiest thing that I have ever worded, although the meaning should come through. Also, I don’t know the formula for pricing constructs, and was thus unable to price the Shadow Ore golem.</blockquote>

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