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What Exactly Is the Issue With the Shadowcaster and the Truenamer Classes?
- Thread starter Oversquid
- Start date
Empirate
First Post
Moving on to the Shadowcaster:
Even without fixes of any kind, this class is quite playable, more so at high levels than low. I'd rate them as tier 5 at first, but moving up to tier 4 at 5th level, and to tier 3 at 7th level. They're probably not on par with Beguilers (which are tier 2 in my book anyway), but I'd say they can hold their own alongside Bards, Dread Necromancers and Duskblades once they hit that magic 7th level.
Here is the best Shadowcaster handbook I know of.
The one big reason Shadowcasters get bad press is because they need quite a few levels under their belt before they become even slightly useful. Up to level 3 or 4, they're basically dead weight that you forgot why you carried it around. At level 5 or 6, they can make something happen from time to time, but they have like zero stamina. The move from level 6 to level 7 is a huge one, though: their mysteries/day more than doubles in a single level, which is rather insane, AND most of their mysteries now function as spell-like abilities instead of spells, which has nice perks.
The greatest problem Shadowcasters have up till then is staying power, since they can only cast each of their mysteries 1/day, which hurts the ones that bear spamming on one foe over and over, or that have very short duration. Speaking of duration, durations are another general problem, since mysteries tend to have durations a magnitude shorter than the spells they emulate. A final major problem point is the general lack of support for shadow magic, although there's a little bit on the WotC homepage here.
Minor issues include the following: no armor proficiency, so although you can get rid of somatic components for your casting very easily, your AC will most likely lack (and there are few mysteries that are really of any help here); Spot, but no Listen as a class skill (huh?); Cha focus, but only Intimidate as a class skill; generally low skillpoints for a class that needs something else to do after your limited mysteries/day are used up; slight issues of MAD (two casting stats, needs at least good Dex and Con on top of those); aside from mysteries, you get next to no class features worth talking about (darkvision is nice, but many races have good perceptive abilities already), and mysteries cannot pick up all that slack, unlike with Sorcerers or Wizards (and those at least get a familiar without spending a feat!).
You have a few perks, though: you get a few bonus feats, which will likely be very welcome, since there're a bunch of good feats available for Shadowcasters. Some mysteries can do things that next to nothing else in the system can replicate: Flicker (immediate action 'porting for multiple rounds), Echo Spell (recast anything somebody else just cast), Languor (Hold Monster, but not mind-affecting), Far Sight (Greater Scrying and True Seeing rolled into one), Black Labyrinth (mile-wide, days-long battlefield control) etc. You can get a Shadow Familiar, which is a familiar with the very nice Dark Creature template (and which can be upgraded to an Improved Familiar). You eventually get to cast your lower-level mysteries (and your Favored Mysteries) as supernatural abilities. Despite the slight case of MAD, you can function with middling ability scores, instead of needing at least one very high one (good if you roll). All quite nice, as is the flavor.
There have been some suggestions by the class' designer Ari Marmell (here), which are by this point well-known, and should go a long way to alleviate your problems. I still find Shadowcasters slightly underwhelming in e.g. an E6 environment, and if you play them from level 1, you'll be in a world of hurt. But then, level 1 is always wonky like hell.
I'd like to come up with some further "fixes", or at least options, at some point - my current E6 campaign will sport a cabal of Shadowcasters in the near future, which I want to be a challenge to my PCs. Here's some suggestions:
1) Allow Fundamentals to be used at will at 4th level.
2) Give Shadowcasters Light Armor Proficiency.
3) Give Shadowcasters 4+IntMod skill points per level.
4) Introduce an Extra Mystery feat, which allows you to pick a mystery one level lower than the highest-level mystery you already know.
5) Change the Favored Mystery feat to always allow one extra use/day of that mystery whenever you pick it (instead of only if your mystery is usable as a supernatural ability).
6) Eliminate all prerequisites for metashadow feats (so you can pick up Quicken Mystery three times right away, if you're so inclined).
I'll also write up an E6 capstone feat or two at some point.
Even without fixes of any kind, this class is quite playable, more so at high levels than low. I'd rate them as tier 5 at first, but moving up to tier 4 at 5th level, and to tier 3 at 7th level. They're probably not on par with Beguilers (which are tier 2 in my book anyway), but I'd say they can hold their own alongside Bards, Dread Necromancers and Duskblades once they hit that magic 7th level.
Here is the best Shadowcaster handbook I know of.
The one big reason Shadowcasters get bad press is because they need quite a few levels under their belt before they become even slightly useful. Up to level 3 or 4, they're basically dead weight that you forgot why you carried it around. At level 5 or 6, they can make something happen from time to time, but they have like zero stamina. The move from level 6 to level 7 is a huge one, though: their mysteries/day more than doubles in a single level, which is rather insane, AND most of their mysteries now function as spell-like abilities instead of spells, which has nice perks.
The greatest problem Shadowcasters have up till then is staying power, since they can only cast each of their mysteries 1/day, which hurts the ones that bear spamming on one foe over and over, or that have very short duration. Speaking of duration, durations are another general problem, since mysteries tend to have durations a magnitude shorter than the spells they emulate. A final major problem point is the general lack of support for shadow magic, although there's a little bit on the WotC homepage here.
Minor issues include the following: no armor proficiency, so although you can get rid of somatic components for your casting very easily, your AC will most likely lack (and there are few mysteries that are really of any help here); Spot, but no Listen as a class skill (huh?); Cha focus, but only Intimidate as a class skill; generally low skillpoints for a class that needs something else to do after your limited mysteries/day are used up; slight issues of MAD (two casting stats, needs at least good Dex and Con on top of those); aside from mysteries, you get next to no class features worth talking about (darkvision is nice, but many races have good perceptive abilities already), and mysteries cannot pick up all that slack, unlike with Sorcerers or Wizards (and those at least get a familiar without spending a feat!).
You have a few perks, though: you get a few bonus feats, which will likely be very welcome, since there're a bunch of good feats available for Shadowcasters. Some mysteries can do things that next to nothing else in the system can replicate: Flicker (immediate action 'porting for multiple rounds), Echo Spell (recast anything somebody else just cast), Languor (Hold Monster, but not mind-affecting), Far Sight (Greater Scrying and True Seeing rolled into one), Black Labyrinth (mile-wide, days-long battlefield control) etc. You can get a Shadow Familiar, which is a familiar with the very nice Dark Creature template (and which can be upgraded to an Improved Familiar). You eventually get to cast your lower-level mysteries (and your Favored Mysteries) as supernatural abilities. Despite the slight case of MAD, you can function with middling ability scores, instead of needing at least one very high one (good if you roll). All quite nice, as is the flavor.
There have been some suggestions by the class' designer Ari Marmell (here), which are by this point well-known, and should go a long way to alleviate your problems. I still find Shadowcasters slightly underwhelming in e.g. an E6 environment, and if you play them from level 1, you'll be in a world of hurt. But then, level 1 is always wonky like hell.
I'd like to come up with some further "fixes", or at least options, at some point - my current E6 campaign will sport a cabal of Shadowcasters in the near future, which I want to be a challenge to my PCs. Here's some suggestions:
1) Allow Fundamentals to be used at will at 4th level.
2) Give Shadowcasters Light Armor Proficiency.
3) Give Shadowcasters 4+IntMod skill points per level.
4) Introduce an Extra Mystery feat, which allows you to pick a mystery one level lower than the highest-level mystery you already know.
5) Change the Favored Mystery feat to always allow one extra use/day of that mystery whenever you pick it (instead of only if your mystery is usable as a supernatural ability).
6) Eliminate all prerequisites for metashadow feats (so you can pick up Quicken Mystery three times right away, if you're so inclined).
I'll also write up an E6 capstone feat or two at some point.
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