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Djinn_in_Tonic
2009-12-16, 05:29 PM
SHADOWCASTER


Designer's Note The Shadowcaster is designed to be what the Wizard should have been; a master of the battlefield. It can hinder large groups of foes at once, place debilitating effects on its enemies, and set up tactical situations for its allies. What it lacks in raw damage output it makes up for in battlefield dominance: a Shadowcaster can manipulate his enemies locations like no other class.

Also, more to come.

CLASS TRAITS
Role Controller.
Power Source Shadow.
Key Abilities Charisma, Intelligence.

Armor Proficiencies Cloth.
Weapon Proficiencies Dagger, Quarterstaff.
Implements Staffs, Orbs.
Bonus to Defenses +2 Will.

Hit Points at 1st Level 10 + Constitution score.
Hit Points per Level Gained 4.
Healing Surges per Day 6 + Constitution modifier.

Class Features Dark Manipulation, Night Eyes, Shade’s Gift, Vanish from Sight

Dark Manipulation Once per round, as a minor action, you may place a Shade token (see statistics below) in any unoccupied square within a burst 5 centered on you. You may have up to 2 shades summoned at once. As a move action you may move a single Shade up to 6 squares. At the end of the encounter, all Shades return to the nether realms from whence they came.

Shade – Minion
Medium shadow humanoid (undead)
Shadowy Presence (Shadow) aura 1; Enemies starting their turn in the aura take necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier, and treat all squares within the aura as difficult terrain.
AC 13 + Level Fortitude 12 + Level Reflex 14 + Level Will 16 + Level
Immunities Shade Immunities
Speed fly 6 (hover); phasing
Shade Immunities Shades are immune to all effects and all damage except fire damage, force damage, radiant damage, and psychic damage.

Night Eyes You can see perfectly in natural or magically created darkness, ignoring any concealment that would be gained in this manner.

Shade’s Gift Shadowcasters are a varied bunch. Some strike from the shadows, impossible to grasp. Others lurk in the dark corners of the mind, instilling fear into the very souls of their opponents. Choose one of the following two options:
--Dark Wraith You are considered insubstantial while moving, and may move through enemy spaces freely (although you still provoke attacks of opportunity as normal).
--Night Haunt Any creature under an ongoing effect from one of your powers with the fear keyword takes a -2 penalty to all saving throws, including saving throws against the aforementioned effect.

Vanish from Sight Once per encounter, as an immediate reaction after taking damage from an attack, you may turn invisible until the start of your next turn and teleport up to 5 squares.


Level 1 At-Will Umbrae

Clinging Shadows – Shadowcaster Attack 1
Shadows leap up from the cold ground, tangling around your foe’s feet.
At-Will * Cold, Implement, Shadow
Standard Action – Area burst 2 within 10 squares
Target Each enemy in burst
Attack Charisma vs. Reflex
Hit Charisma modifier cold damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Increase damage to 3 + Charisma modifier cold damage at 21st level.
Special If the attack is a critical hit, the target is immobilized until the end of your next turn instead.

Frightful Shadows – Shadowcaster Attack 1
A veil of flitting shadows settles over the area, driving your foes into a heightened state of terror.
At-Will * Fear, Implement, Psychic, Shadow
Standard Action – Area burst 2 within 10 squares
Target Each enemy in burst
Attack Charisma vs. Will
Hit Charisma modifier psychic damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws until the end of your next turn.
Increase damage to 3 + Charisma modifier cold damage at 21st level.
Special If the attack is a critical hit, the target takes a penalty to attack rolls and saving throws equal to 2 + your Charisma modifier.

Life Fades – Shadowcaster Attack 1
Your opponent doubles over, their face white and drained as their vitality escapes them.
At-Will * Implement, Necrotic, Shadow
Standard Action – Area burst 1 within 10 squares
Target Each enemy in burst
Attack Charisma vs. Fortitude
Hit Charisma modifier necrotic damage, and the target reduces the damage dealt by its next attack by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier.
Increase damage to 3 + Charisma modifier cold damage at 21st level, and increase the damage prevented to 5 + your Charisma modifier.
Special If the attack is a critical hit, the target reduces the damage dealt by its next attack by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier + 1/2 your level.

Shadow Twist – Shadowcaster Attack 1
As you beckon, your opponent’s shadow rises up, turning on its master.
At-Will * Conjuration, Implement, Necrotic, Shadow
Standard Action – Ranged 10
Target One creature
Attack Charisma vs. Will
Hit Charisma modifier necrotic damage. If you have fewer than your maximum number of conjured Shades, place a Shade in any square adjacent to your opponent.
Increase damage to 3 + Charisma modifier cold damage at 21st level.
Special If the attack is a critical hit, the target is dazed until the start of its next turn.


Level 1 Encounter Umbrae

Afraid of the Dark – Shadowcaster Attack 1
Your opponent looks into the darkness, and sees his worst fears reflected back at him.
Encounter * Fear, Implement, Psychic, Shadow
Standard Action – Area burst 1 within 10 squares
Target All enemies within burst
Attack Charisma vs. Will
Hit Charisma modifier psychic damage, and the target is weakened (save ends). If the target attacks a creature within a Shade's aura while weakened by this effect, make a secondary attack.
Secondary Attack Charisma +2 vs. Will – The target is dazed until the start of its next turn, and takes ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends).
Special: If the primary attack is a critical hit, the target grants combat advantage as long as it is weakened.

Confounding Shades – Shadowcaster Attack 1
Your shades erupt with the bleak energy of the shadow realm, wrapping shadows around your enemies to confuse their senses.
Encounter * Cold, Implement, Necrotic, Shade, Shadow
Standard Action – Burst 1 centered on each Shade within 10 squares
Target Each enemy within burst
Attack Charisma vs. Fortitude. You may slide each Shade 2 squares before the attack.
Hit Charisma modifier cold and necrotic damage.
Effect Until the end of your next turn, any enemy adjacent to a Shade grants combat advantage to your allies.
Special: If the attack is a critical hit, your opponent is blinded until the end of your next turn.


Level 1 Daily Umbrae

Tendrils of Darkness – Shadowcaster Attack 1
Shadows surge up from the earth, grasping madly at everything within reach.
Daily * Implement, Shadow
Standard Action – Area burst 3 within 10 squares
Target Each enemy within burst
Attack Charisma vs. Reflex
Hit The target is immobilized until the end of your next turn.
Aftereffect: The target is slowed (save ends)
Miss The target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Special: If the attack is a critical hit, the target is immobilized for an additional round.

Cascading Horrors– Shadowcaster Attack 1
You instill an escalating fear in your enemies, tearing their minds apart with the force of their nightmares.
Daily * Fear, Implement, Shadow
Standard Action – Area burst 2 within 10 squares
Target Each enemy within burst
Attack Charisma vs. Will
Hit The target is weakened and takes a -1 penalty to saving throws (save ends both).
First Failed Save The target is weakened, takes ongoing 3 psychic damage, and takes a -2 penalty to saving throws (save ends all) (this effect supercedes previous effects).
Second Failed Save The target is weakened, takes ongoing 5 psychic damage, and takes a -3 penalty to saving throws (save ends all) (this effect supercedes previous effects).
Miss The target takes a -2 penalty to saving throws until the end of your next turn.
Special: If the attack is a critical hit, the penalty to saving throws increases by an addition 1.


Level 2 Utility Umbrae

Solid Shadows – Shadowcaster Utility 2
Your shades solidify, imposing barriers to all foes, not merely those within their reach.
Encounter * Implement
Minor Action – Shade
Effect Enemies treat squares adjacent to your Shades as difficult terrain until the end of your next turn.

Shadow Strings – Shadowcaster Utility 2
Strings of shadows stretch from you hands as you manipulate your allies' positions.
Encounter * Implement
Move Action – Ranged 10
Target One, two, three, or four allies or Shades
Effect You slide each target 1, 2, or 3 squares.


Level 3 Encounter Umbrae

Sow Nightmares – Shadowcaster Attack 3
Encounter * Fear, Implement, Psychic, Shadow
Standard Action – Ranged 10
Target One creature
Attack Charisma vs. Will
Hit Charisma modifier psychic damage and ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends). Each time the target fails a save, make a secondary attack against all other enemies within burst 2 of the target.
Secondary Attack Ongoing 3 psychic damage (save ends).
Special: If the primary attack is a critical hit, the ongoing psychic damage increases by 2.

vasharanpaladin
2009-12-16, 07:30 PM
Classes should always have three scores. One primary and two secondaries, the latter of which usually influence the choice of class features. Since I'm assuming your at-wills are supposed to be missing damage dice, I'll have to say they should really have some scaling at 21st level.

They should really have dice, though, otherwise your implements are mostly useless, which isn't a good thing.

EDIT: Shadow powers are called "Hexes," by the way. :smallbiggrin:

Djinn_in_Tonic
2009-12-16, 07:42 PM
Classes should always have three scores. One primary and two secondaries, the latter of which usually influence the choice of class features. Since I'm assuming your at-wills are supposed to be missing damage dice, I'll have to say they should really have some scaling at 21st level.

If I had more powers, I'd have the score differences...at this point, no powers use the other scores. That will change. I'm also not sure about scaling...any suggestions?



EDIT: Shadow powers are called "Hexes," by the way. :smallbiggrin:

Feh. I like Umbrae better. :smallbiggrin:

DaTedinator
2009-12-16, 07:43 PM
I thought shadowcasters' "spells" were called mysteries?

vasharanpaladin
2009-12-16, 07:48 PM
Most Controller powers use d6 for base damage, so if you add that die to each of your at-wills, it'd be 1d6+Cha up through 20th level, and then 2d6+Cha afterwards. If you don't add the dice, I would suggest adding either a die or a flat damage bonus at 11th level; in the latter case, the damage should scale to 5+Cha at 11th and 10+Cha at 21st.

Lappy9000
2009-12-16, 07:49 PM
Nice! This is a bit of what I imagined the 4e wizard to be like (minus the shadowiness). The shades are a nice touch, too.

Vadin
2009-12-29, 03:48 AM
This...is...really cool. I wish I was better at homebrewing powers, but I'm just not too great at it.

Is there any chance that there's been a bunch of work on this in the past two weeks?

rayne_dragon
2009-12-29, 06:47 AM
I like the general concept of what you're trying to do with this, but... I really can't help but feel it's a little overpowered. I didn't see you asking for opinions or advice, so I'll spoiler what I thought about it and you can read it if you'd like.


- Dark manipulation is ridiculous. The defences seem a little high, or at least out of line with the general progression of most things, which tends to be +1/2 level. They have too many immunities as well. I've yet to see anything in 4e that comes close. Auto damage on something that can be done as a minor action each round is also really, really useful. Each shade is basically as good as a flaming sphere.

- The other features are all powerful by themselves. Any one alone could be a significant class feature, all of them together seems like a bit much and out of line with what other classes have. They have more of a utility power feel to them.

- The at wills have large areas and low damage, but the extra effects are a bit more than other at wills making them overall better than current at wills for other classes.

- Save ends is almost never used for encounter powers and more effects mean more bookkeeping, which can really drag out fights and make the game less fun.

Also, Solid shadows effectively has no effect as the shades' aura is already difficult terrain

I do like the extra critical effect on hits. Perhaps if you made it a class feature. Perhaps something like dark power: anytime a shadowcaster makes a critical hit their power has an extra effect as specified in the critical line of its description. I would also suggest changing dark manipulation to a power that makes conjurations, possibly with special rules that give them 1 hp and not require line of sight to maintain. They should probably use the caster's defense. I think that it could be a really neat feature if they started off as just a weak conjuration with a weak standard attack, but dailies give them various bonuses for the fight and some dailies are just to give them auras like the one you originally suggested for them. Actually, I'd love to try to make a more balanced class out of this idea myself, but I don't want to step on your toes any more than I may have already done by critiquing it.

Other than that I just think you need to resist the temptation to make powers a little too good for their level. They jsut aren't in line with the abilities of other classes.

Mulletmanalive
2009-12-29, 10:32 AM
Holy...a Controler that actually does some controling rather than blasting the crap out of stuff...[I swear the Wizard, only controller in the PHB was actually an Artillery monster, it even says to in the MM]

Djinn_in_Tonic
2009-12-29, 12:10 PM
Wow...I forgot to update this...

Anyway, this went through a level 3 playtest the other day, and I'll update the changes later this week. Here's a bit of a list though:

Shades no longer deals damage: instead, enemies willingly moving through their square are blinded until the start of their next turn.
Solid Shadows increases the Shade's aura to an Aura 2 with sustain minor.
Sow Nightmare's secondary attack deals 3 + Charisma modifier Psychic damage, not ongoing psychic.