Best +3 template for a Shadowcraft Mage

[Matamane]

My party each gets a free +3 or lower template. I am a shadowcraft mage.

Any ideas?

[WinWin]

spellwarped. Fom MM3 I think. The intelligence bonus is difficult to match.

Alternatively, you could try and match Chaos Gnome (+1 LA) with the Shadow Creaure template from Lords of Madness. totals LA +3.

[Necroticplague]

Greater Phantom is a good choice, since a caster like you benefits extra from being incorporeal (don't need ghost touch weapons to use). If you want to use touch spells, than you can try chameleon for the tongue (and the bonuses to staying hidden).

[gorfnab]

Shadow is awesome. Dark (ToM) +1LA gives you nice hide/move silently bonus and Hide in Plain Sight. Otherwise a Shadow Walker (UE) +1LA - Shadow (LoM) +2LA Whisper Gnome with the feat Magic in the Blood would have an obscene amount of SLAs. If you don't mind a few psionics Phrenic (XPH) +2LA is not too shabby.

[Jack_Simth]

Shadow is awesome. Dark (ToM) +1LA gives you nice hide/move silently bonus and Hide in Plain Sight. Otherwise a Shadow Walker (UE) +1LA - Shadow (LoM) +2LA Whisper Gnome with the feat Magic in the Blood would have an obscene amount of SLAs. If you don't mind a few psionics Phrenic (XPH) +2LA is not too shabby.
Phrenic is particularly useful in that it scales with level (new Psi-likes, and the ones you have increase in effectiveness). Shadow is handy - 3.0, but there's a 3.5 update booklet for the Manual of the Planes that assigns it an LA of +2 - and also scales (additional options as you go up in level), but it's more targeted at skulkers... which, I suppose, a Shadowcraft Mage is, isn't he?

In general, though, you'll want something that grows as you do, and scaling templates and races are relatively hard to find. Most things give you set bonuses - which is fine, if it's to your primary casting stat - but they'll soon be eclipsed by other things.

I'm afraid that's a rather long-winded way of saying "Yeah, that looks good for him". Hmm....

[Flickerdart]

Half-Fey is a great template, even though it might not help your mage specifically - nonmagical flight and tons of SLAs are always welcome, and Charm Person at-will is great fun.