Shadowcraft Mages and Spell Rehearsal

[ILM]

Spell Rehearsal is a tactical feat found in Races of the Dragon but its only prerequisite is caster level 1. The first maneuver, Persistence, states that if you cast the same spell twice or more in a row (it says nothing about changing targets), you get a cumulative +1 to the spell DC. The only requirements are that the spell allow the target a saving throw and that you take nothing but a move actions between castings (amusingly it only mentions move actions, not even actual movement, meaning you could use certain items that require move actions to trigger).

Anyway, enter the Shadowcraft mage. Would you be able to use that feat to tack on a cumulative +1 to the DC of every heightened silent image (emulating whatever) you throw? By the end of a fight you could be looking at anything between +1 and +10 to your save DCs.

If that works, could you give yourself a little boost at the beginning of a fight with a Time Stop? e.g. Celerity -> Time Stop (maximized with a rod, why not?) -> one round of recovery, four rounds of throwing low-level area of effect shadow illusions on top of your enemies (Wall of whatever, for instance), which will all affect them normally once the time stop ends, making them legal triggers for the feat. Free +4 DC to your spells, and increasing with each subsequent casting...

[Cieyrin]

I don't see a reason for that not to work, as they are all technically the same spell, just with different effects. I would rule the same for Shadow Evocation and the like. You may get books thrown at you, depending on the optimization level at your table, though.

[Dusk Eclipse]

But if you are a shadowcraft mage, you WANT your enemies to pass their saves... so they can recieve 120% real illusions!!:smalltongue:

[ILM]

But if you are a shadowcraft mage, you WANT your enemies to pass their saves... so they can recieve 120% real illusions!!:smalltongue:
Unless they're save-or-sucks... :smallwink:

edit: More generally, there's actually a sort of conflict inherent to ScMs: if you push your shadow reality percentage to the sky, you do indeed want enemies to make your saves, but then by not boosting them allow enemies to make their secondary save: sure they'll eat a 140% damage fireball, but they'll also make their reflex save every time so it actually works out to 70%. Contrarywise, if you focus on save DCs then the enhanced reality percentages are worthless to you.

[Keld Denar]

Eh, its tough to get >100% quasireality much before about level 13. Thats an effective 7th level spell (70%) +20% for ScM3, and another +20% for Enhanced Shadow Reality for 110%. It IS possible to get it a bit earlier, but it requires significantly more resources required.

This is a decent tactic. Not quite as good as Residual Magic's ability to double your spells/day. ScMs tend to be very strapped for feats, given that you aren't human, and your primary schtick requires 4 feats to pull off (Heighten Spell, Earth Sense, Earth Spell, and Spell Focus: Illusion for ScM entry). That only leaves you with 3 feats, barring the use of flaws. I'd rather nab Enhanced Shadow Reality and Residual Magic and possibly something like Metamagic School Focus to get a free level bump.

[ILM]

This is a decent tactic. Not quite as good as Residual Magic's ability to double your spells/day.
Well, I don't think anything stops you from doing both at the same time... :smallsmile: As for Enhanced Shadow Reality, it's Dragon mag content so it may not be as readily available as hardcover official content.

[Keld Denar]

No, you COULD do both. As I stated, though, ScMs tend to be very feat intensive. Given the option of that vs some other stuff, I'd probably take some other stuff. Heck, I'd probably take Quick Recovery over Spell Rehersal. After all, you can't keep your SR chain up if you get Blasphemy locked by a pair of Balors...