Why be a shadowcaster?

[CyberThread]

Most of Shadowcaster abilities are just SLA versions of regular spells, why would someone be a shadowcaster over just a illusion wizard?

[Nettlekid]

The same reason you'd be any class besides a Tier 1 with a +2 Tier PrC or something. Because you like the feel of it and the flavor and it does the little things you'd like it to do.

[Flickerdart]

Most of Shadowcaster abilities are just SLA versions of regular spells, why would someone be a shadowcaster over just a illusion wizard?
Black Labyrinth.

[Tvtyrant]

Most of Shadowcaster abilities are just SLA versions of regular spells, why would someone be a shadowcaster over just a illusion wizard?

Flicker for one, Black Labyrinth for two, suped up time stop for three.

[NeoPhoenix0]

Because even most rich people don't eat caviar every day of the year.

Also, to break the monotony of your standard or even not standard all powerful sorcerer or wizard.

Also Flicker. Although a wizard does have that cheestastic conjurer ACF.

[LanSlyde]

Black Labyrinth.

This guy gets it. Mechanically wizards are superior. But it's the little things like this that make weaker classes worth it.

[Xuldarinar]

Flavor, it has its gems, the shadowcaster really isn't an illusionist, the game is about having fun and isn't all about the numbers, and a spellbook can be a liability.

[Gemini476]

Also, combining a version of Mage Hand with a way to use it with Sleight of Hand. The Shadowcaster is a lot sneakier than the Wizard.
Although with Creeping Darkness it's not like you'll have to worry about the low levels as a Shadowcaster, and also a Wizard 3/Shadowcaster 3/Noctumancer 10/Mystic Theurge 6 gets double nines. I'd maybe recommend entering with Beguiler 1/Shadowcaster 3 and Versatile Spellcaster, though.

One thing to note is that the Shadowcaster gets a distinct boost in power at two levels: level 7, when his level 1-3 Mysteries can be used twice per day, and level 13, where his level 1-3 Mysteries can be used 3/day and level 4-6 Mysteries 2/day.

Oh, and some of the metashadow feats are really neat. Being able to cast from out of LoE? Being able to just auto-Still all mysteries? Yeah, pretty neat.

Also Black Labyrinth, but honestly that spell is probably more useful for a BBEG who wants to create some sort of Dread Citadel of Shadow. Or cover a small country with shadow via multiple Extended Black Labyrinths. 2*CL days? Yes please.

[Yuki Akuma]

Flavor, it has its gems, the shadowcaster really isn't an illusionist, the game is about having fun and isn't all about the numbers, and a spellbook can be a liability.

Some people do find the numbers part of the fun, you know.

[Piggy Knowles]

Because they're stylish and fun?

Besides, let's look at what they get...

AT-WILL FUNDAMENTALS - That's pretty cool, right? At-will light and darkness, deflection bonuses, mage hand, detect magic, etc. It's not game breaking, but it's stylish.

DECENT SKILL LIST - You can build a stealthy shadowcaster pretty easily, and do fairly well with it.

INTERESTING MYSTERIES - OK, spells are hands down better. But there are some fun and interesting mysteries, such as...


Bend Perspective - Low range clairvoyance with a movable sensor available from level 1.
Quicker than the Eye - Ridiculous sleight of hand bonus, and you can do it from range via umbral hand. Love it.
Shadow Skin - Immediate action DR! Who doesn't want that?
Flicker - Honestly the main reason anyone plays a shadowcaster, it seems... immediate action teleportation for 1 round/level is pretty sweet.
Umbral Fist - I know there are wizard spells that let you disarm, bull rush or trip from afar. But this lets you do all three, switching between each every round, with a pretty solid bonus, from level 5 on.
Warp Spell - An immediate action counterspell. Awesome. Makes counterspelling an actually valid tactic. (If only there wasn't that stupid -4 rule...)
Bolster - Scaling, gigantic temp HP that you can pass along to your party.
Shadow Evocation - Sure, wizards can do this... but you can do it a level earlier, and your shadow evocation imitates spells of the same level, rather than one level lower.
Fearful Gloom - Darkness and long-lasting fear that repeats every round.
Echo Spell - I love the idea of being able to echo other spells and mysteries, and it's an idea that is surprisingly untouched for most of 3.5.
Feign Life - Wizards can't (easily) animate objects, despite it being a pretty fun and effective spell. This is animate objects, plus your animated objects all have concealment, at a lower level than clerics get.
Flood of Shadow - Make a big shadowy area that boosts your magic but makes everyone else's harder to use. Not gamebreaking because of the low spellcraft DC, but very very cool.
Shadow Evocation, Greater - Everything I said about this previously, but even better now.
Unveil - This is the shadowcaster's Iron Heart Surge... eliminates or dispels almost every negative status out there.
Ephemeral Image - Wizards get project image, which is cool. You get ephemeral image, which is cooler.
Prison of Night - It's not forcecage, but you're guaranteed to take an enemy out for one round, possibly more, and can deal some Con damage to boot. And unlike forcecage, this doesn't cost you a king's ransom to cast.
Truth Revealed - OK, sure, true seeing was two levels ago. But will true seeing tell you your enemy's greatest loves and fears? Will it tell you their recent actions?
Far Sight - Remember all the cool things you can do with Truth Revealed? Now you can do it from the other side of the world.
Menagerie of Darkness - Want to play the pied piper? All animals within thirty feet of you become dominated and gain the dark template. Cast this and walk through a forest, surrounded by the nightmare-fuel version of Bambi and friends.
Shadow Time - Stop! Shadow Time!
Reflection of Things to Come - Boost everything, always act in the surprise round, save your bacon when necessary. I'd take this over the wizard's foresight in most situations.
Black Labyrinth - OK, this one is weird and ridiculously hard to use. But man is it cool, and there's nothing else like it in the game.

[Xuldarinar]

Some people do find the numbers part of the fun, you know.

I will not argue on that point. Note that i did say 'all'. You do have to play your numbers to a point, but (imo) the numbers should take a backseat to other elements. If someone disagrees with me, that is their right.

[Gemini476]

Black Labyrinth - OK, this one is weird and ridiculously hard to use. But man is it cool, and there's nothing else like it in the game.


Well, when the only thing you have is a hammer...

You could use it to derail trains, cordon off areas, utterly destroy any semblance of order within an attacking army...

The big issue is that it is probably one of the most ridiculously powerful AoE Debuff/Battlefield Control effects, and it's also indiscriminate. It affects everyone that isn't you or your familiar, basically. It also screws with teleportation, so it's really difficult to escape it!

It's just amazing on a BBEG, though. Sometimes I get the feeling that that's the best use of a Shadowcaster, to be honest. Who cares about uses/day when your expected lifetime is ~1 encounter? It's not like the Final Boss is going to appear in multiple encounters each day.

Also, Maximized Shadow Time + Black Labyrinth + 7 turns of buffing is completely hilarious.

What will you do during those rounds of buffing? Become Incorporeal, Shadow Walk to somewhere safe, Flicker, walk behind cover (but within range of whatever mystery) and cast spells at your foes without having LoE or LoS to them... The possibilities aren't endless, but they're close to being so.
Also stacking miss chances with Flicker/Incorporeal/Black Labyrinth is pretty funny.

[Piggy Knowles]

You could use it to derail trains, cordon off areas, utterly destroy any semblance of order within an attacking army...

True... although Dark Air does all of those things as well as a 5th-level mystery. Tornadoes are serious business.

I love Black Labyrinth, because of how unique and awe-inspiring its effects are. I just think they're hard to use in an actual game. But yeah, I agree, it's hard to think of a more awesome BBEG spell.

I'm playing a shadowcaster right now in a game using Ari Marmell's fix, by the way, which gives me bonus mysteries for a high casting stat. Haven't gotten very far in the game just yet, but it's amazing how much cleaner the class feels just by having a few extra mysteries each day...

[Chronos]

What is this "Black Labyrinth" everyone's talking about? I can't find it. In the mysteries, I see "Black Fire" followed immediately by "Bolster".

[Karnith]

What is this "Black Labyrinth" everyone's talking about? I can't find it. In the mysteries, I see "Black Fire" followed immediately by "Bolster".
It's part of the Cityscape "Urban Magic" web enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307a).

[Piggy Knowles]

What is this "Black Labyrinth" everyone's talking about? I can't find it. In the mysteries, I see "Black Fire" followed immediately by "Bolster".

It's from Urban Magic (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307a), the web enhancement for Cityscape.

Here's the relevant text:


Black Labyrinth
Master, Shadowscape
Level/School: 9th/Conjuration (Creation)
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area: One-mile-radius spread, centered on a point in space
Duration: 24 hours/2 levels (D)
Saving Throw: Will partial; see text
Spell Resistance: No

The air blackens, the shadows of the alleys lengthen, and the wind shrieks as the Shadow and Material Planes collide.

Black labyrinth causes substantial disorientation within the area it affects. Direction and distance become impossible to determine, as the world itself bends and twists.


All attacks have a 50% miss chance.

Area effects with a source or target within the black labyrinth have a 20% chance of improper placement. If this occurs, the spell is centered 1d4 x 5 feet in a random direction from where the caster intended. To determine direction, use the rules for a missed splash weapon (PH 158).

All Search and Spot checks take a -10 penalty.

Any movement, from a 5-foot step to a full run and everything between, occurs in a random direction. (Again, use the rules for a missed splash weapon to determine direction.) Reroll any result that places the creature in an "illegal" space (in another creature's area, within a wall, and so on). A random roll that results in a fall off a ledge (or a similar mishap) is allowable. A successful Will save negates this particular effect, but that save must be repeated for each round of movement.

Any teleportation effects with a destination inside the black labyrinth deposit their passengers 1d% x 5 feet from the intended destination. If this would put them inside a solid object, treat as a mishap as described in the teleport spell. If this would send them outside the mystery's area, roll again. A teleport effect cast within the black labyrinth and intended to transport the subject to a point outside the affected area requires a successful Will save; failure indicates that the subject instead teleports to a random point within the black labyrinth.


When within your own black labyrinth, you are immune to the last two effects (movement and teleportation), but not the others. You may attempt to guide your companions through the labyrinth; this does not allow them to find their way automatically, but it does grant them a +4 bonus on Will saves to resist those two effects.

[Fax Celestis]

I'm playing a shadowcaster right now in a game using Ari Marmell's fix, by the way, which gives me bonus mysteries for a high casting stat. Haven't gotten very far in the game just yet, but it's amazing how much cleaner the class feels just by having a few extra mysteries each day...

I like this, but I also like changing the "mysteries per level per day" table into a "mysteries per level per encounter" table and leaving the numbers alone.

[Psyren]

Shadowcasters are also fun for the automatic silent on all their spells. Pick up Still Mystery and you get auto-still too. It's almost like being a psion.

You will definitely want Ari Marmell's fix for the class to truly be fun though. And if you port it to PF, definitely make it SAD.

[Big Fau]

Well, when the only thing you have is a hammer...

You could use it to derail trains, cordon off areas, utterly destroy any semblance of order within an attacking army...

The big issue is that it is probably one of the most ridiculously powerful AoE Debuff/Battlefield Control effects, and it's also indiscriminate. It affects everyone that isn't you or your familiar, basically. It also screws with teleportation, so it's really difficult to escape it!

It's just amazing on a BBEG, though. Sometimes I get the feeling that that's the best use of a Shadowcaster, to be honest. Who cares about uses/day when your expected lifetime is ~1 encounter? It's not like the Final Boss is going to appear in multiple encounters each day.

Also, Maximized Shadow Time + Black Labyrinth + 7 turns of buffing is completely hilarious.

What will you do during those rounds of buffing? Become Incorporeal, Shadow Walk to somewhere safe, Flicker, walk behind cover (but within range of whatever mystery) and cast spells at your foes without having LoE or LoS to them... The possibilities aren't endless, but they're close to being so.
Also stacking miss chances with Flicker/Incorporeal/Black Labyrinth is pretty funny.

It's supposed to be. That's what the Developers envisioned a 9th level spell to look like.

[Psyren]

Indeed, I would definitely rate the effects of Black Lab as being 9th-level in power.

[gorfnab]

Very flavorful class and fun to play. If you need to up the power there are a number of fixes available. Less paperwork than a wizard. My wife is currently playing a Dark Whisper Gnome Shadowcaster in a campaign. Her hide and move silently checks are ridiculous and it makes her the party scout.

[Mr Adventurer]

I played a Dark-templated Hellbred Shadowcaster (for ALL THE ANGST) when we started Red Hand of Doom. We had a TPK. This thread has convinced me to bring him back if my current character dies!

[Chronos]

Y'know what really bugs me about the Shadowcaster? When I think of "drawing directly from the raw energy of shadow", or whatever, I think of flexibility. But the shadowcaster has the least flexibility of any magic-based class: You can only learn certain abilities, in certain orders, and each of the abilities you have is usable exactly once, twice, or three times each day, with no option to ever use some of them less to give you more uses of the others. I get that they were trying to do something new, and not make them Just Another Caster, but not only does it make them unambiguously worse than other casters, it does so in a particularly unthematic way.

[The Random NPC]

...with no option to ever use some of them less to give you more uses of the others.

I could have sworn you could choose the same mystery 2 or more times to double up on uses per day.

[Fax Celestis]

I could have sworn you could choose the same mystery 2 or more times to double up on uses per day.

You can. There's also a clause in Favored Mystery to get you extra uses.

[Chronos]

Ah, my mistake. I never looked too closely at Shadowcaster-- It just doesn't grab me like Binder and Truenamer do.

Oh, and

Quoth Psyren:

Indeed, I would definitely rate the effects of Black Lab as being 9th-level in power.
Nah, a black lab (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dogRiding.htm) is only CR 1.