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View Full Version : Shadowcaller: An Inspection of how to possibly do Summoning right.



aleucard
2014-09-10, 12:22 PM
At its most basic, this is taking the general ideas behind the Yugioh series and the fluff of M:tG and adapting it into a 3.5 form. Expect this to be under constant construction. Anything to help beat this into an acceptable base class (preferably in the T3-T2 range) would be appreciated, from augmenting the fluff itself to ways to express it in the crunch to ways to make said crunch the right kind and amount of abusable for the power level it should be able to stand at. I'll post what chunks I happen to have so far here, and will probably use links to direct readers to relevant sections rather than reserve some posts at the beginning. If I edit any posts, I'll add it to a change-log for that specific post at the bottom.

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Class Name: Shadowcaller

Type: Summoner/Generalist (Int, Wis, or Cha Primary (with slightly different mechanics depending on which the player chooses, or may have certain features focus on one or the other, or take greater benefit from one or the other), Con Secondary (useful to both, though only comparable to whichever the player chooses as Secondary), other stats should have minimal functionality outside of certain applications (for example, gish))

Special Notes: Works best (or should, if this thing is designed properly) in campaigns where normal Summoning and similarly-used spells are either nerfed or non-existant. Multiclassing with Primary Casters should be restricted or banned without specialised PrC's (and as capstones to them, to boot)

General Stats
BAB: 1/2 per level
Saves: Will Good, Fort/Ref Bad
HD: d6
Skill Points: 4/level
Class Skills:
Proficiencies: Light Armor, Simple Weapons


Fluff of the Class: Shadowcallers are those who have special connections to the non-Material Planes, in particular the plane known as the Shadow Realm, which in actuality is less of a plane itself and more of the foundation that all the planes are anchored to and in a way made of, much like the way a building relates to the earth. It's still possible to travel to and inhabit like any other plane (though with that phrase getting amazingly stretched in several places, as the collective name for some of the more odd places in it is the Far Realm). It just has much more tangible connections to all the planes than the Material one has to any other aside from the Shadow Realm itself.

As an extension of this, those who are able to make use of those connections (or have a natural inclination towards such) have the chance to enter into a form of contract with the denizens of the Shadow Realm. In practicality, this does two things; namely, allowing the contractor to call forth the assistance of any specific individuals they become connected to by this contract and learn to manipulate the energies of the Shadow Realm (and to a lesser degree, other magical energies as well, though primarily energies specifically associated with given Planes) in ways that vary from difficult to impossible to emulate by other methods (at least, without needing MUCH more training AKA levels than the Shadowcaller needs). Most of these ways involve augmenting or otherwise dealing with the Contracted that they call in, or doing similar to themselves at later levels. [The particulars of this will be discussed in the class's specific writeup.]

The reason that the Shadow Realm and its Natives are willing to contract so readily (and with such an, er, "Diverse" group of people as implied by the restrictions on becoming a Shadowcaller, or to be more specific the lack thereof) is due to 1) their very literal Immortality (the list of methods available to kill a Shadow Realm Native and make it stick is vanishingly small) and 2) their love of competition, which is great enough that they routinely allow reflections of themselves to be featured in various forms of game (both of the card and video variety; such allows them to participate in these contests, however distantly). It is not nearly as uncommon as one would think for Shadowcallers to be 'guided' towards becoming one thanks to their showing in these games. On a related note, certain varieties of Contracted will have restrictions on whom they allow themselves to be Called by, but this is largely due to personal preference and exceptions can be and have been made, though almost always in situations of extremes (such that the entirety of the Shadow Realm needs to be on the same page for a certain situation to be dealt with, for instance). As far as the DM is concerned, this means that they are allowed to bend or break the listed requirements for a given Shadowcaller to employ a given class of Contracted if the situation is to that group's interests to help the Shadowcaller. It is possible for a Shadowcaller to learn how to circumvent or outright break this rule, however. [This would be a PrC based around being able to employ unwilling Contracted, with obvious results for the Shadowcaller's reputation in the Shadow Realm unless if they moderate themselves VERY heavily, though it would need to be made at a later date.]

As further extension of their love of competition, aside from their standard functions for the vast majority of circumstances, a system has been set up for two or more Shadowcallers (though usually split between 2 teams, more complicated arrangements are possible) to resolve conflicts in a 'fair' manner by the standards of the Shadow Realm, called most commonly as a Shadow Game, or a Duel in the non-lethal version. Specific rules must be agreed on between both sides before the game starts, as do wagers. If lethality is enabled, then all non-Contracted who fall in the course of the game who aren't revived either during or after remain dead, though if they are on the winning side they are just rendered unconscious for a certain amount of time and weakened for a certain amount of time thereafter, in a fashion remeniscent to a less-permanent form of Negative Levels. [Specific rules of Shadow Games will be discussed in a different section.]

Due to their status as one of the few ways to attain "Outside" assistance without having to make overly-complicated and routiinely detrimental contracts with such powers directly (whether by contracting the beings themselves or by their proxies, the Clerics and other Divine casters who by their nature have to follow in those group's interests almost exclusively), they are highly sought-after by all militaries and those interested in attaining military capability. One Shadowcaller is notorious for practically being a squad all their own, and being able to boost the capabilities of almost any squad they join as well. Most Arcane casters are somewhat derisive of Shadowcallers for needing outside assistance to function at full capacity, though this is largely not any more hostile than one school's specialists being derisive of other schools. Divine casters, on the other hand, tend to feel a certain amount of kinship with them due to working with similar (and in some select cases, the same) groups, though Shadowcallers' general irreverence for most such groups chafes. Others have similar viewpoints on Shadowcallers as they do on most Arcane and some Divine casters, with the caveat of any opinions on specific groups being extended to those who knowingly and willingly Contract them as well.


General Playstyle (at least, how I wish it to operate): A Shadowcaller's main ability should be the summoning of special types of Creature, with how the mechanics of Contracting work helping to restrict a specific Shadowcaller to certain types of Creature (or at least, certain groups). The abilities should be diverse, but all within a certain theme based on the type of Summon in question (fire for widespread damage, light for anti-Undead/Dark capability and healing/minor damage prevention, etc.). Contracted (a better name for this would be appreciated) can come from all Planes (even the Material in some specific circumstances), though Shadow Realm adaptations are the most common to find; as such, a wide variety of Contracted should be available, though specific groups may have hostility to each other even when Called by the same person (and they know which groups a given Shadowcaller has Contracted and the circumstances as a funtion of how Contracting works (and are given an idea of how the Shadowcaller wants to use their Contract as well), giving them insight on how their Contract is likely to be used before they sign). Contracts which come with such diversity built-in do exist, but they tend to sacrifice power for that versatility, or are focused in a different way. No mechanical limit on how many Contracts a given Shadowcaller can be under exists, though Roleplaying restrictions should be expected, especially in the case of conflicting Contracts. Treat it like a more loose version of a Cleric's directive to act in their deity's interests, though few contracts outside those with said individuals have comparable strictness to them.

A Shadowcaller's first secondary ability should be access to the same magic that allows their primary ability (and especially the functions that their summons can perform) to function in more direct fashion. This would pull from the same resources that Calling does, though usually less than a comparably-powerful summon, with the added benefit of not having to worry about potential issues if the summon is slain or otherwise dealt with. Three general varieties of spell in this magic type would exist; Active, Passive, and Reactive. Active spells would spawn direct effects that take (at least mostly) full effect immediately, like most special abilities that summons can make use of (and in fact, it's possible for a Shadowcaller to be taught given abilities as Spells if the specific Contracted favors them enough). Passive effects have comparably less drastic effects that take place over long periods of time, most of which can classify as either Buff, Debuff, or some flavor of more subtle Battlefield Control. Reactive spells don't take place immediately, taking up some of the space that a Summon could fill instead while dormant, and trigger usually detrimental effects on those who activate the contingency specified by the ability (this can further be put under Active or Passive, though this class of ability tends to be more powerful than a comparable-purpose member of either type).

At later levels, Shadowcallers may develop or realize special connection to a specific summon or a specific archetype, and thus make use of their abilities in a more stable way. In effect, the user may maintain that specific summon for longer than normal, and if they sync with it (a process that starts off taking a FRA and has a time limit, while also taking up Summon slots), they may in fact augment their own abilities with that of the summon. At higher levels, they may develop lesser versions of these abilities as normal parts of their character, and may advance the strength of their Bonded Contract while maintaining current levels of sustainability, or use a lesser version to allow for a longer time limit. At level 20, lower level summons being effectively permanent would not be uncommon, as would higher-level summons being called much faster than they would be otherwise.

The power of summons or spells that may be deployed safely is dependent on the user's Primary Casting stat, whichever one that ends up being (though most will have different prerequisite levels or have different functionality depending on which is selected, or certain aspects will scale off of certain stats independent of which the Shadowcaller selects (assuming that such a selection is codified)). It is highly recommended that the particular effects of anything that is variable in this manner be calculated long before their use (and versions for if relevant buffs are applied be calculated alongside the normal variety). With the exception of most Active and Passive spells (who only take slots during the instant of casting, with their effects being self-sustaining thereafter), however, maintaining certain effects draws on a temporary resource pool known as the [insert appropriate name here], which is based off of Constitution and Class level (though Constitution matters equally).

Using Summons or Spells that exceed this pool begin to take a more direct toll on the Shadowcaller, usually manifesting in either physical Ability score or HP damage. Summons that are destroyed rather than dismissed or otherwise removed in a 'safe' manner (most weaker and some stronger forms of Banishment count as the second rather than the first) still take up resources from their Caller's pool, though this falls away over time (or may be removed/negated in chunks by some Spells, or just ignored temporarily, though that tends to bear its own risks). Damage dealt by temporary increases such as with non-Reactive Spells is much easier to heal, and can be healed completely, while a certain amount of the damage from still-existant overflow remains as if the Shadowcaller's relevant stats were adjusted to those levels (but can be removed after the overflow is). If overflow is maintained past a certain point, constant damage over time can be expected, as well as instantaneous spikes like normal.

At higher levels, Shadowcallers can learn to augment their Summons and Spells into higher-power versions, usually increasing their resource expenditure or otherwise 'side-grading' their abilities. In the most extreme cases, it is possible to augment them enough that an uninitiated viewer can easily mistake one for another, whether by the Summon only staying around long enough to perform a specific Spell-equivalent action or Spells having major and/or prolonged enough effects that it wouldn't be surprising for them to be made by or of a particularly stealthy summon.

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Well, that's it. Fire away! Any and all thoughts on how this would augment 3.5 would also be appreciated, but if your only contention is the source of the idea, I'd rather you leave that to PM's.