What is the shadowcaster's intended role

[yarrowdeathbloo]

Hi I'm looking at the Shadowcaster and i can't really tell what they were meant to do could someone explain them to me?

[gorfnab]

Shadowcasters are a themed caster, obviously, similar to what was done with the Warmage, Healer, and Beguiler. However, they are little clunky to build and understand, but they can still be built to be somewhat useful in a low OP party or in a larger party with the main roles taken care of.

Roles a Shadowcaster can contribute to in a party:
Stealth/Infiltration
Scouting
Battlefield Control
Debuffing
Anticaster/Counterspelling

The Shadowcaster Handbook in my signature might be able to explain a bit more.

[Mr Adventurer]

I don't think Shadowcasters are anything like Warmages, Beguilers, or Healers.

Well, I guess they have d6 Hit Die.

[frogglesmash]

I don't think Shadowcasters are anything like Warmages, Beguilers, or Healers.

Well, I guess they have d6 Hit Die.

Mechanically they are fairly dissimilar. The similarity that gorfnab was referring to is that they are all magic users that adhere to a specific theme and as a result have their utility limited by said theme.

[peacenlove]

UMD helps a lot.

They are also pretty dependent on DM interpretation of the poorly edited rules on their section. For instance if you allow for their mysteries to benefit from feats that affect spell like abilities (not clearly worded in ToM), you can take Boost Spell like, Purify/Corrupt Spell like and Mortal Bane, increasing their damage output and battlefield control ability.

From Tome of Magic pg 154


In addition to potions, scrolls, staffs, and wands, shadow magic-specific variants exist of various magic items that do not receive a full write-up in this section. These items function, and are priced, as indicated in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.


They are also passable crafters, with their access to a caster level and crafting feats, and they have access to any specialized gear a sorcerer or wizard could have, at least out of the DMG, if the DM isn't lenient.

With the author's fixes, the most common problem you will actually face is that you will most likely play as a hybrid due to the nature of mysteries and then gear gets expensive.

[Mr Adventurer]

Mechanically they are fairly dissimilar. The similarity that gorfnab was referring to is that they are all magic users that adhere to a specific theme and as a result have their utility limited by said theme.

I don't think that applies to Shadowcasters, though, like it does to those other classes.

The theme is "shadow power", but what the Mysteries can do with that power can be as varied as Wizard spells. (Adjusting for the much larger variety of wizard spells that are actually available.) It's more of an alternative power source.

Mysteries can blast, charm, crowd control, transport, summon, and so on.

The class doesn't end up as good as any of those things as a Wizard, though.