Shadow Adept: A Stealthy Wizard Subclass

[wayfare]

Hello All:

Below is a link to the fluff-free skeleton of a wizard subclass intended to be a stealthy manipulator of darkness. I'm trying to evoke elements of the shadow weave, and give the wizard a bit of a roguish feel.

My goals are:


To create a flavorful, darkness themed caster subclass
To create a wizard that "wants to be there." A caster that is incentivized to infiltrate and manipulate.
To create a subclass roughly equivalent to the Bladesinger and War Magic schools


https://docs.google.com/document/d/17G2apPJu4ds45y2w30Y-eK4QiKWlDXETSyI_QSYp1Kk/edit?usp=sharing

Any feedback is appreciated. A player has requested a darkness themed wizard school for my Ravenloft game, and I'd to make one that is both useful and balanced.

Thanks,

Wayfare

[Garfunion]

I like your 2nd level features of this archetype, the other features just don’t match the theme of shadow.


Covert Arcana: Starting at 6th level, your spells no longer require verbal components. When you cast a damaging spell, opponents you are hidden from take additional damage equal to your Wizard level.
Should be renamed shadow puppet and it should affect your somatic components. Your shadow does all the hand moving. If you store and implement or other spell component in your shadow, your shadow can use that as well.



Spellshroud: Starting at 10th level, you have learned to channel arcane power to distort your outline. When you are concentrating on a spell, you gain advantage on Dexterity: Stealth checks and may attempt to Hide as a bonus action.
Should be renamed to shadow shroud. Your shadow helps you to concentrate on spells giving you advantage and Constitution (concentration) rolls. Additionally after casting a 1st level spell or higher you may use a bonus action to hide.



Spellsmuggle: At 14th level, you have learned to weave spells into your shadow. Your shadow can store up to 3 levels of spells (cantrips count as level 1 spells). You may cast these spells as a bonus action regardless of their actual casting time. Once you have cast spells into your shadow you cannot do so again until you've completed a long rest.
I would call this feature shadow smuggle. I would probably use arcane recovery feature as a way for your shadow to gain spell slots. Additionally I would allow your shadow to use the cast a spell action immediately after your turn ends if you want it to.
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These are just my ideas and how I would create a more shadow connected theme wizard.
Another way of looking at it is, the sorcerer(shadow magic) is strongly connected to the shadow realm while the wizard can become strongly connected to their own shadow.

[Old Harry MTX]

Should be renamed shadow puppet and it should affect your somatic components. Your shadow does all the hand moving. If you store and implement or other spell component in your shadow, your shadow can use that as well.

I think that the main idea here is to make less sound possible, that's why this feature affect the vocal component. In that way you can cast while hidden.


Should be renamed to shadow shroud. Your shadow helps you to concentrate on spells giving you advantage and Constitution (concentration) rolls. Additionally after casting a 1st level spell or higher you may use a bonus action to hide.

Again, IMHO, the advantage on Hide checks is to bump up the "stealthness" of this archetype.

[wayfare]

I think that the main idea here is to make less sound possible, that's why this feature affect the vocal component. In that way you can cast while hidden.



Again, IMHO, the advantage on Hide checks is to bump up the "stealthness" of this archetype.

Yes, the goal here was to create a wizard that wants to be in the midline, using stealth to hang out to deliver a deadly alpha strike or to buff from a position of safety.

[Phhase]

I like it, but consider that spellsmuggle allows you to store a Glyph of Warding in it, allowing you to violate concentration.