Shadowcasters?

[Angry Bob]

I reread the shadow magic part of the Tome of Magic last night. On the surface, full casters obviously blow it out of the water. But its spell equivalents don't actually seem that bad and its special abilities seem interesting. I've looked around and can't seem to find any good handbooks or critiques of it. What tier is it considered?

Does it have any significant strengths to consider when building one?
Does it have any glaring weaknesses I'm overlooking?

Has anyone here played one long enough to give a list of its ideal party roles and/or unforeseen shortcomings?

tl;dr: How does the Shadowcaster from the Tome of Magic compare to classes in tiers 3/4? What should be considered when building one?

[Psyren]

As printed, T4. They have access to some powerful effects, but the sheer limit on their ammunition is just too much given the amount of adventuring the DMG recommends. Add to that the amount of turkeys they're forced to pick up to get to the good stuff and the end result is a class that battles its own class features just as viciously as any of the monsters.

Using Ari Marmell's (i.e. the designer of the class) famous fix, they go up to T3. Just giving them bonus mysteries was enough to overcome a huge chunk of the problem, and adding the ability to leap around between Paths fixed the other huge chunk.

Mechanics- and flavor-wise, I love them. But then, I love any caster that doesn't have to spout gibberish or fling poo. (Well, Truenamers fall under the former, but I love them too.)

They're actually my next project when I'm done picking apart Psionics Unleashed; I want to cover all the Mysteries and some good builds.

[gorfnab]

Shadow Magic Handbook on BG - not fully completed but you'll see some of my other posts on this thread, just look for my avatar.

A Guide to Shadow Magic - from 339, has not been updated in a long time

Descent of Shadows: Project Shadow Returns - homebrew Shadowcaster material

Urban Magic - new Shadowcaster mysteries/paths from WoTC

Strengths:
Mysteries do not require expensive material components or focus
No need to prepare spells
Fundamentals eventually become at will

Weakness:
Lack of official supported material
Can't qualify easily for most prestige classes

Builds:
Wizard 3/ Shadowcaster 3/ Noctumancer 10/ Mystic Theurge 4
Wizard 1/ Shadowcaster 3/ Noctumancer 10/ Mystic Theurge 6 (choose your favorite early entry method)
Shadowcaster 5/ Assassin 1/ Unseen Seer 2 (advancing Assassin casting)/ Noctumancer 7/ Arcane Trickster 5 (advancing Shadowcaster casting) - requires Whisper Gnome race, Spell Hand feat, or DM fiat saying Umbral Hand = Mage Hand

[gorfnab]

They're actually my next project when I'm done picking apart Psionics Unleashed; I want to cover all the Mysteries and some good builds.

If you need some help critiquing send me a message.

[gbprime]

Using rules as written, the obvious solution is to add 1 level of wizard and take 10 levels of Noctumancer. Then your limited repetoire and quirky battery life is augmented by wizard casting.

[Psyren]

If you need some help critiquing send me a message.

Thanks, I might take you up on that

Don't forget the adaptation also (ToM 116) that lets you tweak their fluff to be based on mist or smoke rather than shadows - this can help (flavorwise) with the limited prestige class situation. For example, it wouldn't be easy for me to imagine a dark and eerie shadowcaster entering BoED's Celestial Mystic (even though they can), but a Cloud Mage would be much more fitting.

[peacenlove]

Thanks, I might take you up on that

Don't forget the adaptation also (ToM 116) that lets you tweak their fluff to be based on mist or smoke rather than shadows - this can help (flavorwise) with the limited prestige class situation. For example, it wouldn't be easy for me to imagine a dark and eerie shadowcaster entering BoED's Celestial Mystic (even though they can), but a Cloud Mage would be much more fitting.

I can help too if needed.
Gorfnab covered me enough on their strength and weaknesses, their only other strength is that their mysteries eventually become supernatural abilities (thus undispellable / not worrying about spell resistance ), and they make surprisingly good and simple one use NPC's (with loads of metashadow feats they are flinging mysteries that are many levels higher than the party can cast).

Their adaptation also mentions the use of a divine source, implying they could be divine casters. That would help immensely on the qualification for prestige classes.

Lastly on my sig there is the Pathfinder adaptation for the shadowcaster, based on the aforementioned Descend of shadows project, my group's experiences as a shadowcaster player and dm for 2,5 years, and my wish that the shadowcaster becomes as strong as the sorcerer, while covering a different play style.