Shadowcaster Path Decision time [Archive] - Wizards Community

Shadowcaster Path Decision time [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
CrystalBlue
01-16-07, 10:12 AM My wizard/shadow just got finished with the first part of RHoD, and I've gotten to 5th. Now I need help to choose where to go.

1.) Nocturemancer: A great PrC for my character, I think. My greyelf has high Int (I think it's an 18) and has been doing very well with his wizard spells. Getting access to Shadowcaster gave me this access as well, and I think a PrC that let's me both level up my Shadowcaster and Wizard casting levels is made of God and Win. However...I do find that mixing these levels of wizard and shadowcaster stunt my spell growth for 3 levels, and that the saves for mysteries is DC 10+Level of Mystery+Cha. So my Int won't be very maximized.

2.) Master of Shadows: He's another yummy build. This one I can get around the same time as Nocturemancer, but requires a new feat. I'm thinking about this one because of tow large shadow elementals that pulled our group from the brink of destruction this weekend. I'd like to command me some of that. The drawbacks would be me having to use Creeping Darkness to cannibalize my wizard levels to make Shadowcaster effective. And, the thing about Master of Shadows loses one level of casting that I could get back later, I think.

3.) Child of the Night: I don't know how well this one would actually fit in. I tried reading it over, and it looks more like an assasin type character, so I didn't consider it.
CrystalBlue
01-16-07, 04:58 PM Bump for great justice...please? Anyone? Need help...
_m_
01-16-07, 06:49 PM Bump for great justice...please? Anyone? Need help...

ok. il help.

i ALSO play a wizard shadowcaster. i dont know what your charisma is like, but it really dosent matter: use you wizard levels for blaster casting, and your mysteries for buffs (steel skin, dr /, int buff, that sort of thing) then the dc dosent matter. take a ONE dip in master of shadow. dont get me wrong, later lvls are pretty damn sweet (large is cool, and deliver touch is insane with umbral touch), but you dump far too much caster prog imo. go 3 wiz, 3 shadowcaster, 1 master of shadow, and the rest as nocturnmancer.

you'll get the prereq feat you need from teh bonus feat from taking 2 opening mystery paths.
CrystalBlue
01-16-07, 06:57 PM Well, I've seen your build _m_, and I think we've talked about this before. It's just that...I saw large shadow elementals tear through stuff in a mod recently. It was awesome. And shadowcasting on top of that would make it yummy. I'm just wondering if using Creeping Darkness to sack my wizard levels would be good. Because otherwise, I'm gonna be two levels behind on Nocturemancer. This is why I need help deciding. :(
_m_
01-16-07, 07:23 PM Well, I've seen your build _m_, and I think we've talked about this before. It's just that...I saw large shadow elementals tear through stuff in a mod recently. It was awesome. And shadowcasting on top of that would make it yummy. I'm just wondering if using Creeping Darkness to sack my wizard levels would be good. Because otherwise, I'm gonna be two levels behind on Nocturemancer. This is why I need help deciding. :(

3 wiz, 3 shad, 1 mas, x noct.

the thing is, i was looking into the shadow elemental myself (i thought the large one was cool!), but if you actually look at it, after the medium elemental advances to the lvl ur at, basically the only difference between it and the large elemental is d6 base dmg instead of d8. seriously, you would be loosing 2 wizard lvls (by taking 2 mas instead of noct lvls) to gain d8 dmg instead of d6. thats simply not worth it.

and yeah, you could go ahead and dump the wiz lvls, then go straight master of shadow after say, lvl 7 or so (cuz it has near full prog, just a drop at 1st), but youd miss a helavalot of cool extra stuff.

unlkie a mytic theurge, a nocturnmancer is alot closer to the curve imo. the abilities of the 2 classes stack much better together. buff yourself and your pet, and do battlefield control, with your mysteries (GET FLICKER) and your elemental (imune to physical dmg, walk through walls... think about it), and blaster cast with the wizard lvls.
CrystalBlue
01-16-07, 09:29 PM Immune to physical damage? Murr? O.o It's just incororeal, right? That's just a miss chance, I thought.
Japangirl
01-16-07, 10:31 PM Immune to non-magical weapons. Magical weapons have a 50% miss chance against incorporeals. So animals and such cannot damage the shadow.
_m_
01-16-07, 10:53 PM Immune to physical damage? Murr? O.o It's just incororeal, right? That's just a miss chance, I thought.

it has: dark template, incorporeal type, elemental type.

incorporeals are imune to physical damage, and have 50% miss against magic weapons. they can move through walls, make no sound if they dont want to, have no weight, and no str score. dark subtype gets hide in plain sight, hide bonuses, few other things. elemental gets elemental traits, like imune to crits, imune to ability score drain, all those yummy things.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CrystalBlue 01-16-07, 10:12 AM	My wizard/shadow just got finished with the first part of RHoD, and I've gotten to 5th. Now I need help to choose where to go. 1.) Nocturemancer: A great PrC for my character, I think. My greyelf has high Int (I think it's an 18) and has been doing very well with his wizard spells. Getting access to Shadowcaster gave me this access as well, and I think a PrC that let's me both level up my Shadowcaster and Wizard casting levels is made of God and Win. However...I do find that mixing these levels of wizard and shadowcaster stunt my spell growth for 3 levels, and that the saves for mysteries is DC 10+Level of Mystery+Cha. So my Int won't be very maximized. 2.) Master of Shadows: He's another yummy build. This one I can get around the same time as Nocturemancer, but requires a new feat. I'm thinking about this one because of tow large shadow elementals that pulled our group from the brink of destruction this weekend. I'd like to command me some of that. The drawbacks would be me having to use Creeping Darkness to cannibalize my wizard levels to make Shadowcaster effective. And, the thing about Master of Shadows loses one level of casting that I could get back later, I think. 3.) Child of the Night: I don't know how well this one would actually fit in. I tried reading it over, and it looks more like an assasin type character, so I didn't consider it.
CrystalBlue 01-16-07, 04:58 PM	Bump for great justice...please? Anyone? Need help...
_m_ 01-16-07, 06:49 PM	Bump for great justice...please? Anyone? Need help... ok. il help. i ALSO play a wizard shadowcaster. i dont know what your charisma is like, but it really dosent matter: use you wizard levels for blaster casting, and your mysteries for buffs (steel skin, dr /, int buff, that sort of thing) then the dc dosent matter. take a ONE dip in master of shadow. dont get me wrong, later lvls are pretty damn sweet (large is cool, and deliver touch is insane with umbral touch), but you dump far too much caster prog imo. go 3 wiz, 3 shadowcaster, 1 master of shadow, and the rest as nocturnmancer. you'll get the prereq feat you need from teh bonus feat from taking 2 opening mystery paths.
CrystalBlue 01-16-07, 06:57 PM	Well, I've seen your build _m_, and I think we've talked about this before. It's just that...I saw large shadow elementals tear through stuff in a mod recently. It was awesome. And shadowcasting on top of that would make it yummy. I'm just wondering if using Creeping Darkness to sack my wizard levels would be good. Because otherwise, I'm gonna be two levels behind on Nocturemancer. This is why I need help deciding. :(
_m_ 01-16-07, 07:23 PM	Well, I've seen your build _m_, and I think we've talked about this before. It's just that...I saw large shadow elementals tear through stuff in a mod recently. It was awesome. And shadowcasting on top of that would make it yummy. I'm just wondering if using Creeping Darkness to sack my wizard levels would be good. Because otherwise, I'm gonna be two levels behind on Nocturemancer. This is why I need help deciding. :( 3 wiz, 3 shad, 1 mas, x noct. the thing is, i was looking into the shadow elemental myself (i thought the large one was cool!), but if you actually look at it, after the medium elemental advances to the lvl ur at, basically the only difference between it and the large elemental is d6 base dmg instead of d8. seriously, you would be loosing 2 wizard lvls (by taking 2 mas instead of noct lvls) to gain d8 dmg instead of d6. thats simply not worth it. and yeah, you could go ahead and dump the wiz lvls, then go straight master of shadow after say, lvl 7 or so (cuz it has near full prog, just a drop at 1st), but youd miss a helavalot of cool extra stuff. unlkie a mytic theurge, a nocturnmancer is alot closer to the curve imo. the abilities of the 2 classes stack much better together. buff yourself and your pet, and do battlefield control, with your mysteries (GET FLICKER) and your elemental (imune to physical dmg, walk through walls... think about it), and blaster cast with the wizard lvls.
CrystalBlue 01-16-07, 09:29 PM	Immune to physical damage? Murr? O.o It's just incororeal, right? That's just a miss chance, I thought.
Japangirl 01-16-07, 10:31 PM	Immune to non-magical weapons. Magical weapons have a 50% miss chance against incorporeals. So animals and such cannot damage the shadow.
_m_ 01-16-07, 10:53 PM	Immune to physical damage? Murr? O.o It's just incororeal, right? That's just a miss chance, I thought. it has: dark template, incorporeal type, elemental type. incorporeals are imune to physical damage, and have 50% miss against magic weapons. they can move through walls, make no sound if they dont want to, have no weight, and no str score. dark subtype gets hide in plain sight, hide bonuses, few other things. elemental gets elemental traits, like imune to crits, imune to ability score drain, all those yummy things.