The Campain:
Our DM is a bit strange (in a good way) and likes to run his own homebrew settings. The current setting has multiple inhabitable moons that we explore, kind of like a lesser form of planar travel. Currently we have gone through a rift into the future (still mostly low tech, nothing too crazy) only to discover that Illithids have taken over our plane and dominate most of the moons. Now we’re trying to figure out how the Illithids came to our plane and what we can do to prevent it when we return to the present. Unfortunately we are captured and my previous character was killed.
The rest of the party:
Shapeshift Druid – ewww shapeshift, but still a decent tank and our healer
Psion – focuses on battlefield control through teleport powers
Sorc/Anima Mage – blaster
Warblade – Charger, hideous damage but no AC at all
Rogue/Swashbuckler – trap monkey, but not a regular attendee
The Build:
We use Iron Heroes point buy, feats are in bold
Stats: Str 8 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 16 Wis 10 Cha 18 - level adjusts to Cha of course
Volragul Human Shadowcaster 9
1 Life Fades, Arrow of Dusk, Caul of Shadows, Umbral Hand Extend Mystery, H: Empower Mystery
2 Carpet of Shadows
3 Flesh Fails Shadow Familiar
4 Black Fire, Black Candle
5 Killing Shadows
6 Umbral Touch Improved Familiar, Bonus: Empower Mystery
7 Shadow Evocation
8 Warp Spell, Sight Obscurred
9 Sickening Shadows Extra Mystery(Clinging Darkness) B: Extra Mystery(Flicker)
Projected Advancement:
10 Feign Life
11 Greater Shadow Evocation Bonus: Favored Mystery(GSE)
12 Flood of Shadows, Liquid Night Open
13 Grasping Shadows
14 Greater Life Fades
15 Greater Flesh Fails Open
16 Soul Puppet, Widened Eyes
17 Ephemeral Storm Bonus:
18 Consume Essence Open
19 Shadow Time
20 Reflections of Things to Come, Mystic Reflections
Skills: Concentration, Hide, Move Silently, Spellcraft, Spot, UMD
Starting Equipment:
4,000 Shirt of Res +2
4,000 Cloak of Cha +2
6,000 Ammy of Con +2, Nat AC +1
10,000 +2 Twilight Mithril Chain Shirt
4,000 Gloves of Dex +2
750 Belt of Healing
7,000 Lesser Metashadow Rod of Reach (cheesy, but as a Tenebrous Cabal member I get it at half price)
Acquire Equipment:
Wand of CLW
Boots of Springing and Striding
Any critiques or comments are of course welcome, though anything I’ve already used is set in stone.
First Session:
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We awake to find ourselves in an Illithid prison of sorts. Unfortunately our ability to use powers/mysteries is prevented (we get shocked and it breaks our concentration). However, an NPC Psion is able to get a power off and kill the guard as well as free us from our bonds but the strain kills him. With his dying breath he tells us to get out of here and stop the Illithids. At this point our Druid has to bail leaving just the Psion and myself…not an optimal combination really.
I decide to use my familiar to scout around (an Imp, I’ve never really used a familiar before but let me say Imps are awesome!) and he finds a room with 2 guards down the “hall” with one coming towards us. We take the time to buff up but the guards are actually just brain chefs and quite weak (I think they’re half-Illithids). I dispatch him in one hit with a Reached Umbral Touch. However, there’s no easy way to get to the next room without climbing so the Psion just Dimension Doors us and I again one shot the other chef. We finally find a regular door and through it the imp sees two sleeping Death Dogs. Neither the Psion nor I knew much about them IC or OOC but they’re large and 2-headed so being two squishy casters we decided caution was in order. We seriously doubt the Psion can sneak past them but the room is small enough that I can cover enough of it in Black Fire that the dogs can’t escape it. I cast while the Psion slams the door shut. Sadly there’s a flaw in our plan…there’s no way to lock the door. The dogs wake up after taking the initial damage and charge the door knocking it open (we of course fail our opposed Str checks to keep the door shut). However, it’s no big deal as the imp is able to keep them in the room and tank for us. They go down fairly quickly between the fire and the last of my Umbral Touch. Meanwhile the imp takes almost no damage between his high AC, invisibility, and DR. What little he does take is quickly patched up by his Fast Healing, I’m really loving this familiar!
For the final encounter of the evening we meet a Weep, a nasty undead that likes to grapple and deal Con damage. We knew this would be tough considering neither of us are much good in melee but we weren’t prepared for just how nasty it was. In the first round it closes with me and deals a significant chunk of damage but I’m not too worried as I expect the Psion to baleful teleport it away. So I open up with an empowered Killing Shadows but the Weep saves for half. Here the Imp is unable to do much because of the Weep’s AC and there’s too much room for him to block her in. Even more unfortunately the Weep saves against the teleport so on its turn it wails on me with a full attack, grapples me, and deals some Con damage leaving me at 0 HP! At this point I’m afraid my illustrious career as a Shadowcaster is about to be over almost before it began but the Psion saves me with a Benign Transposition (he has Freedom of Movement so he thinks he’ll fair a little better). I use all 3 charges on my belt of healing and back up. Amazingly the Weep does a whopping 5 Con damage and drops the Psion to negative HP with its full attack. I back away and cast Flicker hoping to avoid further attacks but surprisingly the Weep goes back into the room we encountered it in and closes the door to use its Fast Healing…taking the Psion with her. I wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic about my chances but I couldn’t just leave the Psion to die after he’d teleported into the grapple for me. Inside I’m able to maneuver myself into position for another empowered Killing Shadows without hitting the Psion. She fails the save and I deal a satisfying 61 points of damage, enough to drop her even after she healed to full
I decide to use my familiar to scout around (an Imp, I’ve never really used a familiar before but let me say Imps are awesome!) and he finds a room with 2 guards down the “hall” with one coming towards us. We take the time to buff up but the guards are actually just brain chefs and quite weak (I think they’re half-Illithids). I dispatch him in one hit with a Reached Umbral Touch. However, there’s no easy way to get to the next room without climbing so the Psion just Dimension Doors us and I again one shot the other chef. We finally find a regular door and through it the imp sees two sleeping Death Dogs. Neither the Psion nor I knew much about them IC or OOC but they’re large and 2-headed so being two squishy casters we decided caution was in order. We seriously doubt the Psion can sneak past them but the room is small enough that I can cover enough of it in Black Fire that the dogs can’t escape it. I cast while the Psion slams the door shut. Sadly there’s a flaw in our plan…there’s no way to lock the door. The dogs wake up after taking the initial damage and charge the door knocking it open (we of course fail our opposed Str checks to keep the door shut). However, it’s no big deal as the imp is able to keep them in the room and tank for us. They go down fairly quickly between the fire and the last of my Umbral Touch. Meanwhile the imp takes almost no damage between his high AC, invisibility, and DR. What little he does take is quickly patched up by his Fast Healing, I’m really loving this familiar!
For the final encounter of the evening we meet a Weep, a nasty undead that likes to grapple and deal Con damage. We knew this would be tough considering neither of us are much good in melee but we weren’t prepared for just how nasty it was. In the first round it closes with me and deals a significant chunk of damage but I’m not too worried as I expect the Psion to baleful teleport it away. So I open up with an empowered Killing Shadows but the Weep saves for half. Here the Imp is unable to do much because of the Weep’s AC and there’s too much room for him to block her in. Even more unfortunately the Weep saves against the teleport so on its turn it wails on me with a full attack, grapples me, and deals some Con damage leaving me at 0 HP! At this point I’m afraid my illustrious career as a Shadowcaster is about to be over almost before it began but the Psion saves me with a Benign Transposition (he has Freedom of Movement so he thinks he’ll fair a little better). I use all 3 charges on my belt of healing and back up. Amazingly the Weep does a whopping 5 Con damage and drops the Psion to negative HP with its full attack. I back away and cast Flicker hoping to avoid further attacks but surprisingly the Weep goes back into the room we encountered it in and closes the door to use its Fast Healing…taking the Psion with her. I wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic about my chances but I couldn’t just leave the Psion to die after he’d teleported into the grapple for me. Inside I’m able to maneuver myself into position for another empowered Killing Shadows without hitting the Psion. She fails the save and I deal a satisfying 61 points of damage, enough to drop her even after she healed to full
I highly recomend fitting in Bolster in there somewhere: sharing with your Imp would be wicked!
Yeah, I really hated leaving Bolster out. As it stands now I'd have to wait till 15th and grab it with Extra Mystery. Which do you guys think is better, Bolster or Warp Spell? Warp Spell is only useful when you're facing casters but it looks pretty strong. Also I plan to eventually pick up Echo Spell with Extra Mystery and complete the path for another bonus feat. Echo Spell isn't that great but hey it's free!
I want to leave Shadow Evocation in so I can grab Favored Mystery as soon as I learn Greater Shadow Evocation. Plus it should still be a pretty useful mystery in it's own right (though the 20% real part bothers me). Can I deliberately fail my Will save and use Shadow Evocation to get a Greater Floating Disk to ride around in?
Echo Spell is a cool ability, but it has limited utility. Its only good against spells (not spell-likes, near as I can tell), and its only good for up to 4th level spells. By the time you get up to where you can use it (since its a secondary function, so you are waiting to pick it up), you wouldn't be using it against enemy spellcasters (who likely would be using higher than 4th level spells). The only utility I see in it is to echo party buffs: got a Persistant Divine Power user in the group? Technically, that's still a L4 spell (but definitely goes against the intention)...
It seems very campaign dependent: a Shadowcaster focused completely on anti-magic would be the only way I'd take it. In your anti-illithid game, I don't think its worth it.
Keeping Warp Spell, however, is. Immediate action counterspell (w/ CL check) AND cast another Killing Shadows for free? No limit on the spell level?! Yes, thank you, I'll take two!
Oh yeah, I can't wait to use Warp Spell :D But I guess I'm stuck waiting on Bolster though
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1) Charisma determines the DC to save against your mysteries. Intelligence determines the highest level mystery you can cast.
2) Grant bonus mysteries per day based on Charisma. These would work just like bonus spells. For instance, if your Cha is 14, you can cast one extra mystery of 1st-level equivalent and one of 2nd-level equivalent per day. (Note that each mystery does give an equivalent level, even though you don't learn them by level.)
3) Eliminate the rule that says you have to take mysteries in a given Path in order. If you want to jump around, so as to broaden your versatility, you can.
4) Within a category—Apprentice, Initiate, Master—you must have at least two mysteries of any given level before you can take any mysteries of the next higher level. For instance, you must have two 1st-level mysteries before you can take any 2nds, and at least two 2nds before you can take any 3rds.
5) Eliminate the rule that says you get a bonus feat equal to half the number of paths you have access to. Instead, you get a bonus feat equal to the total number of Paths you complete. Thus, while you are no longer required to take the entirety of a given Path, there's still encouragement to do so.
6) You may “swap out” mysteries, just as a sorcerer does spells known. If you “un-complete” a Path in this way, however, you lose access to the bonus feat you gained from completing that Path. (You can regain access by re-completing the Path, completing a different Path and choosing that feat as your new bonus, or selecting that feat as a normal feat at your next opportunity.)
7) Once your Apprentice Mysteries become supernatural abilities, change the save DC from 10 + equivalent spell level + Cha to 10 + 1/2 caster level + Cha. This makes them useful even against high-HD opponents, and follows the pattern for other supernatural abilities.
2) Grant bonus mysteries per day based on Charisma. These would work just like bonus spells. For instance, if your Cha is 14, you can cast one extra mystery of 1st-level equivalent and one of 2nd-level equivalent per day. (Note that each mystery does give an equivalent level, even though you don't learn them by level.)
3) Eliminate the rule that says you have to take mysteries in a given Path in order. If you want to jump around, so as to broaden your versatility, you can.
4) Within a category—Apprentice, Initiate, Master—you must have at least two mysteries of any given level before you can take any mysteries of the next higher level. For instance, you must have two 1st-level mysteries before you can take any 2nds, and at least two 2nds before you can take any 3rds.
5) Eliminate the rule that says you get a bonus feat equal to half the number of paths you have access to. Instead, you get a bonus feat equal to the total number of Paths you complete. Thus, while you are no longer required to take the entirety of a given Path, there's still encouragement to do so.
6) You may “swap out” mysteries, just as a sorcerer does spells known. If you “un-complete” a Path in this way, however, you lose access to the bonus feat you gained from completing that Path. (You can regain access by re-completing the Path, completing a different Path and choosing that feat as your new bonus, or selecting that feat as a normal feat at your next opportunity.)
7) Once your Apprentice Mysteries become supernatural abilities, change the save DC from 10 + equivalent spell level + Cha to 10 + 1/2 caster level + Cha. This makes them useful even against high-HD opponents, and follows the pattern for other supernatural abilities.
Well, it says you swap mysteries out just as a sorcerer does spells know. A sorcerer can only swap out spells of the same level so I'd say the same thing would apply to a shadowcaster.
Notice you only lose bonus feats if you unlearn a path. You don't unlearn a mystery.
What do you mean, I could take Extra Mystery as my bonus feat then unlearn the feat without losing the mystery? Not sure thats RAW and its definitely not RAI.
Luckily I'm going to have access to the Tome of Shadow (homebrew material on this board) which offers ways to go around that.
When advancing in a prestige class that states "+1 level of existing spellcasting class or existing casting class" the mystery user adds those levels to his mystery-using class for gaining new mysteries or fundamentals.
I'm not nuts, right? This makes every class that qualifies essentially a noctumancer in advancement, and the noctumancer itself ends up advancing mysteries known by two per level (in addition to another spellcasting advancement).
So... with creeping darkness... a Shadowcaster 10 / Noctumancer 10 has mysteries known as a L30 Shadowcaster.
This is the practical optimisation board, so it's kind of irrelevant.
Well, its not an infinite CL trick. Master Spellthief beats that easily.
I'm in the process of building a Shadowcaster myself, and I noticed that Warp Spell is not that awesome, given the -4 penalty on dispel checks. It doesn't explicitly say that it's a dispel check, but it's a caster level check that results in the spell being counterspelled so it's hard to argue otherwise...
Luckily I'm going to have access to the Tome of Shadow (homebrew material on this board) which offers ways to go around that.
Well it only says you take the penalty when dispelling not counterspelling. While obviously similar the two are not identical so I'd say that you don't take the penalty. However if your DM rules differently then yeah I'd skip it.
I've never seen Tome of Shadow before, I'll have to check it out thanks.
@JWM: Eh, they clearly didn't intend for that to work like you want it to :P It only says you add the PrC levels to Shadowcaster, not both Shadowcaster and a spellcasting class. While it never says you add them to Shadowcaster "instead" of a spellcasting class I think it's pretty much implied. *sigh* Do you think with 4E we'll actually get some material that's edited and play-tested?
I think part of it could be that we are fighting undead and I'm standing next to a Lightbringer Rogue with a Holy Surge weapon and a Lightbringer Cleric with Destroy Undead. ((Read: Very Optimized for our group...))
I might look are more senergy between the two classes, but right now not so high on damage and so-so on utility.