shadow caster getting my spell right


Rules Questions


i haven't posted in so time i trying to get my spell right for the game i'm trying to make

Shadow Caster
Your command over shadow and darkness create longer lasting
spell effects.
Prerequisites: Caster level 1st, drow.
Benefit: When you cast spells of the shadow subschool
or spells with the darkness descriptor, you are considered
two levels higher when determining the duration of
those spells.

shadow subschool? illusion [shadow] or and any spell like transmutation [shadow] that has [shadow] in the school?

darkness descriptor? any spell that have [darkness] in the school or any spell that has darkness in the name or spell description?


Shadow is a subschool of Illusion. The darkness descriptor would is shown as a [darkness] tag on any spell with it. For example, Twilight Haze which has both the darkness descriptor, and the shadow subschool.

This tool is lovely for these type of searches.


THANK YOU!!!


If you're going down the shadowcasting path, check out this spreadsheet I made of spells that can be emulated by the Shadow school spells.


honestly, the Shadow Conjuration/Shadow Evocation series lack both efficiency and require a GM not to make some key unfavorable decisions about the illusions. The original spells affect targets easier and generally are at least 1 spell level lower than the Shadow replacements. This makes them both inefficient and not as practical. The bonus of versatility(having 1 spell do many effects) doesn't outweigh the downsides IMO.
If the GM tweaks the home game a bit it balances out better but still it's a hard and difficult path to power.


I've found that a properly built shadowcaster wizard can be extremely powerful and versatile. With the 7 shadow school spells prepared, you have access to over 500 spells..

Of course everyone is worried about opponents getting two saves, but you can make those save DCs pretty insane. With Spell Focus (Illusion) and greater, racial DC bonuses to shadow or illusion spells (Wayang, Fetchling, Gnome, maybe others), and Tenebrous spell, that is an easy +4 to all your DCs.

The real magic happens once you take the Resilient Illusions arcane discovery. That discovery allows you to roll a caster level check any time a monster tries to disbelieve one of your illusions and use that roll in place of the spell's DC. And if you've boosted your caster level, which you should, you can get some high DCs. To look at some numbers, my 11th level Wizard has can cast Tenebrous Shadow Evocation with a 25 DC save and a caster level of 14. If I roll better than 11 (45% chance) on my Resilient Illusions CL check I'm boosting my DCs, possibly up to 34. And this is only going to get better as I level (and as I pick up an orange prism ioun stone). And as a nice side effect of the CL boosting my spells get stronger, and SR is easier to beat. CR 11 monsters have an average will save bonus of +9, so they would have to roll at least a 16 to disbelieve my spell with its normal save, and even if they do there is a 40% or 80% chance the spell still works as normal (depending on the spell).

Also many of these spells are utility spells, Phantom Steed or Create Demiplane, so you don't even have to worry about saves since you can voluntarily fail them.

Later on you'll want to take Spell Perfection on one of your shadow spells. You'll probably want Shadow Conjuration or Shadow Evocation, since they of a low enough level to use a free Quicken Spell. Spell perfection will double all your DC and CL bonuses and let you use a metamagic feat without increasing the spell level.

Some other nice things about the shadows spells: they always cost a standard action to cast, so you can summon as a standard action or create a demiplane as a standard action; they have no material components so you can cast spells like Sepia Snake Sigil without paying for the expensive materials and you can cast them if you've lost your component pouch.

Also check out these two guides if you're interested in more theory-crafting

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5kvBvq2DEHjTVF4NEY4SXpSTUU/edit?pli=1

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5kvBvq2DEHjR1dOeEVkRUU4WlU/edit?pli=1

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