Last Update: March 18, 2007Shadowcraft Mage HandbookA summary of concepts and tricks used to create the Killer Gnome, originally brought to light by Snow Savant.
Further credit goes to Michael Tree, Garjon, and Zweanslord for their discoveries of the Heighten Spell, Earth Spell, and Arcane Disciple techniques. The original build can be found here Introduction[spoiler]All spellcasters are faced with the same set of problems. They have access to a limited selection of spells throughout the course of any given day, necessitating a great deal of planning in order to maintain utility over several encounters. Further, a spellcaster can only increase the save DC of one school of spells at a time through feats like Spell Focus. The Killer Gnome build template is a way to mitigate these difficulties by allowing one school, and indeed one spell, to do the work of three schools. It will allow the character to cast many spells with a high save DC and will do so while maintaining versatility.
The heart of the character is the third level ability of the Shadowcraft Mage prestige class from
Races of StoneShadow Illusion, and from it we will construct one of the most versatile spellcasters around.
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On the Proper Application of Shadow Illusion[/b][spoiler]It is immediately obvious that Shadow Illusion is a powerful ability, as it allows a Wizard who has prepared an
image- Mimicked spells use only the components for the image spell altered.
- Mimicked spells use the casting time of the image spell altered.
- Mimicked spells all allow SR, regardless of whether the actual spell would.
Even without optimization, the versatility gained from this ability is astounding, allowing an illusionist to prepare as many
image spells as he cares to, thereby also preparing every spell of the appropriate levels from the mimicked schools. We can do better, though.
Shadow Illusion specifically depends not upon the
image spell used, but instead upon the level of that spell. Therefore, if one of the
imagesilent image spell heightened to ninth level as a ninth level spell for Shadow Illusion, as capabilities of a Shadow Illusion are dependent upon spell level. We can now, using any
image spell Heightened to ninth level, mimic any Sorcerer/Wizard evocation, conjuration (creation), and conjuration (summoning) spell of eighth level or lower. And at 90% quasireality to boot, 10% higher than
shadesmeteor swarm, summon elemental monolith, or
detonateEarth Spell.
So if, for example, we were to heighten
silent image to ninth level, Earth Spell would further increase that to tenth level, letting us mimic ninth level and lower spells at 100% quasireality.
Earth Spell is the final piece of the puzzle that turns the Shadowcraft Mage into the Killer Gnome.
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On the Selection of Feats[spoiler]There are quite a few feats that are provide special benefit to the Killer Gnome. These feats provide more benefit to him than to most other spellcasters. You should remember, however, that a Shadowcraft Mage is even more feat strapped than other characters, as four of his feats are set in stone from the beginning (Spell Focus [illusion], Earth Sense, Heighten Spell, and Earth Spell.) That leaves a Sorcerer-based character but three remaining feats.
Choose wisely.
Arcane Mastery: The ability to take 10 on caster level checks (even under stress - check the errata) is great for anyone who uses a large number of spells that allow SR. As all shadow illusions allow SR, this is obviously a good thing. With nothing else to boost caster level, a 20th level Shadowcraft Mage can automatically beat SR 30 with his spells; and Earth Spell makes even higher levels of SR meaningless.
Signature Spell: Signature Spell can be a boon to prepared casters like Wizards, as it allows them to load up with nothing but utility spells. By choosing
silent image for the feat, the Wizard can then spontaneously convert any prepared spell into a heightened
silent image and alter that spell with Shadow Illusion.
Greater Spell Focus (illusion): You get more bang for your buck from illusions than anyone else. Your save DCs should be as high as possible, and every +1 helps. This feat is pretty much just gravy, though, and is only required for entrance into the Shadowcrafter PrC (see below).
Spell Penetration: Spell resistance is your bane. Everything that you can do to beat SR should be done. If you have room in your build, toss in this feat and its greater version.
Steady Concentration: Every spellcaster needs a good Concentration check, and illusionists more than most, as so many spells have durations of concentration. A solid choice, especially when used in conjunction with Extraordinary Concentration.
Extraordinary ConcentrationExtend SpellEnhanced Shadow Reality: Adds 20% extra quasireality for all damage on your shadow illusions. The only difficulty is that the feat is from Dragon (#325), so getting access to it may be a trial. Remember, this is only for damage, so if you plan to do more shadow summoning than shadow blasting, this isn't the feat for you.
Shadow Weave MagicArcane Thesis: Arcane Thesis has the potential to add significant power to the Shadowcraft Mage. The feat is normally somewhat restrictive, needing to be applied to a single spell. This is no drawback to the Shadowcraft Mage, whose bread and butter is one spell,
silent image, that does the work of an uncounted number of spells. A +2 bonus to caster level is always helpful for the increased duration, resistance to dispelling, and ability to punch through SR. The reduced metamagic cost, while specifically not applicable to Heighten Spell, applies to everything else. So load up on low cost (+1 or +0) metamagic feats via whatever method you want (I suggest Incantatrix) and blast away with silent, stilled, enlarged, widened, and doubly extended Shadow Illusion at no level adjustment.
Dazzling Illusion: Dazzling Illusion allows you to dazzle enemies within 30' whenever you cast an illusion spell. While dazzling not a great effect, the fact that the feat does not allow a save keeps the feat from being worthless. It's still just a flavor feat, though. Take it only if you're already content with your power level.
Metamagic School Focus: This feat allows one to apply any metamagic feat to a spell of the appropriate school at reduced cost thrice per day. So three times per day you can mimic a spell a level higher than normal, even past what Earth Spell alone would allow. Not a bad option, should you have the feats available.
Rapid Metamagic: For Sorcerer, Beguiler, and Bard ScMs this eliminates the casting time penalty of applying metamagic. A very good feat that has been too long in coming.
Melodic Casting: Every Bard-based ScM will want this feat. Don't even bother arguing with me. It's like Natural Spell for Bards, making it so they never have to choose between singing or casting.
Feats Deserving of Special Mention[/i][spoiler=AWESOME Feats]Below are three feats that have a profound effect upon a build. Each requires a certain degree of explanation.
Practical Metamagic (Heighten Spell): Practical Metamagic reduces the spell level adjustment of the selected metamagic feat by one, to a minimum of +1. So this means that a
magic missilehigher than the slot used (except for ninth level slots, which, as mentioned above, are unaffected by the Practical Metamagic adjustment). So he can cast a 100% real
meteor swarm from an eighth level slot, and it will be treated as a tenth level spell for all purposes, including save DC.
Dragon #325 has a feat similar to Practical Metamagic called Easy Metamagic. That feat can be acquired by any spellcaster. By using all three feats, it is possible to mimic ninth level spells in seventh level slots.
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Note that it is debatable whether the use of Heighten Spell constitutes a spell slot adjustment, so a DM is perfectly justified in not allowing Practical Metamagic or Easy Metamagic to work with Heighten Spell. You have been warned. 
Arcane Disciple (luck)Miraclefor you,
miracle to the Sorcerer/Wizard list (for a Wizard or Sorcerer).
(v) By (i) and (iv)
miracle becomes a sorcerer or wizard spell,
for you.
Simple enough. Now let's analyze what that means to the Shadowcraft Mage.
When using a
shadow conjuration or
shadow evocation spell (or Shadow Illusion) to mimic a given spell, the mimicked spell is not actually cast. For example, a mimicked
summon monster spell does not actually summon a monster; rather, you create a quasi-real illusion of the effect using material from the plane of shadow. Likewise, a mimicked
forcecage does not actually cast the spell and neither does it evoke any real energy, instead forming an illusory cage of shadow stuff.
Extending this to a mimicked
miracle, we note that we are not actually calling for deific intercession - or, indeed, any divine intercession - we are simply creating a quasi-real illusion of the spell's effect from shadow stuff. So here's the thing: there is nothing preventing us from creating an illusion of
miracle'sResidual Magic: One of the problems a spellcaster faces is his limited number of high-level spell slots. You have all sorts of fun blasting away with your eigth- and ninth-level slots, only to be left with piddling, low-level slots for the rest of the day. Residual Metamagic could be the answer to your prayers.
How does it work? By casting a spell modified by a metamagic feat in one round, one can apply metamagic feat to a spell in the next round, but with one benefit: the metamagic causes no adjustment to the level of the spell slot required to cast the spell.
So in the case of the Killer Gnome, he casts a
silent image heightened to tenth level in a ninth level slot. The next round he does the same thing, but this time that tenth level
silent image occupies only a first (or cantrip, for certain illusionists) level slot! He could even load up on other metamagics the second round. These would, of course, adjust the level of the required spell slot as normal, but with eight levels of metamagic to play with, a lot of things are possible. How does a Twinned, Repeated
crushing fist of spite sound to you, maybe further maximized via a metamagic rod? I thought so.
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[spoiler=Feats To Avoid]
Some feats just aren't worth the miniscule cost of the ink they're printed with. Worse yet for the beginner or the trusting, there are sections of supplements decoted to praising and recommending these feats. Don't fall into these traps.
Reserve Feats: Yes, all reserve feats are bad. A spellcaster has better things to do with his time. The reserve feats don't have the power to be significant against strong enemies, and you might as well let the Fighter feel useful every now and then by letting him take on the mooks singlehandedly. Seriously, stay clear.
Heritage Feats: Seriously, who thought these things up? Two feats to get access to a couple first level SLAs per day? Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.[/spoiler]
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