Poll: What would you Choose? Shadowcraft Mage or Malconvoker

[Zombieboots]

If you have any imagination Shadowcraft Mage. So much Utility, CC can be as depended as your imagination, and so. damn. Fun.

Malconvoker meh. It's a summoner you are good instead of evil. If you've played a summoners before you've played this, Malconvoker have a far more versatility, and definitely more Umph, but it feels rather the same. The fluff it has about "Tricking evil for good's sake" is also rather meh unless your DM is really into it as well.

Played both: I honestly was let down with the Malconvoker, it wasn't that it wasn't powerful (which is damn well is!) it just felt like a "better" summoner and nothing else.
Shadowcraft Mage on the other hand. Man. Just plain fun. You really are whatever you want to be.

[strider24seven]

If the DM allows major cheese, then Shadowcraft Mage.  The ability to cast Miracle with a Silent Image spell is just too good to pass up. 

If the DM hates on summons for any reason, SCM.

If the DM hates on major cheese... it's a 50/50 based on what the party needs.

[Dragonamedrake]

Thank you guys for all the replies. I really thought Malconvoker would stack up higher. I suppose Im jumping the gun as I dont know what the next game will en-tale so I will probably wait and see. However I am now leaning more towards the SCM.

Malconvoker meh. It's a summoner you are good instead of evil. If you've played a summoners before you've played this, Malconvoker have a far more versatility, and definitely more Umph, but it feels rather the same. The fluff it has about "Tricking evil for good's sake" is also rather meh unless your DM is really into it as well.

Shadowcraft Mage on the other hand. Man. Just plain fun. You really are whatever you want to be.

Actually no I have never played a summoner which was where the original interest came from... that and the fact my friend who is a solid optimizer himself raves about it. Ive played the SCM as a cohort before though and he was tons of fun so I know where you are coming from.

Again thanks guys... you gave me a good amount to think about.

[Senevri]

Well, Malconvoker certainly isn't bad, Augment + infernal fury is +4 to damage, which is definitely nice. It even grants three spells known for spontaneous casters. Fiendish Legion's +1 creature is quite nice, especially when casting your highest level summon - I mean, at level 10, you're summoning 2 fiendish tigers at the price of one, and ones with an attack pattern of 2 claws +11 melee (1d8+10) and bite +6 melee (2d6+6). And that's before Imbued Summoning. Slap Haste on them, for good measure! ( or summon something with the very best BAB and polymorph them! )

So, yeah, esp. the first 5 levels are very good for, say, Focused Conjurers, which are awesome anyway. Personally, I'm not that big on planar binding, but the HD cap increase is an okay feature if that's your thing.

You could even do a Bard 7/Malconvoker 1, and then use sublime chord to rebuild your casting.

[ninjarabbit]

I voted for malconvoker because it doesn't require you to be a gnome, I'd almost rather be a monk than a gnome.

Plus if you're a full spellcaster then power level really isn't an issue, it's the difference between 10 nuclear bombs and 15 nuclear bombs but both still are still plenty of nukes.

[weenog]

I voted for malconvoker because it doesn't require you to be a gnome, I'd almost rather be a monk than a gnome.

I've often thought it would be amusing to make a goblin SCM through Stoneblessed, then reveal the racial allegiance was a ruse and go torture and kill a bunch of gnomes with the new powers.

Losing 3 caster levels hurts like hell, but you can still get 9th level spells pre-epic.