Shadow Magic

12/18/08

Well on this note about Shadow Magic I have no problems with Bob's ruling as when I played Mobuto he was an Illusionist specialist and used the Shadow Monster spell a few times. I would next suggest changing this section from Shadow Magic to Illusion Magic and give some more information about how illusions are dealt with.

Before going into more detail about that I do want to respond a bit to John's point about a 13th level mage understanding what to expect from a spell. This issue is actually covered under a nonweapon proficiency for mages so your level wouldn't give you an automatic understanding of the intricacies of a spell. You need the nonweapon proficiency Tactics of Magic.

Despite this I would like though since it is described upon in detail how illusions are adjudicated in the player handbook and DMG how Bob wishes to handle them.

Fritz

12/17/08

As a 13th level mage, there are some thing I would expect my character to know, before I cast, though some thing may be different then I expect. So lets be clear, I want to know what to expect.

Shadow Magic, in this case, Shadow Monster, is a new type of spell that has not been used much in this campaign. I cast Shadow Magic but it is a bit less open ended and more straight forward as it mimics other spells. According to my reading, in the Players Handbook, Shadow Monster is part illusion and part summoning. It is real enough to do damage and take damage even if the character disbelieves and makes it's save. What I fear may be open for judgment is as follows:

Does it require concentration? It does not say it and the duration is set so I read that as no and that in that respect is like other summoned creatures. With a simple command of attack it should be able to do it's best to defeat my foes. The second point I am going with is the Area of Effect is the area where the spell can be cast. It seems to make sense, along with all other summoning spells. Then to tie back in with all the vision talk, I am figuring that the shadow creature has vision of the actual creature. I can only figure that creature with Ultravision or Infravision are not immune to illusions and there will be no issue with that. If there are no issues with that, my pet Dragon should handle many of what ever is about to attack us. If Paul has any reason to believe there is a fatal flaw in my plan, I hope the Power That Be, let him (us) know.

John

I was thinking maybe to Basilisk would also be cool, all the goblins run up and think they are turned to stone and we just have to slice and dice a bunch of stoned creatures.

Well first lets have the spell descriptions for people to read

Shadow Magic
(Illusion/Phantasm)
The shadow magic spell enables the wizard to tap energy from the Demi-plane of Shadow to cast a quasi-real wizard evocation spell of 3rd level or less. For example, this spell can be magic missile, fireball, lightning bolt, or so on, and has normal effects upon creatures in the area of effect if they fail their saving throws vs. spell. Thus, a creature failing to save against a shadow magic fireball must roll another saving throw. If the latter roll is successful, the creature suffers half the normal fireball damage; if the roll is not successful, the creature suffers full normal fireball damage. If the first saving throw was successful, the shadow magic nature is detected and only 20% of the rolled damage is received (rounding down below fractions below .4 and rounding up fractions of .4 and above).

Shadow Monster
(Illusion/Phantasm)
A wizard casting the shadow monsters spell uses material from the Demiplane of Shadow to shape semi-real illusions of one or more monsters. The total Hit Dice of the shadow monster or monsters thus created cannot exceed the level of experience of the wizard; thus, a 10th-level wizard can create one creature that has 10 Hit Dice, two that have 5 Hit Dice, etc. All shadow monsters created by one spell must be of the same sort. The actual hit point total for each monster is 20% of the hit point total it would normally have. (To determine this, roll the appropriate Hit Dice and multiply the hit points by .2. Any remainder less than .4 is dropped--in the case of monsters with 1 or fewer Hit Dice, this indicates the monster was not successfully created--and scores between .4 and 1 are rounded up to 1 hit point.)

Those viewing the shadow monsters are allowed to disbelieve as per normal illusions, although there is a -2 penalty to the attempt. The shadow monsters perform as the real monsters with respect to Armor Class and attack forms. Those who believe in the shadow monster suffer real damage from their attacks. Special attack forms such as petrification or level drain do not actually occur, but a subject who believes they are real will react appropriately.

Those who roll successful saving throws see the shadow monsters as transparent images superimposed on vague shadowy forms. These are Armor Class 10 and inflict only 20% of normal melee damage (biting, clawing, weapon, etc.), dropping fractional damage less than .4 as done with hit points.

For example: A shadow monster griffin attacks a person who knows it is only quasi-real. The monster strikes with two claw attacks and one bite, hitting as a 7-Hit Die monster. All three attacks hit; the normal damage dice are rolled, multiplied by .2 separately, rounded up or down, and added together to get the total damage. Thus, if the attacks score 4, 2 and 11 points, a total of 4 points of damage is inflicted (4 x .2 = .8 [rounded to 1], 2 x .2 = .4 [rounded to 1], 11 x .2 = 2.2 [rounded to 2]. The sum is 1 + 1 + 2 = 4).

So first point - these are Illusion spells, not summoning spells. So only the rules dealing with the Illusion school are relevant.

2 - all Illusion spells require concentration unless otherwise noted, so this one requires concentration

3 - it will create the gaze of a basilisk and those that believe the illusion believe they are turned to stone

4 - those that see the others affected by the spell will not be affected automatically nor will the believe that those affected are actually turned to stone. Meaning they see a bunch of people standing still for no reason.

5 - as mentioned in the vision & light section you need light sources for these illusions to be able to be seen

6 - everyone seeing this spell is affected, friend and foe so everyone makes the save versus being turned to stone (the spell affects people even if they know it is an illusion {IE does damage} so you might want to choose a different type of attack for the monster you create)

Hope this gives everyone food for thought.

BOB

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