It is fairly well-known that making use of the above option is noticeably inferior to the popular Wizard 26 / Bard 4 or Wizard 27 / Ranger 3 builds.Arelith Wiki wrote:Shadow Mages may take levels in Shadowdancer without meeting the usual skill and feat requirements. They get +1 caster level per Shadowdancer level.
For the sake of clarity, I will list the reasons below:
- Shadow Mages with only few SD levels lose at least one epic feat. In return, they get Evasion - and a shadow that's around level 10 and essentially useless, except for RP (which could also be done with an illusion clone).
- Shadow Mages with exactly 10 SD levels lose several spell slots and most, if not all epic bonus feats. Their shadow is only level 15, thus not particularly useful in the majority of epic dungeons.
- Shadow Mages with more than 10 SD levels (13+ would be needed for Epic Shadowlord), in addition to the above, either lose the Discipline skill and/or at least one entire spell circle as well as access to Epic Spells and Epic Spell Foci. They get a fairly usable shadow with good survivability, but almost no damage. However, being DC casters without a regular SD's ability to do direct damage, they cannot clear dungeons with these shadows.
- Furthermore, due to a current bug in the spell penetration calculation, SD levels do not count as caster levels. This makes creatures with spell resistance almost immune to a caster with many SD levels. Without Spell Penetration feats, a build with 13+ SD levels would have a 15% chance to bypass 32SR, and even with a Mordenkainen's Disjunction scroll, the chance would only be 65%.
- Epic Shadowlords, despite being immune to Banishment, Dismissal, and Word of Faith, can be unsummoned by casting dispels on their summoner. I believe this is a bug, too.
All that is why I suggest a few adjustments to improve the synergy between both classes:
- At SD level 10+, grant the Shadow Mage all Epic Spell Focus feats for schools in which they have GSF (they cannot take these feats manually due to being unable to cast 9th level spells).
- Either turn the shadow into a henchman, so it can tank for the Shadow Mage's summons, or give it better stats and damage. Maybe even both. (If going the damage route, granting it totem druid stat progression, scaling +1 enhancement bonus for every 3 SD levels and as much sneak attacks as a regular SD would get could be an idea.)
- To compensate the loss of higher level spells (and thus higher DCs), give them another +1 to their shadow weave DC bonus for every 5 SD levels.
If the bugs I mentioned above get fixed, these changes would make the class combination more viable. Shadow Mages focusing on their Epic Shadowlord would miss out on epic and high circle spells, but get higher DCs for popular enchantments like Mind Fog or Confusion - and a summon to effectively fight foes these spells have incapacitated.
