Shadow Weave

[Aren]

Hello,

I recently came back from an extended hiatus and have started to mess around with builds, casters and shadow weave.

I am saddened to say, that the drawbacks from Shadow Weave Magic are just too severe for any build to realistically build around.
I do not mind the -6 DC to transmutation and evocation spells, but the -6 CL to these spells is just too much.

Casting an extended haste spell at -6 CL as a shadow weave user, at level 10, results in 48 seconds of haste. Instead of 2 minutes.

If I cast haste as a 6th level shadow weave user, it results in 6 seconds of haste. Haste is imperative on this server and effectively losing 1 minute and 12 seconds (extended) per cast at CL 27, is not worth it.

-6 DC on Evocation and Transmutation spells is more than enough to balance shadow weave.

[Hazard]

I've always felt this way too. The DC penalty is fine, but the CL penalty is harsh enough to keep me away, and it's mostly to do with spell duration. I can't play casters without extend spell metamagic on a roleplaying server, because you will be walking under most circumstances, stopping to talk/explore/whatever, non-extended buffs fall off too quickly.

[Babylon System is the Vampire]

I won't say the shorter hastes don't suck, they do. But in the same trade off as a shadowmage you got access to missles to finish off a fight. I leveled up a shadovar at the end of last year, and I was more than fine in pve still and way better for pvp than it used to be. My only complaint about it was how hard i was to connect with other shadovar and similar sorts, because everyone is always disguised and stealthing about The race really could use a pc portion of maybe the trade post or something to try and connect in game better.

[linusboyle]

I agree that CL decrease is very annoying for shadow mage. I'd rather get it removed at the expense of getting no CL buff on illu enchant and neco as well.

I feel like the shadow weave user could get some interesting rp tools apart from just a small DC buff (everyone has 30+ saves nowadays). Like some cool casting VFX.