Talk:Shadow Reaver (5e Class)

Alright, I am DMing a new campaign and one of my players would like to play this class. Does anyone with a bit of experience have any tips for this class? Mostly just to do with keeping things balanced unless they already are.

Hey there, I found this class as an unfinished idea and completed the work the original creator had started. There have been many edits from others and myself since then (and there will probably be plenty more editing to come ;P). However, I have not personally played with the class, but from the way I designed it I'd say that if any features seem over powered increase the shadow cost (max of 20) and if any feature seems under powered decrease the shadow cost (min of 0). Hope this helps!

    -   LewisTheWhite

I changed Halberds to Shortswords and Scimitars because I do not feel that halberds match the essence of this class. If you disagree you can change it back.

    -   Anon

Balance issues:

• Dead levels at 13th and 17th.
• Has ability score improvement 9 times.
• "Any ability listed below expends a shadow ". First of all, these are features, not abilities (which are Strength, etc). Secondly, the features that use one shadow are already explicitly state so. Thirdly, how would this work with, say, Darkvision? If it is activated with a shadow, how long does it last for.
• It doesn't say anywhere how shadows are gained or recharged.
• Shadow Molding. "any conceivable thing". I'll make a demilich? How do I know if I have enough "intelligence or wit" to make a wind-up toy? Can I make a specific object, like a key to a door? A magic item?
• Darkness. Why not just say you can cast the darkness spell?
• Twilight Gap. No CR limit, so I really can make a demilich. Or a tarrasque. Monster statblocks do not distinguish "magic" or "special" abilities. Is the tarrasque's "swallow" a special ability? Or just one of the actions it can take? How long does this creature last for? How long does it take to make the creature?
• Shadow King. What shadows are you commanding? Is it referring to shadow moulding or twilight gap? Does it mean controlling them for the purpose of creating them, or subsequently manipulating them?
• Flesh to Shadow. It lasts for a number of hours based on your level, but at this point your level is fixed at 20. Marasmusine (talk) 09:43, 3 February 2016 (MST)

ZachSavior here, sorry i built the orignal layout for the class and havent been able to work on it due to PC issues, im gonna do a touch up on this and the Fire Reaver, though the other reavers i do not recall creating...but i guess i can look at them, going to take the items discussed above into consideration as i make my edits and hope to hear feed back soon. also the shadows did have an ability to take from other living creatures, however i have no idea what happened to that part, i could have sworn i put it on here...

Okay looking at the Twilight gap ability and now that i look back on it i see how that can be misconstrued, however im not the most familiar with CR, if someone with more experience with that could pitch in on that or provide examples/lessons it would be greatly appreciated. i will look into it as i continue my edits.

and (probably as it is late right now) last note for the night If your wondering about the custom mask, its really just a mask that you can design all you want, mostly just a decorative thing or you can use it as your secret identity for some superheroism, or evilness...aaaand i just wanted a blank white mask to use shadows to look cool and mysterious.

Okay, I look forward to seeing your improvements. I do suggest reading the introduction to the Monster Manual if you're doing anything related to creating or summoning creatures, and also look to see how PHB classes handle controlling them (e.g. companion beasts, summon spell) Marasmusine (talk) 02:40, 5 February 2016 (MST)

Thanks for the tip, Ill need to either download it or snatch up a book from a buddy on my day off to go into real detail then, and so THATS how you make your text look nicer, im still getting used to the formatting on here.Zach Savior (talk) 8:26, 5 Feb 2016 (EST)

-chese780

Came in and did my best trying to help.

It seemed like this class had a serious ability rush in early game.

Any feedback would be nice :)

It's sort of in the right direction, but you:

• changed scimitar proficiency to dagger proficiency, even though they already have simple weapon proficiency.
• changed some of the sizing on shadow molding such that it doesn't quite work with the "snap-to-grid" of 5 feet increments.

And still:

• "strong as bronze/steel/adamantium" still has no mechanical definition. Objects have hit points and an AC.
• Darkvision is of no benefit to races that already have darkvision, so such players get no feature at 2nd level.

Many of the above issues still remain. Marasmusine (talk) 09:32, 4 March 2016 (MST)

---

It's probably the 2e part of me surfacing again.

• Scimitar: I just didn't get the shadowy rogue feel from the scimitar, what about the hidden blade in the 5e weapons?
• Didn't know we had snap to grid, sorry about that.
• If I were to add the material descriptions, would that help?
• As for Darkvision... Well, there's not much we can do there, maybe have special rules for people who already have it? Make the bonus additive to existing darkvision, but the class's darkvision is overlapping?

• Racial darkvision + class darkvision(Class darkvision is overlapping, not cumulative.)

You seem to be pretty good at this, mind helping me clean this one up? Chese780 (talk) 09:54, 4 March 2016 (MST)

There's literally a spell in the PHB that lets you create things from shadows (creation). Why not take that, and some of the conjuration spells, as a basis. In fact, I have some free wiki time (I've finished the wiki magazine, we're preparing for the next one), so I'll try a rewrite. Marasmusine (talk) 05:15, 6 March 2016 (MST)

So many changes to the class since the last time i was able to get on here to check it out, i like it so far, though in all honesty i have no idea where the scimitar idea even came from? and i do see how the moulding was a little OP in the beginning so thank you for nerfing it a little to be a bit more utility based in the beginning. Im also glad to see more experienced players views on the class as it advances. Zach Savior Finally have time to mess with this again! Woo. Notices some more changes to the class, some of which were nice, but others which didnt seem to help much with the flow of the page. The creation spell is confusing, maybe its just the way i read it but it brings in the various materials which have various time frames in which they can exist, whereas the idea is they're just shadows made physical, not transmuted it other materials, and they exist for as long as the creator is nearby. No offence but i re-wrote it in a way i believe makes a little more sense and since i couldnt find the wiki page for misty step i just added the clarification to the ability description to make it a one stop shop, but i did go back and add some links to what i could find so other people that like the class dont have to go searching hard.