Shadowcaster Remix

SHADOWCASTER REMIX

“The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings “One realized all sorts of things. The value of an illusion, for instance, and that the shadow can be more important than the substance. All sorts of things.” ― Jean Rhys, Quartet GAME RULE INFORMATION This is a revision to the shadowcaster class from Tome of Magic, intended to make the class sufficiently flexible to remain useful in a variety of campaigns and settings. It incorporates both some revisions suggested by the original designer of the class along with original contributions by myself and my local gaming group. Shadowcasters have the following game statistics. Abilities: Intelligence and Charisma are the most important abilities for a shadowcaster, as they determine how powerful a mystery he can cast, and how hard those mysteries are to resist. A shadowcaster benefits from high Constitution and Dexterity scores much as a sorcerer or wizard would. TABLE: SHADOWCASTER HIT DIE: d6 Level Base Attack Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Fundamentals Mysteries 1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Umbral sight (darkvision) 3 1 2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Bonus feat; see text 3 2 3rd +1 +3 +1 +3 Gathering dark, sustaining shadow (no need to eat or drink) 3 3 4th +2 +4 +1 +4 Sudden shadow 1/day, veiled presence 4 4 5th +2 +4 +1 +4 Supernatural mystery 4 5 6th +3 +5 +2 +5 Gathering dark, sustaining shadow (no need to sleep) 4 6 7th +3 +5 +2 +5 4 7 8th +4 +6 +2 +6 Sudden shadow 2/day, umbral sight (see in darkness) 5 8 9th +4 +6 +3 +6 5 9 10th +5 +7 +3 +7 Gathering dark, sustaining shadow (immune to poison and disease) 5 10 11th +5 +7 +3 +7 5 11 12th +6/+1 +8 +4 +8 Sudden shadow 3/day 6 12 13th +6/+1 +8 +4 +8 6 13 14th +7/+2 +9 +4 +9 Gathering dark, sustaining shadow (no need to breathe) 6 14 15th +7/+2 +9 +5 +9 6 15 16th +8/+3 +10 +5 +10 Sudden shadow 4/day 7 16 17th +8/+3 +10 +5 +10 7 17 18th +9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Gathering dark, sustaining shadow (immune to fatigue and exhaustion) 7 18 19th +9/+4 +11 +6 +11 7 19 20th +10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Sudden shadow 5/day 8 20

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CLASS SKILLS (4 + Int mod per level, x4 at 1st level)
A shadowcaster's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis).

“So," he asked. "How's death?"
"Hard," she said. "It just keeps going.”
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods

CLASS FEATURES
Your class features represent a growing mastery of shadow magic and a more intimate connection to the Realm of Shadow.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The shadowcaster gains proficiency with all simple weapons but not with armor or shields.

Fundamentals of Shadow (Su): As a shadowcaster, you must master certain basic powers before proceeding to deeper secrets of shadow. These powers, known as fundamentals, function as at-will supernatural abilities. Your number of fundamentals known is shown on the table above. The save DC of any fundamental is equal to 10 + ½ your hit dice + your Cha modifier.

Mysteries and Paths: A shadowcaster invokes mystical secrets known as mysteries, spell-like abilities which are drawn from the shadowcaster mystery list (see below). Although you are not a spellcaster, you have a caster level for using mysteries equal to your shadowcaster level, and you suffer an arcane spell failure chance if you attempt to invoke mysteries while wearing armor.

The four grades of mysteries are fundamentals, or 0th-level mysteries, apprentice mysteries of 1st to 3rd level, initiate mysteries of 4th to 6th level, and master mysteries of 7th to 9th level. Within each of the latter three grades, mysteries are organized into paths of three thematically connected mysteries, one of each level.

Your collection of mysteries known, together with your shadowcaster bonus feats (if you have any), is referred to as your patina. You begin play with a single patina containing three fundamentals and one apprentice mystery. As you advance in level, you will acquire the ability to assume different patinas, and learn additional mysteries and bonus feats which you will add to each of your patinas. Essentially, each patina is a container which grants you a completely different set of bonus feats and mysteries known, and you can choose each day which container you will access.

Within each patina you know, you can learn a number of fundamentals as shown on the table above, and may select whichever fundamentals you wish. You can learn a number of higher-level mysteries equal to your shadowcaster level, but you can only add a mystery of a given level to a patina that already contains at least two mysteries of the previous level. If you learn all three mysteries in a given path, you are said to have “mastered” that path, and receive special benefits (see below). To learn a mystery, you must have an Intelligence score of 10 + the mystery's level.

Upon reaching 3rd level, and at every shadowcaster level after that, you can replace a mystery (within a single patina) that is at least two levels lower than the highest-level mystery you know, choosing a different mystery of the same level. This may cause you to gain or lose a bonus feat within that patina. You may swap only a single mystery at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the mystery at the same time that you gains new mysteries known for the level.

You can invoke fundamental mysteries at will. You can invoke other mysteries once each per day or twice per day if they are not in the highest grade of mysteries you know. You gain an additional use per day of any mystery in a path that you have mastered. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a mystery is 10 + the mystery's level + the shadowcaster’s Charisma modifier. You can learn a mystery more than once. Each time you do, you gain another set of daily uses of that mystery, and its save DC increases by +1. Although you do not prepare spells, you must meditate for 15 minutes at dusk each day to regain your use of mysteries just as a sorcerer or bard must meditate to regain use of spell slots. At this time, you also choose which patina you will assume, which determines which mysteries and bonus feats you can access for the next day.

Spoiler: Designer's Note

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As compared to the standard shadowcaster, the remixed shadowcaster has better save DCs for fundamentals and they are immediately usable at will. This makes fundamentals much more relevant to gameplay. The rules for learning new mysteries are relaxed to make it easier to get the important ones, and the patina mechanic allows the shadowcaster to build several different "loadouts" optimized for different situations, choosing each day the one he thinks will be most useful. Note that for this incarnation of the shadowcaster, mysteries are spell-like abilities, much like a warlock's invocations. The shadowcaster can master them and treat them as supernatural abilities (see below), but they never count as spells. However, they incur an arcane spell failure chance even when used as spell-like abilities. These simplifications make mysteries a lot easier to learn and use during play.

Umbral Sight (Ex): A shadowcaster learns to see in darkness. You gain darkvision with a range of 60 feet, or the range of your existing darkvision increases by +60 ft.

Upon reaching 8th level, your darkvision is effective even within magical darkness.

Bonus Feats: Beginning at 2nd level, you add bonus feats to your patina equal to half the total number of paths in the patina (to a maximum of one bonus feat per two class levels). Whenever you assume the patina, you gain access to its bonus feats. When a patina becomes inactive (such as whenever you assume a different one), you lose access to the bonus feats it contains.

You must meet the prerequisites for a feat to select it as a shadowcaster bonus feat. The list of feats you can choose from includes any [shadow] feat.

Your shadowcaster bonus feats are temporary feats. You can’t use them to meet prerequisites for any permanent benefit, such as prestige classes or a permanent feat gained from another source. However, you can use a shadowcaster bonus feat to meet the prerequisites of other temporary feats, such as other shadowcaster bonus feats, fighter bonus feats, or the feat granted by the heroics spell.

Gathering Dark (Ex): Just as shadows deepen with the coming of dusk, so too does the shadowcaster’s power grow more menacing with experience. Upon reaching 3rd level, you gain a second patina, complete with its own set of mysteries and bonus feats known. During your 15-minute meditation at dusk, you must choose which patina you will assume. You gain access to that patina’s mysteries and bonus feats, and you lose access to the mysteries, and bonus feats of your inactive patinas. You also lose any benefits the other patinas would have provided, including path mastery bonuses.

You gain an additional patina at 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level. No matter how many patinas you have, only one can be active at a given time.

Sustaining Shadow (Ex): When you reach 3rd level, your bond to the Realm of Nightmares allows you to absorb dark energies, eliminating certain biological needs. You no longer need to eat or drink.

Beginning at 6th level, you no longer need to sleep. At 10th level, you become immune to poison and disease as your metabolism slows to a virtual standstill. At 14th level, you draw your last breath, and no longer need to breathe. At 18th level, frailty of the flesh is almost forgotten, and you become immune to fatigue and exhaustion.

Sudden Shadow (Ex): A shadowcaster of 4th level or higher can twist the twist the stuff of mystery with echoes of the past or hints of the future to cast a mystery from one of his currently inactive patinas. You can “lose” one available use of a mystery in your active patina in order to cast any other mystery in one of your inactive patinas of the same level or lower. You do not gain any path mastery benefits when casting this mystery. You can use this ability once per day per four levels you have.

Spoiler: Designer's Note

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The sudden shadow mechanic grants a limited amount of forgiveness to a player if he chose poorly when selecting his dominant patina for the day, and allows him a limited amount of flexibility if the day suddenly demands something of him that is very different from what was expected.

Veiled Presence (Ex): Upon reaching 4th level, you become so at home in darkness that you gain a competence bonus to Bluff, Disguise, Hide and Move Silently checks equal to half your level whenever you stand within concealment that can be used to hide.

Supernatural Mystery (Ex): Upon reaching 5th level, you learn to invoke mysteries from any path you have mastered as supernatural abilities rather than spell-like abilities. The save DC of a supernatural ability is equal to 10 + ½ your hit dice + your Cha modifier.

Spoiler: Designer's Note

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In this vision of the shadowcaster, mysteries become supernatural only when you master the path to which they belong. This creates an incentive to master as many paths as possible. However, mastering more paths means learning mysteries from fewer total paths and thus gaining fewer total bonus feats, so the shadowcaster's player must make trade-offs. Does he want more supernatural mysteries or more bonus feats?

Spoiler: Version Log

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1.0 Original version

Spoiler: SHADOWCASTER MYSTERIES

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FUNDAMENTALS

Arcane Familiarity: Learn aura and duration of magical effects on your person.
Arrow of Dusk: Ray deals 2d4 [nonlethal], ×3 crit.
Black Candle: As the spell darkness or light.
Caul of Shadow: Shadows grant deflection bonus to AC.
Deepen Slumber: Place creature into deeper state of sleep.
Ebon Renewal: Refresh one creature of its need to drink but possibly sicken them
Ensnaring Shade: One Large or smaller target in shadowy illumination must make Reflex save or be [immobilized] for 1 round.
Ghostly Blade: Create a small blade of force.
Haunting Tune: Tune deals 1d4 [sonic] damage to target and may [fascinate] nearby creatures for 1 round.
Liquid Night: Create ink by manifesting surrounding shadows.
Midnight Veil: Gain bonus on saving throws
Mystic Reflections: As the spell detect magic.
Olden Tales: Gain bonus on Knowledge checks
Question Shadow: Ask an individual’s shadow one yes-or-no question.
Shadow Hood: Subject takes –1 penalty on attack rolls and Dexterity-based checks.
Shadow Vigor: Grant the target temporary hit points
Shadowstep: Walk unbound for 1 round.
Shadowy Touch: Channel [negative energy] through your touch
Sight Obscured: +5 bonus on Hide, Sleight of Hand, or other checks to conceal your movements, actions, or presence.
Skeleton Key: Create a key to open or jam one lock.
Squelch Light: End [light] effects in the area or fill a small area with [darkness].
Sustained Stride: Grant the target the ability to move without tiring.
Tools of the Trade: Create a small, nonmagical item
Umbral Hand: As the spell mage hand, but can affect heavier objects and magic items.
Unbidden Strike: Set up a weapon to attack any who approach.
Trick of the Light: Create a minor, shadowy illusion.
Widened Eyes: Gain low-light vision.
Withdraw Thought: Ruin parchment or lower a creature's Intelligence


APPRENTICE PATH MYSTERIES

Cloak of Shadows
1 Steel Shadows: Gain +3 armor bonus and +3 shield bonus to AC.
2 Sight Eclipsed: Hide even when observed.
3 Sharp Shadows: Foes striking you take [piercing] damage.

Dark Snare
1 Sudden Pit: Create a pit trap.
2 Shadow Spikes: Cause spikes to grow from floor, wall, or creature.
3 Shadow’s Venom: Create a small amount of poison.

Dark Terrain
1 Carpet of Shadow: Transform the ground into shadowstuff, impeding movement.
2 Black Fire: Create fire in several squares that deals [cold] damage.
3 Clinging Darkness: Root foes in place.

Darkland Walker
1 Dimmed Walker: Unintelligent undead perceive you as undead and you gain deathwatch ability.
2 Wave of Emptiness: Renders target unable to see life. Attacking the creature deals extra damage.
3 Land of Darkness: Create area that deals [negative energy] damage each round.

Ebon Alluvium
1 Umbral Sludge: Mobile sludge [sickens] and trips creatures.
2 Extract Slime: Slay dying creature to make dangerous spreading ooze around them.
3 Summon Ooze: Summon ooze with strength based on caster level.

Ebon Whispers
1 Voice of Shadow: As the spell command, but also affecting intelligent undead and constructs.
2 Congress of Shadows: Hold two-way conversation at a distance.
3 Flicker: Flash through several locations via conduits of shadow.

Eyes of Darkness
1 Bend Perspective: Change point of view, as though you were standing elsewhere.
2 Piercing Sight: Gain darkvision 60 ft. and see invisible creatures.
3 Killing Shadows: Gaze attack that deals damage.

False Faces
1 False Form: Disguise your form with deceptive shadows.
2 Cursed Visage: Curse a target through its face.
3 Faceless Shadow: Erase one creature’s face altogether.

Hollow Façade
1 Shattering Image: Illusory image harms those who disbelieve.
2 Visage of Falsehood: [Glamer] aids Bluff checks and cause [fear] in those who disbelieve.
3 Dark Phantom: Shadow illusion overwhelms the target’s mind.

Night’s Long Fingers
1 Quicker than the Eye: Gain bonus on Sleight of Hand checks; use Sleight of Hand at a distance.
2 Trail of Haze: Touched target emits a trail of shadowy mist only you can see.
3 Umbral Fist: Make special attacks at a distance.

Out of Mind
1 Drain Awareness: Steal one target's awareness of its surroundings.
2 Living Ghost: Erase recent memories of yourself from one creature’s mind.
3 Without a Trace: Disappear even from magical sight.

Sepulcher Survival
1 Crush Oubliette: Gain bonus to Strength checks made to break items.
2 Glimpse Secret: Detect location of secret doors or detect a lie.
3 Rescind Peril: Traps within area cannot activate for 1 round/level

Shaded Flame
1 Cursed Flame: Fire burns and curses one foe.
2 Frigid Smoke: Create a cloud of frozen air.
3 Invisible Pyre: Creates an invisible trap of fire and shadows.

Shadow Puppetry
1 Puppet Strings: Make ranged grapple check each round.
2 Tugging Shadows: [Immobilize] and push about one creature.
3 Dark Silhouette: Summon a shadowy creature of nightmare.

Shadow’s Whispers
1 Detect Life: Detect nearby sources of life.
2 Darkened Lore: Gain a quick flash of insight.
3 Pry the Truth: Pry the truth out of the living or the dead.

Shutters and Clouds
1 Dusk and Dawn: Create an area of shadowy illumination.
2 Shadow Skin: Thicken your flesh with the power of shadow.
3 Dancing Shadows: Make subjects harder to hit.

Touch of Twilight
1 Life Fades: Deal [nonlethal] damage and cause [fatigue].
2 Flesh Fails: Deal minor ability damage.
3 Umbral Touch: Deal damage and slow with a touch.

Twilight Studies
1 Forgotten Text: Make text unreadable to all but select few. Decipher Script check gives another message.
2 Tome of Night: Create tome of shadow to either imitate a fundamental or grant bonus on skill check.
3 Shadow Homunculus: Create shadowy servitor to serve you, almost like unseen servant does.

Umbral Charm
1 Armor of Lies: Protect yourself through mistruths.
2 Umbral Authority: Use your authority to scare and intimidate.
3 Shadow’s Appeal: Temporarily beguile your foes.

Umbral Mind
1 Mesmerizing Shade: [Daze] subject for 1 round or cause –1 penalty on attack rolls, checks, saves.
2 Thoughts of Shadow: Briefly enhance mental abilities.
3 Afraid of the Dark: Create a shadowy reflection of the subject that deals ability damage.

Voice from Beyond
1 Voices from Nowhere: As ventriloquism, except with sound emanating from several locations.
2 Beguiling Voice: Control the actions of one individual.
3 Curse of Silence: [Deafen] one target, and punish it for speaking.

Waking Nightmares
1 Turbulent Dreams: One target is put to [sleep].
2 Stuff of Nightmares: Summon one otherworldly creature to fight on your behalf.
3 Dark Will: Make your target sleepy and suggestible.

Winding Trail
1 Shadow’s Path: Leave a path that only you can see and teleport back along.
2 Shadow Layout: Gain information on your surroundings from the shadows.
3 Path of Woe: Rearrange surrounding area in a variety of ways.


INITIATE PATH MYSTERIES

Black Magic
4 Warp Spell: Steal the energy of another caster’s mystery or spell.
5 Echo Spell: Repeat a mystery or spell cast in the previous round.
6 Flood of Shadow: Casting in area is difficult; shadow mysteries and spells are empowered.

Body and Soul
4 Bolster: Grant subject temporary hit points.
5 Languor: Shadows weigh subjects down.
6 Shadow Investiture: Grant subject [cold] resistance 15, evasion, and ability to see in darkness.

Boundless Void
4 Clutching Sky: All creatures within an area are pulled upwards as they are grappled by the air itself, only to be dropped when they break free.
5 Black Skies: A large area of shadowy illumination is produced. Creatures may hide in the shadows and senses are slowly dulled.
6 Descending Sky: Increased air pressure may [nauseate] foes, creates difficult terrain, and deals [sonic] damage. Flying in area is impossible.

Dark Journey
4 Shadow’s Release: Move unimpeded.
5 Shadow Flight: You can fly about and leave a path of dimness as you go.
6 Awaited Destination: Learn your way to your destination.

Dark Reflections
4 Shadow Evocation: Mimic evocation below 5th level, but only 20% real.
5 Feign Life: Animate objects and give them concealment.
6 Shadow Evocation, Greater: Mimic evocation below 7th level, but only 60% real.

Dark Relic
4 Shadow Weaponry: Empower a weapon and allow it to overcome most defenses.
5 Shadows Passing: Teleport objects around as you desire.
6 Passage of Shadows: Attempt to force a creature through a solid object.

Darkened Alleys
4 Fearful Gloom: Area of shadow causes [fear] in all who enter.
5 Sickening Shadow: Area of shadow causes illness in all who enter.
6 Deadly Shade: Area of shadow enhances or dampens damage dealt within.

Darkened Wards
4 Shadow Fortification: Create a magical fortification in your surroundings.
5 Wall of Darkness: Create an unbreakable barrier.
6 Dark aura: Aura of [fear] repels your enemies.

Ebon Contingency
4 Ensnaring Aura: Prevent creatures from leaving a certain area.
5 Destructive Ward: Damage anyone who touches an object or passes through a portal.
6 Antimagic Burst: Trap triggers a brief dead magic zone.

Ebon Roads
4 Step into Shadow: Short-range travel through shadow.
5 Pass into Shadow: As the spell plane shift, but must involve the Realm of Shadow.
6 Voyage into Shadow: As the spell shadow walk, but faster.

[b]Elemental Shadows
4 Aura of Shade: Subject is protected from [cold] and deals [cold] damage with attacks.
5 Dark Air or Water: As the spell control winds or control water.
6 Shadow Storm: Arcs of [cold] and [electricity] strike multiple targets.

[b]Grim Reminder
4 Insert Memory: Insert a favorable memory of yourself into a target's memory.
5 Fog of Memory: Thin fog acts as mind fog but allows creatures to hide within it.
6 Manipulate Memory: as modify memory, except modifies a longer stretch of memory.

Infinite Eyes
4 Shadow Awareness: Gain uncanny dodge and awareness of nearby creatures.
5 Insidious Paranoia: Read the thoughts of those who wander too close.
6 Contingent Shadow: Cast 1 mystery as an immediate action.

Midnight Savagery
4 Torment Nature: Torment the minds of animals and possibly other beings.
5 Primal Surge: Temporarily boost one or all of a target's physical abilities.
6 Beast Within: Gain bite and claw attacks, a pounce attack, and a [fear]-inspiring coup de grace.

Midnight Secret
4 Forgotten Secret: Render one target immune to [divination] or make one fact harder to discover.
5 Haunting Secrets: Foes are [confused] or [shaken] with terrible secrets as your mind fortifies itself. When the mystery fades, one final secret is left for you.
6 Unearth Secrets: Learn the answer to one question about an object, question, or person you are familiar with.

Nightmarish Domain
4 Nightmarish Mist: Dark mist causes escalating [fear] in your foes.
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6:

One with Shadow
4 Shadow Vivisection: Touch attack [stuns] target and deals Dexterity damage.
5 Shadow Well: Subject enters gloomy pocket plane and emerges frightened.
6 Shadow Form: Become invisible in darkness and pass through thin barriers.

Shadow’s Shield
4 Dark Resilience: Gain resistance towards whatever energy afflicts you.
5 Blade Denied: Resist and combat against mundane attacks.
6 Umbral Immunity: Shadows grant temporary immunity to various effects.

Twilight Conspiracy
4 Insidious Paranoia: Creatures suffer from distracting paranoia.
5 Ubiquitous Shadow: Create telepathic and sensory link between targets. Damage also crosses the link.
6 Dark Insinuation: Instill a suggestion in the target to be triggered later.

Twilight Lore
4 Ebon Premonition: Predict whether you will accomplish your goal.
5 Answers Unbidden: The next time you fail at a task, shadow gives you a helping hand.
6 Spun of Myth: Use shadow to discover old legends.

Twisted Mockery
4 Warp Body: Warp one creature for better and worse.
5 Walking Dead: Animate the dead.
6 Twisted Summons: Summon one creature and warp it into other creatures.

Umbral Mass
4 Mass of Shadows: Creature becomes nimble and lithe.
5 Shadow Alteration: Target becomes a creature of darkness.
6 Dark Transformation: transform yourself into another creature.

Unbinding Shade
4 Shadows Fade: As the spell dispel magic.
5 Unravel Dweomer: As the spell break enchantment.
6 Shadows Fade, Greater: As the spell greater dispel magic.

Veil of Shadows
4 Shadow Vision: Subject takes penalties on most actions and has 50% miss chance.
5 Curtain of Shadows: Block line of sight and deal [cold] damage.
6 Unveil: Remove many adverse conditions.

Voice of Night
4 Call to Twilight: Contact any individual.
5 Contact Night: Ask questions of the night.
6 Call of Madness: Foe becomes a screaming lunatic.


MASTER PATH MYSTERIES

Ancient Ward
7 Symbol of Whelming: Create a symbol that can knock out foes.
8 Create Mystery Turret: Create a small but powerful trap.
9 Ward of Reflection: Make a less powerful but resilient copy of a foe.

Black Sun
7 Revealing Light: Reveal all falsehoods but limit range of sight through blinding light.
8 Black Pyre: One creature is dealt 1d6 [cold] damage/level, gains life blindness.
9 Eclipse: Covers the area in shadowy illumination. [Light] spells are impeded. Creatures react in odd ways.

Blackened Sky
7 Shadowed Landscape: Cover landscape in deep shadows.
8 Shadow Weather: Cover landscape in illusory weather.
9 Rebellion of Nature: Force landscape to attack your foes.

Breath of Twilight
7 Life Fades, Greater: As the mystery life fades, but more potent and affecting more subjects.
8 Flesh Fails, Greater: As the mystery flesh fails, but more potent and affecting more subjects.
9 Ephemeral Storm: Targets must save or die, success results in 5d6 damage.

Call to Darkness
7 Awaken Shadows: Aura of semi-real shadows [immobilizes] and damages foes.
8 Call Nightwing: Summon a nightwing to fight for you.
9 Freezing Rift: Create a portal to the realm of shadows that is surrounded by an area of extreme cold.

Castle of Darkness
7 Shadow Sanctum: Create a small area to call your sanctum
8 Shadow Guardians: Create a small number of illusory guards
9 Umbral Citadel: Creates a castle according to your specifications.

Dark Dreams
7 Treacherous Hoard: Weigh down your opponents with treasure and possibly turn them into treasure.
8 Lengthened Shade: Steal one’s life to safeguard your own.
9 Desires Manifest: Create varied and wondrous effects.

Dark Metamorphosis
7 Ephemeral Image: Create a shadow duplicate through which you can cast your magic.
8 Umbral Body: Transform into an [incorporeal] being of shadow.
9 Shadow Time: Act freely for 3 rounds.

Dark Wasting
7 Entropic Slime: Create one pool of poison or acid/2 levels. Fumes may nauseate nearby creatures.
8 Volcanic Ruin: Lava jets and steam vents erupt from terrain as you command.
9 Dust to Dust: Winds of time lay waste to all within a large area.

Darkness Undying
7 Deathless One: Damage alone cannot kill or knock unconscious one target for 3 rounds.
8 False Invigoration: You gain 100 temporary hit points but lose 5 hit points each round.
9 Dark Revival: Revive one target temporarily, possibly permanently.

Ebon Truth
7 Maddening Truth: Impart a bit of the truth to all nearby, ruining their psyche and possibly driving them insane.
8 Truth Beyond Truth: control the threads of fate, protecting yourself but with grave consequences.
9 Absolute Truth: impart absolute truth to all who are nearby, killing or otherwise harming them.

Ebon Walls
7 Prison of Night: Entrap subject in a shadow prison.
8 Tomb of Night: Prison of shadow drains levels from subject inside.
9 Consume Essence: Slay creature and instantly reanimate it as a dark creature under your control.

Endless Void
7 Darkness of the Mind: Invoke the darkness in your targets’ minds to consume them.
8 Twilight Gap: Travel through an infinite web of nothingness.
9 Immortal Shadow: Temporarily stop and regress the aging process for yourself.

Eternal Servitude
7 Unshakable Quest: As quest, except harder to dispel, harder to give up, and shorter casting time.
8 Oppressive Bindings: Slowly take away a creature's ability to fight you.
9 Neverending Service: As quest, except of indefinite duration. One completed quest leads to a new one.

Eventide Battleground
7 Control Battlefield: Greatly aid all allies and hinder all enemies in a large area.
8:
9 Shadow Landscape: Makes natural terrain more dangerous, creates guardians that you command.

Eyes of the Night Sky
7 Truth Revealed: As the spell true seeing, with additional, but possibly misleading, information.
8 Far Sight: As the spell greater scrying, in conjunction with the mystery truth revealed.
9 Reflections of Things to Come: Gain limited insight into the future.

Heart and Soul
7 Dark Soul: Compel a subject to attack a target of your choice.
8 Soul Puppet: As the spell dominate monster.
9 Shadow Surge: As the spell dominate monster, but affects multiple targets for 1 round.

Midnight Athenaeum
7 Seek the Lost: As discern location, except the target must have been viewed within the past 24 hours.
8 Conjure Codex: conjure a spellbook containing a limited number spells that you alone can cast.
9 Dark Athenaeum: Shadow library enhances Knowledge checks, vanishes if immersed in sunlight.

One with Naught
7 Thought of Oblivion: Destroy one item or construct.
8 Shadow Sequestration: Temporarily banish one creature from reality.
9 Transcend Mortality: Briefly become one with shadow before dispersing into nothingness.

Penumbral Master
7 Umbral Explosion: Use multiple mysteries simultaneously.
8 Dark Transfiguration: Exchange daily uses of your mysteries.
9 Shadow Absorption: Absorb spells and mysteries and harness their power.

Shadow Calling
7 Summon Umbral Servant: Summon shadow elementals to serve you.
8 Shadow Plague: A cloud of shadow energy deals 4d6 [cold] damage/round.
9 Army of Shadow: Summon shadow elementals to serve you.

Shadowscape
7 Grasping Shadows: Tendrils grapple foes and cause [blindness].
8 Menagerie of Darkness: Transform nearby animals and vermin into shadow creatures and gain control over them.
9 Black Labyrinth: Shift portions of the real world into Shadow and vice-versa, creating a bewildering array of effects.

Shower of Shadows
7 Frigid Orbs: Launch small orbs of [cold] and [negative energy].
8 Falling Sky: Propel frozen meteors down from the heavens.
9 Disastrous Orbs: Launch volleys of orbs of [cold] and [negative energy].

Spoiler: Feats for shadowcaster characters

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FAVORED MYSTERY [Shadow, Void]
The mystery you choose becomes easier to cast.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast mysteries.
Benefit: Choose a mystery you know. You cast that mystery as a supernatural ability instead of a spell-like ability. If you choose a mystery that you can already cast as a supernatural ability, or if you later gain the ability to cast that mystery as a supernatural ability, you gain an extra use of that mystery per day.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. When you take the feat again, you can choose to affect the same mystery or a different one.

TAINTED SAVANT [Shadow]
You have learned to blend your shadowcrafting talent with the shadow magic of your shadowcaster training.
Prerequisites: Midnight Strike, ability to manifest 2nd level shadowcaster mysteries
Benefit: Your shadowcaster and shadowcrafter levels stack when determining your shadowcaster caster level and number of mysteries known and prepared, and when determining your shadowcrafter manifester level and how many augments you can ready at once. Whenever you would gain the Sustaining Shadow feature or an improvement to that feature, you may instead choose to encourage the taint of shadow within you to spread, and gain access to the next highest grade of shadowcrafter augment (lesser, greater, etc.). This delays your progression in the Sustaining Shadow feature (you don't skip over the feature you forfeited).

this is looking pretty good so far. Are there any other elements you'd like to add to it? perhaps some physical changes to the character. perhaps they take on a more shade like appearance?

I like this idea! Were you envisioning flavor-only changes, or crunch-based limitations like the inability to use the Disguise skill?

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Originally Posted by jiriku

I like this idea! Were you envisioning flavor-only changes, or crunch-based limitations like the inability to use the Disguise skill?

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You could probably just leave the Child of Night as is - it's pretty decent already, and does pretty much this.

Are you going to be posting the Mystery descriptions anytime soon?

Mystery descriptions are linked in the OP, but it can't hurt to include a link here too!