Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TheLeviathan 04-30-04, 01:42 AM	This is my first time posting, so right off I apologize if this is in the wrong place. I've been a fan of D&D for the past 15-20 years now. (My memory is real bad. Suffice to say, I was a kid when I started playing back in the 80's). So far, the newest edition of the game has proven to be the best, kudos to wizards for that. Since 3e came out, my game group and I have been slaving away on what we now refer to as "the epic campaign". Our characters are currently around lvl 28ish and climbing. Our characters all have their own personalities and agendas, and mine is beginning to worry me. WARNING: The next paragraph is entirely background info for my character, and has nothing to do with the advice I am in need of. Feel free to skip this part if you want. Quick rundown of my character, Mal'ekith, and the events that have lead him to his current dilema. (one huge paragraph, so that people can skip it easily if they want to) Mal'ekith was a human wizard who devoted his entire life to Mystra, the weave, and the study of magic. Over the years, he became reverent of the Lady of Mysteries and joined the church as an arcane devotee. Around the time he was 12th lvl (please remember, this is over a year of campaign history and I'm giving you the short version, bear with me if I get kinda OOC with it) his life took a serious turn which some consider for better, others for worse. He fell in love with a paladin by the name of Lady Shannon, a stalwart follower of Tyr. When he professed his love for her, she rejected him, saying that her love for her god was the only true love she would ever know. The rejection devestated him emotionally, and set him upon the path he now walks. With the only mortal love he'd ever felt denied him, he devoted himself fully to Mystra. Some might argue that he went a bit insane, for his devotion lead him to believe that She would never take notice of him as a champion or a chosen, so Mal'ekith took it upon himself to ensure his power would grow to one day serve Her as her chosen did. He killed himself to become a lich, forsaking any chance of a mortal life, love, family, or home. Some years later, Lady Shannon attempted to confide in Mal'ekith that she secretly loved him as well and had lied to him those years past. Mal'ekith lost it. He confided in the Paladin that he was no longer amongst the living..well, you can imagine the mess that made. Mal'ekith grew angry and spiteful, and now we get to today..... Today, Mal'ekith has his sights set on power. Wrong or right, he wants to become the next arch magister. Today, Mal'ekith is a 5th level wizard, 1st level arcane devotee, 3rd lvl archmage, 2nd level loremaster, 10th level incantatrix, and an 8th level epic incantatrix. He's a walking anti mage battery, with the ability to counterspell as many times as he likes as a free action, regardless of initiative, and any spells he counters are turned back upon the caster. (He has all of the counter spell feats) He also has a great deal of metamagic power, with the ability to shell out a signature spell that does 1500 points of damage of any element type he chooses. (It's a legit spell using metamagic, I won't map it out though. I know it sounds munchkin like, which is why I've yet to actually use the spell, I'm mearly illustrating the power he can wield but chooses not to. Mystra's teachings tell us not to abuse the weave.) So, what's the problem you ask? It's his opponent. He's going up against the arch magister, easily as powerful if not more so than the chosen of mystra according to the 'template'. How do I kick this off in a manner that will seriously impress my DM while utterly trouncing the tar out of the magister? (considering he's likely going to be immune to many save or die spells, as well as energy types) Any advice?
Banpai 04-30-04, 05:14 AM	First; really nice histroy you can really be proud of that.:) Second there are many ways to deal a magister, but remember if you want to get his job you have to do it in a Mage duell so developing an epic spell and deal him from afar is not a possiblity. When In duel with him there are several things to consider: 1. Spell Resistance: try to get your SR as high as possbile if the canīt touch you with his spells you have almost won. 2. A Magister is immune to enchanment spells so they are out. 3 At will True Seeing so illusions are more or less out too. 4 A magister hears when someone speaks her name so you should not do so before combat too often. 5 IIRC you are not allowd to use staffs, wands and such stuff i a mage duel 6 Wait and counterspell her. With your feats the Magister is well likely to k.o himself with his own spell 7 Use an epic spell to attack him chause he will be most certainly not immune to it 8 Spell immunity dispel Magic, Greater Dispelling and Mordenkainens disjunction can save your precious buffs. 9 If you can get it, get a spellblade (PGtF) to protect you from spells like dispel magic Now how to impress your DM in the fight: Well basically there are two ways, the way of least resistance which would mean simply buffing yourself a bit an then wait and counterspell all his stuff until heīs out of spells (danger he has some sp abilities he can use an unlimited times per day so donīt waste counterpspelling power simply dispel everything that troubles you) on that way you look like an overly wise and mighty mage and others wonīt dare to challenge you chause you deal the magister without using youf full power. The other way to do this (this is preferable IMO) is : BLAST IT! This may sound a little bit uncreative but imagine a duell where you donīt do anything in the first round(s) of buffing an just before the Magister casts his spell you canst yours (1500 damage .....sweeet) perhaps even with Thematic spell to make it even more impressive. If you manage to deafeat a Magister with this single spell you can be rather shure that the audience (there will be most likely audience) will be royally impressed. Though you should not tell everyone that you are a lich some regligious "persons" might get this wrong. One last thing If the character wants to grasp live again he could IMo definitely find a way to come back into live (the lich LA hurts anyways ) especially at that level. Turning the palading in an intelligent undead would be interresting too:devil: I hope that helped you
TheLeviathan 04-30-04, 09:10 AM	Thanks for the kind words and the advice ;) Your list has reminded me of a few key things I was actually forgetting, thank god you remembered. I built Mal'ekith to shut down enemy mages on the field. He became so successful at it on paper that our DM never even bothered to throw casters at us for fear of me turning them out. Naturally, I'm a bit nervous with this duel being the first true test of Mal'ekith's abilities. As I read your list of reminders, a few things crop up in my head. 1. SR. Mine is currently 40, and my experience with spell resistance is that it's entirely too easy to penetrate without a rediculously higher number. I suspect the magister, if he has any brains, will certainly have a higher rating. I've given some serious thought to using a disjunction on him (one of Mal's favorite spells) to destroy any buffs he may have up. I hope he's not immune to it via the magister template though. 2. Immune to enchantments? Oh dear me, good thing you brought it up...I'd forgotten lol 3. Something I should have brought up. Being an incantratix means having to forsake one of your schools later in your career. In Mal'ekith's case, he gave up higher level illusions. Good thing too apparently. 4. Good point. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Mal'ekith has no other arcane casters in his group of companions to confide in, so he speaks rarely of his own ambitions. Only his companions and a very select few NPC's in the realm know of his true nature. 5. The items bit. Which items are allowed if any? I can live without things like staves, etc. but there are a few items I'd certainly like to bring with me, and I'm certainly concerned about the things the magister might bring to the table. 6. The counterspelling. I just hope the magister doesn't have any serious tricks up his sleeve that I'm not counting on, like hieghtening his spells to make it harder for me to counter with dispell magic spells. (If that's even possible? :confused: ) I'm probably going to have to rely on my ability to use any school spell, rather than dispell magic wars. I suspect the dispell magic spell will be utterly useless, leaving greater dispell suspect as well. Thank god for disjunction. 7. Very good point on the epic spell. Currently, all of my epic spells are defensive in nature, with a battery of permenant spells that have raised Mal'ekith's AC to over 70. Everything the DM throws at us still hits me religiously, but whatever. That's another story for another day. Definately a good suggestion, I'd best get to work on some more offensive dealings. 8. Is there a spell that grants immunity to disjunction and dispells? 9. A spellblade eh? Might just hafta try that out. Long as I don't have to strike anyone with it anyway, Mal'ekith's to hit score is a joke at +13. To comment on the two strategies: The first, the path of zen casting as I jokingly refer to it. I like the idea of it, at least the asthetic feel of it. I can imagine how frustrated the magister would get to have every single spell he casts thrown back into his face. I know Mal'ekith would get bent out of shape if it were done to him. I think I'll throw up some mock battles with one of my game group members to test this out and see just how viable this approach will be. I guess sometimes the simple approaches can be the best, but we'll see how it pans out on paper. The blast it technique. Highly amusing if nothing else, but I know how easy it is to come across elemental immunity, either via spell, item, or possibly even the magister's template. If the later is the case, my signature spell won't be able to touch him. It'll be a shame too, because that 1500 damage is pure damage, no dice rolling. :( I do however have an ace up my sleeve to play, but it's tricky. I have access to a spell called Arcana form. I believe it's from the sword and sorcery game system, a generic d20 DND like game. I rarely use it because it's highly abusive, but I'll give you a rundown how things work. Arcana form taps the caster directly into the weave, causing him or her to become etherial yet still able to cast spells on the prime material. Further, the spell allows a caster to damage himself 1d6 per level of a spell he is casting in order to use the weave to fuel the spell. What this means is that the caster can retain prepared spells by harming himself. For Mal'ekith, this is an easy thing to do since he can generate coldfire twice a round for 3d10 damage each shot. Since it's negative energy, the coldfire heals himself when he uses it upon himself. Mal'ekith has the innate ability to timestop, used to be once a round but innate spell was nerfed, so I'm down to 3 times per day now. Obviously, with timestop up, he can shell out 5-10 spells, not loose a single one from memory, and be fully healed at the end of the time stop. The downside to arcana form is that if you enter an anti magic field, you a snuffed out of existance (read, not dead but effectively gone until someone gets you out of the field) for the duration of the field. Despite the risk, this is a terrible cheese tactic and is one which I reserve for our DM's pet NPC enemies only. In short, my DM has granted Mal'ekith a wide array of powers, but only because I keep them in check and I play Mal'ekith to the hilt. He can be haughty at times, and very rarely will he use his full power against something, both out of reverence to the weave and Mystra as well as my own self checking balance so the DM doesn't regret what I've become. I think the magister qualifies as a target in need of a serious butt whoopin however, so I'm ready to pull out all the stops on this one. As for Lady Shannon and being resurected...hehe......funny should mention that. I've often joked about turning her into a deathknight out of spite. In the back of Mal'ekith's mind, there's a nagging that calls him to return to life so that he can be with Lady Shannon, but she refuses to even speak to him now that he's become a lich. I suspect at some point, if she persists with her disdain for him, Mal'ekith will finally overcome his feelings for the woman. Once that happens, he would refuse to live again as a mortal. He loves Mystra and his work as much as he still loves Shannon, so it's all a matter of what happens next really. He's always been a dynamic character, changing with the events laid out before him. It will be interesting to pick the campaign back up and get to work.
Mumm-Ra 04-30-04, 10:05 AM	The uber counterspeller wizard is a good choice for casters-it nerfs enemy casters nicely. however, bear in mind that all counterspell attempts require spellcraft checks, and if the magister uses silenced and stilled spells, then you cannot counterspell them. Similarly, if the magister has lots of spell-like abilities, then you cannot counterspell them either. Just hope your DM doesnt replace the current magister with a phaerim magister, since all spells cast by phaerimms count as spell like abilities. All your vaunted counterspelling feats and abilities would count for nothing against these tactics. Just something to bear in mind. Apart from that, you should be ok against the magister.
TheLeviathan 04-30-04, 10:17 AM	"Just hope your DM doesnt replace the current magister with a phaerim magister, since all spells cast by phaerimms count as spell like abilities." O.O Dear god, say it isn't so lol......I'll have my bony, shriveled backside handed to me faster than I can say "Corp por". What's a phaerim anyway? I'm not familiar with the term. Which sourcebook is it in? Also, I didn't know that silenced and stilled spells foil counter attempts. How does that work? Cripes, I need to go re-read those feats and or the counter spelling system. P.S. After a brief search, it appears that the phaerim are a branch of zent wizards. I may have to beat my DM within an inch of his life if he pulls this on me. He has yet to do anything with zents to this point, so I'm hoping he has forgotten about this approach.
TheLeviathan 04-30-04, 10:39 AM	After some poking around, it appears that spell like abilities can be countered with the use of spells such as dispell magic, greater dispell, and disjunction. I suppose if worse comes to worse, I can rely on this should my DM attempt to get tricky.
Heron_Marked_Blade 04-30-04, 11:22 AM	I doubt the Magister would be immune to Force damage. Create some high-level force-damage spells. Insta-hits are nice, too (such as magic missile and Mord's force missiles), in which case you'll only have to worry about SR.
TheLeviathan 04-30-04, 12:26 PM	Hmmm...It would be nice if you could admixture/substitue force damage. Maybe I'll break down and research a force version of the spell I'm using. Good suggestion, thanks.
Anthor Del Niera 04-30-04, 04:08 PM	Force Orb from Unnapproachable East. Nice spell, especially when you metamagic and spontaneous metamagic it. And are you using scorching ray? Elemental, but still sweet.