Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Papapeperoni 01-02-06, 03:43 PM	The BBEG for my home-brew campaign is a spellcaster who is casting a spell that can destroy the world (the material plane) inside an almost impenetrable mountain. His name is Gaia and he incidentally also created the plane, but that spell cost him all of his sanity, and he got the crazy idea that, since he was the one that created the world, should also be able to destroy it. I know those spells are probably deity level, but I would like him to have a CR of about 20, which is the reason I call for help. His destroying spell has a casting time is 1000 years (non-stop). He's been casting for approx. 900 years already, so he will be ****** off if the PC's interrupt him. Any thought of what race he could be, level and maybe the world-ending spell? Thanks, --Papapeperoni, God of Pizza's
Golem011 01-02-06, 04:18 PM	How about a Ha-naga? CR 22, powerful spellcasters (as 21st level sorceror, can cast cleric spells from chaos and evil as arcane spells) so it would fit the bill pretty well. It's in the SRD, go check. As to the spell... I think it'd have to be rp.
Papapeperoni 01-02-06, 04:37 PM	Way too large. I need Medium, even human if possible. Maybe a lich cuz I don't know many races that live 1000 years. He isn't a deity, he was rejected and stripped from his deity powers when he created the Material Plane (thus destroying some other part, complicated). Something that should be a spellcaster. Please, anyone else help? --Papapeperoni, God of Pizza's
Golem011 01-02-06, 04:50 PM	Worm-that-walks? Lich sounds good... or you could create your own unique race with something like LA +5 and then he gets something like... 20 caster levels... hmm.
dok 01-02-06, 07:11 PM	First question: Where is your campaign now? Unless you're at level 16+, you shouldn't bother to build or stat this guy. It's not necessarly, and IMNSHO, it's not appropriate. Let the campaign develop, let the story grow, and when the PCs are approaching the point where they'll face this guy, then start building him. Unless this is for next week's session, this guy doesn't need levels, stats, or a race. All the PCs get are rumors, myths, and legends, which are wrong as often as they are right. What you have now (Powerful spellcaster, once a god, 1000+ years old) is enough to give hints to the PCs and move the campaign forward. By the time the PCs are at a point where they can face him, your game will be better developed. Next question: World-destroying spell? This isn't a question as much as a series of questions. First, is this really a spell that has a possibility of being cast, or is it just a plot device meant to motivate the PCs to act/attack/otherwise interrupt the BBEG? Second, what do you mean, exactly, by 'world destroying'? If it destroys the whole world and everyone on it, that's one meaning. If it causes eathquakes and tsunamis and volcanoes rising in major cities, well, that's a different sort of "world destruction". If it opens a portal to a hellish realm of bizzare monsters that quickly overrun the world, that's a third flavor of "world destruction". There are many more ways to "destroy" the "world" than I can list here, but you, as a DM, need to have a handle on what's going to happen. Specifically, what will happen, what areas will be affected, how long will it take, and what happens after the spell is done? Third, why a 'casting time of 1000 years'? If all the BBEG does is sit and chant until he fails a Concentration check for being attacked, that's rather anticlimactic. Why not have it be a shorter-casting time spell that requires certain conditions that only occur every 1000 years? (You know, like eclipses or the stars being 'in alignment', or some such) Next question: why only the one guy? A lone monster of CR 20 is allegedly a suitable challenge for PCs 15-20th level. In reality though, a lone monster of any CR is at a severe disadvantage against four PCs, no matter how you dice it. The BBEG by himself falls to the Ackbar strategy. ("Focus all firepower on that super-Star Destroyer!") I recommend the "Mook + BBEG" or "Leutenants + BBEG" groupings for higher level, or possibly the "Elite Team" instead of the BBEG. Any race can have its lifespan extended. Any creature can be given Divine Rank 0 to make them near-godlike but without the powers. It's fairly easy to stack 21 levels of spellcaster on a creature. Bottom line: you don't know enough about the BBEG to stat him. Let the campaign run, and flesh this guy out more. Figure out what his interests are, what drives him. Decide what his sources of power are. (arcane, divine, psionic, axiomatic, anarchic, fiendish, celestial, alien) Identify any other powerful beings he might or might not associate with. Right now, you have the seed of an idea, but its not enough. Let your campaign run with this guy in the background, and come back when your party is a closer level to where he is. Right now, this guy could be a wizard or a cleric or an Ur-Priest or a Bard for all we know. He could be Undead, an Outsider, an Elemental, or something else. There are dozens of WotC prestige classes for spellcasters, and hundreds of 3rd party PrCs that fit the bill as well. I know its not what you came to hear, but sit & wait on this one a while. Focus on your campaign world as a whole, and let this idea simmer away on the back burner until its ready.
Khael 01-02-06, 07:12 PM	If you don't want to create your own race, make him an elan. They are immortal thanks to the errata, are in the XPH, and have +0 LA. They are a normally psionic race but you asked for immortality (or at any rate a 1000 year lifespan). Plus Elans normally start as human and thus are physically identical to humans.
metamind 01-02-06, 07:18 PM	okay, Gaia is a girls name (Greek godess of nature) Also make him an epic level character, and make him a class and race the players are unfamiliar with.
Golem011 01-03-06, 05:36 AM	If you just want a very human-like race, go Elan as Khael said.
NinjaE 01-03-06, 05:15 PM	If I may suggest a solution to the "one-vs-many" problem dok pointed out, how about having the BBEG simply split into several (preferably as many as there are party members +1, who continues casting the spell, with the last guy being more powerful than the first batch)?
Zhymth 01-03-06, 05:32 PM	I've got a great idea, why don't you beef up the 6th level bard spell Otto's Irresistible Dance so that the unsuspecting victims dance to their doom. No eating, no sleeping, no breathing, just dance.
Papapeperoni 01-04-06, 10:17 AM	Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure I know any class my team does not, cuz they play CoCo here so they are fairly familiar with the rules. I'll make him (yes, him, I'm stubborn :P) an Elan with way too many levels in Sorcerer. He isn't alone in his mountain, of course, you know, lots of constructs and worshippers (even though he's no longer a god, people still worship him). About the spell, the world is flat, with two different sides. When the spell is finished, the mountain will open up and act as an enormous vacuum cleaner, sucking the lower half of the plantet into the upper half, thus making the planet implode. Could anyone formulalte that one precisely? Thanks, --Papapeperoni, God of Pizza's