Best feats for a BBEG? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Best feats for a BBEG? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Daavid Muhameed
07-07-04, 05:46 PM I’m building an elven wizard :mage: to use as the BBEG in my game, and i am wondering which feats you other GM's would consider a must have?

at the level im building, he has 5 feats, scribe scroll, and 2 bonus:
so i went with:

Quick Draw -- replacing Weapon Finesse: Dagger
Expertise
Spell Focus:Conjuration -- leading to Augment Summoning
Improved Familiar
Craft Wonderous Object -- in favor of Wand or Potion

Scribe Scroll

Quicken Spell
Empower Spell -- replacing Extend Spell

i figured an ice mephit might be handy, plus they seem capable of summoning other mephits, adding a resource to my BBEG.

Do these seem like good choices? or do any of you guys have some evil spellcaster favorites?

coincidentally, the very minute i was considering feats for a BBEG, an expertise (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=271709) thread showed up on the DM board.
PenderGrass
07-07-04, 06:20 PM Spell-casting depends on being FAST.

If you roll Initiative every round you may want to take Improved Initiative. Even if you don't roll initiative every round, it helps to go faster than others when you are planning on casting spells.
Tusz
07-07-04, 06:20 PM First thing's first: You can't have augment summoning without Spell Focus (Conjuration). Second, maximize spell can be useful to a summoner (which is what it looks like you're making), since using higher level Summon Monsters can create many little monsters. Casting a maimized one of those can make a good meat shield for the PCs to chow through.
Daavid Muhameed
07-07-04, 06:28 PM shoot, must have missed the prereq in the SRD :tantrum:

in that case, ill replace augment with the spell focus, and save Augment for later, i guess i can give it to him when he gains a few levels, that will help his monsters gain some oomph as the players get leveled too. thanks. :schemes:

as for the improved initiative, i will put that right next to Augment for future feats, i hadnt really thought of initiative order. that may become importaint as the players bridge the CR gap (the wizard is currently double their party level, so init doesnt really matter for now)

wait. can i take augment with his next Wizard bonus feat?
Tusz
07-07-04, 06:35 PM No. Your bonus feat is Spell mastery, metamagic or item creation only.
SmiloDan
07-07-04, 07:07 PM 1. Improved Initiative
3. Spell Focus--conjuration
5. Craft Wand
6. Augment Summoning
9. Empower Spell or Extend Spell
10. Craft Wonderous Object
12. Quicken Spell or Maximize Spell or Widen Spell
Sildatorak
07-07-04, 07:17 PM Originally posted by Daavid Muhameed
Weapon Finesse: Dagger
Expertise
Spell Focus:Conjuration -- leading to Augment Summoning
Scribe Scroll
Brew Potion
Quicken Spell
Extend Spell

and for lack of a better choice: :rolleyes:
Improved Familiar

If I were you I'd ditch weapon finesse: dagger and expertise unless he has an incredibly wicked magical weapon. WF: touch would be a better choice for most wizards for their touch spells, but they don't do enough in the way of attacking to make those really necessary, IMHO. Weapon Focus: Ray or Point Blank Shot would be better choices (depending on his spells, of course) if you are going to be making significant numbers of attack rolls.

Between Scribe Scroll and Brew Potion he can have most of his buffs on scrolls or in potion form instead of memorized, which is helpful, though brew potions is the weaker of the two and could be lost in favor of a metamagic feat.

If you are going with a conjurer build I think that Empower Spell would be an excellent choice, maybe even better than Maximize Spell since it gives you essentially the same result for the various summon monster spells at +2 levels instead of +3.

Here is the list I would go with if you're going to do a conjurer.

Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summoning, Improved Familiar, Improved Initiative, Empower Spell, Extend Spell, Quicken Spell

For frustrating PC's I recommend having Quickened Invisibility since you can share it with your familiar and summoning monsters doesn't break invisibilty. A good round 1 combo is quicked invisibility and fly and then he can zip around throwing down extended or empowered summons so the PC's can waste all of their resources dealing with them.
Daavid Muhameed
07-07-04, 07:25 PM i went with Brew Potion so he could quickly use spells like Endurance without memorizing, but good call on Craft Wand SmiloDan, now he can use a wand of Endurance *and* now a wand of Polymorph, Summon, etc is an option.

same function as potions, but better (4th level spells and wider array of targets)

...*changes featlist again*

1. Improved Initiative .... as in replace Finesse?
and why the Craft Wonder? any perticular item?
Daavid Muhameed
07-07-04, 07:35 PM the expertise is there as a getaway for when a player actualy closes with him, make the expertise, get the +5 ac and maybe hit for some magic knife damage (he does have truestrike), then move and fire off a quickened web or invisibility as you said.

the finesse can go though, it doesnt really need to be there.

as far as rays and such, i rolled a bag of holding, so a put it to use holding some Otiluke's Globes of cold, to toss 2 or 3 if the situation calls for it. the description calls them grenade-like.

what focus would you call that, Weapon focus: Thrown? :confused:

i see you kept familiar, is it that useful?
Daavid Muhameed
07-07-04, 09:23 PM sense i will take improved initiative, just at a later level, what about Quick Draw? in place of finesse? or some other similar feat for items if one exists?

assuming that can be used to quickdraw a wand or such, while i was looking over wands in the DMG i realized that, if possible, it would be very handy.
Shadowmagyk
07-07-04, 10:23 PM Craft Wondrous Item is a good idea because of the INT boost items, AC boost items, and Figurines of Wondorus Power are good also.

There are a buttload of magic items that can benefit a mage, especially a BBEG. The downfall to all of the Item Creation Feats is that they will belong to the PCs once they beat the BBEG.
Glak
07-07-04, 11:33 PM well I assume that you don't want your carefully crafted wizard dying because of a bad save. He already has a good will so give him the ones that increase ref and fort.
krichaiushii
07-07-04, 11:39 PM With Craft Wondrous Item, you get to make Bags of Tricks. Perhaps your Elf can modify the creatures from the bags to be affected by his Augment Summoning feat.

Just a thought.

CWI also allows for Vests of Escape - which you may need if your PCs develop the annoying tactic of grappling mages. In that case, you may want Still Spell too... but that is down the road.

SmiloDan has a pretty good feat chain there, I second his recommendation.

As every BBEG needs a good flunky, you might consider picking up Leadership at some point - if only for a dedicated bodyguard.
Daavid Muhameed
07-08-04, 12:00 AM a bag 'o' critters has me sold -_- wands/potions will be paid for.

)quick draw
)expertise
)craft wonderous object
)conjuration focus
)improved familiar

)scribe scroll
)quicken spell
)empower spell

improved initiative & augment summoning pending higher levels

as for the flunky, i have other wizards, dragons, and undead placed throughout the world, they can all flunk pretty well.

also that ice mephit seems pretty neat (im under the impression that they can wear clothes, so some Tiny Gloves of Storing would give him 40lbs of thing (X) to hastle the party with, yes i think CWO will work out nicly -_-)

:schemes:
Shadowmagyk
07-08-04, 09:45 AM Originally posted by Daavid Muhameed
a bag 'o' critters has me sold -_- wands/potions will be paid for.

)quick draw
)expertise
)craft wonderous object
)conjuration focus
)improved familiar

)scribe scroll
)quicken spell
)empower spell

improved initiative & augment summoning pending higher levels

as for the flunky, i have other wizards, dragons, and undead placed throughout the world, they can all flunk pretty well.

also that ice mephit seems pretty neat (im under the impression that they can wear clothes, so some Tiny Gloves of Storing would give him 40lbs of thing (X) to hastle the party with, yes i think CWO will work out nicly -_-)

:schemes:

First off, I am not sure if I am reading your feat chain correctly. Why do you have Scribe Scroll towards the bottom of the list? A wizard gets that at first level. This would mean that you can have another feat. Augment Summoning should be placed there. Also, Quick Draw requires a BAB of +1. I know that it more than likely doesnt matter for a BBEG since they wont see him for a while, but it is first on your list.
Sildatorak
07-08-04, 12:29 PM Originally posted by Daavid Muhameed
i see you kept familiar, is it that useful?

A mephit isn't really that useful unless you have prepared things for it to do. I liked the flavor of it, though, and if you prep right (giving it magical items that it can use, sharing buffs like mad, etc.) it can be an asset.
Daavid Muhameed
07-08-04, 10:46 PM i just split up the 3 feats for being a wizard, from the 5 feats you get for playing a D&D character. no particular order.

as for the mephit, i hadnt realized it was 4 feet tall and spoke 2 languages. kind of dumb tho, int 6 wis 11. guess that is why he hangs out with a wizard.

(i *just* read the description for Telekinesis in 3.5 and decided that everything is gonna be A-O-K for this BBEG.
those Combat Maneuvers for 13 rounds will pretty-much neuter my level 6 players if they try anything foolhardy -_-)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Daavid Muhameed 07-07-04, 05:46 PM	I’m building an elven wizard :mage: to use as the BBEG in my game, and i am wondering which feats you other GM's would consider a must have? at the level im building, he has 5 feats, scribe scroll, and 2 bonus: so i went with: Quick Draw -- replacing Weapon Finesse: Dagger Expertise Spell Focus:Conjuration -- leading to Augment Summoning Improved Familiar Craft Wonderous Object -- in favor of Wand or Potion Scribe Scroll Quicken Spell Empower Spell -- replacing Extend Spell i figured an ice mephit might be handy, plus they seem capable of summoning other mephits, adding a resource to my BBEG. Do these seem like good choices? or do any of you guys have some evil spellcaster favorites? coincidentally, the very minute i was considering feats for a BBEG, an expertise (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=271709) thread showed up on the DM board.
PenderGrass 07-07-04, 06:20 PM	Spell-casting depends on being FAST. If you roll Initiative every round you may want to take Improved Initiative. Even if you don't roll initiative every round, it helps to go faster than others when you are planning on casting spells.
Tusz 07-07-04, 06:20 PM	First thing's first: You can't have augment summoning without Spell Focus (Conjuration). Second, maximize spell can be useful to a summoner (which is what it looks like you're making), since using higher level Summon Monsters can create many little monsters. Casting a maimized one of those can make a good meat shield for the PCs to chow through.
Daavid Muhameed 07-07-04, 06:28 PM	shoot, must have missed the prereq in the SRD :tantrum: in that case, ill replace augment with the spell focus, and save Augment for later, i guess i can give it to him when he gains a few levels, that will help his monsters gain some oomph as the players get leveled too. thanks. :schemes: as for the improved initiative, i will put that right next to Augment for future feats, i hadnt really thought of initiative order. that may become importaint as the players bridge the CR gap (the wizard is currently double their party level, so init doesnt really matter for now) wait. can i take augment with his next Wizard bonus feat?
Tusz 07-07-04, 06:35 PM	No. Your bonus feat is Spell mastery, metamagic or item creation only.
SmiloDan 07-07-04, 07:07 PM	1. Improved Initiative 3. Spell Focus--conjuration 5. Craft Wand 6. Augment Summoning 9. Empower Spell or Extend Spell 10. Craft Wonderous Object 12. Quicken Spell or Maximize Spell or Widen Spell
Sildatorak 07-07-04, 07:17 PM	Originally posted by Daavid Muhameed Weapon Finesse: Dagger Expertise Spell Focus:Conjuration -- leading to Augment Summoning Scribe Scroll Brew Potion Quicken Spell Extend Spell and for lack of a better choice: :rolleyes: Improved Familiar If I were you I'd ditch weapon finesse: dagger and expertise unless he has an incredibly wicked magical weapon. WF: touch would be a better choice for most wizards for their touch spells, but they don't do enough in the way of attacking to make those really necessary, IMHO. Weapon Focus: Ray or Point Blank Shot would be better choices (depending on his spells, of course) if you are going to be making significant numbers of attack rolls. Between Scribe Scroll and Brew Potion he can have most of his buffs on scrolls or in potion form instead of memorized, which is helpful, though brew potions is the weaker of the two and could be lost in favor of a metamagic feat. If you are going with a conjurer build I think that Empower Spell would be an excellent choice, maybe even better than Maximize Spell since it gives you essentially the same result for the various summon monster spells at +2 levels instead of +3. Here is the list I would go with if you're going to do a conjurer. Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summoning, Improved Familiar, Improved Initiative, Empower Spell, Extend Spell, Quicken Spell For frustrating PC's I recommend having Quickened Invisibility since you can share it with your familiar and summoning monsters doesn't break invisibilty. A good round 1 combo is quicked invisibility and fly and then he can zip around throwing down extended or empowered summons so the PC's can waste all of their resources dealing with them.
Daavid Muhameed 07-07-04, 07:25 PM	i went with Brew Potion so he could quickly use spells like Endurance without memorizing, but good call on Craft Wand SmiloDan, now he can use a wand of Endurance and now a wand of Polymorph, Summon, etc is an option. same function as potions, but better (4th level spells and wider array of targets) ...changes featlist again 1. Improved Initiative .... as in replace Finesse? and why the Craft Wonder? any perticular item?
Daavid Muhameed 07-07-04, 07:35 PM	the expertise is there as a getaway for when a player actualy closes with him, make the expertise, get the +5 ac and maybe hit for some magic knife damage (he does have truestrike), then move and fire off a quickened web or invisibility as you said. the finesse can go though, it doesnt really need to be there. as far as rays and such, i rolled a bag of holding, so a put it to use holding some Otiluke's Globes of cold, to toss 2 or 3 if the situation calls for it. the description calls them grenade-like. what focus would you call that, Weapon focus: Thrown? :confused: i see you kept familiar, is it that useful?
Daavid Muhameed 07-07-04, 09:23 PM	sense i will take improved initiative, just at a later level, what about Quick Draw? in place of finesse? or some other similar feat for items if one exists? assuming that can be used to quickdraw a wand or such, while i was looking over wands in the DMG i realized that, if possible, it would be very handy.
Shadowmagyk 07-07-04, 10:23 PM	Craft Wondrous Item is a good idea because of the INT boost items, AC boost items, and Figurines of Wondorus Power are good also. There are a buttload of magic items that can benefit a mage, especially a BBEG. The downfall to all of the Item Creation Feats is that they will belong to the PCs once they beat the BBEG.
Glak 07-07-04, 11:33 PM	well I assume that you don't want your carefully crafted wizard dying because of a bad save. He already has a good will so give him the ones that increase ref and fort.
krichaiushii 07-07-04, 11:39 PM	With Craft Wondrous Item, you get to make Bags of Tricks. Perhaps your Elf can modify the creatures from the bags to be affected by his Augment Summoning feat. Just a thought. CWI also allows for Vests of Escape - which you may need if your PCs develop the annoying tactic of grappling mages. In that case, you may want Still Spell too... but that is down the road. SmiloDan has a pretty good feat chain there, I second his recommendation. As every BBEG needs a good flunky, you might consider picking up Leadership at some point - if only for a dedicated bodyguard.
Daavid Muhameed 07-08-04, 12:00 AM	a bag 'o' critters has me sold -_- wands/potions will be paid for. )quick draw )expertise )craft wonderous object )conjuration focus )improved familiar )scribe scroll )quicken spell )empower spell improved initiative & augment summoning pending higher levels as for the flunky, i have other wizards, dragons, and undead placed throughout the world, they can all flunk pretty well. also that ice mephit seems pretty neat (im under the impression that they can wear clothes, so some Tiny Gloves of Storing would give him 40lbs of thing (X) to hastle the party with, yes i think CWO will work out nicly -_-) :schemes:
Shadowmagyk 07-08-04, 09:45 AM	Originally posted by Daavid Muhameed a bag 'o' critters has me sold -_- wands/potions will be paid for. )quick draw )expertise )craft wonderous object )conjuration focus )improved familiar )scribe scroll )quicken spell )empower spell improved initiative & augment summoning pending higher levels as for the flunky, i have other wizards, dragons, and undead placed throughout the world, they can all flunk pretty well. also that ice mephit seems pretty neat (im under the impression that they can wear clothes, so some Tiny Gloves of Storing would give him 40lbs of thing (X) to hastle the party with, yes i think CWO will work out nicly -_-) :schemes: First off, I am not sure if I am reading your feat chain correctly. Why do you have Scribe Scroll towards the bottom of the list? A wizard gets that at first level. This would mean that you can have another feat. Augment Summoning should be placed there. Also, Quick Draw requires a BAB of +1. I know that it more than likely doesnt matter for a BBEG since they wont see him for a while, but it is first on your list.
Sildatorak 07-08-04, 12:29 PM	Originally posted by Daavid Muhameed i see you kept familiar, is it that useful? A mephit isn't really that useful unless you have prepared things for it to do. I liked the flavor of it, though, and if you prep right (giving it magical items that it can use, sharing buffs like mad, etc.) it can be an asset.
Daavid Muhameed 07-08-04, 10:46 PM	i just split up the 3 feats for being a wizard, from the 5 feats you get for playing a D&D character. no particular order. as for the mephit, i hadnt realized it was 4 feet tall and spoke 2 languages. kind of dumb tho, int 6 wis 11. guess that is why he hangs out with a wizard. (i just read the description for Telekinesis in 3.5 and decided that everything is gonna be A-O-K for this BBEG. those Combat Maneuvers for 13 rounds will pretty-much neuter my level 6 players if they try anything foolhardy -_-)