Disclaimer: While I agree with a great deal of what Treantmonk, LogicNinja, and several others present as a optimized wizard, I have some slightly divergent views as well. So while the types of spells used will in general match the ones found in the various "tools of god" threads, there may be alternate applications or selections from time to time. However, I think in the long run, the use of the "God" Archetype is an appropriate label for this CO diary.
The party was brought in at level 5 (some of us had played this scenario to the point we picked up in this group, so we skipped to 5). The other members of the party are a: Orc Half-Dragon Barbarian(brutal glass cannon), A Knight (Big Stupid Fighter), A Cleric/Dread Necromancer (bad guy in a group of good guys), and a Factotum.
The Barbarian does what you'd expect a glass cannon to do, he smashes the hell out of most things efficiently. If I'm going to buff someone, its him. Fortunately, he's also a good character (most likely chaotic, judging from his actions) so he fits in well with my character's goal of exhalted behavior. The Knight *is* acting exhalted too, and is a AC monster who liberally spams his challenges to lock up enemies on himself. A good BSF. The Dread Necro typically lobs his charnel touch with a spectral hand, when he gets his undead minions his power level will rocket. How he'll hide them, I don't know. The Factotum was offered by the GM to be the skill monkey(if we didn't take him, I would have ended up a unseen seer), and he's spammed the font of inspiration feat. 14 or so IP/encounter. Nifty.
I'm leaving out story, since this is the Char Op boards and not Char Dev boards.
Character Stats
Rathamon Jalerious Croyan
Neutral Good Gray elf Wizard 5(racial sub at 1 and 3), Incantatrix 1
str 8 dex 16 con 12 int 23 wis 8 chr 10; Fort 3 Reflex 5 Will 8
BaB +2; Ranged +5; AC: 13 (3 dexterity) HD 6d4+6; HP: 25; Initiative +11;
Feats: Iron Will(required for incantatrix), Scrib Scroll(wiz 1), Spell Penetration (3), Split Ray(5) Greater Spell Penetration (6); Empower Spell (6mm);
Skills:
Conentration: +10 Decipher Script: +14 Spellcraft: +15 Knowledge (arcane): +12 Knowledge (Planes):+11 Knowledge (Dungeoneering):+11 Knowledge (Religion): +11 Knowledge (Geography): +11 Knowledge NautreL +9 Knowledge History: +9; Knowledge Arc/Engineering +7; knowledge Local: +8; Tumble: +4
Items: Headband of Intellect +2 (4k), Wagon and Horses(shared with party) 60g, Spell Component Pouch 5g, Courtier’s outfit (50g) Basic supplies 20g, Cloak of Resistance +1 (1k); Lesser rod of metamagic extend; Wand of magic missle (5th) with 2/x charges; Potion of cure moderate wounds; Ever burning torch;
Prohibited: Illusion
Spells known:
1: Grease phb, Enlarge Person phb, Ray of Enfeeblement phb, Wall of Smoke spc, Dawnburst spc, Mage Armor phb, Nerveskitter spc, Protection from X phb, Shield phb, Guided Shot spc
2: Ray of Stupidity spc, Glitter dust spc, Alter Self ph, Cloud of Bewilderment spc, Arcane Turmoil cm, Web phb, Ray of Ice spc,
3: Haste phb , Great Thunderclap spc; Fireball phb; Stinking Cloud phb, Fly phb
Gold: 2394
Spells Per Day: 0:4, 1:5, 2:5, 3:4
Rathamon Jalerious Croyan
Neutral Good Gray elf Wizard 5(racial sub at 1 and 3), Incantatrix 1
str 8 dex 16 con 12 int 23 wis 8 chr 10; Fort 3 Reflex 5 Will 8
BaB +2; Ranged +5; AC: 13 (3 dexterity) HD 6d4+6; HP: 25; Initiative +11;
Feats: Iron Will(required for incantatrix), Scrib Scroll(wiz 1), Spell Penetration (3), Split Ray(5) Greater Spell Penetration (6); Empower Spell (6mm);
Skills:
Conentration: +10 Decipher Script: +14 Spellcraft: +15 Knowledge (arcane): +12 Knowledge (Planes):+11 Knowledge (Dungeoneering):+11 Knowledge (Religion): +11 Knowledge (Geography): +11 Knowledge NautreL +9 Knowledge History: +9; Knowledge Arc/Engineering +7; knowledge Local: +8; Tumble: +4
Items: Headband of Intellect +2 (4k), Wagon and Horses(shared with party) 60g, Spell Component Pouch 5g, Courtier’s outfit (50g) Basic supplies 20g, Cloak of Resistance +1 (1k); Lesser rod of metamagic extend; Wand of magic missle (5th) with 2/x charges; Potion of cure moderate wounds; Ever burning torch;
Prohibited: Illusion
Spells known:
1: Grease phb, Enlarge Person phb, Ray of Enfeeblement phb, Wall of Smoke spc, Dawnburst spc, Mage Armor phb, Nerveskitter spc, Protection from X phb, Shield phb, Guided Shot spc
2: Ray of Stupidity spc, Glitter dust spc, Alter Self ph, Cloud of Bewilderment spc, Arcane Turmoil cm, Web phb, Ray of Ice spc,
3: Haste phb , Great Thunderclap spc; Fireball phb; Stinking Cloud phb, Fly phb
Gold: 2394
Spells Per Day: 0:4, 1:5, 2:5, 3:4
I actually found the character sheet for the wizard I used (wound up at level 9, didn't actually do the last section of the module), here: Wizard 5/Escalation Mage 4.
My encounters went much like yours did, although we used Haste to stay out of the slow hydra's range and pelt it with ranged weapons, I had a couple buffs up while traveling, and I beat the dragon with Suggestions (and made sure of it with Ray of Clumsiness + Ray of Exhaustion). My hiding ability, initiative, etc meant that I didn't take much damage during the first encounter.
P.S.: How DARE you prepare Fireball.
I just can't get over fireball and I think its an attachment from seeing a well placed fireball drop swarms of the riff raff from time to time. Or maybe from watching a kineticist at work for a campaign. But hey, that's why I threw up the disclaimer.
I'm going arcane thesis: enervation. It should obliterate a lot of things, if I live that long. But the DM warning me that things are hard has me really freaking nervous, so I'm putting tons of effort into being batman and able to knock out encounters effectively. That would be why I was kicking myself about the hydra. Hell, even the DM scolded me
Holy crap your party sucked man. The dread necro is not nearly as impressive as the rest of the group, but if he stays pure dread necro and cranks out the lean and mean undead, he'll get useful quick. All the other members are impressive now. I'm going to try and convince the DM to take swordsage for the factotum after 8. We'll see.
Warblade seems to fit better than Swordsage.
My party sucked, but eventually the rogue died and made a melee smashy cleric with my advice and started rocking, and we were joined by a Warforged Juggernaut--new player, so I built it for him; PsyWar 2/Fighter 2/barb1 , with Shock Trooper and Pushback. "DO YOU HAVE STAIRS IN YOUR HOUSE?"
I just can't get over fireball and I think its an attachment from seeing a well placed fireball drop swarms of the riff raff from time to time. Or maybe from watching a kineticist at work for a campaign. But hey, that's why I threw up the disclaimer.
Kineticists get Energy Missile. But seriously, stop preparing that Fireball. Get Slow or Ray of Dizziness or another Stinking Cloud or...
I'm going arcane thesis: enervation. It should obliterate a lot of things, if I live that long. But the DM warning me that things are hard has me really freaking nervous, so I'm putting tons of effort into being batman and able to knock out encounters effectively. That would be why I was kicking myself about the hydra. Hell, even the DM scolded me
Ugh, AT: Enervation cheese will just cut through, like, everything. Don't do it. Stick to less cheesy tactics; you're already an Incantatrix.
Use Alter Self as a defense, and Greater Invisibility (once you get it, start scribin' scrolls), and staying out of range. Mirror Image, too.
Oh, wait. Banned illusion. No Mirror Image or Greater Invis for you.
Overland Flight will be really great when you get there.
I <3 ToB. I lurked these boards like a MFer reading up on TG's works and scratching out work of my own regarding ToB. Warblade for Iron heart surge and the other staple moves?
I love what slow does if they fail their save, but I find that those pesky enemies make their saves often enough to make me cry tears of rage. If not enervation, any suggestions on the Arcane thesis? I'd prefer a spell with no save, obviously(rays are prime canadates with split ray meta being so amazing), and previously I was thinking ray of stupidity. Mind affecting, compulsion turns me off however.
I never had problems forcing failed saves on anything except dragons. Slow's multi-target, so it should clip at least a couple people.
If you're good-aligned, use Luminous Armor from the BoED.
I'd suggest skipping Arcane Thesis entirely. It's either not good enough or totally cheesetastic.
It's nice to read up on another party besides making life miserable for my own :P
A quick (sorta OT) question about your party make-up though, isn't the barbarian afraid that he'll kick the bucket pretty soon with 3 less levels of HP and saves? I have a half-dragon orc barbarian in my party as well, but we use LA-buyback and a houserule concerning some races' LA (half-dragon being only a +2, Hobgoblins and Blues no LA, that kinda thing).
Keep this thread updated, any GOD threads are great, especially since I hope to play GOD myself after I finish my RHoD campaign :D
~Bowen
In the short term, with some buffs from me, the guy is in the 34 str range at level 6. I mean, WOW, he hits monstrously hard. Finding good buffs so he can do that often is going to be one of my priorities as a god, oh and his little cohort too. His cohort doesn't quite stretch so high into the stratosphere with his str, but 4d6 base damage while enlarged and that whole "I'm a goliath, I jump and leap attack LOL" stuff is going to more then make up for it. I'm really looking forward to shock trooper on these guys. And having a knight who actually can say "No, not the glass cannon or god, attack ME" is really really really really really neat.
As for the exalted spell list, I'm sort of unable to do that until my DM gives me the "Ok, you may now use BoED spells . .. for now" nod. As part of a discussion before the game, I wanted him to condone my exalted state by witnessing it. On a related tangent: talking to your DM as god is *really* helpful. If you communicate about what you are up to, you can really enhance his and your fun. But yeah, the MOMENT I can use luminous armor, I'm going to.
Heck, there are a couple other things I'm really looking forward too. Solid fog + [any area debuff here], or just solid fog period next level is going to real good. I'm also picking up blacklight. Mmmm, blacklight. Its versatility lets me decide if I want a nearly ultimate defense spell or a really crippling area crowd control.
banned illusion -_-
I hope you have fun as an incantatrix. It's my favourite prestige class ^^
1 piece of advice: be prepared for the worst!
Chose illusion as your banned school? Not your worst choice - but if your DM allows retraining you should at least consider enchantment...
Other than that - nice spell list. Looks like you should be a killer debuffer once evervation comes into play and you are moving up the Incantatrix ladder.
It depends what kind of monsters there are in that fortress.
We are level six, and doing some serious "I'm a good guy" RP to try and vacate this backwater town before it gets rolled over by bad guys. Needless to say, villagers are slow, and so the bad guys start showing up before they all leave. Our knight wasn't here this session so we induced him into diabetic shock in game. So nice of us.
Chimera chops
So, I'm coming back from the local arcanist's house having learned Identify, and bam, from the heavens comes a chimera.
Suprise round: We are all suprised, it isn't. It dive bombs a peasant but rolls a natural 1 and misses. My character's exalted self cries out in joy.
Round 1, I roll pretty low on initiative but beat most people anyway. (HUMMINGBIRDS R GUD!)
I start the fight off with a glitterdust to the face of our oppressor and learn shortly that it did not work. The barbarian and his cohort close into melee range, Necro fires up a spectral hand. The Factotum comes running down the lane from the bridge he was napping under.
Round 2:
The barb and his cohort start up the melee bashing, and I call for our party
factotum to benign transposition the towns person still standing next to Mr. Killmaster900. Shockingly, he does. I then drop a well-angled cloud of bewilderment on the chimera, which works. Fails fort, makes will? WTF?
The chimera starts flying up, wanting no part of this nauseated business.
Round 3
I ready an action to cast fly on the barbarian, but he turns and roasts the chimera with his daily breathweapon.
So, I'm coming back from the local arcanist's house having learned Identify, and bam, from the heavens comes a chimera.
Suprise round: We are all suprised, it isn't. It dive bombs a peasant but rolls a natural 1 and misses. My character's exalted self cries out in joy.
Round 1, I roll pretty low on initiative but beat most people anyway. (HUMMINGBIRDS R GUD!)
I start the fight off with a glitterdust to the face of our oppressor and learn shortly that it did not work. The barbarian and his cohort close into melee range, Necro fires up a spectral hand. The Factotum comes running down the lane from the bridge he was napping under.
Round 2:
The barb and his cohort start up the melee bashing, and I call for our party
factotum to benign transposition the towns person still standing next to Mr. Killmaster900. Shockingly, he does. I then drop a well-angled cloud of bewilderment on the chimera, which works. Fails fort, makes will? WTF?
The chimera starts flying up, wanting no part of this nauseated business.
Round 3
I ready an action to cast fly on the barbarian, but he turns and roasts the chimera with his daily breathweapon.
Flying Hasted Half-Dragon Orc Barbarian murders hobgoblins, more at 11
As you might guess from this caption, the whole fight really comes down to horrible slaughtering on the part of our party barbarian. Again though, extended haste and fly seem to be earth-shattering on the right targets.
The bulk of this encounter was us figuring out how to get in, and we finally settled up on the plan of "walk up calmly, then haste and fly over the wall to open the door." Not only did the barbarian do this, but he rolled critials while doing so, falling 1 or 2 points short of 50 damage against the ogres that were in the fort. I used two third level spells, he murdered all life within the fort. I love that guy.
We burn the fort and interrogate the one hobgoblin we left alive. We also manage to translate more text from the notes we got from Koth over in Vrath keep, and hear some wyrmlord guy is going to rest. We decided we want to kill him and go that way.
As you might guess from this caption, the whole fight really comes down to horrible slaughtering on the part of our party barbarian. Again though, extended haste and fly seem to be earth-shattering on the right targets.
The bulk of this encounter was us figuring out how to get in, and we finally settled up on the plan of "walk up calmly, then haste and fly over the wall to open the door." Not only did the barbarian do this, but he rolled critials while doing so, falling 1 or 2 points short of 50 damage against the ogres that were in the fort. I used two third level spells, he murdered all life within the fort. I love that guy.
We burn the fort and interrogate the one hobgoblin we left alive. We also manage to translate more text from the notes we got from Koth over in Vrath keep, and hear some wyrmlord guy is going to rest. We decided we want to kill him and go that way.
The character now
Rathamon Jalerious Croyan, Gray Elf Wizard 7 NG
Long blond hair, Green eyes, tapered, elegant ears
AC:13(23) HD: 5d4+5; HP: 30/30; Initiative: +11
Str 8 Dex 16 Con 13 Int 21(23) Wis 8 Chr 10
BaB+2; Ranged Touch +5;
Fort + 4 (1) Reflex+ 6 (1) Will + 8 (7); Bonus Spells: 2, 2, 1,
Languages: Common, Elven, Draconic, Gnoll, Goblin, Orc, Slyvan
Feats: Iron Will(required for incantatrix), Scrib Scroll(wiz 1), Spell Penetration (3), Split Ray(5) Greater Spell Penetration (6); Empower Spell (6mm);
Conentration 10: +15 Decipher Script 8: +14 Spellcraft 10: +16 Knowledge (arcane)6: +12 Knowledge (Planes)5:+11 Knowledge (Dungeoneering)5:+11 Knowledge (Religion)5: +11 Knowledge (Geography)5: +11 Knowledge Nautre 5 +11 Knowledge History 3 +9; Knowledge Arc/Engineering 3 +9; knowledge Local: 4 +10; Tumble 2: +5
Items: Wagon and Horses(shared with party) 60g, Spell Component Pouch 5g, Courtier’s outfit: elegant red robes with gold embriodery (50g) Basic supplies 20g, ; Potion of cure moderate wounds; Ever burning torch; cure light wounds potion x5;
Scroll
Summon Monster 4; Fly; Haste
Magic items
Pearl of Power, 2nd level; - acquired loot
Vanishing cloak (1 charge for 4 rounds invis); - acquired loot
Headband of Intellect +2 (4k);
Vest of Resistance +2 (4k); - acquired loot
Lesser rod of metamagic extend;
Wand of magic missle (5th) with 14/14 charges - acquired loot
4003gp
21500 exp
Spells Per Day: 4 6 5 3 2
1: Grease phb, Enlarge Person phb, Ray of Enfeeblement phb, Wall of Smoke spc, Dawnburst spc, Mage Armor phb, Nerveskitter spc, Protection from X phb, Shield phb, Guided Shot spc, Identify
2: Mirror Image spc, Glitter dust spc, Alter Self ph, Cloud of Bewilderment spc, Arcane Turmoil cm, Web phb, Ray of Ice spc, Rope Trick, Invisibility, See Invisbility
3: Haste phb , Great Thunderclap spc; Fireball phb; Stinking Cloud phb, Fly phb; Protection from Energy phb; Manyjaws spc;
4:
Polymorph; Evard's Black Tentacles;
Dungeon Crawl Memorzation:
1 DC: 17 6
Ray of Enfeeblementx3, Dawnburst, Mage Armor, Wall of Smoke
2: DC 18 5
Arcane Turmoil, Mirror Image, See Invisbile, Rope Trick, Glitter dust
3: DC 19 3
Haste, Protection from Energy, Stinking Cloud
4: DC 20 2
Polymorph; Evard's Black Tentacles;
Rathamon Jalerious Croyan, Gray Elf Wizard 7 NG
Long blond hair, Green eyes, tapered, elegant ears
AC:13(23) HD: 5d4+5; HP: 30/30; Initiative: +11
Str 8 Dex 16 Con 13 Int 21(23) Wis 8 Chr 10
BaB+2; Ranged Touch +5;
Fort + 4 (1) Reflex+ 6 (1) Will + 8 (7); Bonus Spells: 2, 2, 1,
Languages: Common, Elven, Draconic, Gnoll, Goblin, Orc, Slyvan
Feats: Iron Will(required for incantatrix), Scrib Scroll(wiz 1), Spell Penetration (3), Split Ray(5) Greater Spell Penetration (6); Empower Spell (6mm);
Conentration 10: +15 Decipher Script 8: +14 Spellcraft 10: +16 Knowledge (arcane)6: +12 Knowledge (Planes)5:+11 Knowledge (Dungeoneering)5:+11 Knowledge (Religion)5: +11 Knowledge (Geography)5: +11 Knowledge Nautre 5 +11 Knowledge History 3 +9; Knowledge Arc/Engineering 3 +9; knowledge Local: 4 +10; Tumble 2: +5
Items: Wagon and Horses(shared with party) 60g, Spell Component Pouch 5g, Courtier’s outfit: elegant red robes with gold embriodery (50g) Basic supplies 20g, ; Potion of cure moderate wounds; Ever burning torch; cure light wounds potion x5;
Scroll
Summon Monster 4; Fly; Haste
Magic items
Pearl of Power, 2nd level; - acquired loot
Vanishing cloak (1 charge for 4 rounds invis); - acquired loot
Headband of Intellect +2 (4k);
Vest of Resistance +2 (4k); - acquired loot
Lesser rod of metamagic extend;
Wand of magic missle (5th) with 14/14 charges - acquired loot
4003gp
21500 exp
Spells Per Day: 4 6 5 3 2
1: Grease phb, Enlarge Person phb, Ray of Enfeeblement phb, Wall of Smoke spc, Dawnburst spc, Mage Armor phb, Nerveskitter spc, Protection from X phb, Shield phb, Guided Shot spc, Identify
2: Mirror Image spc, Glitter dust spc, Alter Self ph, Cloud of Bewilderment spc, Arcane Turmoil cm, Web phb, Ray of Ice spc, Rope Trick, Invisibility, See Invisbility
3: Haste phb , Great Thunderclap spc; Fireball phb; Stinking Cloud phb, Fly phb; Protection from Energy phb; Manyjaws spc;
4:
Polymorph; Evard's Black Tentacles;
Dungeon Crawl Memorzation:
1 DC: 17 6
Ray of Enfeeblementx3, Dawnburst, Mage Armor, Wall of Smoke
2: DC 18 5
Arcane Turmoil, Mirror Image, See Invisbile, Rope Trick, Glitter dust
3: DC 19 3
Haste, Protection from Energy, Stinking Cloud
4: DC 20 2
Polymorph; Evard's Black Tentacles;
Not to nitpick though, but I noticed that you said you cast enlarge person on a half dragon and goliath, technically neither are humanoids (dragon and monstrous humanoid respectively).
Hi! I'm the player of the half-dragon orc barbarian in this campaign, and I was hoping I wouldn't be too out of line to pop in here and solicit some feat opinions. I recently got Races of the Dragon, and it seems like Dragon Breath, Dragon Wings and Improved Dragon Wings would be good choices over the next few feat selection levels (provided I can convince the DM to allow me to ignore the "1st level only" prereq on DW).
Dragon Breath would be first, which increases your breath weapon use from once per day to equal to a dragon, or once every 1d4 rounds. It seems cool, but i'm wondering if it will be worth it in the long term. 6d8 fire with a DC 13 reflex save for half may be obsolete when we get towards the end of this campaign. OTOH, some of the other available breath weapon feats might improve its usefulness. Any thoughts?
I'd really like to be able to fly, so I'm pretty well set on the DW/IDW options. Maybe to accomodate all this I'll dip two levels of fighter to take advantage of the feats. That way I can still go with the "traditional" barbarian Cleave/Great Cleave option. But I'm a pretty poor optimizer, so it's probable that there are better choices out there I'm not aware of.
Well, sorry for the thread interruption, and thanks in advance for your advice!
[/threadjack]
half dragon barb guy needs to get shock trooper
[threadjack]
Hi! I'm the player of the half-dragon orc barbarian in this campaign, and I was hoping I wouldn't be too out of line to pop in here and solicit some feat opinions. I recently got Races of the Dragon, and it seems like Dragon Breath, Dragon Wings and Improved Dragon Wings would be good choices over the next few feat selection levels (provided I can convince the DM to allow me to ignore the "1st level only" prereq on DW).
Dragon Breath would be first, which increases your breath weapon use from once per day to equal to a dragon, or once every 1d4 rounds. It seems cool, but i'm wondering if it will be worth it in the long term. 6d8 fire with a DC 13 reflex save for half may be obsolete when we get towards the end of this campaign. OTOH, some of the other available breath weapon feats might improve its usefulness. Any thoughts?
I'd really like to be able to fly, so I'm pretty well set on the DW/IDW options. Maybe to accomodate all this I'll dip two levels of fighter to take advantage of the feats. That way I can still go with the "traditional" barbarian Cleave/Great Cleave option. But I'm a pretty poor optimizer, so it's probable that there are better choices out there I'm not aware of.
Well, sorry for the thread interruption, and thanks in advance for your advice!
[/threadjack]
If you really want to go the dragon breath route, ask your DM about letting the save be calculated like a dragons (DC 10+1/2 your HD + Con modifier), take the dragons breath feat, then Quicken Breath (Draconimicon page 68). This way you can get your full attacks in on a round and your breath weapon once every 1d4+4 rounds.
The Draconomicon also has relevant feats for attack modes while flying under the dragon Feats section (I think half dragon lets you qualify for most of them)
Edit: Wow, nice job Tethlis not reading when that was posted last. I apologize for the needless bump!
I'm near the end of RHoD. As a Goddess- Human Conjurer5/Incantatrix4/Hathran1- I have the right spell for nearly every situation, but since I banned Enchantment and Necromancy, what should I cast when I need to force a Will save that isn't slow or glitterdust or an illusion?
Regarding the hydra fight, my group was glad when I blinded it with glitterdust as it was effectively incapacitated, but the party's rogue/swordsage -still- managed to get hit!