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Tehnar
2009-12-23, 07:59 AM
Backstory: The PCs have infiltrated a city which is about to come under seige of a rebel army, working on behalf of the rebels. They discovered that the real power in the city is not the imperial governor, but his Grand Vizeir, who lives in a tower near the palace. They decided to assassinate the Vizeir, a move which I expected, though not so soon. The party had assassinated wizards before, and the last time (lvl 8 party vs a lvl 11 wizard in his sanctum), the wizard pretty much unloaded every spell he had at them, and they managed to survive through it all and kill him in the end. So now I need your help in creating a wizard that can pack more punch.

What the PC's don't know is that the wizard is actually a thrall to the governor (who is the BBEG demon in disguise). The wizards orders are not to leave the tower, and is usually given orders to use divinations or create magic items for the governor. Since the PCs made themselves known, the governor alerted the wizard to be careful, supplied some additional guards, but in truth they do not expect the PC's to attack anytime soon.

the rules:
level 14 character, primarily wizard
no prestige classes
no metamagic reducers (including metamagic rods)
elite array
80,000 gp to spend on magic items (25,000 max for one item)
can use material from SpC, PHB 2, Completes and MIC
no cheese please

his guards consist of
2 flesh golem
4 babau demons (however they cannot use their teleport ability while in the city)

I will add some traps to his tower, but nothing major as it is his living space.

PC's consist of (all at level 10/11, all human):
Fighter (homebrewed a bit, but nothing major. He trips and hits things)
Pathfinder Barbarian
Rogue/Swordsage
PHB 2 variant druid

So if you could provide a coherent spell list and tactics for the wizard. His guards will be no more then a speed bump, so any challenge will have to come from him.

mostlyharmful
2009-12-23, 09:57 AM
you could go mind ganking and rely on suggestion, dominate and charm to have fun times with the party.... just don't use Confusion cause that spell's mean. With a bit of effort to crank the DCs you should be able to screw with all bar the druid reliably.

or else you could go for the Orb slinger with greater dimension door or phantom steed to keep the distance. You don't need to ladel on the metas if you don't want to break the game, they're still the best blasts in an arcane build right out of the gate.

or you could just shovel on the self buffs and make sure you've got a spellblade with immunity to dispels out, all the good ones stacked onto a mid to high level mage makes them all but untouchable - Ironguard, Veil of Undeath, Greater Blink, Improved Mirror Image, Contingency, the Heart line, Improved Invisibility, Superior Resistance, Greater Mage Armour, whatever...... sure it might take a few turns to put the shorter duration ones together but with a bit of warning from them smashing through his home it'll be ok. If you want to let them have a chance forgo the spellblade and just bump his CL a little to make it hard to get rid of them...:smallbiggrin::smalltongue:

With just one caster in the party that cant be in both a combat form and cast this'll be damn hard unless you fudge it a lot or play him gently... does he want to capture them by anychance? Does he have a ludicruos fondness for monologueing?

I guess the actual serious question is where do you draw the line between cheese and a decently played, properly prepared wizard? Once we know that we can probably help a little more...

from the list we've already got I'd imagine most forms of minionmancy are out and no cheap tricks but how much divination has he used on this team? How much prep work is he prepared to put into his own defenses? how many contingent effects (not just the spell but deals with other parties, traps, escape routes, fallback lairs, etc...) does he have? Do you want this to be a hard fight or an all but unwinnable one where they have to run or surrender or a blast the enemy till he falls down sort of thing or what?

For a bog standerd encounter in his home at level 14 I'd expect this guy to have a ring of arcane might, a CL boosting magic tattoo and to have buffed himself with at least a few hours/level spells, say Greater Mage Armour, Superior Resistance, Anticipate Teleport, Contingency (Teleport) and the Heart of X line. there's just no real reason not to have.

Once you start kicking in his door it'll depend on how much warning he gets (both in terms of time and information) and how much of a threat he considers this team of do-gooders. If he has time and inclanation to stand and fight (for his home mind) I'd expect him to add in some miss chance based on illusion (displacement or Improved Mirror image) and Greater Blink and a movement aide (Fly for the classic). After that just throw SoX depending on whether he wants you dead, crippled or fleeing. With all that and nobody particularlly likely to dispell much of it I'd probably add in some advice to the players after a turn or two that their tactical experience would seem to indicate that this isn't a fight they're likely to win.

Possible Spell Load based on a middle aged Wizard with a starting Int of 15 and a Headband of +4 (Int 23 final)


four 0th level
prestidigitation x4

six 1st level
True Strike
Benign Transposition
Protection from Good
Shield
Grease
Ray of Enfeeblement

six 2nd level
Glitterdust
Invisibility
See Invis
Scorching Ray
Web
Create Magic Tattoo
Heart of Air

five 3rd level
Major Image
Anticipate Teleport
Suggestion
Displacement
Fly

five 4th level
Stoneskin
Enervaration
Orb of Cold
Orb of Fire
Orb of Acid

four 5th level
Greater Blink
Feeblemind
Teleport
Magic Jar


four 6th level
Acid Fog
Mass Suggestion
Summon Monster VI
Superior Resistance

two 7th level
Waves of Exhaustion
Quickened Slow

Adding a specialization limits the choice and gives anouther slot/level to play with but I'm not going to pick one since it's a build decision not a tactics one.

For Items I'd focus on defensive things for about half the WBL, which includes Int boosters and CL boosters since this guy has a big defensive buff routine. then add scrolls and wands of low level stuff to fill him out in terms of utility and direct damage since this isn't an adventurer I've assumed he spends most of his slots most days on research and Diving and has swaped those out for offensive stuff since being warned so most of his other items would be for the situations he wouldn't normally be preped for. Then throw in some random crap rolled on the tables to simulate a guy that's been knocking around for a while and accepting payment in shinies rather than cash.

Tehnar
2009-12-23, 10:33 AM
The restricting factor is that he is in a tower, which he can't leave. So dimension dooring might help, moving between tower levels to get a bit of respite.

So far I have not made any preparations for him. He used scry on them a couple of times, mostly to little success. They all have pretty good will saves, though that is one of their weakest areas. Generally I will customize his spell list to be good vs physical, rather then magical; but he wont be aware of the time they will barge in on him, nor what their exact buffs are.

They have pretty good tactics against wizards, mirror image is not that big of a defense. The barbarian just closes his eyes and eats the miss chance, while the rest watch to see which image he hits, and then focus fire there.

The problem with them is that tanks have cca 150 hp; the fighter has 20++ touch AC. Wearing them down will be a problem. That's what happened last time. They were level 8 vs a lvl 11 wizard. He managed to crowd control them, but just couldn't manage the damage output to take any of them out. He even tried to coup de grace the barbarian a couple of times; though a 8 str wizard with a dagger ain't doing enough damage.

Now I'm not looking for any tactics like solar simulacrums, heaven forbid planar binding efreet, or polymorphing into something weird. The fight will take place in his tower, which I have not designed yet, though a general 20 ft radius, 4 level tower is what I'm thinking about. I plan to put a few traps, though nothing too serious. The wizard lives there after all, and a trap cant go off every time some one visits. I want this to be a tough fight, with a very real chance of PC deaths.

Edit (saw your Edit): Thanks, that is a spell lineup I am looking for.

ericgrau
2009-12-23, 10:47 AM
Possible spells:
1: Alarm (possibly permanent or part of guards and wards below), *mage armor*, summon monster I, unseen servant, true strike, disguise self, silent image, *feather fall*
2: resist energy, [empowered scorching ray], invisibility, alter self (disguise), pyrotechnics
3: nondetection, sleet storm, [empowered] fireball or lightning bolt, major image, fly, scry
4: stoneskin, dimension door, solid fog, wall of ice (best used on rogue), confusion, resilient sphere, illusory wall, greater invisibility, [empowered] enervation
5: dismissal (if druid casting not neutralized), contact other plane (fiendish masters), mind fog (see strat below), teleport, wall of stone, wall of force, seeming (disguise), passwall (for high security fortress storage), permanency
6: Guards and Wards, greater dispel magic (if druid casting not neutralized), wall of iron, mass suggestion, disintegrate
7: Banishment (if druid casting not neutralized), greater teleport, reverse gravity.

Also lots of 1st and 2nd level utility spells on scrolls and wands, readily accessible from a handy haversack.

Non-Combat Strategy: Alarm, nondetection, illusory wall, wall of X, symbol of X and guards and wards are for the fortress. Scrying, prying eyes, disguises and nightmares (not listed above) may also play a part.

Combat Strategy: If the group is tightly knit, slam them all with an empowered fireball. Otherwise isolate 1-2 of them with a solid fog, sleet storm, wall of X or reverse gravity. Starting or following up with a repulsion is an excellent way to neutralize the melee. If you plan on using a lot of enchantments, open up with a mind fog. Then consider adding enchantments to the list like dominate person, since success is more likely. From there pick them off with more metamagicked scorching ray, disintegrate, fireball, lightning bolt, mass suggestion, confusion, resilient sphere and/or wall of ice (hemisphere no save mode). If PCs break free of the early entrapments later in the fight, retrap them.

EDIT: I noticed your issue with touch spells, but there are also plenty of non-touch spells to take out PCs listed above.

mostlyharmful
2009-12-23, 11:16 AM
Edit (saw your Edit): Thanks, that is a spell lineup I am looking for.

cool, bare in mind that since this is his home he'll have everything that can be made cheaply and permenantly in place, hideyholes with permenant image over them, symbols and explosive runes hiden behind bookcases that can be knocked over instantly, secret compartments to regroup in with small holes for line of sight, permenancy effects and such.. plus traps can be noninvasive and still be useful, plenty of shops have a bell chime on the door. And if you're just giving him four floors then be sure to heavily trap the topmost one that he should have ruled off for just himself, even the top two if he's paranoid (the OP write up seems to show he's got reason to be).

so, tower something along the lines of:

Ground floor - public access and welcoming rooms, kitchen and dining rooms, alarms spells and permenant unseen servants, hidden boltholes and not much more

1st floor - receiving rooms, study, guest bedrooms and sundry, still not important but should have further alarms and traps that can be activated from the floors above if they give him time.

2nd floor - personal areas, master bedroom, plenty of traps keyed so he wouldn't set them off and anyone invited in would be able to nulify (passwords, racial triggers, deactivatable)

3rd floor - laboratory, library, store room for arcana, summoning room - holiest of the holies, lots of traps, bolt holes, escape chutes to lower levels, illusions and symbols and crap knows what. If it gets to this level it deserves killing so pull out all the stops for a caster with 7th level spells.

While he may not be able to leave his tower it can still be as pokey or roomey as he wants, a phantom steeds not a bad plan if you've got an open plan and a central airwell. Dimension bliping around and Blinking through the walls and floor are a damn annoying tactic you should definately use, give him a ring of Blink and he can just wander around all day unless they split up and try and herd him (bad bad plan).

A 14th level wizard with time to spare and Wall of Stone on his spell list should not live in a four story 20' radius tower, given time and Wall of Stone/Disintegrate and a fair knowledge of Architecture and Engineering he could have as many rooms and basements as he wants.

And never try to CdG with a dagger... that's what a shrunk item Scythe is for, or an orb to the face.

jiriku
2009-12-23, 12:18 PM
Your situation intrigues me. I wrote rather a lot, so sections are spoilered to reduce the wall-of-text effect.

Damage-dealing

If this is his home, then I'd take destructive AoE spells like acid fog and fireball off the table. That would be like using RPGs and incendiary grenades to confront a burglar inside your house.

For damage-dealing, I'd probably focus on confusion, dominate monster and backbiter. The best damage is the damage that you get the party to deal to itself. A chained backbiter would be both rude and hilarious, especially if no one in the party can muster the spellcraft roll necessary to identify what spell was cast. Secondary to that, spells like evard's black tentacles, wall of ice, disintigrate, and scorching ray tend to cause minimal collateral damage if used carefully.


Action advantage

I strongly recommend chain spell, sculpt spell, and possibly quicken spell. Your biggest challenge is not dealing damage, but managing the action disparity that results from being outnumbered 4-to-1. These feats make it relatively easy for him to target every player with at least one harmful effect on each of his turns, which he must do in order to avoid being overwhelmed.


Combos

Wizards are smart, and well-educated enough to know a little about the strengths and weaknesses of other classes. Take the gloves off and hit them in their obvious weak points.

Barbarians, fighters, and druids rely on strength and perfer to charge, but have poor reflex saves and don't balance well. I'm thinking that a great way to open combat is waves of exhaustion to shut down as many of the strength- and charging-based characters as possible (prioritizing bar, druid, fighter, SS in that order), followed by quickened sculpted grease or quickened web.
Mind fog followed by a quickened charm person on anyone who fails a save is a good combo once the majority of the party is locked down.
Chained hideous laughter is a great setup for evard's black tentacles or cloudkill, since anyone who fails a save against the first spell is unable to take actions to escape the second; prioritize the rogue/swordsage for this combo, since these spells target what are classically the weak saves for skillmonkey characters.
If a character is stuck in an area of web, grease, or tentacles, mass suggestion on everyone else to "Get in there and help him!" is at once cruel, entertaining, and effective.



Mooks

Again, wizards are smart, so the wizard will equip his mooks to help out as best they can. He'd probably equip each of his guards with a thunderstone (to alert everyone in the tower of trouble) and one or two tanglefoot bags, so they can impair and slow down invaders without getting into melee range. He ought to have one fellow standing next to him whose sole job is to use aid another checks to improve the wizard's armor class. That's certainly a more useful thing for a mook to do than waving around a club at +Fail to hit.


Defenses

Alarm on all the entrances and thunderstones for all the guards are must-haves to gain early warning of an attack. He ought to have one or two bloodhounds to keep as pets; they won't be useful in a fight, but they can sniff out invisible intruders and be trained to bark when they smell someone unfamiliar.

As soon as he hears of attackers, your wizard should use summon monster VII to summon a bone devil. The bone devil should fly and become invisible, and use its wall of ice spell-like ability every round once combat begins to divide and impede the party. The Improved Initiative feat and nerveskitter are both useful for the wizard; wizards are controllers, and controllers need to get a spell or two in first before they get charged into next Tuesday. Your defensive spells should be greater mirror image and greater blink. Even closing one's eyes means two stacked 50% miss chances, which is great. Heart of water is a good all-day buff that can be popped for freedom of movement (necessary against any foe since even a sickly chimpanzee could probably outgrapple a wizard). Greater mage armor is a good choice, especially if your wizard takes levels in abjurant champion to get an improved effect.


Edit: add one more defense: protection from good, for the immunity to mind-affecting spells and the natural weapons of summoned creatures.

arguskos
2009-12-23, 12:30 PM
Hmm. With the given restrictions (copied below), I think I can whip something together.

level 14 character, primarily wizard
no prestige classes
no metamagic reducers (including metamagic rods)
elite array
80,000 gp to spend on magic items (25,000 max for one item)
can use material from SpC, PHB 2, Completes and MIC
no cheese please

Elite Array is a pain in the arse. It REALLY is. :smallannoyed: Anyways, give me a day or two, and I'll make something for you. It'll take me a bit, but I'll throw something together. :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: Ahahah! I found something hilarious. Sanctum Spell is amazingly hilarious for this guy, given that he's fighting in his sanctum (and the area on the feat is more than sufficient to fill the entire tower, then some).

Tehnar
2009-12-23, 12:31 PM
Great suggestions. Ill work on the concept, and post a rough draft in a day or two. And see if we can work on it later.

ericgrau
2009-12-23, 12:43 PM
Whoops wrote all that about neutralizing the druid casting and left out nightmare. Yeah, that's the way. Steal something from the druid to increase the chance of a failed save.

arguskos
2009-12-23, 07:12 PM
Just wanted to pop in and say that I have mostly finished up a Black Lore of Moil-themed necromantic ray caster.

I know you said you have issues with touch AC, but given you listed 20 or so as the highest one around, and this caster currently attacks on a +12 with rays, I'm not sure it's an issue. :smallwink: I'm going to see if I can't hunt down some gear that boosts ranged attacks some, and use that to further pump that attack score.

He's a little light on damage right now, but that's alright I think. Give him some brutal glyph and symbol traps, use his minions well, and things will be just fine I think.

mostlyharmful
2009-12-23, 07:18 PM
just knowcked up a generalist with a similar spell list as above, he'd be reliant on bouncing around his own lair with symbols, traps, escape routes and all the rest.

Magey McMagepants (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=174876)

for touch attacks who cares if he's got an AC of over 20? True Strike's first level and pearls of power cost 1k each... less if you let Craft Wonderous Item figure in the WBL?

Tehnar
2009-12-25, 08:33 AM
Here is a rough draft of the tower. Ill post the wizard later; will see how Arguskos wizard will turn out.

I settled on a 4 story tower, 60 ft diameter, 20 ft high, stone walls. All the doors are reinforced wooden doors (size=M, can be barred, have DC 25 lock, Arcane Lock turns that into a DC 39 lock)*. There are windows on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, but they are made from glassteel (can be opened, but usually barred from inside; size=S). The outer tower walls are constructed with the aid of Gorgon blood, so no teleporting in and out of the tower (though teleport effects work inside the tower normally).

*Arcane lock has been houseruled that it increases the lock DC by the caster level. Additionally alarm spells are considered traps, and can be disarmed.

All the floors are divided, the stairs and landing separated from the rest.

Ground floor:

There is a alarm spell on the entrance door (goes off if anyone anyone tampers with the lock), as well as a chime that goes off when the doors are opened (Search DC 24, DD DC 18). The foyer which is about 20'x15' there are stairs leading to the second floor and a door leading to a guest room, a kitchen and a privy. The foyer is guarded by a flesh golem, while two babau's are either in the kitchen or the guest room. They will come into the foyer at any sign of disturbance. On the 2nd step of the stairs leading to the second floor is a audible alarm trap, which will also trigger a guards and wards spell for the entire tower. That can be also activated by a command word from the wizard.

Guards and Wards:

The guards and wards spell will be active on the stairs and landings only (including the ground floor foyer). Stairs will be webbed, landings will be under the effect of stinking cloud. As there are no major hallways, Ill not place the confusion effect. All of the doors (except the ground floor door to the guest room and kitchen, and the top floor door to the balcony) will be Arcane Locked. A suggestion "flee the tower" will be placed on the stairs going from 2nd to 3rd floor. The wizard (but not the babau or flesh golems) can bypass these measures as normal.

2nd floor:

The library and research/working area for the wizard. This open space and well lit space has bookshelves next to the walls, and a large 10ft diameter wooden table in the middle of the room. It provides +4 circumstance bonus on Knowledge(Arcana) and Alchemy checks when doing research. There are two traps in this room; a major image of fog and a symbol of weakness on the wall opposing the entry. The wizard can activate and deactivate the fog illusion with a command word; the symbol is set to activate on any creatures except him and outsiders. In a chest (arcane locked, DC 44) under one of tables are potions of cure moderate, cure serious, invisibility, spider climb. There are 6 glassteel windows; however they are all alarm trapped. Triggering the alarm will arcane lock them.

3rd floor:

The wizards living quarters. Similar to the second floor, it is all a open space. There is a bed to the north wall next to a fireplace, across the room is a privy and closets. In a chest under the bed is the same set of potions as on the second floor. There is a symbol of stunning (which is only activated by the wizards command word, a swift action). On a wall next to the door there is a small opening (tiny sized) through which the wizard can cast spells on those on the landing. It is usually shut and barred (search DC 20 to notice). Also on the landing, there is a pressure sensor (Search DC 27, DD 30) that releases a cloudkill spell. The cloud will eventually drift down to the bottom floor landing. This is a favorite defensive location for the babau (as they are immune to poison), and will try to mount a resistance there if they can.

Top floor:

This floor has a 20 ft balcony going all around the tower. It is usually used for stargazing, or observing ships coming to and fro. Aside from the stairs down, a storage for telescopes; there is also a summoning chamber, which is not in use anymore. On the balcony there are always two babau on patrol (disguised as commoners), and on the top of the stairs a flesh golem guards the way down. He will come to assist the babau if he hears something. On the 2nd step down there is a alarm trap which will also trigger the guards and wards.


Well this is my idea of how the tower looks like, and its defenses. Any other ideas or suggestions?

Lysander
2009-12-25, 02:32 PM
A few random unrelated ideas:

Where does he keep his spellbook? Perhaps inside a secret compartment in the wall next to a bookshelf. Non-magical hiding (since he assumed anyone coming after a spellbook would have True Seeing) just a trick brick you can pull open.

The wizard expects trouble eventually. Maybe he can carry invisibility potion in his pocket to drink as soon as he hears an alarm.

Does he have servants? Where does he get food from? Is it delivered? If he doesn't have living servants does he use Unseen Servants?

Does the wizard have a familiar? The wizard could order it to contact reinforcements to come help out.

ericgrau
2009-12-25, 03:32 PM
just knowcked up a generalist with a similar spell list as above, he'd be reliant on bouncing around his own lair with symbols, traps, escape routes and all the rest.

Magey McMagepants (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=174876)

for touch attacks who cares if he's got an AC of over 20? True Strike's first level and pearls of power cost 1k each... less if you let Craft Wonderous Item figure in the WBL?

I think quickened true strike counts as a 5th level spell for pearls since that's the level it's prepared at. Otherwise that list has some great single target stuff, but is lacking in control for the early rounds and without any way to beef up those summons they're gonna be quite weak. I think if the OP reuses his old control stuff or takes mine, adds in spells from that list and nixes the summons he may have something.

Tehnar
2009-12-25, 05:58 PM
A few random unrelated ideas:

Where does he keep his spellbook? Perhaps inside a secret compartment in the wall next to a bookshelf. Non-magical hiding (since he assumed anyone coming after a spellbook would have True Seeing) just a trick brick you can pull open.

The wizard expects trouble eventually. Maybe he can carry invisibility potion in his pocket to drink as soon as he hears an alarm.

Does he have servants? Where does he get food from? Is it delivered? If he doesn't have living servants does he use Unseen Servants?

Does the wizard have a familiar? The wizard could order it to contact reinforcements to come help out.

Ah yes I forgot the spellbook. For my wizardly villains, I usually keep it in a nonmagical secret compartment inside the fireplace. The spellbook is made fireproof.

Maybe you missed it, but I provided a emergency stash of potions in his lab, and his bedroom, which include a invisibility potion.

He doesn't have servants, all his food is delivered from the palace (which is some 300 yards away). However the palace is even more demon infested then the tower so I doubt the PCs will be able to get anything through there.

For the familiar, the wizard will probably have one; though Im waiting for Arguskos to post his necromacer. The session is tommorow, so if he doesn't post anything by then, Ill use a version of what Mostlyharmfull posted, along with some Ericgrau's spell list changes. The basic plan will be for the wizard to flit around the tower, harass the PCs, making a final stand on level 3 landing. Where the combination of cloudkill, stinking cloud and web traps should tip the favor to the wizard.

The reinforcements will come; I planned on one of the babau coming going for them. However it will take cca 5-10 minutes for them to arrive. By which time any type of conflict should be resolved.

Lysander
2009-12-25, 06:36 PM
I did miss the invisibility potion.

Hmm. It'd be kind of neat if the wizard took the invisibility potion and the spider-climb potion, then hid up on the ceiling. When the PCs walk beneath him, that's when he could ambush them.

How about this for tactics:

Hides up on the ceiling while invisible and casts a Silent Image of himself hiding behind a bookshelf. The illusion's hiding place isn't that great and should be easy to spot. When the PCs try attacking the illusion that's when he strikes.

mostlyharmful
2009-12-27, 02:55 PM
I think quickened true strike counts as a 5th level spell for pearls since that's the level it's prepared at. Otherwise that list has some great single target stuff, but is lacking in control for the early rounds and without any way to beef up those summons they're gonna be quite weak. I think if the OP reuses his old control stuff or takes mine, adds in spells from that list and nixes the summons he may have something.

It does but you refresh your 1st level one with the pearl not the quickened one, that's only for if you need to stick around for a round or two. And I intentionally toned down the spell list with serious weaknesses and weak summons, seems to be the level of the party (bare in mind no main arcane and no Cleric.... we want them mauled it seems, not liquidated).

Tehnar
2009-12-27, 08:45 PM
Update on saturdays session: they decided not to go for the wizard after all, they went to hit another target. That means I still have a lot of time to prepare. Too much it seems, as our next likely session will be in cca one month.