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DragonSinged
2010-10-14, 04:24 AM
Hey there, all.

Alright, so I'm playing in a 3.5 campaign right now that's been going on for quite a long time now (2.5 years real life? Maybe closer to 3?), and I've gone through a couple characters in it by this point.
It's been a fairly political campaign, with a lot of location jumping, not really much in the way of dungeon crawling or whatnot.

Anyways, at the moment I am playing a chaotic good wizard. Bit of a rundown... Our DM decreed at the outset of the game that each character would receive one "Boon". My original character (a beguiler) was a Duke in disguise, the groups Paladin has an artifact warhammer that levels with him, things like that, can be game-mechanic style boons or just plain old RP boons.

My Wizard's boon was that he would be a half-dragon, and just start 3 levels lower than everyone else, without the LA. (I really loathe the 3.5 LA system, but that's besides the point of this post.)

So anyways, THE POINT of this thread is that the situation my wizard is in right now is driving him a bit crazy. One Government of the world he's in is kind of stuck in a sort of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" type deal, with some sort of divine being/quasi-deity taking over members of the parliament (the gov't in this area is a democracy)... high-ranking members of the parliament. These mind-controlled people are pretty much only detectable by metallic flecks in their eyes, and cannot be counter-dominated, even after being repeatedly "Greater Dispel Magic"ed, and so far the highest ranked one he's been able to discover is the sort of... "Spymaster" of the country, who is very high up in rank.
Anyways, this whole thing is kind of driving me a bit nuts, and I was sort of tossing around the idea... Say this situation drove my character a bit crazy, made him decide he needed to bring down the entire government, "for its own good..." How much damage could he theoretically do, and what would be the best way to go about doing it?

So, for the details, I am playing an "Old" age Grey Elf/Half-Gold-Dragon. We were allowed Core books (PH, MM1, DMG) + the PHII and Races of the Wild.
My character (Simninoth) is a Wizard 7/Loremaster 3.

His stats (after item bonuses, etc.) are
Str 13, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 28, Wis 16, Cha 14
HP 62
He's got mostly standard Adventuring Gear, a Headband of Int +4 (Wow, I just noticed I hadn't upgraded that to +6 yet, yeesh)
Amulet of Health +2 (found on a body)
Cube of Force (found on a body)
Boccob's Blessed Book
Heward's Handy Haversack

As far as feats and whatnot goes, let's see..
Feats
Skill Focus (History)
Craft Wondorous Item
Improved Familiar (Grimalkin named "Bach")
Craft Wand (Never used it. >.>)
Scribe Scroll

The Secrets he's learned from Loremaster so far are the "Lore of True Stamina" and "Secret Knowledge of Avoidance".

His spell list is very, uh, "Batman-ish", for lack of a better adjective. Lots of utility spells, some buff-type things, various walls, the occasional debuff ray, things like that. Almost nothing in the way of direct damage (Fireballs, etc) at this point.

Um.. yeah, ask me if you want any more details. Anways, he's sort of a crotchety old man, and again, the question is, if you were playing this char, and he sort of... "snapped", and decided to bring down the government in a particular region, what would you do?

Thanks!

Edit: If he did snap, he might also be able to recruit the 12th level NG Cleric of Farlaghn (she might be about to go through an alignment shift, herself). So if your theory wants to include her, feel free.

Mystic Muse
2010-10-14, 04:30 AM
You could always look for some blasting spells if you really need to. I'm sure there'll be a shop or two with them.

However, if a quasi deity is possessing these guys, I doubt a fireball or anything else you are capable of is going to kill them. These guys probably have plot armor.

Rezby
2010-10-14, 04:37 AM
I know you didn't mention this on the list of books, but Book of Vile Darkness has some really great stuff in it.

A 5th level Sorc/Wiz spell is called Stop Heart. You have to touch the victim, and also be on a mild halucinogen that deals 1d4 str damage but grants a 1d4+1 enhancement bonus to wis for 1d10+15 minutes called Baccaran, but what the spell does is you poke them and if they fail their fort save, they undergo a massive heart attack. They drop to -8 hp, and then to -9 at the end of the round. There's one turn for an ally to heal/stabilze them before they drop to neg 10 and die.

Its not quite massive damage (Apocalypse from the Sky is a 9th level spell and its exactly what it sounds like. Everything (including you) within a 10 mile/level radius takes 10d6 damage. So 170 miles radius, minimum. Yeah), but you could flavor it as your character deciding to take them out one by one.

DragonSinged
2010-10-14, 04:51 AM
@Kyuubi Oh yeah, I can definitely get access to blasting spells, if that's the route decided on. Not really the style of the character, though.
Edit: Also, Plot armor = ...they're immune and resistant to some mind-affecting magic as far as I've been able to tell, but if I can legitimately get into a situation where I can roll damage dice against them, I'm pretty sure the GM won't mess with that. I've just been itching to finally get into the same room with the big bad with my scrolls of dimensional anchor...

@Rezby Yes, I've read through the BoVD, and am personally allowing it in a game that I am GMing, but as I mentioned, the only books I have access to for the game in question are the core books + PHII and Races of the Wild. Also, I suppose, for polymorph purposes and whatnot, the MMII & III. (Character has Polymorph as a sort of... personal guarantee? I guess? But has never cast it.)

WinWin
2010-10-14, 08:33 AM
Illusory script (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/illusoryScript.htm) mass mailing to local leadership/policitians/apparatchik. Contains a suggestion to come alone to a secret meeting at a certain place and time.

Those immune to mind effecting should not know about the meeting. They will just see a piece of paper with gibberish on it.

One at the meeting, have your cleric friend enthrall (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/enthrall.htm) them in order to listen to your concerns.

This may go toward starting an anti-government movement. I would suggest disguises and anti-divination buffs to be prepared or placed in item form. At the very least, it will make Craft Wand a worthwhile investment. I think that a porcelain mask and using a single intial to identify yourself would be a great idea as well. The less your recruits know about your real identity, the better.

Hope this gives an idea or two.

dsmiles
2010-10-14, 08:53 AM
Cast Explosive Runes on all of the documents that they have to go through, perhaps?

I mean, if they're a democracy, they'll have a lot of paperwork, so it may take a couple of days, but...think of the funny! Do it for the funny, man!

Lysander
2010-10-14, 09:00 AM
What would be funny is if you started replacing the mind-controlled people with your own simulacrums.

DragonSinged
2010-10-14, 04:47 PM
Thanks for the replies!

@WinWin That is a pretty good plan, but the problem is (sorry if I wasn't specific enough) as far as I'm aware, the mind-controlled folk are only immune to /some/ mind-affecting spells, such as Domination. On the other hand, we have successfully Mind Fogged & Zone of Truthed one of them, so some mind-affecting spells do still work. Still, that plan could possibly be adapted...

@dsmiles You know, I think he might actually do that... It would definitely be worth it for the funny, and it would certainly at the very least slow their processes down a /lot/ if they needed to detect magic on every pile of documents they needed to go through... not to mention the havoc that the first few explosions that got through would cause...

@Lysander At Wizard 7, Loremaster 3 do you think he's strong enough to pull something like that off with the core books? I'm not really certain how I would go about doing that. I suppose I should mention that this is the first wizard I've played. I've done plenty of research, but I haven't mastered all the tricks yet. (Man oh man have I been loving "Wall of Stone", though.)

dsmiles
2010-10-14, 05:47 PM
@Lysander At Wizard 7, Loremaster 3 do you think he's strong enough to pull something like that off with the core books? I'm not really certain how I would go about doing that. I suppose I should mention that this is the first wizard I've played. I've done plenty of research, but I haven't mastered all the tricks yet. (Man oh man have I been loving "Wall of Stone", though.)

Ooooooo...I forgot about wall of stone. Can you cage them in in the parliment building and fireball the lot of 'em? Everything's better with fire!

Dr Bwaa
2010-10-14, 06:29 PM
1: Go to the library. Prep a few copies of a certain spell from scrolls.
2: Go to a Parliament session.
3: Mingle during a recess.
4: Whenever you shake hands with a target or potential target, donate to them your favorite touch spell of choice.
5: Rinse, repeat.

Alternate strategy
1: Go to the Parliament building during a session.
2: Summon almost enough osmium on the roof to crush the building.
3: Summon a little more.

dsmiles
2010-10-14, 07:06 PM
1: Go to the library. Prep a few copies of a certain spell from scrolls.
2: Go to a Parliament session.
3: Mingle during a recess.
4: Whenever you shake hands with a target or potential target, donate to them your favorite touch spell of choice.
5: Rinse, repeat.
6: Profit
Alternate strategy
1: Go to the Parliament building during a session.
2: Summon almost enough osmium on the roof to crush the building.
3: Summon a little more.
4: Profit

There, now it looks like a plausible plan. :smalltongue:

Jolly
2010-10-15, 08:51 AM
A day of divination should get you some home addresses. You and the cleric should be able to take down one bureaucrat, unless the DM plays them as paranoid and over prepped.