The Royal Hook-Up?

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Uial, Aira, Ginorbol, Thaajin and Z'D'nt, stay out! Here there (may) be spoilers.

In the (3.5) campaign I'm running, my players will soon be undertaking a mission for the elvish queen (a powerful wizard) to gather information about a dark elf invasion plot that they recently uncovered. PCs being PCs, they asked if she could provide them with any supplies or equipment. The queen agreed and said she would see what she could come up with, but the session ended before I had to pay up, as it were.

The party (all at level 9) includes:

An elf wizard, the queen's own apprentice, who focuses a lot on battlefield control and debuffing (Hideous Laughter, Resilient Sphere, Web). Has something like the standard wizard "I love knowledge! Books are fun!" personality.
A gnome druid with a major genie bloodline (7 druid levels, 2 bloodline levels) who relies heavily on his leopard companion in combat (but has recently started blasting a bit too.) Fairly eccentric (riding the leopard everywhere should be a clue.)
A human fighter/ranger/swordsage who dual wields shocking bastard swords and usually fights in Assassin's Stance for the sneak attack. She could use a little more AC, being a front-liner with only 19 at level 9.
A human beguiler (with 1 level of mind bender) who I'm trying to get to use his spells more in combat (he often relies on a (fairly weak) Wand of Magic Missiles and his UMD ranks.)
A human rogue/SA fighter/dread commando built to sneak around the battlefield in heavy armor taking people out with a war hammer. (He likes to stay out of sight whenever possible.) This player is really new, so something kind of simple but still cool would be best.


My first thought was to try to pick out personalized items for each of the PCs. (The queen's apprentice has kept her up to date on the party's adventures, so the queen should know each PC's style pretty well.) The casters (particularly the wizard and druid) have kept their spell selections entirely core so scrolls of a few select non-core spells would probably be good (with some instruction to let them get repeated use i.e. the druid can now prepare these spells as well as any other druid spells and the wizard copies her scrolls into her spellbook.) Both players have expressed frustration that spell resistance is coming up more often lately (what with dark elves becoming a major antagonist) so some SR free spells might be nice. The problem is that I'm not really familiar with non-core spells either so I'd have to do a good deal of research to pick spells out. It's a bit tougher for the other PCs. I'm thinking that maybe a set of Strong-arm Bracers would be cool for the fighter/ranger/swordsage but I don't really know beyond that.

Another idea (with less work for me as the DM) would be to have the queen break out some ancient relics of the kingdom (which the PCs are acting to protect) that take the form of amulets, rings or similar and give the PCs access to Action Points (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/actionPoints.htm). Nobody in our group has ever used action points, but they look like they would give a handy boost to each character and feel like the kind of thing an epic leveled patron might be able to give an adventuring party.

One thing I'm a little wary of is the fact that the PCs will be getting another powerful ally fairly soon in the form of the djinn-blooded druid's grandfather, a full blooded noble djinni the party will have a chance to rescue (and from whom they're likely to get wishes for their help.) As such, I don't want to go overboard here, but feel like the party should get some nice new toys.

Any suggestions?

tl;dr version: I'm looking for some cool items an epic wizard could give my PCs (as described in the spoiler box) to help them on a mission against some dark elves.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

For blasting critters with SR, Orb of X series of spells works wonderfully. Include some of these as scrolls for the Wizard if he enjoys blowing things up. As far as battlefield control goes, he's already got them. Glitterdust and Stinking Cloud both do not allow SR, and are Area Effect Save or Lose effects. Black Tentacles would also be thematic and does not allow SR. As he just got 9th level, he can now cast 5th level spells. Throw a scroll of Cloudkill his way.

For the guy with Swordsage, try giving him a Mithral Chain Shirt and see what that does for his AC. Remember he gets both Dex and Wis to AC in it if he has Swordsage2.

I think your beguiler may be under the impression that his spells aren't very useful. Many of them allow SR, but you may wish to point out that illusions don't offer a save, and SR doesn't apply, if the NPC's don't physically interact with it. Also suggest to him that spells like Haste are always welcome to the party, that Glitterdust is on his spell list and doesn't allow SR, and that Greater Invisibility is an enormous buff to anyone who uses sneak attack or sudden strike, because if you cannot see your opponent, you are considered flat-footed against them. Instead of trying to use it himself, cast it on the guy with swordsage or on the Rogue/SA Fighter/Dread Commando. And Greater Mirror Image is bar none, the best defensive spell in the game.

As for the melee guys, weapon upgrades are never a bad thing. Winged Boots would be useful to help them reach flying opponents.

Lesser Cloaks of Displacement are never bad either, since they grant a concealment miss chance, thus shut down sneak attacks. Necklace of Adaptation grants immunity to a variety of annoying things. In fact, Necklace of Adaptation on the melee lets the Wizard launch things like Stinking Cloud and Cloudkill into the fray without needing to worry about Friendly Fire, because his allies are immune to it.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

The casters' players and I both know that they have options, they just need to put forth the effort to seek them out and plan ahead to have them ready. These are the two players who put the most time and energy into hatching plans when they know (more or less) what they're up against so I fully expect them to perform admirably knowing that their mission will be heavy on spell resistance.

The problem with the swordsage is that they character has gone in a different direction than was originally planned. The player was going to run straight ranger with two levels of fighter for feats, but was getting tired of having fewer trick to pull out than the party's casters so I suggested swordsage (he'd also expressed an interest in adding some sneakiness to his build so shadow hand was a big draw.) The problem is that the player inteded to be a no-magic ranger and thus the character has no wisdom bonus so wisdom to AC isn't doing anything. There are enough options for boosting AC (armor enhancements, amulets of natural armor, rings of deflection, periapts of wisdom) that he isn't hurting for ideas, just motivation. Maybe some spiffy mithral medium armor would give a hint.

I chalk the beguiler's problem to inexperience. He has a print out of all the spells he can cast, but I think he's a little intimidated by it when his turn comes up in battle so he just reaches for the wand and the nice, safe 3d4+3 damage (even if it requires a UMD check). Pointing out some of the buffing he can do wouldn't be a bad idea, but I'm still at a loss for what the queen might be able to give him.

[Invader]

Personally as a player and a dm I think its always better to give players items that are geared specifically for them. For one it's something you know will make them better and at least for me it makes you feel just a little bit special getting something unique instead of just a +1 flaming sword. Go one step further and name the item you're giving them even if its just a amulet of natural armor +2.

I like giving PC's odd magic items too and seeing what uses they can find for them. Everyone knows what plate mail is for but give them a rod of viscous globs, ring of vengeance, and gloves of manual prowess and your PC's will have a more fulfilling loot experience.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I like giving PC's odd magic items too and seeing what uses they can find for them. Everyone knows what plate mail is for but give them a rod of viscous globs, ring of vengeance, and gloves of manual prowess and your PC's will have a more fulfilling loot experience.That's more or less my philosophy on random loot, but it doesn't work so well when someone who's supposed to be familiar with the PCs is giving them something that was chosen specifically for them.