I need a way to kill all (weak) undead within 200 miles! [Archive]

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 07:28 PM

So i'm hoping to do this in as little time as possible! I'm limited to the warmage Class. So i need a way to get a spell on my list that will allow me to Destroy all those zombies! I can you Meta magic from any Wotc source... However i would like to keep living creature unharmed. So playground work your magic.

Oh and I can NOT take hidden talent to get minor creation... im band from using it to make a hydro-fusion bomb... I did my math wrong when i tried that, we all Died... Everyone Died... Except that Da-- LICH!

ryu

2012-09-11, 07:35 PM

Keep everything undead in an absurd distance dead while not hurting live stuff? Can you manage a scroll of overland flight, several high area of effect evocations with okay damage, and some area of effect sculpting and damage buffing metamagics? Seems to be the warmage way.

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 07:51 PM

But how... what spells do you recommend? I know of Locate City... But that doesn't work the way it is supposed too. Expand is obvious... So is Enlarge, And Spell thesis. But how do i zone in on undead?

DaedalusMkV

2012-09-11, 07:57 PM

I don't think this is possible. Not as a straight Warmage. Hell, maybe not at all. 200 miles is a massive area, too large for anything shy of Apocalypse from the Sky to cover it all disregarding not-actually-RAW Locate City Bomb shenanigans. Making it only affect Undead is even harder, since that basically limits you to Positive Energy damage or some sort of omniscience+shape spell spell combo. Moreover, you're going to need to do all this without needing Line of Effect or being aware of your targets.

Basically, you're looking at Epic magic. Which can accomplish this pretty easily. If that's what you want, I'll whip you up something right away. If you're looking for something achievable with non-Epic characters... I think only a Dragonfire Adept could do this. And that would require more cheese than any sane DM would stomach. And a willingness to not use your breath weapon for a few months.

Unless you're cool with it taking a fair bit of time to do? Spellshaping (From the metamagic or Archmage) plus flight plus fireball will do the job, eventually, as the above poster suggested.

Hirax

2012-09-11, 08:00 PM

1. Shelter anyone you want to live in the area of hallow spells. The hallow spells needs to have their companion spells be resist energy, with a CL of at least 11 to get resistance 30 to an element.
2. Obtain arcane thesis for apocalypse from the sky (Book of Vile Darkness spell)
3. Prepare said spell with eschew materials (to negate the need for an artifact) and purify spell (Book of Exalted Deeds, adds good descriptor, good creatures take no damage, neutral creatures take half damage, evil outsiders have damage dice taken up a notch).
4. Use a maximize rod when casting.
5. All creatures within 10 miles/level of you take 60 damage of fire, cold, acid, or sonic damage (you choice). Half damage if they're neutral (which means it will be negated by the resist energy spell), no damage if they're good, and 80 damage if they're an evil outsider.

GnomeGninjas

2012-09-11, 08:01 PM

Hirax

2012-09-11, 08:06 PM

Purified Apocalypse from the sky, would killed everything weak and non-good in a massive area, assuming your undead are evil/ neutral that should work. I don't know if you can purify vile spells though.

It doesn't say you can't, and strangely there's no alignment restriction on casting corrupt spells. Purify spell does require a good alignment, however it isn't an exalted feat, so you don't need to be stupid good to use it.

toapat

2012-09-11, 08:08 PM

Wish Spell shinanigans to cast Apocalypse from the Sky dealing Possitive Energy damage.

herrhauptmann

2012-09-11, 08:19 PM

[War] spells from dragon magazine. Either the first 3.0 edition, or the first 3.5, I forget.
With [war] spells, a 1st level magic missile targets like 20 different people. I imagine there's a good anti-undead one there.

An alternate form of the locate city bomb might work. Rather than shoving people to teh edge of the spell, find a set of metamagics you can use to deal positive energy to undead.

DaedalusMkV

2012-09-11, 08:25 PM

Just for fun:

Undo the Zombie Apocalypse
Spellcraft DC: 45
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Area: 200-mile radius hemisphere burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes (Harmless)
To Develop: 405,000 gp; 9 days; 16,200 XP.
A spell developed with the life seed will restore life and complete vigor to any deceased creature. The condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of the creature’s body still exists, it can be returned to life, but the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature’s body at the time of death. (The remains of a creature hit by a disintegrate spell count as a small portion of its body.) The creature can have been dead for no longer than two hundred years.

This spell is a ritual requiring fourty individuals. Twenty must be capable of contributing a first-level spell slot, ten capable of contributing second-level spell slots and ten capable of contributing third-level spell slots.

The spell immediately restores all dead creatures within 200 miles, including those who have been animated as undead to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no loss of prepared spells. However, all subjects lose one level (or 1 point of Constitution if the subject was 1st level). The life seed cannot revive someone who has died of old age. You must roll to overcome the spell resistance of any undead within the area seperately.

--------

I went with reanimating them over just destroying them because it will work universally with no saving throw allowed and no chance of failure. Plus, it brings everyone back to life. For only 2 points more Spellcraft! Yay!

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 08:39 PM

I might swindle bard from my DM. So Locate City with some way to do about 25 Damage to undead.... How would this work?

Ok so Purify Spell BoED Half damage to Neutral Zero Damage to Good.

I have my Targeting done... Locate city + Purify

Now how do i do 25ish points of damage with this?

herrhauptmann

2012-09-11, 08:43 PM

"swindle bard"??
What do you mean? Bard spells? Bard class? Prestige bard? Something else?

morkendi

2012-09-11, 08:46 PM

Sideways thing maybe? Used to be a spell called virus charm. This based on mass charm monster. In creating spells, you look towards like spell, so virus control undead is possible. Comand is to kill all undead and ignore living. They spread from there killing them selves. Survivors are still under control and keep spreading?

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 08:49 PM

"swindle bard"??
What do you mean? Bard spells? Bard class? Prestige bard? Something else?

I might get him to let me take bard levels!

Hirax

2012-09-11, 08:54 PM

Are you still picking a class, then? If your DM doesn't want you picking classes like wizard for power concerns, it's doubtful that he's going to let you use shenanigans like the locate city bomb trick, which is on very shaky RAW ground, and is almost certainly against RAI. Apocalypse from the sky and hallow is a better solution.

Crasical

2012-09-11, 09:06 PM

3. Prepare said spell with eschew materials (to negate the need for an artifact) and purify spell (Book of Exalted Deeds, adds good descriptor, good creatures take no damage, neutral creatures take half damage, evil outsiders have damage dice taken up a notch).

Are you relying on the silly interpretation that since Artifacts have no listed cost, they are covered under Eschew Materials' "1gp or less" limit on material components, or have I missed something?

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 09:14 PM

Wait why do i need a artifact? I actually have 1 too BTW.

ryu

2012-09-11, 09:54 PM

Depends how lenient the dm is with eschew materials.

Sith_Happens

2012-09-11, 09:55 PM

Wait why do i need a artifact? I actually have 1 too BTW.

The material component for Apocalypse from the Sky is an artifact.

BowStreetRunner

2012-09-11, 09:58 PM

Depends how lenient the dm is with eschew materials.

Um...yeah. So can I get that artifact for 1gp or less? Sure!?! Great!!!

That has got to be the most lenient DM ever!!!

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 10:08 PM

OK but how do i add damage to Locate city. I am not anywhere close to 8th level casting.

Sith_Happens

2012-09-11, 10:21 PM

You know, it might be useful to know why you're looking for a way to clear a 200 mile radius of undead in combat time.

Douglas

2012-09-11, 10:28 PM

Um...yeah. So can I get that artifact for 1gp or less? Sure!?! Great!!!

That has got to be the most lenient DM ever!!!
... Yes. Yes, you can.
Oh by the way, the artifact's sole power (other than standard artifact indestructibility) is a terrible curse. Surely you didn't think the merchant was offering it for only 5 silver without a business related reason.

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 10:29 PM

You know, it might be useful to know why you're looking for a way to clear a 200 mile radius of undead in combat time.

Ok well we are in a campaign right now based on a Zombie outbreak. And the city that we are trapped in is about 190 miles wide. So i have the fiery burst reserve feat and we have been the average murder hobo by burning down the city. But now the undead are trying to escape past the city walls. So this plus 4 musical girls who are um... "Attached to us" i need a way to kill them! Because i know that the dm wants us to kill them so that they can evolve. (Its not verry hard to kill 200 in 2 rounds at level 3. We optimize to the moon and back

grarrrg

2012-09-11, 11:04 PM

Undo the Zombie Apocalypse

Slight problem with your otherwise good solution:

The life seed cannot revive someone who has died of old age.

1: Person dies of Old Age
2: Person's corpse is used to make a Skeleton/Zombie/Other
3: Undo Zombie Apocalypse
4: Person is still Skeleton/Zombie/Other

It should still take out the majority though.

Also this:

You must roll to overcome the spell resistance of any undead within the area seperately.
Could get annoying pretty fast...

metabolicjosh

2012-09-11, 11:36 PM

No one got a clue? Well what about You! Yes, you...

DaedalusMkV

2012-09-11, 11:36 PM

Slight problem with your otherwise good solution:

Eh, I whipped it up in about three minutes. I could tack on an "Undead not resurrected by this spell must make a Will save or be destroyed" effect for 5 points higher Spellcraft DC, mitigated by some Backlash damage, maybe, but the OP doesn't even have access to eighth level spells. He'd need months of adventuring time to get access to Epic Spellcasting, much less assemble the 400,000 gold needed to develop the damned thing, so it's kinda moot. Besides, I kind of like it having a hole or two. The spell still deals perfectly well with a plague-type Zombie Apocalypse, so who really cares that the grave-robbing Necromancer gets to keep his dead-of-old-age skeletons? More amusing is the fact that it will resurrect everyone who died within 200 miles of the casting location within the last 200 years from any cause other than old age, because there's no way to design the Life seed to be selective as an area effect. In a city that's 125,000 square miles in size (which is absurd, by the way. That's the better part of 2000 Manhattans), that should amount to millions of people even with medieval population densities.

As for the SR thing? Nothing I can do about it. While you can stack on arbitrarily high bonuses to overcoming the SR, you can never get rid of it entirely. All Epic Seeds that target creatures are SR: Yes. No matter what.

Edit:

No one got a clue? Well what about You! Yes, you...

Like I said, it just isn't doable with the magic you've got access to. Locate City Bomb doesn't actually work, which means you've got Apocalypse from the Sky left, and even a Purified AftS would kill everyone nongood, not just the undead. Nothing else can be made to have an area of effect in miles. Well, a DFA could do it as long as he didn't mind not being able to use his breath weapon for a couple of months, I guess. If you can get your hands on a ninth-level DFA with the Enlarge Metabreath feat and convince your DM that metabreath stacking is legit, that would work. By which I mean it would kill everyone in the area and he'd need to be ten miles in the air. But that's the only way that I can think of for you to achieve this without at least a ninth-level slot, one point of mitigation for Purify Spell and a CL of 20. Hence the jokish epic spell above.

ericgrau

2012-09-11, 11:40 PM

So it seems like cheese is ok.

commoner + chicken infested flaw + spell component pouch = infinite chickens.
Pay others to train the chickens to attack undead. Order your chicken army to attack. Possible way it could fail: zombie chicken apocalypse. Possible variant: awaken some chickens to train other chickens, and also to level up from all the zombie kills. Possible way variant could fail: awakened chickens become higher level than you and take over.

Recursive leadership feat (cohorts take leadership) for cleric army. Stabilize is a level 2 spell swift action spell that deals 1 point of damage to all undead in a 50' radius (will negates). Send them off to kill zombies, have them use hide from undead to escape any trouble before finding a safe spot to rest for the night.

Hirax

2012-09-12, 12:17 AM

OK but how do i add damage to Locate city. I am not anywhere close to 8th level casting.

Just Google locate city bomb, it's posted all over the place. But it doesn't work by RAW, because it's not a valid target for explosive spell, due to not having one of the named areas that explosive spell can be applied to. Not to mention that I couldn't imagine any DM at a real table ever allowing it to work, even if it did work.

Give us the whole story here. What class and level are you? What about the other members of your party?

grarrrg

2012-09-12, 07:33 AM

commoner + chicken infested flaw + spell component pouch = infinite chickens.
Pay others to train the chickens to attack undead. Order your chicken army to attack. Possible way it could AWESOMELY SUCCEED: zombie chicken apocalypse.

Fixed that for you :smallwink:

HunterOfJello

2012-09-12, 08:11 AM

Do EVERYTHING you can go get a Shirt of Wraith Stalking and then run around for the next few months blowing them up with impunity.

laeZ1

2012-09-12, 09:47 AM

Is there a metamagic that can be applied to a spell to make it deal holy damage? Or ignore living sources?

toapat

2012-09-12, 09:53 AM

Is there a metamagic that can be applied to a spell to make it deal holy damage? Or ignore living sources?

yes, Wish can do that.

otherwise you need homebrewed feats.

Rubik

2012-09-12, 11:54 AM

A.) Find ways to boost the hell out of your speed, base land or flight.

B.) Permanency a casting of a Heightened Detect Magic with Purify Spell and Enlarge Spell on it [see the Locate City Bomb for the other feats need in order to add Explosive Spell to it]. Use an NPC for the casting or a scroll as needed.

C.) Run as fast as you can with Explosive Spell'd Detect Magic on, all around the city walls.

D.) Watch as all the undead within the AoE are rolled before you in a massive wave of explosive force.

E.) Reap the XP.

McToomin

2012-09-12, 12:08 PM

I just felt the need to point this out: the city you are "trapped in" is extraordinarily huge.

And the city that we are trapped in is about 190 miles wide.

Below, in red, is the size you wish to nuke, the size of the city you are trapped in. In green to the left is the size of New York City. Basically you want a spell that can bomb the singular city that is the approximate size of West Virginia, before 8th level casting...

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s373/mctoomin/largecity.png

Wow.

EpsilRon

2012-09-12, 12:09 PM

Train a boatload of Dire Vultures?

hamishspence

2012-09-12, 12:16 PM

The material component for Apocalypse from the Sky is an artifact.

I think the FAQ for BoVD (not exactly RAW- but it does fix some things) states that it's a focus, not a material component- so Eschew Materials wouldn't work and the artifact wouldn't be destroyed when the spell is cast.

Rubik

2012-09-12, 01:21 PM

Hire an NPC wizard to start casting Planar Binding, debuffing, and amassing an army of outsiders.

Shouldn't take too long, especially if he binds critters that can summon and/or call other critters.

Origomar

2012-09-12, 02:19 PM

I just felt the need to point this out: the city you are "trapped in" is extraordinarily huge.

Below, in red, is the size you wish to nuke, the size of the city you are trapped in. In green to the left is the size of New York City. Basically you want a spell that can bomb the singular city that is the approximate size of West Virginia, before 8th level casting...

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s373/mctoomin/largecity.png

Wow.

Hes also fighting a legion of undead with magic, whats your point :smalltongue:

laeZ1

2012-09-12, 02:36 PM

Hes also fighting a legion of undead with magic, whats your point
I think the point is not that cities that big are unrealistic, but instead that targeting an area that big with such limited resources is asking for a bit much.

McToomin

2012-09-12, 02:51 PM

Yeah big city is big, but my point was that hitting an area the size of West Virginia before even 8th level casting is... I don't even know what word to use. :smalltongue:

rweird

2012-09-12, 04:37 PM

A question: what does your artifact do?

How to get rid of them: Assuming your DM lets wish/miracle duplicate the effect of any sorcerer/wizard or cleric spell respectively of 8th level or lower, with various class feature (archmage mastery of shaping), wish for sanctum, purified, consecrated, Maximized, shaped (from mastery of shaping) Apocalypse from the Sky, shaped to only hit undead or objects and hit all the undead (excepts for the ones that would also hit living creatures if you feel like leaving some survivors but not killing anyone, or if you feel ruthless: if a living creature would be hit as well make it so it hits the fewest living creatures possible, place intelligent creature over animals if you want). Then have someone heal the con damage, if you die from it, that is a problem, though you die a hero, and you might gain quite a few levels from it.

To get Wish/Miracle, you could use a candle of invocation to gate a solar to do it for you, or you could pool your WBL to buy a scroll, assuming you could find it somewhere. Not sure exactly how you'd get it.

Venger

2012-09-12, 04:42 PM

I think the FAQ for BoVD (not exactly RAW- but it does fix some things) states that it's a focus, not a material component- so Eschew Materials wouldn't work and the artifact wouldn't be destroyed when the spell is cast.

it's actually the errata that changes that, so it is correct. by 3.5 rules, it is a focus, not a material component, so you are indeed correct that it is not required for it to be destroyed each time you cast the spell (which really, is even more ridiculous, since it was intended as some kind of limiting factor

Are you relying on the silly interpretation that since Artifacts have no listed cost, they are covered under Eschew Materials' "1gp or less" limit on material components, or have I missed something?

it's actually something of an etymological pun/joke.

artifacts are RAW "priceless" and some people have (often humorously) postulated that "priceless" is akin to saying "without a price" or having no listed gp cost, like sand or rose petals or whatever, and by this argument, saying that since the material component for apocalypse has no listed gp cost (priceless) it is eligible for eschew materials

regarding west virginia, what people seldom realize about the "x radius" spells is that the area you affect is π r^2, so miles squared times whatever value you use for π (usually) but will multiply your number of miles squared by a little more than 3.

that is an absolutely enormous area. by the time you were of an absolute minimum level to cast apocalypse from the sky, you would be affecting an area about the size of poland.

Urpriest

2012-09-12, 04:57 PM

Yeah, based on the size of the city I think we have our answer. Point out to your DM that in a 200 mile wide medieval city everyone would have starved to death/been buried in their own waste long ago, so there are actually no intact corpses that can be made into undead. Thus there were actually no undead in the city all along.

ericgrau

2012-09-12, 04:58 PM

Overland flight, a crossbow or reserve spell, and a lot of patience.

only1doug

2012-09-12, 05:00 PM

Thanks for the huge wide image, that makes the page so much easier to read on a tablet...

You need to kill the undead and keep the living alive... self resetting traps that cast cure serious wounds? ( kind of hard for a warmage but i'm sure you can find a way...)

metabolicjosh

2012-09-12, 05:37 PM

Augmental

2012-09-12, 05:54 PM

Ok so we have 4 Girls who can cast There own respective 9th level spell. But then they pass out for 3 days. They have artifact status according to my private talks with the dm.

Which 9th level spells can they use?

TiaC

2012-09-12, 06:04 PM

Couldn't Chuck do this? With some way of making Ring of fire not affect the living, he could hit an area many times that size.

Or, use this trick.

The Bardic Nuke.

Ingredients: Metamagic song, Inspire Courage, Inspirational Boost, Explosive Spell, and an alphorn.

Optional Ingredients: Subsonics, Animate Instrument, Persist Spell.

Cast Inspirational Boost, modified by Explosive Spell via Metamagic Song. Use an alphorn to start Inspire Courage, and designate as an "ally" anyone who hears your song, but yourself.

Watch as everyone in a 7-mile-radius explodes from hearing an alphorn.

Optionally, add Subsonics and Animate Instrument, and designate your targets as "no one". When you meet someone you wish to kill, designate that someone as an ally, and watch him blow up out of nowhere.
Add Maximize and Widen and you can kill any undead within 20 miles as long as you play.

animewatcha

2012-09-12, 06:13 PM

Your DM needs to further explain 'pass out' because I am looking at the rouse spell in PHB 2 and thinking one person uses rouse on them while they spam their 9th levels every round.

Sith_Happens

2012-09-12, 11:36 PM

Ok so we have 4 Girls who can cast There own respective 9th level spell. But then they pass out for 3 days. They have artifact status according to my private talks with the dm.

Well that settles it then. Using a Magical Girl as the material focus for the end all be all of [Evil] spells is just too hilarious to pass up.

metabolicjosh

2012-09-12, 11:45 PM

Well that settles it then. Using a Magical Girl as the material focus for the end all be all of [Evil] spells is just too hilarious to pass up.

Well when you put i that way i guess i have to "use" her.

Anodai

2012-09-13, 01:05 AM

The most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever used by mankind, the Tsar Bomba, was almost 1500 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on hiroshima, and completely destroyed everything 22 miles.

You would need 20 of these to cover that city based on area alone. Probably a lot more given how the area of a circle works out.

Anxe

2012-09-13, 01:55 AM

Control Weather? If its winter in the area, then getting the temperature down to -20 is within the spell. That'll deal 1d6 cold damage to every zombie in range every minute. You'll need to cast it a ton of time to cover the entire area, but it's within your resources. If you can convince your DM that the area functions as an emanation, then you just need to fly around every 10 minutes to kill all the zombies. Not sure what to do about the skels though, but its not clear to me if there are any.

kardar233

2012-09-13, 02:36 AM

Couldn't Chuck do this? With some way of making Ring of fire not affect the living, he could hit an area many times that size.

Or, use this trick.

Add Maximize and Widen and you can kill any undead within 20 miles as long as you play.

That doesn't work. Inspirational Boost's target is You, not everyone affected by your song.

Twilightwyrm

2012-09-13, 06:50 AM

I think a major question that needs to be answered here is what time frame you are on here. Does this need to be a sudden, inspired combination of spells meant to take out all these undead in an hour or two before they can react? Or can you, as some people here have suggested, simply raise an army and take the four years or so necessary to cover every inch of the city clearing out undead?

metabolicjosh

2012-09-13, 08:09 AM

The time restraint is that we play each action during the 7 days until we get nuked by the Clerics. And we have no way to escape the field they put up. (Deity made it) So far we have started a massive fire that has spread on the winds during the second day. It iss now the third day.

Control weather is a good idea too, if i can Widen it then that's even better. Im now thinking it would be cool if it is a emmination. But i need cheese to get that spell.

herrhauptmann

2012-09-13, 08:04 PM