Cruiser1
2012-12-09, 08:54 PM
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"I've been playing with this combat system for a week now. And it's all about force multipliers. To win, you gotta pile bonus on bonus on bonus." - Parson Gotti, Erfworld 1:125 (http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F125.jpg)
Kerri the Merry Fairy is a level 20 build that gives a specific example of how powerful buffs can be. It operates on the following concepts:
Buffs: Quality buffing is powered by many spell slots (Sorcerer with high CHA), plus access to Miracle (Rainbow Servant) to give access to all spells 7th level and below, plus lots of Persistent metamagic (Spelldancer + Incantatrix + Divine Metamagic). Kerri is effectively a solo version of Team Solar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188138) that's almost as powerful (but not as extreme since it's self-contained in a single character).
Equipment independent: The most versatile high powered character isn't dependent upon items. With all her buffs, Kerri is almost as effective completely naked (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45529), where gear just makes her Save DC's and such higher.
Fairies: Lots of magic + effectively naked + rainbows (Rainbow Servant) + fey based racial choices brings to mind fey. Fairies are not necessary to the build, but provide additional theme to add flavor to it.
Race: Human + Half-Fey + Minor Fey Bloodline
Human: Needed for extra skill points and bonus feat, both of which Kerri uses a lot of.
Half-Fey template: For the fairy theme. Like Celia, you're now a medium humanoid with wings. :smallsmile: LA +2, however it can be bought off (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm) with 16K XP. You get a ton of goodies, such as stat bonuses, numerous spell-like abilities, and (Ex) flight.
Minor Fey Bloodline: More fairy theme. More goodies, such as +1 untyped CHA (very useful as it bumps Kerri's CHA to 44 giving another 9th level spell slot), and +1 CL. Buy the Bloodline pseudo-level for 3K XP.
Normally you'd never give up a caster level in a caster build. However Half-Fey is so strong, and Minor Fey Bloodline is so cheap, it's not necessarily a bad deal being a level 19 caster with those additions. Interestingly, level 19 to 20 is 19K XP. Paying off the +2 LA and the bloodline is 16K + 3K = 19K exactly, so a "level 20" build (i.e. a build where you're given 190K XP to work with) is exactly enough for level 19 + the extra Fey goodies (171K + 16K + 3K = 190K). We're using the balanced interpretation of Bloodline payoff (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7167), where taking the bloodline "level" at level 1 for just 1K XP is too broken, and at level 12 for 12K XP isn't worth it.
Build: Sorcerer 1/Rainbow Servant 10/Spelldancer 1/Sacred Exorcist 1/Incantatrix 6
Sorcerer: Sor chosen to take advantage of Sor only spells like Wings of Cover, Wings of Flurry, and (Greater) Arcane Fusion. Sor also has extra spell slots, and no spellbook to fit the equipment independent theme.
Rainbow Servant: To get Miracle and other Cleric spells on the spell list. Three domains to play with are also useful. Rainbows fit fairy theme.
Spelldancer: Only one level is needed to persist buffs. Use Sheltered Vitality to make yourself immune to fatigue and CON damage so you can Spelldance infinitely. Limited in that you can't persist Necromancy and Evocation buffs with Spelldancer, so use other methods for those schools.
Sacred Exorcist: Only one level is need for turn undead. That allows Divine Metamagic, where Kerri gets many turn attempts from very high CHA.
Incantatrix: Use Metamagic Effect to persist Necromancy and Evocation spells already cast. The bonus metamagic feats are important too, since the build is feat intensive.
Also pick up the Metamagic Specialist (PHB2) ACF to trade familiar (which could be considered equipment) for ability to apply metamagic rapidly 3+INT per day (which is semi-useful).
Assumptions: D&D 3.5 is filled with so many rules which can be interpreted in different ways, that it's important to list assumptions we're making for the build:
Early entry: Early entry techniques work. We need to cheese plus two levels of spellcasting (cast level 3 spells) to get into Rainbow Servant at level 2. Use Sanctum Spell for +1, and Versatile Spellcaster + Heighten Spell for another +1.
Rainbow Servant: This PrC has full casting progression (text trumps table, or use Portuguese version (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5213.0)). If this is ruled not to be the case, you need to get Miracle on your Sor spell list some other way, such as the feats Arcane Disciple (Luck) or Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment: Luck).
Metamagic: Metamagic feats stack in the order you want, and influence existing effects. For example, Extend applied to Persist lasts 48 hours. More importantly, Ocular Spell applied to a touch or variable range spell (which normally isn't valid for Persist Spell) makes the result a fixed range spell, which can then be persisted.
Miracles: When reproducing spells (i.e. not paying 5000 XP) it doesn't require a deity's attention. One may rule that casting Miracle a dozen or so times in a row could make the deity say enough already and stop it from working. Of course, that would depend on the deity, where for example Boccob the uncaring god of magic isn't likely to mind and should actually approve of a PC making an extreme display of magic.
Miracle + Metamagic: Miracle can apply metamagic feats if the total slot is still 7th level or lower, e.g. duplicate an Empowered Cone of Cold. Also, Miracle really does "duplicate the casting" of whatever other spell. That means if you Spelldance before casting Miracle to duplicate a spell, the spell brought forth by Miracle can have metamagic applied to it.
Feats: Feats are limited resources, and after race/class are the most defining characteristics of a build, so need to be chosen well:
SourceFeatUsed for[/TD]
Flaw #1Eschew MaterialsNaked theme
Flaw #2Maximize SpellGood buffs
TraitQuickFaster speed
Human bonusVersatile SpellcasterMiracle from 8th level slots
Level 1Combat CastingSpelldancer qualification
Level 3Ocular Spell Persisting buffs
Level 6Persist SpellPersisting buffs
Level 9Repeat Spell2 for 1 buffs
Level 12Divine Metamagic (Repeat)Repeating Miracle
Level 15Residual MagicRepeating Miracle twice as often
Level 18Elder Giant Magic+CL, to reach CL 25-27
Inx level 1Invisible SpellArcane Spellsurge efficiency
Inx level 4Energy Substitution (Cold)Nuke options
Bloodline bonusTwin SpellNuke options
Otyugh HoleIron WillIncantatrix qualification
This build requires feat retraining (PHB2 page 193). For example, three feats at level one initially need to be Versatile Spellcaster, Heighten Spell, and Sanctum Spell for early entry into Rainbow Servant. Retrain Sanctum Spell and Heighten Spell (or Dark Chaos shuffle them, although that requires more gold and/or XP) as soon as you can cast 3rd level spells naturally.
Spelldancer requires the feats Dodge, Mobility, Endurance, and Combat Casting. That's a horrible feat tax, but we can pay it without actual feats. You need to cast Heroics to give yourself Dodge and Mobility, and Miracle to cast Extended Unfailing Endurance to give yourself Endurance (it lasts 40+ days), before Spelldancing buffs. Additional feat retraining can be used if it's ruled that when leveling up you need to quality for PrC's naturally and unbuffed. Then you take Dodge, Mobility, and Endurance as natural feats, take Spelldancer 1 at level 13, and then retrain them to other feats at levels 14 through 16, and finally buff yourself in order to re-enable and actually use Spelldancing.
Gaining extra feats: If you need more feats (for example the DM doesn't allow flaws) there are ways to get more (and without dropping into utter cheese such as using certain interpretations of Chaos Shuffling to get infinite feats):
Dump Eschew Materials and Invisible Spell: They're only present for the naked theme (just buy a spell component pouch), and for fun (e.g. with Arcane Spellsurge), but neither are necessary for the buff routine.
Dump Energy Substitution (Cold) and Twin Spell: They're only present so Kerri's nukes can be more powerful and have other energy types, but neither are necessary for the buff routine.
Free Combat Casting: If Web sources are allowed in your campaign, cast Mirror Move (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20000901a) to give yourself Combat Casting (cast Summon Monster VII to bring in a Djinni, or Summon Monster VIII to bring in a Lillend, and watch it defensively cast a spell).
For deity, Kerri needs to worship one with the Planning domain, in order to be able to switch a Rainbow Servant domain to Planning, in order to get Extend Spell which enables Persist Spell. Greater Deity Boccob is a good choice (has Planning domain in CW page 146) which fits a purely magic buff character. Greater Deity Ubtao is a good choice too (jungle deity fits the Rainbow Servant Couatl temples). Both are Neutral, although Kerri is probably NG (like Pixies) since one of her buffs makes all her spells [good].
Variants: Every build can be tweaked in any number of ways, and with all the details that go into this build Kerri is no exception:
Level 20: Dump the Half-Fey template and Minor Fey bloodline, and replace them with a standard 20th caster level. That would be Incantatrix level 7, gaining a bonus metamagic feat. That's a definitely simpler and arguably stronger build, since it gains an extra 9th level spell known (use it for Absorption described below if you want to be cheesy).
Wizard: Replace Sorcerer 1 with Wizard 1. Then you can pick up extra 8th and 9th level spells. However that loses a number of 9th level spell slots, misses out on powerful Sor only spells, and with a spellbook makes it harder to be equipment independent.
Body Outside Body: Cast Body Outside Body, and let your clones use Cooperative Metamagic to Repeat your Miracles. That lets you avoid the feats Divine Metamagic and Residual Magic, and the Sacred Exorcist level, which gives you an extra Incantatrix level and three extra feats. However, that uses up an extra Miracle, is less versatile (you need to stop and make clones every time you want to apply metamagic), and requires buffing your clones so they can make the high Spellcraft checks.
Vow of Poverty: If you're not going to use equipment, might as well formalize it and take Vow of Poverty. However that takes two extra feats (one if you retrain one of the VoP bonus exalted feats to Sacred Vow), and buffs can reproduce everything VoP gives you. Kerri is not only free of relying upon equipment, but is also free of constricting vows that might limit how she chooses to use equipment. :smalltongue:
Infinite spells: Add Absorption (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212739) to your spells learned, and you can use it to cast infinite spells. That allows you to buff yourself with every 7th level and below spell ever printed, significantly increasing your power. However for our purposes we're avoiding infinite loops like this. Every optimized build below Pun-Pun is an exercise in where to draw the line in what to allow vs. disallow. :smallyuk:
Equipment: Even though Kerri technically doesn't need any equipment, she can still take advantage of 760K gold WBL of a level 20 character:
As Xykon says (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0657.html), "Power, it isn't something you put on or take off like a jacket. It's something you just ARE." Kerri's WBL is used in ways that actually improve herself, such as inherent bonuses and permanent feats from magical locations (CS), instead of just buying pretty baubles that can be disjoined or stolen:
PriceItemUsed for
705985Staff of Wish (27 charges)Use to get +5 inherent bonus to CHA, WIS, INT, CON, +4 inherent to DEX, and +3 to STR. (Slightly Cheaper than equivalent tomes.)
8825Power Stone (Genesis)Because every high level caster needs their own private demiplane. (Cheaper than a scroll.)
3000Otyugh Hole visitIron Will feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
5000Heward's Hall visitSkill Focus (Dance) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
2000Frog God's Fane visitSkill Focus (Religion) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
1500Ivory crownFocus item for Shapechange. The one physical item Kerri needs, although it's non-magic.
250Feat retrainingRetrain Heighten Spell, Sanctum Spell, Dodge, Mobility, and Endurance.
33440GoldLeftover gold (Kerri rests on it like a dragon in her demiplane :smallcool:)
Miracle: Repeat Spell and Miracle make a powerful combination:
Repeat Spell can be used to get two Miracles for the price of one. Twin Spell says the same spell takes effect twice (where a counterspell will remove both instances) and all decisions must be the same for both instances. However Repeat Spell (two pages earlier in CA) specifically says the spell is cast separately in the next round, and only says targeting has to be the same. Therefore a Repeat Heroics can give you two different Fighter feats, and a Repeat Miracle can allow you to duplicate two different spells (as long as you're buffing yourself with both castings). This allows Kerri to nearly double the amount of buffs with her spell slots.
Unfortunately Miracle is an Evocation spell, so a Repeat Miracle can't be Spelldanced (and even if it could, we want the expensive metamagic like Persist applied to the duplicated spells, not Miracle itself). Enter Divine Metamagic, which works very well for a CHA caster. CHA 44 allows 20 turn undead usages, or 20/(3+1) = 5 instances per day of applying Repeat to Miracle.
Even that can be increased, with Residual Magic. Use Divine Metamagic to Repeat one Miracle. Then cast Miracle again, this time using Residual Magic to apply Repeat for free. This combination allows 10 instances per day of applying Repeat to Miracle. CHA 44 gives seven 9th level spell slots and nine 8th level spell slots, which means 11 castings of Miracle per day (7 from 9th level slots + 4 from 8th level slots using Versatile Spellcaster), or 21 Miracles per day counting the 10 instances of Repeat.
A downside of the 10 Repeat Miracles from Residual Magic is they can't have spelldancing applied to the spell they duplicate, since Residual Magic needs to be applied in the next round after the first casting. Or rather, you can squeeze in one round of spelldancing: Cast Miracle, use Divine Metamagic to apply Repeat. Next round, Spelldance up Extend Spell, during which the Repeat Miracle is automatically cast. Next round, cast Miracle again, using Residual Magic to apply Repeat to it, and the spells duplicated by Miracles #3 and #4 pick up Extend Spell for free. Finally use Incantatrix Metamagic Effect to apply Persist spell to either or both of the duplicated spells.
Spells known: With Miracle, Sorcerer spells known doesn't matter as much. The spells to actually know are:
High level spells: 8th and 9th level spells that aren't reproducible with Miracle (i.e. Shapechange, Superior Invisibility, Greater Arcane Fusion, and Polymorph Any Object).
Combat spells: Swift or immediate action spells, that you actually want to cast in combat (i.e. Celerity, Assay Spell Resistance).
Combo spells: 1st, 4th, and 7th levels spells that are good for combining in (Greater) Arcane Fusion, (e.g. True Strike + Orb of Fire, or True Casting + Wings of Flurry).
Here's Kerri's spells known list. Spells marked as "(Divine)" are Cleric list spells learned (or Sorcerer retrained) after finishing Rainbow Servant. Spells suffixed with "*" are persisted buffs. (Superior Invisibility usually isn't needed, but will be Persisted when cast.)
0: Arcane Mark, Cure Minor Wounds (Divine), Dancing Lights, Detect Magic*, Mage Hand, Mending, Prestidigitation*, Read Magic, Summon Holy Symbol*
1: Conviction (Divine)*, Disguise Self, True Casting, True Strike, Wieldskill (Divine)*
2: Alter Self, Divine Insight (Divine), Heroics*, Wings of Air*, Wings of Cover
3: Battlemagic Perception*, Fireball, Haste*, Major Image
4: Assay Spell Resistance, Celerity, Freedom of Movement (Divine)*, Orb of Fire, Ruin Delver's Fortune*, Sheltered Vitality (Divine)*, Wings of Flurry
5: Arcane Fusion, Moonbow
6: Greater Dispel Magic, Heal (Divine)
7: Energy Immunity*, Greater Shadow Conjuration*, Greater Teleport
8: Greater Arcane Fusion, Superior Invisibility*, Polymorph Any Object*
9: Miracle (Divine), Shapechange*
Buff list: Kerri's standard buff list. All 9th level castings after Shapechange are Miracle duplicating the spell.
0x4: Detect Magic, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Summon Holy Symbol
1x3: Conviction, , Wieldskill (Concentration) + Wieldskill (Spellcraft)
2x6: Wings of Air, Heroics (Dodge) + Heroics (Mobility), Heroics (Improved Initiative) + Heroics (Improved Toughness), Heroics (Martial Study: Mind Over Body) + Heroics (Matial Study: Action Before Thought), Heroics (Martial Study: Moment of Perfect Mind) + Heroics (Martial Stance: Stance of Alacrity), [Divine Insight]
3x2: Haste, Battlemagic Perception
4x4: Sheltered Vitality, Freedom of Movement, Ruin Delver's Fortune (Fort) + Ruin Delver's Fortune (Ref), Ruin Delver's Fortune (Will) + Ruin Delver's Fortune (HP)
7x2: Energy Immunity (Fire) + Energy Immunity (Acid), Greater Shadow Conjuration (Create Magic Tattoo: +1 CL) + Greater Shadow Conjuration (Create Magic Tattoo: +2 Atk)
8x2: Polymorph Any Object, [Mark of the Enlightened Soul]
9x6: Shapechange, Life's Grace + Mind Blank, Nixie's Grace + Mark of the Enlightened Soul, Glorious Master of the Elements + Favor of the Martyr, Inner Beauty + Chasing Perfection, Hymn of Praise + Dispelling Buffer
Also you get free Foresight, True Seeing, and Analyze Dweomer from Air Weird form. All the above are persisted buffs, applied through Spelldancing. Exception: Favor of the Martyr and Glorious Master of the Elements are Necromancy and Evocation school, so have their metamagic applied through Metamagic Effect. Divine Insight is needed once to make the DC 18+(7+1+3+6)x3 = 69 Spellcraft check to apply Persist to Glorious Master of the Elements. True Casting is used before Glorious Master of the Elements so all its nukes are +10 against enemy SR. One 8th level slot is spent as part of Mark of the Enlightened Soul, so all 7th level and below nukes are +50% damage against evil creatures. Dispelling Buffer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/dispellingBuffer.htm) is a Psionic buff, but at 6th level it's still equivalent or less powerful than a 7th level spell duplicatable with Miracle.
2x2, 4x1: Also need to cast Heroics twice to get Dodge and Mobility to enable Spelldancing, and cast Sheltered Vitality to make yourself immune to stat damage and fatigue before Spelldancing. (Once done, it's more efficient to just cast them again with Spelldancing to make them Persistent, then use limited per day Incantatrix abilities to Persist the existing castings.) These only need to be done when starting from an unbuffed state. Kerri reapplies her buff routine each day, so this is rarely necessary.
9x2: Occasionally need to cast Repeat Miracle twice to duplicate the following: Unfailing Endurance (to get Endurance to enable Spelldancing) + Substitute Domain (Law to Planning to get Extend Spell), Substitute Domain (Air to Protection to get access to Mind Blank) + Contingency (Celerity, because it's useful). All these extra castings last over 50 days (1 day per CL) when Extended, so rarely need to be done. (Note Favor of the Martyr will grant Endurance too if "benefit of the Endurance feat" is ruled to mean the actual feat instead of just its effects, after all the biggest benefit of a bad feat like Endurance is qualification for PrC's. :smallwink:)
Spell slots: A summary of Kerri's total spell slots, and how many are used for the standard daily buff routine.
Cast Polymorph Any Object with two 7th level slots to allow more Miracles. It's good to leave some spell slots open (especially for Miracles) for versatility in facing whatever may arise:
[TR]LevelTotalUsedLeft
0642
11138
21064
31028
41046
510010
6909
7945
8918
9761
Another important asset is Incantatrix Metamagic Effect, which can be done 3+INT=16 times per day. 2 are used for Extending/Persisting Necromancy spell Favor of the Martyr, and 3 are used for Extending/Persisting/Maximizing Evocation spell Glorious Master of the Elements. Use 8 more to Extend/Persist Protection From Law (Half-Fey spell list ability), Foresight, True Seeing, and Analyze Dweomer (Weird abilities). That leaves 5 for any non-Spelldanceable buffs brought forth with remaining Miracles.
Immunity list: Kerri is invulnerable to just about everything. Here's the immunities and their sources:
All damage: Shapechange (granting regeneration) + Favor of the Martyr (immune to non-lethal damage)
Poison: elemental type, Ruin Delver's Fortune
Charm and compulsion, pain: Favor of the Martyr
Fatigue, exhaustion, ability damage, ability drain: Sheltered Vitality
Daze: Favor of the Martyr
Grapple: Freedom of Movement
No need to breathe, eat, or sleep: elemental type
Critical, stun, flanking: elemental type
Energy drain, negative levels, magical death effects, disease from undead: Life's Grace
Possession: Protection From Law
Always warned of danger: Foresight
All divination spells: Mind Blank
All enchantment spells: Half-Fey template
It's easier to list the things Kerri is NOT immune to after her default buffs. Since her saves are so high and don't autofail on natural 1's, immunity to them really isn't needed. However even those potential holes can easily be overcome if willing to use some of her remaining Miracles:
Disease: Nezram's Amethyst Aura (LEoF)
Blindness: Vision of the Omniscient Eye (DM)
Deafness: Nezram's Emerald Energy Shield (LEoF)
Touch attacks, rays: Ray Deflection (SC)
Silence effects: Joyful Noise (SC)
Planar effects: Planar Bubble (SC)
Buffs: Some comments on powerful buffs and spell combinations:
Immune to damage: Shapechange into a form with regeneration (like Air Weird), meaning all damage taken is non-lethal. Also cast Energy Immunity for Fire and Acid to be immune to the only damage that overcomes that regeneration. Favor of the Martyr makes you immune to non-lethal damage. You are now immune to all forms of damage! It's too bad Monstrous Regeneration (which granted true regeneration) was reprinted as Greater Vigor in SC (which only grants fast healing).
Shapechange: Change into an Air Elemental Weird (FF). You get Breathsense, Regeneration 10, high DR, SR 25. Most significant is Prescience, allowing you to cast all of the following at will as a free action: Analyze Dweomer, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Contact Other Plane, Detect Thoughts, Discern Location, Find the Path, Foresight, Greater Scrying, Legend Lore, Locate Creature, Locate Object, Tongues, True Seeing, Vision! Elemental type is great too, since you don't breathe, eat, or sleep, and are immune to poison, paralysis, stun, criticals, and flanking.
Polymorph Any Object: Polymorph into a form with high INT, i.e. White Ethergaunt (FF) at 27 INT is the highest non-always-evil form with <= 15 HD. Polymorph Any Object is the only form changer giving INT, while Shapechange is the only form changer giving (Su) abilities. Cast both so you get both the high INT and the (Su) abilities of the best forms.
Alter Self: You're allowed to change into yourself, so cast it after the above to replace your current form with your original winged human form, while still having the good stats and abilities of the White Ethergaunt and Air Weird. If you want human form without the Half-Fey wings, Alter Self into a Sirine, which is a fey looking like a human female.
Caster level: Cast Create Magic Tattoo (with Greater Shadow Conjuration to avoid paying the 100 gold material cost each time) to get +1 CL. Cast Mark of the Enlightened Soul to make all of your spells gain the [good] descriptor, which combined with Good domain gets another +1 CL.
Saving throws: Cast Heroics x4 to gain the feats Martial Study x3 (Mind Over Body, Action Before Thought, and Moment of Perfect Mind) and Martial Stance (Stance of Alacrity). That allows you to replace all three saving throw types with Concentration skill checks (meaning no failure on natural 1) as a free action 1/round (and as an immediate action one additional time per round). That means Kerri is guaranteed to never fail a saving throw DC 42 or below, unless forced to do so 3+ times in a round.
Defense: Note Kerri doesn't have Quicken Spell, since it's inefficient. If she wants to cast two spells a round, she'll use a remaining Miracle for Arcane Spellsurge (DM), combined with Invisible Spell metamagic to make spells either a standard action or swift action. However, Kerri prefers to keep her swift/immediate action for Celerity or Wings of Cover, to stop anything that strong opponents might do.
Immortality: Stay in an Astral Projection (temporarily Shapechange into a Nightmare or Shedu (FF) to cast it) which keeps your real body in stasis. Also, Kerri spends most of her time as an elemental, which doesn't age. Finally, if you ever want to be young again, kill yourself while having a Contingent Last Breath (SC) up to be reincarnated in a new young adult body without level loss, and then use Miracle to get your old body shape back (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/reincarnate.htm).
Nuking #1: For continual damage, Kerri casts Extended Persistent Maximized Glorious Master of the Elements. Since it's cast with Miracle, apply +0 metamagic Non-Lethal Substitution (Electricity) in the process, so you can do free non-lethal nuking too if you want to subdue a target alive. That's an evocation spell, so can't Spelldance it. Instead, cast it normally, then use Incantatrix Metamagic Effect to apply the metamagic. That's normally a 17th level spell slot requiring a DC 69 Spellcraft check, which Kerri can make with her +47 combined with casting Divine Insight for +15, and taking 10.
Nuking #2: For high damage, Spelldance ahead of time a Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Moonbow. Releasing from both eyes in the next hour then does 3x10x60x2x2x1.5 = 1080 damage to evil creatures. Focused mailman builds do better, but this isn't bad for one 5th level spell slot. If you need to hit something with high SR or in an antimagic field, Spelldance a Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Orb of Fire (or Cold via Energy Substitution), which does 15x6x2x2x1.5 = 540 damage to evil creatures for one 4th level spell slot.
Nuking #3: For extra high damage, cast Greater Arcane Fusion, and for the 7th level slot cast a nuke, and for the 4th level slot cast Celerity. In the standard action provided by Celerity, cast Greater Arcane Fusion again, and repeat the process. This allows continual nukes until you run out of 8th and 9th level slots (and 7th level with Versatile Spellcaster). Specifically, this can be done 11 times in a row even after the buff routine, which equals 1732 damage on average with Moonbow (or 2376 force damage always with Wings of Flurry, assuming the 7th level spell can be used to cast a Maximized 4th level spell). We're assuming a balanced interpretation here that provides a 7th level slot instead of a 7th level spell, to avoid cheese of casting Sanctum Greater Arcane Fusion to easily give infinite spells (which means infinite standard actions and infinite damage).
Stats: Given 38 point buy (the number of points for Champion Array or the equivalent to 18,16,14,12,10,8) arrange them as follows:
StatBuyBaseComments
STR912Dump, since gets replaced with Shapechange.
DEX1117Need at least 13 to qualify for Dodge and hence Spelldancer. Can dump if you allow qualifying for feats and PrC with buffs.
CON912Dump, since gets replaced with Shapechange.
INT1823Should be at least 14, since need lots of skill points, with Tumble, Perform (Dance), and Knowledge (Religion) needed cross-class.
WIS916Can dump, since nothing depends on it.
CHA1832Needs to be high, since Sorcerer uses CHA.
For base unbuffed stats, Half-Fey adds +2 DEX, -2 CON, +2 WIS, +4 CHA. Fey Bloodline adds +1 CHA. Level up points add +4 CHA. Inherent bonuses add +3 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +5 INT, +5 WIS, +5 CHA. Could gain additional mental stats with venerable age, although youth fits the fairy theme better. With buffs up (which they are 24/7) stats get significantly higher:
StatValueMath
STR2821 base (Shapechange into Weird) + 3 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
DEX2814 base (Shapechange into Weird) + 4 inherent + 6 enhancement (Nixie's Grace) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty).
CON2617 base (Shapechange into Weird) + 5 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
INT3627 base (Polymorph Any Object into White Ethergaunt (FF)) + 5 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
WIS2016 base + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
CHA4432 base + 8 enhancement (Nixie's Grace) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty).
Note 44 CHA is close to Aphrodite (DaD, CHA 47), and Sune (FaP, CHA 50). Kerri is about as Charismatic as it's possible to get without getting into trouble with jealous deities. :smallamused:
Caster Level: All of the below are untyped bonuses:
ValueSourceComments
19Base caster level
1Fey bloodline
1Create Magic TattooCast with Greater Shadow Conjuration so free
1Mark of the Enlightened SoulMakes all spells [good], combined with Good domain
2Hymn of PraiseRainbow Servant Cleric spells cast as divine
3Elder Giant MagicWith 1-3 rounds of extended casting
27Total
Kerri's caster level for spells is always at least 24. With 1-3 rounds of extended casting she can raise that to 27 (which is applied to all her morning buffs).
The DC to dispel is 11+CL. Dispelling Buffer gives +5. Hence for all buffs the DC is 11+5+27 = 43. The highest a dispel check can ever be is 40 (20 on 1d20 roll + Max CL 20 for a spell like Greater Dispel Magic or Reaving Dispel). Therefore it's impossible to remove any of Kerri's buffs with any non-epic Dispel Magic spell.
With all Kerri's immunities and buffs at a high enough CL that they can't be Greater Dispelled, the only way to beat her is to first remove them with Mage's Disjunction. However getting Disjunction or related attacks to stick isn't trivial. She can block any targeted spell as immediate action with Wings of Cover (or cast Celerity as an immediate action if it's not targeted), use Battlemagic Perception to counterspell as a free action, and as another free action say a keyword to activate Contingent Celerity to move or teleport out of the way. In summary you need 4 actions in a row (or 4 Wizards Disjoining her at once) to interrupt all Kerri's countermeasures.
The other way to defeat Kerri is the same Achilles Heel any other magic focused character has: an antimagic field. Inside antimagic, Kerri changes from a godly character that can curbstomp any epic monster (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/epicMonstersAndObstacles.htm) to little better than a Commoner. If only there were a way to work Initiate of Mystra into the build! Foresight should trigger if Kerri is about to enter antimagic, or somebody radiating an antimagic field is about to affect her with it. However, presumably somebody with both Mind Blank (which blocks all divinations) and Antimagic Field up won't trigger Foresight.
Skills: Skills are the bread and butter of non-combat D&D. Kerri is more skilled than a Mary Sue character in a bad piece of fanfic. :smalltongue:
Concentration: +41 = 23 ranks + 8 CON bonus + 10 competence (Wieldskill)
Spellcraft: +47 = 22 ranks + 2 synergy +13 INT bonus +10 competence (Wieldskill)
Diplomacy: +35 = 14 ranks + 4 synergy + 17 CHA bonus
Perform (Dance): +30 = 10 ranks + 17 CHA bonus + 3 Skill Focus (Dance)
Use Wieldskill on any other skills you want +10 to, such as Diplomacy and Bluff to be a decent diplomancer.
Stats: Specifically hp, AC, DR, speed, saves:
269 hp: 68 base - 19 (Quick) + 152 CON bonus + 19 (Heroics: Improved Toughness) + 49 temp (Ruin Delver's Fortune). Kerri doesn't really care about HP, since she's immune to damage.
AC 26: 10 base + 9 DEX bonus + 4 natural (Shapechange: Weird) + 1 dodge (Haste) + 2 insight (Foresight). Kerri doesn't care about AC either, since she's immune to damage and grappling. However you can easily raise it by 4 by using a 7th level slot to cast Greater Shadow Conjuration (Mailed Might of the Magelords).
DR 10/- from Shapechange (Weird) form, and DR 5/cold iron (Nixie's Grace). Again not important since immune to damage.
Land speed 70: 30 base + 10 (Quick) + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Fly speed 110: (30 + 10 (Quick)) x 2 (Half-Fey) = 80 base + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Swim speed 60: 30 base (Nixie's Grace) + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Kerri rarely needs to make a saving throw since they are usually replaced with Concentration checks (see above), allowing her to never fail a saving throw DC 42 or below, even on a natural one. For actual saves when they happen, they all gain +22 = +17 luck (Ruin Delver's Fortune) + 5 morale (Conviction).
Fort: +34 = 4 base + 8 CON bonus + 22.
Reflex: +42 = 8 base + 9 DEX bonus + 2 insight (Foresight) + 1 dodge (Haste) + 22.
Will: +47 = 20 base + 5 WIS bonus + 22.
Melee: With her Waif Fu (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WaifFu), Kerri can punch out the Hecatonceries!
The Hecatonceries (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#hecatoncheires) is a wimp. Suppose Kerri is flying around, minding her own business, when suddenly 1000 Hecatonceries' jump out and attack. She's getting attacked 1000x100 = 100K times a round! Fortunately, with her immunities there's no way for them to harm her, however how can she take them out with finite spells and when Hecatonceries has such high SR? Kerri is a caster, and prefers magic to uncivilized melee. Nevertheless, Kerri can do extra buffs to make herself decent in melee:
Cast 11 extra spells. The spells cast from 9th level slots are duplicated with Kerri's remaining Miracles:
2x2: Heroics (Improved Unarmed Strike) + Heroics (Weapon Focus: Unarmed Strike), Heroics (Power Attack)
7x1: Create Magic Tattoo (+1 attack luck)
9x4: Divine Power + Giant Size, Align Fang + Wraithstrike, Lion's Charge + Greater Magic Fang, Ferocity of Sanguine Rage
Attack rolls: 19 BAB (Divine Power) -2 (Noncombatant flaw) +1 Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) +9 STR bonus +5 enhancement (Greater Magic Fang) +2 competence (Create Magic Tattoo) +1 luck (Create Magic Tattoo) +1 untyped (Haste) -8 Size (Giant Size) -6 (Power Attack) +2 (roll, ignoring natural 1's) = 43
An attack sequence of at least 43/43/38/33/28 (Lion's Charge + faster movement rate allows full attacks each round) is guaranteed to hit the Hecatonceries touch AC (Wraithstrike) of 28 on all 5 hits, barring natural 1's.
Damage rolls: 1d3 (unarmed) +28 STR bonus +5 enhancement (Greater Magic Fang) +13 untyped (Ferocity of Sanguine Rage) +6 (Power Attack) = 53.
Each hit does at least 53 damage (Align Fang ensures her hits overcome regeneration). Five hits against DR 20 do 165 total. Assume 5% of hits are misses due to natural 1's (reduce damage by 5%) combined with fast healing 50, and Kerri does 106 net damage to a Hecatonceries a round. That kills it in 10 rounds or 1 minute. Kerri can punch to death 1000 Hecatonceries in 1000 minutes, or under 17 hours. :smallbiggrin:
"I've been playing with this combat system for a week now. And it's all about force multipliers. To win, you gotta pile bonus on bonus on bonus." - Parson Gotti, Erfworld 1:125 (http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F125.jpg)
Kerri the Merry Fairy is a level 20 build that gives a specific example of how powerful buffs can be. It operates on the following concepts:
Buffs: Quality buffing is powered by many spell slots (Sorcerer with high CHA), plus access to Miracle (Rainbow Servant) to give access to all spells 7th level and below, plus lots of Persistent metamagic (Spelldancer + Incantatrix + Divine Metamagic). Kerri is effectively a solo version of Team Solar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188138) that's almost as powerful (but not as extreme since it's self-contained in a single character).
Equipment independent: The most versatile high powered character isn't dependent upon items. With all her buffs, Kerri is almost as effective completely naked (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45529), where gear just makes her Save DC's and such higher.
Fairies: Lots of magic + effectively naked + rainbows (Rainbow Servant) + fey based racial choices brings to mind fey. Fairies are not necessary to the build, but provide additional theme to add flavor to it.
Race: Human + Half-Fey + Minor Fey Bloodline
Human: Needed for extra skill points and bonus feat, both of which Kerri uses a lot of.
Half-Fey template: For the fairy theme. Like Celia, you're now a medium humanoid with wings. :smallsmile: LA +2, however it can be bought off (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm) with 16K XP. You get a ton of goodies, such as stat bonuses, numerous spell-like abilities, and (Ex) flight.
Minor Fey Bloodline: More fairy theme. More goodies, such as +1 untyped CHA (very useful as it bumps Kerri's CHA to 44 giving another 9th level spell slot), and +1 CL. Buy the Bloodline pseudo-level for 3K XP.
Normally you'd never give up a caster level in a caster build. However Half-Fey is so strong, and Minor Fey Bloodline is so cheap, it's not necessarily a bad deal being a level 19 caster with those additions. Interestingly, level 19 to 20 is 19K XP. Paying off the +2 LA and the bloodline is 16K + 3K = 19K exactly, so a "level 20" build (i.e. a build where you're given 190K XP to work with) is exactly enough for level 19 + the extra Fey goodies (171K + 16K + 3K = 190K). We're using the balanced interpretation of Bloodline payoff (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7167), where taking the bloodline "level" at level 1 for just 1K XP is too broken, and at level 12 for 12K XP isn't worth it.
Build: Sorcerer 1/Rainbow Servant 10/Spelldancer 1/Sacred Exorcist 1/Incantatrix 6
Sorcerer: Sor chosen to take advantage of Sor only spells like Wings of Cover, Wings of Flurry, and (Greater) Arcane Fusion. Sor also has extra spell slots, and no spellbook to fit the equipment independent theme.
Rainbow Servant: To get Miracle and other Cleric spells on the spell list. Three domains to play with are also useful. Rainbows fit fairy theme.
Spelldancer: Only one level is needed to persist buffs. Use Sheltered Vitality to make yourself immune to fatigue and CON damage so you can Spelldance infinitely. Limited in that you can't persist Necromancy and Evocation buffs with Spelldancer, so use other methods for those schools.
Sacred Exorcist: Only one level is need for turn undead. That allows Divine Metamagic, where Kerri gets many turn attempts from very high CHA.
Incantatrix: Use Metamagic Effect to persist Necromancy and Evocation spells already cast. The bonus metamagic feats are important too, since the build is feat intensive.
Also pick up the Metamagic Specialist (PHB2) ACF to trade familiar (which could be considered equipment) for ability to apply metamagic rapidly 3+INT per day (which is semi-useful).
Assumptions: D&D 3.5 is filled with so many rules which can be interpreted in different ways, that it's important to list assumptions we're making for the build:
Early entry: Early entry techniques work. We need to cheese plus two levels of spellcasting (cast level 3 spells) to get into Rainbow Servant at level 2. Use Sanctum Spell for +1, and Versatile Spellcaster + Heighten Spell for another +1.
Rainbow Servant: This PrC has full casting progression (text trumps table, or use Portuguese version (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5213.0)). If this is ruled not to be the case, you need to get Miracle on your Sor spell list some other way, such as the feats Arcane Disciple (Luck) or Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment: Luck).
Metamagic: Metamagic feats stack in the order you want, and influence existing effects. For example, Extend applied to Persist lasts 48 hours. More importantly, Ocular Spell applied to a touch or variable range spell (which normally isn't valid for Persist Spell) makes the result a fixed range spell, which can then be persisted.
Miracles: When reproducing spells (i.e. not paying 5000 XP) it doesn't require a deity's attention. One may rule that casting Miracle a dozen or so times in a row could make the deity say enough already and stop it from working. Of course, that would depend on the deity, where for example Boccob the uncaring god of magic isn't likely to mind and should actually approve of a PC making an extreme display of magic.
Miracle + Metamagic: Miracle can apply metamagic feats if the total slot is still 7th level or lower, e.g. duplicate an Empowered Cone of Cold. Also, Miracle really does "duplicate the casting" of whatever other spell. That means if you Spelldance before casting Miracle to duplicate a spell, the spell brought forth by Miracle can have metamagic applied to it.
Feats: Feats are limited resources, and after race/class are the most defining characteristics of a build, so need to be chosen well:
SourceFeatUsed for[/TD]
Flaw #1Eschew MaterialsNaked theme
Flaw #2Maximize SpellGood buffs
TraitQuickFaster speed
Human bonusVersatile SpellcasterMiracle from 8th level slots
Level 1Combat CastingSpelldancer qualification
Level 3Ocular Spell Persisting buffs
Level 6Persist SpellPersisting buffs
Level 9Repeat Spell2 for 1 buffs
Level 12Divine Metamagic (Repeat)Repeating Miracle
Level 15Residual MagicRepeating Miracle twice as often
Level 18Elder Giant Magic+CL, to reach CL 25-27
Inx level 1Invisible SpellArcane Spellsurge efficiency
Inx level 4Energy Substitution (Cold)Nuke options
Bloodline bonusTwin SpellNuke options
Otyugh HoleIron WillIncantatrix qualification
This build requires feat retraining (PHB2 page 193). For example, three feats at level one initially need to be Versatile Spellcaster, Heighten Spell, and Sanctum Spell for early entry into Rainbow Servant. Retrain Sanctum Spell and Heighten Spell (or Dark Chaos shuffle them, although that requires more gold and/or XP) as soon as you can cast 3rd level spells naturally.
Spelldancer requires the feats Dodge, Mobility, Endurance, and Combat Casting. That's a horrible feat tax, but we can pay it without actual feats. You need to cast Heroics to give yourself Dodge and Mobility, and Miracle to cast Extended Unfailing Endurance to give yourself Endurance (it lasts 40+ days), before Spelldancing buffs. Additional feat retraining can be used if it's ruled that when leveling up you need to quality for PrC's naturally and unbuffed. Then you take Dodge, Mobility, and Endurance as natural feats, take Spelldancer 1 at level 13, and then retrain them to other feats at levels 14 through 16, and finally buff yourself in order to re-enable and actually use Spelldancing.
Gaining extra feats: If you need more feats (for example the DM doesn't allow flaws) there are ways to get more (and without dropping into utter cheese such as using certain interpretations of Chaos Shuffling to get infinite feats):
Dump Eschew Materials and Invisible Spell: They're only present for the naked theme (just buy a spell component pouch), and for fun (e.g. with Arcane Spellsurge), but neither are necessary for the buff routine.
Dump Energy Substitution (Cold) and Twin Spell: They're only present so Kerri's nukes can be more powerful and have other energy types, but neither are necessary for the buff routine.
Free Combat Casting: If Web sources are allowed in your campaign, cast Mirror Move (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20000901a) to give yourself Combat Casting (cast Summon Monster VII to bring in a Djinni, or Summon Monster VIII to bring in a Lillend, and watch it defensively cast a spell).
For deity, Kerri needs to worship one with the Planning domain, in order to be able to switch a Rainbow Servant domain to Planning, in order to get Extend Spell which enables Persist Spell. Greater Deity Boccob is a good choice (has Planning domain in CW page 146) which fits a purely magic buff character. Greater Deity Ubtao is a good choice too (jungle deity fits the Rainbow Servant Couatl temples). Both are Neutral, although Kerri is probably NG (like Pixies) since one of her buffs makes all her spells [good].
Variants: Every build can be tweaked in any number of ways, and with all the details that go into this build Kerri is no exception:
Level 20: Dump the Half-Fey template and Minor Fey bloodline, and replace them with a standard 20th caster level. That would be Incantatrix level 7, gaining a bonus metamagic feat. That's a definitely simpler and arguably stronger build, since it gains an extra 9th level spell known (use it for Absorption described below if you want to be cheesy).
Wizard: Replace Sorcerer 1 with Wizard 1. Then you can pick up extra 8th and 9th level spells. However that loses a number of 9th level spell slots, misses out on powerful Sor only spells, and with a spellbook makes it harder to be equipment independent.
Body Outside Body: Cast Body Outside Body, and let your clones use Cooperative Metamagic to Repeat your Miracles. That lets you avoid the feats Divine Metamagic and Residual Magic, and the Sacred Exorcist level, which gives you an extra Incantatrix level and three extra feats. However, that uses up an extra Miracle, is less versatile (you need to stop and make clones every time you want to apply metamagic), and requires buffing your clones so they can make the high Spellcraft checks.
Vow of Poverty: If you're not going to use equipment, might as well formalize it and take Vow of Poverty. However that takes two extra feats (one if you retrain one of the VoP bonus exalted feats to Sacred Vow), and buffs can reproduce everything VoP gives you. Kerri is not only free of relying upon equipment, but is also free of constricting vows that might limit how she chooses to use equipment. :smalltongue:
Infinite spells: Add Absorption (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212739) to your spells learned, and you can use it to cast infinite spells. That allows you to buff yourself with every 7th level and below spell ever printed, significantly increasing your power. However for our purposes we're avoiding infinite loops like this. Every optimized build below Pun-Pun is an exercise in where to draw the line in what to allow vs. disallow. :smallyuk:
Equipment: Even though Kerri technically doesn't need any equipment, she can still take advantage of 760K gold WBL of a level 20 character:
As Xykon says (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0657.html), "Power, it isn't something you put on or take off like a jacket. It's something you just ARE." Kerri's WBL is used in ways that actually improve herself, such as inherent bonuses and permanent feats from magical locations (CS), instead of just buying pretty baubles that can be disjoined or stolen:
PriceItemUsed for
705985Staff of Wish (27 charges)Use to get +5 inherent bonus to CHA, WIS, INT, CON, +4 inherent to DEX, and +3 to STR. (Slightly Cheaper than equivalent tomes.)
8825Power Stone (Genesis)Because every high level caster needs their own private demiplane. (Cheaper than a scroll.)
3000Otyugh Hole visitIron Will feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
5000Heward's Hall visitSkill Focus (Dance) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
2000Frog God's Fane visitSkill Focus (Religion) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
1500Ivory crownFocus item for Shapechange. The one physical item Kerri needs, although it's non-magic.
250Feat retrainingRetrain Heighten Spell, Sanctum Spell, Dodge, Mobility, and Endurance.
33440GoldLeftover gold (Kerri rests on it like a dragon in her demiplane :smallcool:)
Miracle: Repeat Spell and Miracle make a powerful combination:
Repeat Spell can be used to get two Miracles for the price of one. Twin Spell says the same spell takes effect twice (where a counterspell will remove both instances) and all decisions must be the same for both instances. However Repeat Spell (two pages earlier in CA) specifically says the spell is cast separately in the next round, and only says targeting has to be the same. Therefore a Repeat Heroics can give you two different Fighter feats, and a Repeat Miracle can allow you to duplicate two different spells (as long as you're buffing yourself with both castings). This allows Kerri to nearly double the amount of buffs with her spell slots.
Unfortunately Miracle is an Evocation spell, so a Repeat Miracle can't be Spelldanced (and even if it could, we want the expensive metamagic like Persist applied to the duplicated spells, not Miracle itself). Enter Divine Metamagic, which works very well for a CHA caster. CHA 44 allows 20 turn undead usages, or 20/(3+1) = 5 instances per day of applying Repeat to Miracle.
Even that can be increased, with Residual Magic. Use Divine Metamagic to Repeat one Miracle. Then cast Miracle again, this time using Residual Magic to apply Repeat for free. This combination allows 10 instances per day of applying Repeat to Miracle. CHA 44 gives seven 9th level spell slots and nine 8th level spell slots, which means 11 castings of Miracle per day (7 from 9th level slots + 4 from 8th level slots using Versatile Spellcaster), or 21 Miracles per day counting the 10 instances of Repeat.
A downside of the 10 Repeat Miracles from Residual Magic is they can't have spelldancing applied to the spell they duplicate, since Residual Magic needs to be applied in the next round after the first casting. Or rather, you can squeeze in one round of spelldancing: Cast Miracle, use Divine Metamagic to apply Repeat. Next round, Spelldance up Extend Spell, during which the Repeat Miracle is automatically cast. Next round, cast Miracle again, using Residual Magic to apply Repeat to it, and the spells duplicated by Miracles #3 and #4 pick up Extend Spell for free. Finally use Incantatrix Metamagic Effect to apply Persist spell to either or both of the duplicated spells.
Spells known: With Miracle, Sorcerer spells known doesn't matter as much. The spells to actually know are:
High level spells: 8th and 9th level spells that aren't reproducible with Miracle (i.e. Shapechange, Superior Invisibility, Greater Arcane Fusion, and Polymorph Any Object).
Combat spells: Swift or immediate action spells, that you actually want to cast in combat (i.e. Celerity, Assay Spell Resistance).
Combo spells: 1st, 4th, and 7th levels spells that are good for combining in (Greater) Arcane Fusion, (e.g. True Strike + Orb of Fire, or True Casting + Wings of Flurry).
Here's Kerri's spells known list. Spells marked as "(Divine)" are Cleric list spells learned (or Sorcerer retrained) after finishing Rainbow Servant. Spells suffixed with "*" are persisted buffs. (Superior Invisibility usually isn't needed, but will be Persisted when cast.)
0: Arcane Mark, Cure Minor Wounds (Divine), Dancing Lights, Detect Magic*, Mage Hand, Mending, Prestidigitation*, Read Magic, Summon Holy Symbol*
1: Conviction (Divine)*, Disguise Self, True Casting, True Strike, Wieldskill (Divine)*
2: Alter Self, Divine Insight (Divine), Heroics*, Wings of Air*, Wings of Cover
3: Battlemagic Perception*, Fireball, Haste*, Major Image
4: Assay Spell Resistance, Celerity, Freedom of Movement (Divine)*, Orb of Fire, Ruin Delver's Fortune*, Sheltered Vitality (Divine)*, Wings of Flurry
5: Arcane Fusion, Moonbow
6: Greater Dispel Magic, Heal (Divine)
7: Energy Immunity*, Greater Shadow Conjuration*, Greater Teleport
8: Greater Arcane Fusion, Superior Invisibility*, Polymorph Any Object*
9: Miracle (Divine), Shapechange*
Buff list: Kerri's standard buff list. All 9th level castings after Shapechange are Miracle duplicating the spell.
0x4: Detect Magic, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Summon Holy Symbol
1x3: Conviction, , Wieldskill (Concentration) + Wieldskill (Spellcraft)
2x6: Wings of Air, Heroics (Dodge) + Heroics (Mobility), Heroics (Improved Initiative) + Heroics (Improved Toughness), Heroics (Martial Study: Mind Over Body) + Heroics (Matial Study: Action Before Thought), Heroics (Martial Study: Moment of Perfect Mind) + Heroics (Martial Stance: Stance of Alacrity), [Divine Insight]
3x2: Haste, Battlemagic Perception
4x4: Sheltered Vitality, Freedom of Movement, Ruin Delver's Fortune (Fort) + Ruin Delver's Fortune (Ref), Ruin Delver's Fortune (Will) + Ruin Delver's Fortune (HP)
7x2: Energy Immunity (Fire) + Energy Immunity (Acid), Greater Shadow Conjuration (Create Magic Tattoo: +1 CL) + Greater Shadow Conjuration (Create Magic Tattoo: +2 Atk)
8x2: Polymorph Any Object, [Mark of the Enlightened Soul]
9x6: Shapechange, Life's Grace + Mind Blank, Nixie's Grace + Mark of the Enlightened Soul, Glorious Master of the Elements + Favor of the Martyr, Inner Beauty + Chasing Perfection, Hymn of Praise + Dispelling Buffer
Also you get free Foresight, True Seeing, and Analyze Dweomer from Air Weird form. All the above are persisted buffs, applied through Spelldancing. Exception: Favor of the Martyr and Glorious Master of the Elements are Necromancy and Evocation school, so have their metamagic applied through Metamagic Effect. Divine Insight is needed once to make the DC 18+(7+1+3+6)x3 = 69 Spellcraft check to apply Persist to Glorious Master of the Elements. True Casting is used before Glorious Master of the Elements so all its nukes are +10 against enemy SR. One 8th level slot is spent as part of Mark of the Enlightened Soul, so all 7th level and below nukes are +50% damage against evil creatures. Dispelling Buffer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/dispellingBuffer.htm) is a Psionic buff, but at 6th level it's still equivalent or less powerful than a 7th level spell duplicatable with Miracle.
2x2, 4x1: Also need to cast Heroics twice to get Dodge and Mobility to enable Spelldancing, and cast Sheltered Vitality to make yourself immune to stat damage and fatigue before Spelldancing. (Once done, it's more efficient to just cast them again with Spelldancing to make them Persistent, then use limited per day Incantatrix abilities to Persist the existing castings.) These only need to be done when starting from an unbuffed state. Kerri reapplies her buff routine each day, so this is rarely necessary.
9x2: Occasionally need to cast Repeat Miracle twice to duplicate the following: Unfailing Endurance (to get Endurance to enable Spelldancing) + Substitute Domain (Law to Planning to get Extend Spell), Substitute Domain (Air to Protection to get access to Mind Blank) + Contingency (Celerity, because it's useful). All these extra castings last over 50 days (1 day per CL) when Extended, so rarely need to be done. (Note Favor of the Martyr will grant Endurance too if "benefit of the Endurance feat" is ruled to mean the actual feat instead of just its effects, after all the biggest benefit of a bad feat like Endurance is qualification for PrC's. :smallwink:)
Spell slots: A summary of Kerri's total spell slots, and how many are used for the standard daily buff routine.
Cast Polymorph Any Object with two 7th level slots to allow more Miracles. It's good to leave some spell slots open (especially for Miracles) for versatility in facing whatever may arise:
[TR]LevelTotalUsedLeft
0642
11138
21064
31028
41046
510010
6909
7945
8918
9761
Another important asset is Incantatrix Metamagic Effect, which can be done 3+INT=16 times per day. 2 are used for Extending/Persisting Necromancy spell Favor of the Martyr, and 3 are used for Extending/Persisting/Maximizing Evocation spell Glorious Master of the Elements. Use 8 more to Extend/Persist Protection From Law (Half-Fey spell list ability), Foresight, True Seeing, and Analyze Dweomer (Weird abilities). That leaves 5 for any non-Spelldanceable buffs brought forth with remaining Miracles.
Immunity list: Kerri is invulnerable to just about everything. Here's the immunities and their sources:
All damage: Shapechange (granting regeneration) + Favor of the Martyr (immune to non-lethal damage)
Poison: elemental type, Ruin Delver's Fortune
Charm and compulsion, pain: Favor of the Martyr
Fatigue, exhaustion, ability damage, ability drain: Sheltered Vitality
Daze: Favor of the Martyr
Grapple: Freedom of Movement
No need to breathe, eat, or sleep: elemental type
Critical, stun, flanking: elemental type
Energy drain, negative levels, magical death effects, disease from undead: Life's Grace
Possession: Protection From Law
Always warned of danger: Foresight
All divination spells: Mind Blank
All enchantment spells: Half-Fey template
It's easier to list the things Kerri is NOT immune to after her default buffs. Since her saves are so high and don't autofail on natural 1's, immunity to them really isn't needed. However even those potential holes can easily be overcome if willing to use some of her remaining Miracles:
Disease: Nezram's Amethyst Aura (LEoF)
Blindness: Vision of the Omniscient Eye (DM)
Deafness: Nezram's Emerald Energy Shield (LEoF)
Touch attacks, rays: Ray Deflection (SC)
Silence effects: Joyful Noise (SC)
Planar effects: Planar Bubble (SC)
Buffs: Some comments on powerful buffs and spell combinations:
Immune to damage: Shapechange into a form with regeneration (like Air Weird), meaning all damage taken is non-lethal. Also cast Energy Immunity for Fire and Acid to be immune to the only damage that overcomes that regeneration. Favor of the Martyr makes you immune to non-lethal damage. You are now immune to all forms of damage! It's too bad Monstrous Regeneration (which granted true regeneration) was reprinted as Greater Vigor in SC (which only grants fast healing).
Shapechange: Change into an Air Elemental Weird (FF). You get Breathsense, Regeneration 10, high DR, SR 25. Most significant is Prescience, allowing you to cast all of the following at will as a free action: Analyze Dweomer, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Contact Other Plane, Detect Thoughts, Discern Location, Find the Path, Foresight, Greater Scrying, Legend Lore, Locate Creature, Locate Object, Tongues, True Seeing, Vision! Elemental type is great too, since you don't breathe, eat, or sleep, and are immune to poison, paralysis, stun, criticals, and flanking.
Polymorph Any Object: Polymorph into a form with high INT, i.e. White Ethergaunt (FF) at 27 INT is the highest non-always-evil form with <= 15 HD. Polymorph Any Object is the only form changer giving INT, while Shapechange is the only form changer giving (Su) abilities. Cast both so you get both the high INT and the (Su) abilities of the best forms.
Alter Self: You're allowed to change into yourself, so cast it after the above to replace your current form with your original winged human form, while still having the good stats and abilities of the White Ethergaunt and Air Weird. If you want human form without the Half-Fey wings, Alter Self into a Sirine, which is a fey looking like a human female.
Caster level: Cast Create Magic Tattoo (with Greater Shadow Conjuration to avoid paying the 100 gold material cost each time) to get +1 CL. Cast Mark of the Enlightened Soul to make all of your spells gain the [good] descriptor, which combined with Good domain gets another +1 CL.
Saving throws: Cast Heroics x4 to gain the feats Martial Study x3 (Mind Over Body, Action Before Thought, and Moment of Perfect Mind) and Martial Stance (Stance of Alacrity). That allows you to replace all three saving throw types with Concentration skill checks (meaning no failure on natural 1) as a free action 1/round (and as an immediate action one additional time per round). That means Kerri is guaranteed to never fail a saving throw DC 42 or below, unless forced to do so 3+ times in a round.
Defense: Note Kerri doesn't have Quicken Spell, since it's inefficient. If she wants to cast two spells a round, she'll use a remaining Miracle for Arcane Spellsurge (DM), combined with Invisible Spell metamagic to make spells either a standard action or swift action. However, Kerri prefers to keep her swift/immediate action for Celerity or Wings of Cover, to stop anything that strong opponents might do.
Immortality: Stay in an Astral Projection (temporarily Shapechange into a Nightmare or Shedu (FF) to cast it) which keeps your real body in stasis. Also, Kerri spends most of her time as an elemental, which doesn't age. Finally, if you ever want to be young again, kill yourself while having a Contingent Last Breath (SC) up to be reincarnated in a new young adult body without level loss, and then use Miracle to get your old body shape back (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/reincarnate.htm).
Nuking #1: For continual damage, Kerri casts Extended Persistent Maximized Glorious Master of the Elements. Since it's cast with Miracle, apply +0 metamagic Non-Lethal Substitution (Electricity) in the process, so you can do free non-lethal nuking too if you want to subdue a target alive. That's an evocation spell, so can't Spelldance it. Instead, cast it normally, then use Incantatrix Metamagic Effect to apply the metamagic. That's normally a 17th level spell slot requiring a DC 69 Spellcraft check, which Kerri can make with her +47 combined with casting Divine Insight for +15, and taking 10.
Nuking #2: For high damage, Spelldance ahead of time a Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Moonbow. Releasing from both eyes in the next hour then does 3x10x60x2x2x1.5 = 1080 damage to evil creatures. Focused mailman builds do better, but this isn't bad for one 5th level spell slot. If you need to hit something with high SR or in an antimagic field, Spelldance a Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Orb of Fire (or Cold via Energy Substitution), which does 15x6x2x2x1.5 = 540 damage to evil creatures for one 4th level spell slot.
Nuking #3: For extra high damage, cast Greater Arcane Fusion, and for the 7th level slot cast a nuke, and for the 4th level slot cast Celerity. In the standard action provided by Celerity, cast Greater Arcane Fusion again, and repeat the process. This allows continual nukes until you run out of 8th and 9th level slots (and 7th level with Versatile Spellcaster). Specifically, this can be done 11 times in a row even after the buff routine, which equals 1732 damage on average with Moonbow (or 2376 force damage always with Wings of Flurry, assuming the 7th level spell can be used to cast a Maximized 4th level spell). We're assuming a balanced interpretation here that provides a 7th level slot instead of a 7th level spell, to avoid cheese of casting Sanctum Greater Arcane Fusion to easily give infinite spells (which means infinite standard actions and infinite damage).
Stats: Given 38 point buy (the number of points for Champion Array or the equivalent to 18,16,14,12,10,8) arrange them as follows:
StatBuyBaseComments
STR912Dump, since gets replaced with Shapechange.
DEX1117Need at least 13 to qualify for Dodge and hence Spelldancer. Can dump if you allow qualifying for feats and PrC with buffs.
CON912Dump, since gets replaced with Shapechange.
INT1823Should be at least 14, since need lots of skill points, with Tumble, Perform (Dance), and Knowledge (Religion) needed cross-class.
WIS916Can dump, since nothing depends on it.
CHA1832Needs to be high, since Sorcerer uses CHA.
For base unbuffed stats, Half-Fey adds +2 DEX, -2 CON, +2 WIS, +4 CHA. Fey Bloodline adds +1 CHA. Level up points add +4 CHA. Inherent bonuses add +3 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +5 INT, +5 WIS, +5 CHA. Could gain additional mental stats with venerable age, although youth fits the fairy theme better. With buffs up (which they are 24/7) stats get significantly higher:
StatValueMath
STR2821 base (Shapechange into Weird) + 3 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
DEX2814 base (Shapechange into Weird) + 4 inherent + 6 enhancement (Nixie's Grace) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty).
CON2617 base (Shapechange into Weird) + 5 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
INT3627 base (Polymorph Any Object into White Ethergaunt (FF)) + 5 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
WIS2016 base + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection).
CHA4432 base + 8 enhancement (Nixie's Grace) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty).
Note 44 CHA is close to Aphrodite (DaD, CHA 47), and Sune (FaP, CHA 50). Kerri is about as Charismatic as it's possible to get without getting into trouble with jealous deities. :smallamused:
Caster Level: All of the below are untyped bonuses:
ValueSourceComments
19Base caster level
1Fey bloodline
1Create Magic TattooCast with Greater Shadow Conjuration so free
1Mark of the Enlightened SoulMakes all spells [good], combined with Good domain
2Hymn of PraiseRainbow Servant Cleric spells cast as divine
3Elder Giant MagicWith 1-3 rounds of extended casting
27Total
Kerri's caster level for spells is always at least 24. With 1-3 rounds of extended casting she can raise that to 27 (which is applied to all her morning buffs).
The DC to dispel is 11+CL. Dispelling Buffer gives +5. Hence for all buffs the DC is 11+5+27 = 43. The highest a dispel check can ever be is 40 (20 on 1d20 roll + Max CL 20 for a spell like Greater Dispel Magic or Reaving Dispel). Therefore it's impossible to remove any of Kerri's buffs with any non-epic Dispel Magic spell.
With all Kerri's immunities and buffs at a high enough CL that they can't be Greater Dispelled, the only way to beat her is to first remove them with Mage's Disjunction. However getting Disjunction or related attacks to stick isn't trivial. She can block any targeted spell as immediate action with Wings of Cover (or cast Celerity as an immediate action if it's not targeted), use Battlemagic Perception to counterspell as a free action, and as another free action say a keyword to activate Contingent Celerity to move or teleport out of the way. In summary you need 4 actions in a row (or 4 Wizards Disjoining her at once) to interrupt all Kerri's countermeasures.
The other way to defeat Kerri is the same Achilles Heel any other magic focused character has: an antimagic field. Inside antimagic, Kerri changes from a godly character that can curbstomp any epic monster (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/epicMonstersAndObstacles.htm) to little better than a Commoner. If only there were a way to work Initiate of Mystra into the build! Foresight should trigger if Kerri is about to enter antimagic, or somebody radiating an antimagic field is about to affect her with it. However, presumably somebody with both Mind Blank (which blocks all divinations) and Antimagic Field up won't trigger Foresight.
Skills: Skills are the bread and butter of non-combat D&D. Kerri is more skilled than a Mary Sue character in a bad piece of fanfic. :smalltongue:
Concentration: +41 = 23 ranks + 8 CON bonus + 10 competence (Wieldskill)
Spellcraft: +47 = 22 ranks + 2 synergy +13 INT bonus +10 competence (Wieldskill)
Diplomacy: +35 = 14 ranks + 4 synergy + 17 CHA bonus
Perform (Dance): +30 = 10 ranks + 17 CHA bonus + 3 Skill Focus (Dance)
Use Wieldskill on any other skills you want +10 to, such as Diplomacy and Bluff to be a decent diplomancer.
Stats: Specifically hp, AC, DR, speed, saves:
269 hp: 68 base - 19 (Quick) + 152 CON bonus + 19 (Heroics: Improved Toughness) + 49 temp (Ruin Delver's Fortune). Kerri doesn't really care about HP, since she's immune to damage.
AC 26: 10 base + 9 DEX bonus + 4 natural (Shapechange: Weird) + 1 dodge (Haste) + 2 insight (Foresight). Kerri doesn't care about AC either, since she's immune to damage and grappling. However you can easily raise it by 4 by using a 7th level slot to cast Greater Shadow Conjuration (Mailed Might of the Magelords).
DR 10/- from Shapechange (Weird) form, and DR 5/cold iron (Nixie's Grace). Again not important since immune to damage.
Land speed 70: 30 base + 10 (Quick) + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Fly speed 110: (30 + 10 (Quick)) x 2 (Half-Fey) = 80 base + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Swim speed 60: 30 base (Nixie's Grace) + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Kerri rarely needs to make a saving throw since they are usually replaced with Concentration checks (see above), allowing her to never fail a saving throw DC 42 or below, even on a natural one. For actual saves when they happen, they all gain +22 = +17 luck (Ruin Delver's Fortune) + 5 morale (Conviction).
Fort: +34 = 4 base + 8 CON bonus + 22.
Reflex: +42 = 8 base + 9 DEX bonus + 2 insight (Foresight) + 1 dodge (Haste) + 22.
Will: +47 = 20 base + 5 WIS bonus + 22.
Melee: With her Waif Fu (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WaifFu), Kerri can punch out the Hecatonceries!
The Hecatonceries (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#hecatoncheires) is a wimp. Suppose Kerri is flying around, minding her own business, when suddenly 1000 Hecatonceries' jump out and attack. She's getting attacked 1000x100 = 100K times a round! Fortunately, with her immunities there's no way for them to harm her, however how can she take them out with finite spells and when Hecatonceries has such high SR? Kerri is a caster, and prefers magic to uncivilized melee. Nevertheless, Kerri can do extra buffs to make herself decent in melee:
Cast 11 extra spells. The spells cast from 9th level slots are duplicated with Kerri's remaining Miracles:
2x2: Heroics (Improved Unarmed Strike) + Heroics (Weapon Focus: Unarmed Strike), Heroics (Power Attack)
7x1: Create Magic Tattoo (+1 attack luck)
9x4: Divine Power + Giant Size, Align Fang + Wraithstrike, Lion's Charge + Greater Magic Fang, Ferocity of Sanguine Rage
Attack rolls: 19 BAB (Divine Power) -2 (Noncombatant flaw) +1 Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) +9 STR bonus +5 enhancement (Greater Magic Fang) +2 competence (Create Magic Tattoo) +1 luck (Create Magic Tattoo) +1 untyped (Haste) -8 Size (Giant Size) -6 (Power Attack) +2 (roll, ignoring natural 1's) = 43
An attack sequence of at least 43/43/38/33/28 (Lion's Charge + faster movement rate allows full attacks each round) is guaranteed to hit the Hecatonceries touch AC (Wraithstrike) of 28 on all 5 hits, barring natural 1's.
Damage rolls: 1d3 (unarmed) +28 STR bonus +5 enhancement (Greater Magic Fang) +13 untyped (Ferocity of Sanguine Rage) +6 (Power Attack) = 53.
Each hit does at least 53 damage (Align Fang ensures her hits overcome regeneration). Five hits against DR 20 do 165 total. Assume 5% of hits are misses due to natural 1's (reduce damage by 5%) combined with fast healing 50, and Kerri does 106 net damage to a Hecatonceries a round. That kills it in 10 rounds or 1 minute. Kerri can punch to death 1000 Hecatonceries in 1000 minutes, or under 17 hours. :smallbiggrin: