Challenging the wizard PC with a low-tier enemy

[Sir_Chivalry]

The party wizard has decided she's going to have a little fight with an overzealous shadowbane inquisitor because he's been hunting down people with rakshasa blood and she's got it.

So, I don't necessarily want to shut her down, I want to create a fun encounter for the entire party. How do I do this?

Resources at my disposal:

whatever you throw at me I can look up

Resources at the ShBI's disposal:

the Order of Illumination, and a bunch of "jewel golems" (some of which can be pretty anti-caster)

[Flickerdart]

What's her level and build? What spells does she have and like to use? What does the rest of the party look like?

[Sir_Chivalry]

What's her level and build? What spells does she have and like to use? What does the rest of the party look like?

All REALLY good questions. That's what I get for posting right before bed.

She's a Wizard/Sentinel of Bharrai, 9th level total

She likes using energy substituted fireballs and call lightning (I think the class does it) but I'm sure she has some SoD spells in there.

The rest of the party is

Constant:
Half-elf ranger/warblade/revenant blade
Warforged crusader/fighter
Elf rogue/dungeon delver

Occassionally show up:
Half-elf samurai/swordsage/iaijutsu master
Ogre barbarian
Musteval swordsage
Elf scout/dread commando

[Belial_the_Leveler]

She only has lvl 5 spells yet; she's not THAT dangerous.



Instead of putting the rather expensive jewel golems into a fight, the inquisitor should come with a few Large animated statues of magically treated iron.

They are cheap;
12.000 gp or so for a scroll of animated objects plus a scroll of permanency can make 4 of them. Without the permanency (i.e. if you only want them for 2 hours or so), 2.000 gp for the Animate Objects should be enough.

They are wizard-resistant;
As constructs, they are immune to most necromancy, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, stunning, mind-affecting effects, and any effect requiring a fortitude save unless it works on objects.

They are meleer-resistant;
52 HP for a large animated object plus critical hit and sneak attack immunity. In addition, magically treated iron has Hardness 20, which makes them hard to kill.

They are energy-resistant;
Unless she uses acid or sonic damage, that hardness 20 should make it pretty hard for her to damage them with her damage spells.


They are merely cannon-fodder;
Yeah, a couple animated statues per party member aren't gonna cut it against a level 9 party. They aren't meant to beat the party though - merely soften them up and make them expend their spells so they can be then taken care of.

[Gildedragon]

Karsite race for the NPCs.
SR is a pain for spellcasters.

[wayfare]

Well, he could set the fight in a place where he has a distraction. Like fighting in a cavern with a sleeping dragon. If they are too loud (as fire and lightning tends to be), everybody is lunch.

Also, you could give him alchemical potions that allow him to do come crowd control. Give him a few monk buddies to dart in and out of combat and make folks lives suck, and you have a solid but entirely winnable fight.

[Sir_Chivalry]

She only has lvl 5 spells yet; she's not THAT dangerous.



Instead of putting the rather expensive jewel golems into a fight, the inquisitor should come with a few Large animated statues of magically treated iron.

They are cheap;
12.000 gp or so for a scroll of animated objects plus a scroll of permanency can make 4 of them. Without the permanency (i.e. if you only want them for 2 hours or so), 2.000 gp for the Animate Objects should be enough.

They are wizard-resistant;
As constructs, they are immune to most necromancy, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, stunning, mind-affecting effects, and any effect requiring a fortitude save unless it works on objects.

They are meleer-resistant;
52 HP for a large animated object plus critical hit and sneak attack immunity. In addition, magically treated iron has Hardness 20, which makes them hard to kill.

They are energy-resistant;
Unless she uses acid or sonic damage, that hardness 20 should make it pretty hard for her to damage them with her damage spells.


They are merely cannon-fodder;
Yeah, a couple animated statues per party member aren't gonna cut it against a level 9 party. They aren't meant to beat the party though - merely soften them up and make them expend their spells so they can be then taken care of.


Well, he could set the fight in a place where he has a distraction. Like fighting in a cavern with a sleeping dragon. If they are too loud (as fire and lightning tends to be), everybody is lunch.

Also, you could give him alchemical potions that allow him to do come crowd control. Give him a few monk buddies to dart in and out of combat and make folks lives suck, and you have a solid but entirely winnable fight.

I think these two plans work quite well, monks and animated statues are a good fight that can be overcome.

[Flickerdart]

She only has lvl 5 spells yet; she's not THAT dangerous.



Instead of putting the rather expensive jewel golems into a fight, the inquisitor should come with a few Large animated statues of magically treated iron.

They are cheap;
12.000 gp or so for a scroll of animated objects plus a scroll of permanency can make 4 of them. Without the permanency (i.e. if you only want them for 2 hours or so), 2.000 gp for the Animate Objects should be enough.

They are wizard-resistant;
As constructs, they are immune to most necromancy, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, stunning, mind-affecting effects, and any effect requiring a fortitude save unless it works on objects.

They are meleer-resistant;
52 HP for a large animated object plus critical hit and sneak attack immunity. In addition, magically treated iron has Hardness 20, which makes them hard to kill.

They are energy-resistant;
Unless she uses acid or sonic damage, that hardness 20 should make it pretty hard for her to damage them with her damage spells.


They are merely cannon-fodder;
Yeah, a couple animated statues per party member aren't gonna cut it against a level 9 party. They aren't meant to beat the party though - merely soften them up and make them expend their spells so they can be then taken care of.
An area of effect Dispel Magic will tear through low CL scroll spells like wildfire, and the wizard will probably be trained in the skills necessary to identify that the statues are not golems, but animated objects. Some precaution against dispelling needs to be taken if these things are supposed to pose any threat at all.

[Spuddles]

Animated Objects is a good idea for a wizard that likes to blast. Do spells still do half damage to animated objects? Cause half damage + hardness 20 is almost immunity to CL 10 and below stuff.

Also note that only sonic damage ignores hardness- acid just has the advantage of not doing half damage to objects. Cold damage does 1/4 damage to objects.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The good thing about buying services rather than scrolls (i.e. pay someone to cast the spell for you) is that you can get a high caster level. CL 16 should be enough to make dispelling difficult but not an impossible strategy and thus still useful.


Also, unless the animated objects are all tightly grouped, an area dispelling should only hit one of them at a time. That's an advantage for the statues being Large as they got Reach of their own. Give them a large longspear each and they can attack and not be caught in the same dispel (or fireball)

[Skysaber]

Stealth vs Caster is a pretty easy challenge to set up. All you need is one principle: Deny rest.

Or, more particularly, strike during the day in some way that costs you nothing: a few charges out of a wand of summoned monsters, a couple illusions, and your wizard target is burning spells at each encounter. "Well, it sure looked like a challenge-appropriate encounter! How was I to know it was a fiendish raven? You were the one screaming about an Erinyes flying at us."

A shot from out of the dark from a range category or so away. You call for initiative, party buffs, but the stealth guy runs away. A zombie that looks like a vampire. A few charm spells on real monsters once the party gets used to facing fakes. It's really not hard to exhaust a wizard's spells per day.

Four encounters per day is what gets advised, but that's what happens when the party can pace itself. Against intelligent opposition the first thing everyone knows about wizards is without spells they are a peasant with a good will save. So, make her use her spells, then attack the camp.

Simply, make her fight to recharge her spells. Attack her tent with a bead off a necklace of fireballs. Pay someone to cast Nightmare on her. Anything that denies her rest, and suddenly she's the weak one in the party, stumbling through ordinary encounters might kill her.

She'll learn to hate that guy, and the party will eventually find a way to kill him, but she'll remember that as one of the key struggles of her career. A memorable foe, simply because he refused to stand still and get whacked.