All fixed - thanks for the help!

[rubycona]

I've got a game in 20 minutes, and I realized I grossly failed to prepare for a major part of it. I'm kicking myself, brain storming, and thought I'd ask for help.

I don't expect combat to be a part of it. It's mostly a visual thing.

Basically, an epic level spellcaster wants to waste the city that the PCs are located in. It's groundhog day, so I can murder them as freely and easily as I please - it'll just restart the cycle. It's... a plot thing.

Anyway.

So, I basically want to know how you guys think an epic wizard, who's hundreds of years old and has much experience leveling cities, would level a city.

Teleporting in a golem army?

Something akin to a minute-per-level meteor swarm, less damage per hit, but devastating over a massive area that's full of low HP stuff?

Custom spells are good, as long as they make sense in the context.

I'm mostly expecting that the PCs, mid level at this point, should either die fairly quickly, or just have a quick explanation of battle (like, "You fight and take care of a large chunk of the golem army, awesome job, but the army's big enough that it still wipes out most of the city. Not actually played through).

This is a one off thing, mostly making them aware of the epic level spellcasters moving behind the scenes, making them wonder what's going on when they don't see them again for several cycles.

So... yeah. You're an epic spellcaster with a city to waste. What do you do?

Thanks a million!!!

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Wightocalpyse. Or it's incorporeal brother, shadeocalypse.

Summon the sort of undead that can turn commoners into more of themselves; set a few of them loose in populated parts of town, by the time the defenders get their act together, they'll be overwhelmed.

If you're looking for a fancier custom spell, I'd suggest something like a city-wide mass confusion/insanity effect.

There's a druid spell that creates enough snow to effectively level a city.

Some sort of stable portal to another plane could be fun.

[Flickerdart]

It all depends on the wizard's motivations. If he enjoys destroying cities, he will probably use a prolonged and quirky method like a plague of wights in a black labyrinth gradually devouring the city while apocalypse from the sky ravages its buildings. Deploying a couple of experimental monsters into the fray for viability testing would be expected, and the PCs would fight one of these creatures while wights and terrified citizens swarm around them.

If the wizard does it because he needs to and not because he has to, the city will be gone in the blink of an eye as everything in the area is instantly transformed into ash.

[KillianHawkeye]

Apocalypse From The Sky?

[rubycona]

I was hoping for something more... visually impressive. And kind of obvious. It's the guy's style. But... that's a cool idea nonetheless.

[Phelix-Mu]

Um, what was it. Let's see.

I once combined spread of savagery and were-doom from Book of Vile Darkness as the start of a city destroying madness/magical curse. I think they are cleric only spells, but I'm sure an epic wizard would have found a way around that.

I just loved the visual: Everyone goes nuts, and some of them tear off their clothes and turn into werewolves.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Apocalypse From The Sky?

Silly spell. 9th level, requires that you sacrifice an artifact to cast it. IIRC, it's something like Xd6/CL for a radius of CL miles.

[A_S]

First thing I thought of (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyTysQVCsog).

[KillianHawkeye]

How about Rain Of Fire (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/rainOfFire.htm).

[avr]

If he's been into planar binding for a while he'll have a huge number of low-HD outsiders to throw at problems like these. Control winds could whip up a localised hurricane, epic magic should be able to make that cover a city. If hurricanes don't normally occur in the area buildings will be levelled. Similarly with earthquake or storm of vengeance.

[Flickerdart]

I was hoping for something more... visually impressive. And kind of obvious. It's the guy's style. But... that's a cool idea nonetheless.
Twin split ray chained ocular persisted creeping cold seems like it would do the trick, if visually impressive is what you're after. Every round, he hits 168 people with a curse that makes the inside of their skin turn to ice, dealing 1d6 points of damage per round the spell has been active every round for 24 hours. Even the most powerful people in the city are doomed to die horribly moments after seeing those around them perish. An epic wizard could afford a few hundred spell clocks that use this effect, and then summon them all when he needs to.

[ddude987]

Just locate city bomb. This is probably the best time I've seen a good reason to build it

[rubycona]

Well... the scene worked, but it didn't quite work the way I'd expected.

Apparently, the players take the statements of a cocky epic level wizard a little more literally than they were supposed to.

I was trying to illustrate, among other things, that even the most powerful spellcasters can only influence what they're specifically prepared and equipped to handle, and this situation they're in is actually beyond the grasp of said wizard, nevermind that he thinks he can handle it.

Sure he can level a city... they need to be aware of the sorts of power they're grappling with, I wanted to make them intimately familiar with power of this scale... but they're the only ones who can address this thing. A combination of humility and empowerment.

Buuuut... now they're confident that the wizard Could handle things, just because he seems to think he can, when he demonstrably can't. But they believe he could, if he really wanted to.

Bah. So... kind of a failure. *Did* get the epic feel down pat, though. They said the scene was hugely impactful, very emotionally heavy, and hit their characters hard. But it just made them feel useless, and powerless.

:( :( :(

For those wondering why not, it's a groundhog day campaign. The only people who can fix it are those who remember, because no one else has the time to do it. Even an insanely powerful wizard of this guy's caliber just can't address what he can't prepare for.

[Flickerdart]

Let's assume for a moment that a wizard who survived til Epic and routinely destroys cities somehow doesn't ever use divinations. What exactly is he not prepared for merely by having enough power to blow up a city?

[lyko555]

well in the ground hog day scenario like hes deserving. maybe the wizard didn't prepare scrying spells that day.

so its more like the adventures get unlimited scrying on him where in the wizards pov he only sees them once.

[Phelix-Mu]

Let's assume for a moment that a wizard who survived til Epic and routinely destroys cities somehow doesn't ever use divinations. What exactly is he not prepared for merely by having enough power to blow up a city?

No one can prepare for plot kitty.

But, seriously, occasionally a very powerful tier 1 will put their neck out a little too far; whether by hubris or some other personality flaw, it does happen that strong people miscalculate. The primary problem for such powerful spellcasters is running afoul of other single tier 1s of similar or greater power, or entire organizations of tier 1s. And gods (well-simulated gods...let's not get into the silliness of the gods by RAW).

[Flickerdart]

The primary problem for such powerful spellcasters is running afoul of other single tier 1s of similar or greater power, or entire organizations of tier 1s.
I don't know if you've read the OP's posts, but this situation is an epic-level wizard that casually blows up cities against a mid-level party. "Similar power" doesn't figure into the equation.

[Phelix-Mu]

I don't know if you've read the OP's posts, but this situation is an epic-level wizard that casually blows up cities against a mid-level party. "Similar power" doesn't figure into the equation.

But plot kitty did. The epic wizard is caught up in some kind of recursive time loop event, but the player characters are not, at least as far as I can tell. So, while it's not a character of similar power, it is the DM setting up the wizard as a plot point.

I do like the Groundhog Day concept. Reminds me of the old school Doctor Who chronic historesis concept. Very interesting to think about. There was also a memorable Stargate episode based off of Groundhog Day.

[SaintNick]

Could use a slowly approaching moon/meteorite like in Majora's Mask. The idea of your doom literally looming over your head would make things interesting.

[KillingAScarab]

Awww... someone already brought up Majora's Mask. I was going to suggest the players get a chance to find a convoluted line of quests which result in the Fierce Deity's Mask (http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Fierce_Deity%27s_Mask) so that they can then feel all badass when they fight the guy who keeps throwing the moon at them.

More appropriately, perhaps they do need to find something to bolster their power... or at least think it does. It could be a placebo until afterwards, when you reveal that, like Belkar (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0085.html), the power was inside of them all along.


so its more like the adventures get unlimited scrying on him where in the wizards pov he only sees them once.Until the wizard figures out how to send information into the next loop, assuming the wizard didn't cause the loop in the first place.

Dun dun dun!

[ericgrau]

A personal army of ordinary foes like orcs, while simple, tends to be the most budget friendly for a large army. Fancy golems, large undead, higher level allies and so on would be for key targets and elite foes. And for PCs for that matter.

Possible elite allies include giants, dragons and elementals devils. They should usually match, unless there's a multi-alliance.

[Arbane]

Let's assume for a moment that a wizard who survived til Epic and routinely destroys cities somehow doesn't ever use divinations. What exactly is he not prepared for merely by having enough power to blow up a city?

Being able to do it _twice_.

Funny thing about D&D wizards - the best time to attack them is immediately after they demonstrate their ULTIMATE COSMIC POWER, since that means they don't have it any more.

[Flickerdart]

Being able to do it _twice_.

Funny thing about D&D wizards - the best time to attack them is immediately after they demonstrate their ULTIMATE COSMIC POWER, since that means they don't have it any more.
A wizard who has such a predictable weakness would never survive to see epic levels. Competent spellcasters always leave something in reserve, even if it's just a method of escape.

[rubycona]

He's got lots of escape options, that's for sure.

Ultimately, why he's not able to influence the groundhog day situation, is he'd need not just the answers, but the right questions. The final thing they'll be doing is going into a temple which is... in short, broken in time. It's untouchable by mortal magic, because it's... in short, a deity thing.

Only those who are shielded from the cycles, who are outside the recursive loop, have any chance of getting through this time broken dungeon.

Blowing it up won't do anything, and all divination magics relating to time, worldwide (including even just determining the weather) automatically fail. Time itself is broken, and the PCs are caught in the cracks, as it were.

So no mortal spellcaster can influence the situation. This mighty wizard, epic though his is, is powerless to even be aware of the situation, unless informed by someone on the inside... only to have that memory lost again, irretrievably.

Unfortunately... PCs don't see it that way. I clearly failed to give them the appropriate understanding of their situation. They're literally gaining power to control time, from within these cracks. Plans, I have them...

[Blackhawk748]

a really, REALLY big flaming comet of doom, it might be cliche but it sure as hell works

[KillingAScarab]

rubycona, you may wish to change the title, unless you are still soliciting means of leveling cities so you have an alternate way

Giving the PCs control of time... that's pretty rad. I wonder how that will be accomplished. Going back to Majora's Mask, aside from having the song of time to reset back to the 1st day whenever you wished, there were also songs to make time speed up (so you could more quickly get to the hour of the day you needed to accomplish something on) and slow down (because it made beating a dungeon within a time limit easier to accomplish, amongst other tasks). You may at least want to consider granting some method to achieve speeding up time through portions of days when the PCs know nothing important happens. Then again, I suppose adventurers already have this ability (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0155.html). :smallwink:

[rubycona]

rubycona, you may wish to change the title, unless you are still soliciting means of leveling cities so you have an alternate way

Giving the PCs control of time... that's pretty rad. I wonder how that will be accomplished. Going back to Majora's Mask, aside from having the song of time to reset back to the 1st day whenever you wished, there were also songs to make time speed up (so you could more quickly get to the hour of the day you needed to accomplish something on) and slow down (because it made beating a dungeon within a time limit easier to accomplish, amongst other tasks). You may at least want to consider granting some method to achieve speeding up time through portions of days when the PCs know nothing important happens. Then again, I suppose adventurers already have this ability (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0155.html). :smallwink:

Eek! You're right, fixed! I hope it's fixed.

I adore Majora's Mask. Been a long time since I played it.

They've only just begun to unlock the time abilities. So far, they've only been able to retain their memories, spells prepared, etc. Next, they'll retain body postures (still "spawning" at the start point of the cycle). Then, they'll be able to keep items on their person (they can only gain levels and alliances right now, no gear. But consumables are fantastic. Especially since they can't actually lose money.) When they get to the final area, a dungeon (a temple of time, tee hee), they'll be able to move their respawn point, as it were. That way I can slaughter them mercilessly in the Temple, only for them to start over at the beginning of it.

Once they're inside, they'll start gaining masterful control over time, since that dungeon is the place where the groundhog day is centered. I intend to use the time controlling measures for puzzles.

I really hope the dungeon works out!