Cruiser1
2013-04-15, 01:33 AM
http://www.astrolog.org/other/priya.jpg
Priya the Prismatic Priestess is a level 20 optimized build that demonstrates specifically how powerful stacked buffs can be. It operates on (i.e. relies upon, or abuses) the following four concepts:
Infinite spells: Most characters have to carefully choose how to divide their spells per day between combat and (a small set of) buffs. With infinite spells you can buff as much as possible. Priya is effectively a solo version of Team Solar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188138).
Miracle: Most characters are balanced by only having access to certain buffs. Miracle allows access to every 7th level spell ever printed. Combine with above to cast every possible buff 7th level and below.
Persistent metamagic: Use Persist Spell metamagic to make buffs last all day. Having all buffs up all the time and not needing to buff during battle is a huge action advantage to the persistomancer character.
Metamagic reduction: This needs to be reduced to zero, and infinitely repeatable, since we're persisting hundreds of up to 9th level buffs. For example, even Divine Metamagic is underpowered for our purposes, since it's limited by turn attempts.
The Build: Sorcerer 6/Incantatrix 4/Spelldancer 1/Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil 7/Divine Oracle 2
Sorcerer: Base class needs to be Sor or Wiz to get access to 9th level spell Absorption. Sor chosen to take advantage of Sor only spells like (Greater) Arcane Fusion, Wings of Cover, and Wings of Flurry. No early entry tricks are needed to get into PrC's.
Incantatrix: Use Cooperative Metamagic and Metamagic Effect to persist Necromancy and Evocation spells already cast (ability used by Body Outside Body clones to avoid per day limits). The bonus metamagic feats are important too, since the build is feat intensive.
Spelldancer: Only one level is needed to persist buffs. Make yourself immune to fatigue and constitution damage so you can Spelldance infinitely. Limited in that you can't persist Necromancy and Evocation buffs with Spelldancer, so use Incantatrix for those schools.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil: For the prismatic theme, and general invulnerability. Not part of the persisting buffs ability, just nice to have. Note Wardings as spell effects can be Persisted with Incantatrix, so you can have veils up 24/7! :smallbiggrin:
Divine Oracle: For a domain to substitute into other interesting choices, to allow access to certain 8th level spells. Not part of the persisting buffs ability, just nice to have. Note the 2nd level isn't needed, and can be replaced with some other casting progression class.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil (prismatic effects) is related to the colors of the rainbow. That combined with Divine Oracle and using Miracle results in the "Prismatic Priestess" title. Priestess not priest, since the fluff for both Incantatrix and Spelldancer is that both are almost always women.
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:
Metamagic: Metamagic feats stack in the order you want, and influence existing effects. For example, Extend applied to Persist lasts 48 hours, and Twin combined with Repeat gives four castings (instead of three). 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. Without Ocular Spell, Priya loses around 25% of her persistent buffs, being still extremely powerful but measurably lower.
Miracle: When reproducing spells (i.e. not paying 5000 XP) it doesn't require a deity's attention. One might 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 or additional metamagic applied to it.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil: Veils reproduce prismatic wall layers and therefore block antimagic fields. If only there were a way to work Initiate of Mystra into the build to be able to actually cast in an antimagic field! Instead Priya has to block them from affecting her, which is just as good. If veils are ruled to go down in antimagic the build still works, just has an obvious Achilles Heel, like how Superman has kryptonite. There's lots of debate on whether veils block your own actions (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=6997.0) or whether you can cast through them. This build is strong either way. :smallbiggrin:
Feats: Feats are the most significant choice in a build after class, and like levels they're limited, so need to be chosen well:
{TABLE]Source|Feat|Needed for
Flaw #1|Noncombatant|Casters usually don't melee
Flaw #2|Vulnerable|Casters usually don't get hit
Flaw #1 bonus|Combat Casting|Spelldancer qualification
Flaw #2 bonus|Reserves of Strength|Higher caster level
Level 1|Extend Spell|Persistent Spell qualification
Human bonus|Maximize Spell|Good buffs
Level 3|Skill Focus: Spellcraft|Io7FV qualification
Level 6|Spell Focus: Abjuration|Io7FV qualification
Level 9|Greater Spell Focus: Abjuration|Io7FV qualification
Level 12|Persist Spell|Persisting buffs
Level 15|Repeat Spell|Infinite buffs
Level 18|Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment: Luck)|Access to Miracle
Inx level 1|Twin Spell|Infinite buffs
Inx level 4|Invisible Spell|Arcane Spellsurge efficiency
Otyugh Hole|Iron Will|Incantatrix qualification
Frog God's Fane|Skill Focus (Religion)|Divine Oracle qualification
Heward's Hall|Skill Focus (Dance)|Thematic for Spelldancer
[/TABLE]
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. Feat retraining (PHB2 page 193) 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 11, and then retrain them to other feats at levels 12 through 14, and finally buff yourself in order to re-enable and actually use Spelldancing. Or just buy a Psychic Reformation to change those three feats immediately.
Miracle: Getting Miracle on the Sor spell list is key to this build. Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment) gives access to the Luck domain, where it's greater power allows casting Miracle once. An alternate method is to take the feat Arcane Disciple (Luck), however the former is preferred for Sor since Arcane Disciple also requires spending a spell known on Miracle to be able to actually cast it. With either feat, Absorption allows casting Miracle without using the per day limits of the feats themselves, since Absorption says "the spells so cast don't disappear from your list of prepared spells or count against the number of spells you can normally cast per day".
Gaining extra feats: If you need more feats (for example the DM doesn't allow flaws or magical locations) there are ways to get more (and without resorting to utter cheese such as using certain interpretations of Chaos Shuffling to get infinite feats):
Dump Twin Spell: You only need Repeat Spell to get infinite spells from Absorption. Repeat + Twin just makes buffing inside nested Time Stops easier.
Dump Invisible Spell: It's only included for fun (e.g. with Arcane Spellsurge), but isn't necessary for the buff routine.
Dump Ocular Spell: You can usually apply Ocular spell by including it when casting Miracle, as long as the total spell level is less than 7. Not having this feat only prevents a few level 6 and level 7 touch and variable range buffs, such as Cloak of Stars.
Dump Reserves of Strength: This is only present for additional caster level, and to be able to add 3 to HD caps, which allows fun options like being able to Shapechange into a Gibbering Orb (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/gibberingOrb.htm), to be able to cast 24 eye Rays and 2 spell-like abilities per round.
Free Extend spell: If your patron deity has the Planning domain, you can cast Substitute Domain to switch the Oracle domain (from Divine Oracle) with it, and pick up Extend Spell for free. Boccob is a good choice (Greater Deity of magic who allegedly created the first set of Seven Veils from a rainbow) assuming he's given that domain (CW page 146), as is Greater Deity Ubtao.
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).
Variants: Every build can be tweaked in any number of ways, and with all the details that go into this build Priya is no exception:
Wizard: Replace Sorcerer 1 with Wizard 1. Then you can pick up extra 8th and 9th level spells. However that misses out on powerful Sor only spells.
Cleric: Replace Sorcerer 1 with Cleric 1. You get Miracle on your spell list for free, and can pick up Absorption with the Divine Magician (CM) ACF, which are the only two spells needed for infinite spells.
Shadowcraft Mage: Replace Planar Touchstone (to get Miracle) with levels of Shadowcraft Mage (to simulate Miracle). That would replace the fluff of the build from rainbow light to shadowy darkness. An optimized Shadowcraft Mage would make a decent evil opposite for this build. :smalltongue:
Dump prismatic theme: In spite of the "Prismatic Priest" title, Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil isn't needed for infinite persistent buffs. Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil provides ultra defense, but its levels could be replaced with other options.
Equipment: Even though Priya technically doesn't need any equipment (and is almost as effective completely naked (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45529) since no parts of the build depend on equipment) she can still take good advantage of 760K gold WBL of a level 20 character:
For the prismatic theme, we'll start with the thematic Seven Veils magic item set (which is also useful if the build ever fights a copy of itself). We'll then add a set of useful consumable items, such as inherent stat bonuses, contingent spells, and demiplane creation. Finally we'll pick up generally useful equipment to wear:
{TABLE]Price|Item|Comments
22000|Turquoise Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (blue)
16000|Serpent Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (green)
11000|Veil of Doors|Piece of Seven Veils (violet)
7000|Veil of Whispers|Piece of Seven Veils (indigo)
4000|Veil of Storms|Piece of Seven Veils (yellow)
2000|Caustic Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (orange)
1000|Burning Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (red)
||
261475|Staff of Wish (17 charges)|Use to get +4 inherent bonus to CON, WIS, and INT, and +5 to CHA (slightly cheaper and much faster to apply than Tomes)
58800|Craft Contingent Celerity (x21)|20 on me, and 1 on familiar, to win the Celerity war against other optimized builds
8825|Power Stone (Genesis) |Because every high level caster needs their own private demiplane (cheaper than a scroll)
8825|Power Stone (Genesis)|If one demiplane is good, two are better :smallwink:
3000|Otyugh Hole visit|Iron Will feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
2000|Frog God's Fane visit|Skill Focus (Religion) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
5000|Heward's Hall visit|Skill Focus (Dance) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
150|Feat Retraining|Retrain Dodge, Mobility, Endurance
100|Summon Familiar|Familiar gives action economy. All Priya's buffs are shared with her familiar, so it's almost as tough as she is. Her familiar is a colorful parrot (Storm page 52) which is identical to a Raven (speaks one language) but fits the prismatic theme.
||
37100|Runestaff of 1/day Prismatic Sphere / Wall / Deluge / Bow|Thematic item to cast the only prismatic spells Priya can't duplicate with Miracle.
32340|Anklet of Translocation + Horseshoes of Flame|The horseshoes ability (UMD it) are crafted on to the anklet foot slot item, so the result is a pretty anklet instead of bulky horseshoes.
30000|Ioun Stone (Orange)|+1 caster level
20000|Ring of Arcane Might|+1 caster level
20000|Prayer Bead of Karma|+4 caster level
16000|Ring of Spell-Battle|Free action counterspell
10000|Robe of Mysterious Conjuration|Allows casting Summon Monster IX
1500|Ivory crown|Focus item for Shapechange.
2853|Gold|Leftover from WBL
[/TABLE]
If you want to be really optimized, replace the Staff of Wish with a Scroll of Wish containing 40033 extra XP beyond the standard 5000 (costs 228990 gp), and use it for infinite wishes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268501) that don't depend on any other creature, and so can be spammed even inside Time Stop.
Spells known: With infinite Miracles, 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. Absorption, Shapechange, Time Stop, Superior Invisibility, Greater Arcane Fusion, Polymorph Any Object).
Combat spells: Swift or immediate action spells, that you actually want to cast in combat or transfer to your familiar (i.e. Celerity, Assay Spell Resistance, Dimension Door).
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).
Cantrips: 0th level spells you might want to spam, since they can be cast at will forever with Absorption up.
Some important buffs are 8th or 9th level or have expensive components, and therefore can't be simulated with Miracle. They are:
Absoption, Shapechange, Time Stop: Cast it normally, since it's one of Priya's 9th level spells known.
Greater Arcane Fusion, Polymorph Any Object, Superior Invisibility: Cast it normally, since it's one of Priya's 8th level spells known.
Foresight: Shapechange into Elemental Weird, give yourself free Foresight, then persist it with Incantatrix.
True Seeing: Shapechange into Elemental Weird, give yourself free True Seeing, then persist it with Incantatrix.
Mage's Disjunction: Shapechange into a Spellgaunt (MM2) and bite whatever you want to disjoin.
Summon Monster IX: Cast it using Robe of Mysterious Conjuration.
Astral Projection: Shapechange into a Nightmare or Shedu (FF) to cast it.
Mind Blank: Normally not needed since use Empryeal Ecstasy instead. If need full immunity to divination (and you don't want to have a Green or Violet Veil up) use Miracle to simulate Psionic Mind Blank (7th level).
Priya doesn't have all possible 7th level buffs. Types of buffs left out of her standard list include:
Non-persistable spells: Fortunate Fate is a nice spell, but is dischargable, so can't be persisted even with Ocular spell. Although not part of her once a day routine, spells like this may be cast as needed, such as before a known battle, but it's not an all day buff.
Expensive spells: Suffer the Flesh gives a nice bonus to caster level, but has a 250 gold component not freely coverable by Miracle. Priya may pay to cast this before an important battle, but to avoid drain on WBL it's not part of her daily buff routine.
Redundant spells: Mage armor isn't included, because Greater Luminous Armor covers everything it does and then some.
Spells with downsides: Forceward is nice because it makes you immune to force spells and effects. However that also disables her own casting of Wings of Flurry. This buff would certainly be included if she knows she'll be fighting an epic Force Dragon, but not normally.
Minor spells: Healing Rest gives a bonus to natural healing, but that's such a minor effect when you already have fast healing it's not worth including.
Physical side effects: Evard's Menacing Tentacles gives you a bonus to climb checks, but it gives you a bunch of tentacles sticking out of your body. That's a bit too eerie for Priya, who wants to be able to not stand out in public.
Unwanted side effects: Babau Slime does damage to those that hit you, however that's bad outside combat. Priya don't want to dissolve a beggar if she gets hugged in the marketplace.
Short term buffs: There's a lot of cheese that can be done by mimicking Artificer Infusions with Miracle, e.g. use Item Alteration (ECS) to change the bonus type of an array of magic items to be different stacking bonuses, to raise stats even further. However they only last for 10 min / level at most, so would need to be continually refreshed. Priya normally only chooses buffs that can be persisted for 48 hours.
Immunity list: Priya is invulnerable to just about everything, especially with a violet veil up. Here's the main immunities and their sources:
Damage: Delay Death (don't die at -10 hp) + Beastland Ferocity (stay conscious below 0), Shapechange (form with regeneration) + Favor of the Martyr (immune to non-lethal damage)
Fatigue, exhaustion, ability damage, ability drain: Sheltered Vitality (SC)
Energy drain, negative levels, magical death effects: Death Ward
Charm, compulsion, pain, daze, nausea, stun, non-lethal damage: Favor of the Martyr (SC)
Touch attacks, rays: Ray Deflection (SC)
Projectile ranged attacks: Stormrage (SC)
Non-magic weapons and missiles: Starmantle (BoED)
Poison: Ruin Delver's Fortune (SC)
Disease: Nezram's Amethyst Aura (LEoF)
Drugs: Drug Resistance (BoVD)
Blindness, dazzle: Vision of the Omniscient Eye (DM)
Deafness: Nezram's Emerald Energy Shield (LEoF)
Silence: Joyful Noise (SC)
Grapple: Freedom of Movement
Possession: Protection From Evil
Sleep, critical hits, flanking: Elemental Body (Air)
Sneak attacks: Heart of Water (CM)
AOO from moving: Lightfoot (SC)
Hunger, thirst: Sustain (BoED)
Breathing: Adapt Body, Deep Breath (SC) + Air Breathing (SC)
Water pressure: Transformation of the Deeps (Storm)
Planar effects: Planar Bubble (SC)
Surprise: Foresight
Mind-Affecting spells: Empyreal Ecstasy (BoED)
Divination spells: Mind Blank*, Green Veil, Violet Veil
Annoying spells (e.g. Blasphemy, Word of Chaos, Word of Balance, Dimensional Lock, Limited Wish, Maze): Spell Immunity
*Mind Blank usually isn't up, since it suppresses positive Enchantment buffs, but it is an option for divination immunity without using veils.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil wardings normally last 1 min / level (10 min / level for wall form). However as spell effects they can be persisted with Incantatrix. Normally you can only create wardings 4/day. Shapechange into a Gibbering Orb (HD cap raised to 28 via Reserves of Strength) allows swallowing creatures to steal their (Sp) abilities. Swallow your Body Outside Body clones to get free warding usages. That allows you to have all 7 veil colors up at once around you. :smallbiggrin:
Miracle: One spell can make you almost as strong as Pun-Pun:
Miracle is the single most versatile spell ever printed, which arguably makes it the most powerful spell (after all, Tier 1 is Tier 2 power plus versatility). Miracle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/miracle.htm) lets you do the following without XP cost:
Duplicate any 7th level spell. That includes 7th level spells from obscure classes like Wu Jen and from domains.
Duplicate any 8th level Cleric spell, including Cleric spells you have from your domains. With a domain from Divine Oracle, Priya can swap it out for other domains from her deity, and use Miracle to duplicate 8th level spells from those domains.
Anything else equivalent in power to the above. An obvious way to take advantage of this is to apply metamagic feats you don't have. Miracle can apply metamagic feats if the total slot is still 7th level. For example, instead of casting Miracle to duplicate Fireball (3rd level spell slot), cast it to duplicate an Empowered (+2) Widened (+2) Energy Substitution (Acid) Fireball (+0) = 7th level spell slot. Also, many spell-like abilities are equivalent to a spell of a particular level. For example, concerning indigo veil from Iot7FV, "a warding with this veil is equivalent to a 7th level spell", which means you should be able to give yourself red through indigo veils even if you have no levels in the Iot7FV PrC! (Although to avoid cheese and since we want the violet veil Priya has taken all seven Iot7FV levels.)
There are other forms of casting that aren't standard spells, but are still available in 9 levels, or are equivalent to spells of certain levels. Miracle should be able to duplicate those forms of magic up to 7th level, such as:
Psionic Powers up to 7th level.
Warlock Invocations up to 7th level (all least, lesser, greater, and some dark).
Shadowcaster Mysteries up to 7th level.
Truenamer Utterances up to 6th level (as high as they go).
Artificer Infusions up to 6th level (as high as they go).
Going through those lists gives additional buffs that make an already powerful character even stronger. Even more extreme than stacking buffs from all these spellcasting and other magic using classes is "anything equivalent in power to the above" can be interpreted as making up whatever ability you want. For example, even if there's no spell that does X in your campaign world, you can do it with an XP free Miracle as long as your DM agrees that if it were a spell it would be 7th level or lower. That effectively makes casting Miracle like a minor version of Pun-Pun, since you're only limited by your imagination. However like Pun-Pun, we'll restrict our buffing to duplicating spells from published WotC sources.
Infinite buffing: This is key to the build, so need to be done properly:
Priya casts Repeat Maximized Absorption (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212739). She, her familiar, and/or other allies target Priya with nukes or other spells to absorb 9 or 10 spell levels. Use those 9 spell levels to cast Miracle to duplicate a buff. Now repeat the nuking to do the same with the other casting of Absorption. Use those 9 spell levels to cast Repeat Maximized Absorption again to repeat the process. Note this works even if one tries to rule that multiple castings of Absorption replace each other, because Repeat Spell casts the spell separately again at the beginning of the next round, and one can cast a free spell using the first Absorption instance before the second instance gets cast.
To get free metamagic to apply Repeat Spell to Absorption (or to apply Persist Spell to whatever buff) Spelldance before casting it, or use Incantatrix. Make one of your early free Miracle buffs be Body Outside Body, and tell your clones to use Metamagic Effect (which as a Su ability isn't considered spellcasting) so you don't have to use your own limited per day abilities. Once your clones have exhausted their uses of Metamagic Effect, cast Body Outside Body again.
Where do the targeted spells to power up Absorption come from? Certain spells can allow you to select different creatures to target over multiple rounds, like Glorious Master of the Elements, Stormrage, and Celestial Aspect. With these up (i.e. Persisted) you and your familiar can target yourself continually. You can also cast Call Faithful Servants (BoED) several times to bring in a "cutie brigade", i.e. 10 Musteval Guardinals that serve you for a year, and have them all ready actions to target you with their at-will Magic Missile.
From a fully unbuffed state, it takes a few spells to get the loop started. Before you can Spelldance free metamagic, you need to cast Owl's Wisdom to buff your Wisdom past 19, Heroics to give yourself Dodge and Mobility, and Unfailing Endurance (duplicated with Miracle) to give yourself Endurance. One 9th level slot is needed for Absorption to cast that Miracle. Once Spelldancing is online, you need to cast one more Repeat Absorption to start infinite spells. In summary the total initial cost is three 2nd level slots + two 9th level slots.
Buffs: Some powerful buffs and spell combinations:
Domains: Cast Substitute Domain to convert Oracle domain into some other domain of your deity. That allows Miracle to simulate the 8th level spell from that domain, which ordinarily isn't allowable from Miracle. For example, assuming Boccob, convert to Force domain, then use Miracle to cast Telekinetic Sphere. Good deity choices with lots of domains are Taiia (creator aspect) with 12, and especially the Sovereign Host with 40. If your deity is good alignment (e.g. Mystra, meaning they have the Good domain) switch to it for +1 CL to all spells due to Mark of the Enlightened Soul.
Reserves of Strength: This feat not only gives +3 caster level, it increases caster level caps by 3 for cast spells as well. For example, Shapechange can give you a form with up to 28HD instead of just 25HD, Orb spells do 18d6 damage instead of just 15d6, and so on. Numerous buffs and nukes become better. For stats listed later, additional bonuses from RoS will be inside {}'s.
Immune to damage: Delay Death makes it so you don't die at -10 hp. Beastland Ferocity makes it so you don't fall unconscious below 0 hp. Together you can take infinite damage, and with infinite spells you can heal yourself from any deficit. Also cast Pact of Return (HoH) to give yourself free True Resurrection for as many specific causes of death you can think of.
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. That means Priya is guaranteed to never fail a saving throw DC 56 or below, unless forced to make the same saving throw multiple times in an encounter.
Immortality: Stay in an Astral Projection which keeps your real body in stasis. Once you're astral projected, presumably both your real self and your projection can be buffed separately. Priya's real self in stasis on her private demiplane has a Contingent Revivify and Pact of Return instances, so if her projected cord gets cut somehow her real self gets revived.
Agelessness: 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).
Shapechange: Change into a Chronotyryn (FF), for 2 actions a round. That makes Time Stop (and hence pulling off infinite Time Stops) twice as efficient. Not necessary for infinite buffing and infinite actions, but very nice. This is Priya's default Shapechange form when buffing. Other excellent Shapechange forms are Dire Tortoise to guarantee going first in any combat (Priya's default Shapechange form before combat or when not doing anything else), and Gibbering Orb {since HD cap raised to 28} for 24 eye rays and 2 spell-like abilities per round (Priya's default Shapechange form during combat). As a Gibbering Orb, consume your Body Outside Body clones so you get extra Iot7FV warding usages. Have all 7 veil colors up at once instead of just 2. :smallbiggrin:
Shapechange #2: Another nice Shapechange form is 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!
Polymorph Any Object: Polymorph into a form with high INT, i.e. Sarrukh (SK) at 30 INT is the highest form with <= 15 HD {18 HD with RoS}. 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.
Draconic Polymorph: It's better than normal Polymorph since it supports creatures up to 20 HD {23 HD with RoS} and gives untyped stat bonuses on top of it. Polymorph into a Ha-Naga (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/haNaga.htm) after the above two spells (the later spell will replace or render irrelevant the physical stat changing parts of the earlier spells) to get the best base physical stats.
Alter Self: You're allowed to change into yourself, so cast it after all the above to replace your current form with your original human form, while still having the good stats of a Ha-Naga, the INT the Sauukh, and the (Su) of the Chronotyryn, Dire Tortoise, or Gibbering Orb. Be aware that selecting any new form via Shapechange will also overwrite your appearance and physical stats with whatever creature, requiring casting Draconic Polymorph and Alter Self again.
Nuking: Priya makes a decent mailman. For high damage, cast a Metamagic Effect Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized + Reserves of Strength + Empowered Hammer of Righteousness (from Miracle). Releasing from both eyes in the next eight hours then does 39x(8+1d8)x2x2x1.5 = 2106 to 3744 force damage to an evil creature. Another excellent nuke is Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Empowered Moonbow, which does 3x(10{+1})x(6+1d6)x2x2x1.5 = 1386 to 2376 electricity damage to an evil creature. If you need to hit something with high SR or in an antimagic field, add Acid Sheath (SC) to your buffs then cast a Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Empowered Orb of Acid, which does (15{+3})x(6+1d6+2)x2x2x1.5 = 972 to 1512 acid damage to an evil creature.
Rerolls: The Luck Domain granted power gives one reroll per day, which helps avoid natural 1 autofails. Battle Hymn (SC) allows one will save reroll a round. Some non-Persistable spells allow rerolls that can be cast before a known battle: Insight of Good Fortune (PHB2), even though it only lasts 1 round / level, allows at one point rolling twice and taking the best result. Lucky Cape (MoE), even though it only lasts 10 min / level, allows rerolling a saving throw. Forced Dream (MoE), even though it only lasts 1 round / level, gives the ability to back up time to the beginning of turn, which is useful to do things over.
Infinite Time Stop: Time Stop can't be Persisted, however we can still do what amounts to an infinite Time Stop:
Priya can cast Time Stop repeatedly (casting it again before the first instance ends) for what amounts to an infinite Time Stop. That allows her to apply her buffs inside a Time Stop, in effectively zero time. Body Outside Body clones are presumably frozen and not inside the Time Stop with you, however your familiar (who you Share Spells with) is, and you can still apply metamagic with Spelldancer inside Time Stop. Hence you can't do ALL buffs inside Time Stop, but you can do over 90% of them.
Casting a Maximized Twin Repeat Time Stop gives 20 free rounds of actions, and uses 10 rounds of Spelldancing, for 10 rounds of actions profit. Do it twice so you have 20 free rounds. Use 14 of those rounds to Spelldance cast a Maximized Twin Repeat Absorption, giving you 4 free spells. 3 of those free spells are used to cast Absorption and the two Time Stops. Use the last free spell to cast Miracle to apply a buff or do whatever else you want. This allows 1 free buff to be applied every 40 rounds on average, while keeping the infinite Time Stop going. That's an awful lot of dancing, but with Endurance, immunity to fatigue, and no need to sleep or eat Priya won't get tired.
Infinite actions: You can't damage opponents inside Time Stop. How about infinite standard actions instead? Priya can do that too:
Cast Greater Arcane Fusion. In the 7th level spell granted cast Celerity, and use its standard action to do whatever you want. In the 4th level spell slot also cast Celerity, and use that standard action to cast Greater Arcane Fusion again. That gives you free standard actions until you run out of spell slots. (We're assuming a balanced interpretation here that provides up to a 7th level spell slot for a single spell you know, instead of a 7th level spell after arbitrary metamagic, to avoid cheese of casting Sanctum Greater Arcane Fusion to easily do infinite spells in a row. However we can still get infinite spells even with the more restrictive interpretation.)
Anyway, every other time in the Greater Arcane Fusion loop use your free standard action to cast Time Stop, and inside Time Stop use the techniques from before to give yourself a free Twin Repeat Absorption, so when Time Stop ends you have four free 9th level spells. Of those four spells, use 1 to pay for the next Time Stop, 2 to pay for the two castings of Greater Arcane Fusion, and the final to pay for whatever you want to cast in your free action. This allows you to keep the Greater Arcane Fusion loop going, which means infinite standard actions in a row. (Remember the first standard action used to cast the first Greater Arcane Fusion never actually stops, since you're getting additional nested standard actions within it.)
Infinite standard actions means infinite spells in a row, which means dealing infinite damage. For example, Priya could disintegrate the entire planet as an immediate action, one 10 foot cube at a time, if she dances enough. :smallamused: Abusing time in this manner may get Quarut Inevitables after you, but a measly CR 17 monster is hardly a threat at this point. She can even take out epic characters stronger than her (since she has infinite actions while the universe is eternally frozen around her) unless she activates their contingent spells, or they have specialized feats like Spell Stowaway (Time Stop) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#spellStowaway). Priya may even be able to challenge deities (barring portfolio sense) because it takes a standard action to use a Salient Divine Ability, and she may be able to get her infinite actions started before they have time to do anything. Spam the transport option of Wish to teleport your godly victim outside of their divine realm to you, and then lay the smackdown. :smallbiggrin:
All this gives Priya a unique Mage's Disjunction defense. She giggles, basks in the magic and lets it dispel all her buffs, then as an immediate action casts Celerity + Time Stop and reapplies all her buffs inside nested Time Stops and free standard actions. The enemy caster wonders why after casting Disjunction all her buffs still seem to be in place! :smalltongue:
Stats: All six of Priya's stats are in the 40's and 50's:
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:
{TABLE]Stat|Buy|Base|Comments
STR|8|8|Dump, since you can replace with Draconic Polymorph.
DEX|14|14|Need at least 13 to qualify for Dodge and hence Spelldancer. Can dump if you allow qualifying for feats and PrC with buffs.
CON|8|12|Dump, since you can replace with Draconic Polymorph.
INT|16|20|Should be at least 14, since need lots of skill points, with Perform (Dance), Tumble, Knowledge (Nature), and Knowledge (Dungeoneering) needed cross-class.
WIS|14|18|Needs to be at least 19 with buffs, to be able to cast Miracle.
CHA|18|28|Needs to be high, since Sorcerer uses CHA.
[/TABLE]
Level up points add +5 CHA. Inherent bonuses add +4 CON, +4 INT, +4 WIS, +5 CHA. Priya is young adult, but could gain additional mental stats by being venerable. With buffs up (which they are 24/7) base stats get significantly higher:
{TABLE]Stat|Value|Math
STR|59|35 base (Draconic Polymorph into Ha-Naga) + 16 enhancement (Bite of the Werebear) + 4 sacred (Holy Transformation) + 4 morale (Aura of Vitality).
DEX|58|38 base (Draconic Polymorph into Ha-Naga) + 10 enhancement (Divine Agility) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty) + 4 morale (Aura of Vitality) + 2 untyped (Horseshoes of Flame).
CON|54|34 base (Draconic Polymorph into Ha-Naga) + 4 inherent + 8 enhancement (Bite of the Werebear) + 4 sacred (Holy Transformation) + 4 morale (Aura of Vitality).
INT|48|30 base (Polymorph Any Object into Sarrukh (SK)) + 4 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection) + 10 untyped (Horseshoes of Flame).
WIS|41|18 base + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection) + 19 insight (Owl's Insight).
CHA|50|28 base + 8 enhancement (Nixie's Grace) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty) + 4 morale (Snowsong) + 6 untyped (Horseshoes of Flame).
[/TABLE]
Note 50 CHA exceeds Aphrodite (DaD, CHA 47), and equals Sune (FaP, CHA 50). Priya is as Charismatic as it's possible to get without exceeding all the deities and getting into trouble from their jealousy. :smallwink:
Caster Level: All these are untyped bonuses except Adept Spirit which is an insight bonus:
{TABLE]Bonus|Source|Comments
20|Base caster level
1|Orange Ioun Stone
1|Ring of Arcane Might
1|Create Magic Tattoo
2|Harmonic Chorus
1|Mark of the Enlightened Soul|Makes all spells [good], combined with Good domain
3|Reserves of Strength
1|Adept Spirit|One spell
2|Spell Enhancer (SC)|One spell
1|Mystic Surge (PHB2)|One spell
2|Caster Lens (ToM)|3 rounds
4|Prayer Bead of Karma|10 minutes
39|Total
[/TABLE]
Priya's caster level for spells is always at least 26. With a few rounds of preparation she can raise that to 35. For the most important buffs during her morning buff routine, she can raise that again to 39.
The DC to dispel is 11+CL. Dispelling Buffer gives +5. Hence even for lesser buffs the DC is 11+5+26 = 46. The highest a non-epic dispel check can ever be is 40 (20 on 1d20 roll + Max CL 20 for a spell like Reaving Dispel). Therefore barring specialized builds it's impossible to remove any of Priya's buffs with any non-epic Dispel Magic spell.
With all her buffs at a high enough CL that they can't be dispelled, the only way to beat Priya is to remove them with Mage's Disjunction. However getting Disjunction to stick isn't trivial. Here's what you need to do:
Cast Disjunction at Priya #1: As immediate action she casts Celerity and moves or Dimension Door's out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #2: Familiar has readied action to cast Dimension Door (given via Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability) to teleport them both out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #3: As free action with Ring of Spell-Battle she counterspells.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #4: As free action with Battlemagic Perception she counterspells.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #5: As free action she says keyword to activate casted Contingent Celerity on herself, and moves or teleports out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #6: As free action she says keyword to activate casted Contingent Celerity on familiar, who teleports them both out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #7-27: As free action she says one of 21 different keywords to activate the 20 crafted Contingent Celerity instances on herself (or the 1 crafted Contingent Celerity instance on her familiar) which can then be used to move or Dimension Door them both out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #28: No actions or contingencies left, so finally her buffs go down. Now you can take her out, but you better do it in one round before it's her turn again and she can reapply all her buffs and go nova on you.
In summary you need 28 mages that can cast Disjunction in a row (with readied actions to continually interrupt Priya's counters) before you can attack her, or one powerful Mage who also has numerous immediate actions, metamagic reduction, and/or contingent spells that allows him to cast Disjunction 28 times in a row to interrupt all Priya's countermeasures. Such is the nature of high level combat. :smalltongue:
Skills: Skills are the bread and butter of non-combat D&D:
First, all skills get +10: +5 competence (Wieldskill) + 4 morale (Greater Heroism) + 1 luck (Prayer) + 1 circumstance (Focusing Chant) + 2 untyped (Share Talents) + 1 untyped (Interfaith Blessing: Boccob) - 4 untyped (Empyreal Ecstasy). For some specific skills we have:
Concentration +55: 23 ranks + 22 CON bonus + 10 other.
Spellcraft +57: 23 ranks + 2 synergy + 3 feat (Skill Focus: Spellcraft) + 19 INT bonus + 10 other.
Diplomacy +50: 0 ranks + 4 synergy + 20 CHA bonus + 10 enhancement (Voice of the Dragon) + 6 untyped (Beguiling Influence) + 10 other.
Bluff +92: 5 ranks + 20 CHA bonus + 10 enhancement (Voice of the Dragon) + 10 {11} insight (Serene Visage) + 30 untyped (Glibness) + 6 untyped (Beguiling Influence) + 10 other.
Intimidate +58: 0 ranks + 2 synergy + 20 CHA bonus + 10 competence (Towering Oak) + 10 enhancement (Voice of the Dragon) + 5 sacred (Divine Presence) + 6 untyped (Beguiling Influence) + 5 other.
Perform (Dance) +51: 10 ranks + 20 CHA bonus + 3 Skill Focus (Dance) + 8 untyped (Sirine's Grace) + 10 other.
Knowledge (Arcana) +54: 21 ranks + 19 INT bonus + 4 insight (Spiritual Advisor) + 10 other.
Spot +57: 0 ranks + 2 Alertness + 15 WIS bonus + 8 racial (Eyes of the Avoral) + 10 insight (Vision of the Omniscient Eye) + 8 untyped (Essence of the Raptor) + 4 untyped (Tojanida Sight) + 10 other.
With pre-buffing for one-time checks, skills can be significantly increased by up to an additional +56 (depending on stacking): +15 {+18} insight (Divine Insight) + 18 luck (Improvisation) + 20 competence (Guidance of the Avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a)).
More Stats: Hp, AC, DR, initiative, speed, saves:
919 hp: 51 base + 440 CON bonus + 20 (Heroics: Improved Toughness) + many different sources of temporary HP: 156 (Bear's Heart) + 52 (Ruin Delver's Fortune) + 40 {52} (Righteous Fury) + 30 {36} (Heart of Earth) + 23 {26} (Mass Aid) + 39 (Divine Power) + 20 {23} (False Life) + 20 {23} (Greater Heroism) + 1 (Virtue). Priya doesn't really care about HP, since she's immune to damage.
AC 100: 10 base - 1 Flaw (Vulnerable) + 24 DEX bonus + 2 natural (Righteous Fury) + 8 armor (Greater Luminous Armor) + 6 circumstance (Holy Star) + 4 shield (Shield) + 1 dodge (Haste) + 20 deflection (Sirine's Grace) + 4 sacred (Glorious Raiment) + 3 luck (Recitation) + 4 insight (Snowsong) + 5 armor enhancement (Magic Vestment) + 8 natural armor enhancement (Bite of the Wearboar). Priya doesn't care about AC either, since she's immune to damage and grappling.
DR 20/- (Greater Shield of Lathander), DR 10/adamantine (Sudden Aegis), DR 10/evil (Channeled Divine Shield), DR 10/magic (Blessing of Bahamut), DR 5/cold iron (Nixie's Grace). Again, not important since immune to damage.
+45 Initiative: 24 DEX bonus + 5 competence (Primal Instinct) + 6 {7} insight (Combat Readiness) + 4 untyped (Heroics: Improved Initiative) + 5 untyped (Nerveskitter). If you know combat is coming soon, you can also cast non-persistable spells Sign for +4 untyped, and Weapon Augmentation (Eager) on a weapon for +2 untyped, to get an additional +6. Also in Dire Tortoise form Priya always gets a free surprise round at start of combat while opponents are flat-footed (so she only needs to care about initiative when fighting opponents also in Dire Tortoise form).
145 land speed: 60 base (Unicorn Heart) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 50 untyped (Footsteps of the Divine).
230 fly speed (perfect): 100 base (Celestial Aspect) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 30 untyped (Cloud Wings) + 30 untyped (Wings of Swift Flying) + 30 untyped (Aerial Alacrity) + 10 untyped (Lord of the Sky).
120 swim speed: 60 base (Heart of Water) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 30 untyped (Wings of the Sea).
80 burrow speed: 30 base (Burrow) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 20 untyped (Rapid Burrowing).
90 climb speed: 60 base (Walk the Mountain's Path) + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Saving throws: Priya 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 56 or below, even on a natural 1. For actual saves when they happen, they all gain +20 luck (Ruin Delver's Fortune) + 6 resistance (Superior Resistance) + 5 morale (Conviction) + 4 sacred (Holy Transformation) + 3 insight (True Prayer of the Chosen) = +38.
Fort +64: 4 base + 22 CON bonus + 38 other.
Reflex +71: 8 base + 24 DEX bonus + 1 dodge (Haste) + 38 other.
Will +73: 20 base + 15 WIS bonus + 38 other.
Melee: Let's beat the Hecatonceries (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#hecatoncheires) to death in a single round!
Although focused on spellcasting, Priya is also an effective melee combatant (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WaifFu) and can kill opponents without casting anything at all. She only needs to use a zero gold non-masterwork quarterstaff, however with buffs it will effectively be an epic colossal adamantine +5 keen holy frost shocking flaming burst ghost touch weapon. :smallamused:
Useful melee buffs not directly related to attack and damage rolls are Heroics (for Power Attack), Wraithstrike (to always hit touch AC), Lion's Charge (so can move and full attack each round), Sakkratar's Triple Strike (effectively double haste), Touch of Adamantine (effectively adamantine), Weapon of Impact (keen), Fracturing Weapon (reduces enemy DR), Ghost Touch Weapon (for incorporeal opponents), and Undead Bane Weapon (for undead opponents).
Attack rolls: 20 BAB (Divine Power) -2 (Noncombatant flaw) +1 Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff) +28 STR bonus +5 enhancement (Greater Magic Weapon) +5 {+6} luck (Nature's Favor) +4 morale (Greater Heroism) +2 competence (Create Magic Tattoo) +1 circumstance (Focusing Chant) +1 untyped (Haste) +1 untyped (Burning Rage) +1 untyped (Interfaith Blessing: Boccob) -20 (Power Attack) +2 (roll, ignoring natural 1's) = 50. Priya's attack sequence is at least 50/50/50/45/40/35.
Damage rolls: 4d6 (Greater Mighty Wallop: Quarterstaff) +42 STR bonus (2H) +10 enhancement (Brambles) +5 {+6} luck (Nature's Favor) +3 morale (Righteous Wrath) +19 untyped (Ferocity of Sanguine Rage) +2 untyped (Burning Rage) +40 (Power Attack) +6 holy (Blessing of the Righteous) +6 sacred (Flamebound Weapon) +6 cold (Frost Weapon) +6 cold (Snowsong, stacks with Frost Weapon) +6 electricity (Weapon of Energy) +6 sonic (Sonic Weapon) +8 fire (Blades of Fire) +1d6 fire (Flame of Faith, stacks with Blades of Fire) = 177 to 202.
Each hit does at least 177 damage, and six hits do 1062 to 1212 total. Assume 5% of attacks are misses due to natural 1's (reduce damage by 5%), and 10% of hits are criticals (double damage), and Priya does 1188 average damage to a target a round (barring resistances and unpenetratable DR).
The above is just with Priya's default configuration. If you really want to be good at melee, additional buffs can increase your damage, such as Draconic Polymorph: Firbolg (44 base STR), and Giant Size (+32 size to STR), which increase STR from 67 to 108. Also pick up temporary buffs Weapon Augmentation (Collision) and Weapon Augmentation (Eager) for 5+2 = +7 untyped damage. These give Priya +61 attack and 208 to 233 damage per hit, or 1248 to 1398 total. :smallsmile:
Priya the Prismatic Priestess is a level 20 optimized build that demonstrates specifically how powerful stacked buffs can be. It operates on (i.e. relies upon, or abuses) the following four concepts:
Infinite spells: Most characters have to carefully choose how to divide their spells per day between combat and (a small set of) buffs. With infinite spells you can buff as much as possible. Priya is effectively a solo version of Team Solar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188138).
Miracle: Most characters are balanced by only having access to certain buffs. Miracle allows access to every 7th level spell ever printed. Combine with above to cast every possible buff 7th level and below.
Persistent metamagic: Use Persist Spell metamagic to make buffs last all day. Having all buffs up all the time and not needing to buff during battle is a huge action advantage to the persistomancer character.
Metamagic reduction: This needs to be reduced to zero, and infinitely repeatable, since we're persisting hundreds of up to 9th level buffs. For example, even Divine Metamagic is underpowered for our purposes, since it's limited by turn attempts.
The Build: Sorcerer 6/Incantatrix 4/Spelldancer 1/Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil 7/Divine Oracle 2
Sorcerer: Base class needs to be Sor or Wiz to get access to 9th level spell Absorption. Sor chosen to take advantage of Sor only spells like (Greater) Arcane Fusion, Wings of Cover, and Wings of Flurry. No early entry tricks are needed to get into PrC's.
Incantatrix: Use Cooperative Metamagic and Metamagic Effect to persist Necromancy and Evocation spells already cast (ability used by Body Outside Body clones to avoid per day limits). The bonus metamagic feats are important too, since the build is feat intensive.
Spelldancer: Only one level is needed to persist buffs. Make yourself immune to fatigue and constitution damage so you can Spelldance infinitely. Limited in that you can't persist Necromancy and Evocation buffs with Spelldancer, so use Incantatrix for those schools.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil: For the prismatic theme, and general invulnerability. Not part of the persisting buffs ability, just nice to have. Note Wardings as spell effects can be Persisted with Incantatrix, so you can have veils up 24/7! :smallbiggrin:
Divine Oracle: For a domain to substitute into other interesting choices, to allow access to certain 8th level spells. Not part of the persisting buffs ability, just nice to have. Note the 2nd level isn't needed, and can be replaced with some other casting progression class.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil (prismatic effects) is related to the colors of the rainbow. That combined with Divine Oracle and using Miracle results in the "Prismatic Priestess" title. Priestess not priest, since the fluff for both Incantatrix and Spelldancer is that both are almost always women.
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:
Metamagic: Metamagic feats stack in the order you want, and influence existing effects. For example, Extend applied to Persist lasts 48 hours, and Twin combined with Repeat gives four castings (instead of three). 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. Without Ocular Spell, Priya loses around 25% of her persistent buffs, being still extremely powerful but measurably lower.
Miracle: When reproducing spells (i.e. not paying 5000 XP) it doesn't require a deity's attention. One might 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 or additional metamagic applied to it.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil: Veils reproduce prismatic wall layers and therefore block antimagic fields. If only there were a way to work Initiate of Mystra into the build to be able to actually cast in an antimagic field! Instead Priya has to block them from affecting her, which is just as good. If veils are ruled to go down in antimagic the build still works, just has an obvious Achilles Heel, like how Superman has kryptonite. There's lots of debate on whether veils block your own actions (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=6997.0) or whether you can cast through them. This build is strong either way. :smallbiggrin:
Feats: Feats are the most significant choice in a build after class, and like levels they're limited, so need to be chosen well:
{TABLE]Source|Feat|Needed for
Flaw #1|Noncombatant|Casters usually don't melee
Flaw #2|Vulnerable|Casters usually don't get hit
Flaw #1 bonus|Combat Casting|Spelldancer qualification
Flaw #2 bonus|Reserves of Strength|Higher caster level
Level 1|Extend Spell|Persistent Spell qualification
Human bonus|Maximize Spell|Good buffs
Level 3|Skill Focus: Spellcraft|Io7FV qualification
Level 6|Spell Focus: Abjuration|Io7FV qualification
Level 9|Greater Spell Focus: Abjuration|Io7FV qualification
Level 12|Persist Spell|Persisting buffs
Level 15|Repeat Spell|Infinite buffs
Level 18|Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment: Luck)|Access to Miracle
Inx level 1|Twin Spell|Infinite buffs
Inx level 4|Invisible Spell|Arcane Spellsurge efficiency
Otyugh Hole|Iron Will|Incantatrix qualification
Frog God's Fane|Skill Focus (Religion)|Divine Oracle qualification
Heward's Hall|Skill Focus (Dance)|Thematic for Spelldancer
[/TABLE]
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. Feat retraining (PHB2 page 193) 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 11, and then retrain them to other feats at levels 12 through 14, and finally buff yourself in order to re-enable and actually use Spelldancing. Or just buy a Psychic Reformation to change those three feats immediately.
Miracle: Getting Miracle on the Sor spell list is key to this build. Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment) gives access to the Luck domain, where it's greater power allows casting Miracle once. An alternate method is to take the feat Arcane Disciple (Luck), however the former is preferred for Sor since Arcane Disciple also requires spending a spell known on Miracle to be able to actually cast it. With either feat, Absorption allows casting Miracle without using the per day limits of the feats themselves, since Absorption says "the spells so cast don't disappear from your list of prepared spells or count against the number of spells you can normally cast per day".
Gaining extra feats: If you need more feats (for example the DM doesn't allow flaws or magical locations) there are ways to get more (and without resorting to utter cheese such as using certain interpretations of Chaos Shuffling to get infinite feats):
Dump Twin Spell: You only need Repeat Spell to get infinite spells from Absorption. Repeat + Twin just makes buffing inside nested Time Stops easier.
Dump Invisible Spell: It's only included for fun (e.g. with Arcane Spellsurge), but isn't necessary for the buff routine.
Dump Ocular Spell: You can usually apply Ocular spell by including it when casting Miracle, as long as the total spell level is less than 7. Not having this feat only prevents a few level 6 and level 7 touch and variable range buffs, such as Cloak of Stars.
Dump Reserves of Strength: This is only present for additional caster level, and to be able to add 3 to HD caps, which allows fun options like being able to Shapechange into a Gibbering Orb (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/gibberingOrb.htm), to be able to cast 24 eye Rays and 2 spell-like abilities per round.
Free Extend spell: If your patron deity has the Planning domain, you can cast Substitute Domain to switch the Oracle domain (from Divine Oracle) with it, and pick up Extend Spell for free. Boccob is a good choice (Greater Deity of magic who allegedly created the first set of Seven Veils from a rainbow) assuming he's given that domain (CW page 146), as is Greater Deity Ubtao.
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).
Variants: Every build can be tweaked in any number of ways, and with all the details that go into this build Priya is no exception:
Wizard: Replace Sorcerer 1 with Wizard 1. Then you can pick up extra 8th and 9th level spells. However that misses out on powerful Sor only spells.
Cleric: Replace Sorcerer 1 with Cleric 1. You get Miracle on your spell list for free, and can pick up Absorption with the Divine Magician (CM) ACF, which are the only two spells needed for infinite spells.
Shadowcraft Mage: Replace Planar Touchstone (to get Miracle) with levels of Shadowcraft Mage (to simulate Miracle). That would replace the fluff of the build from rainbow light to shadowy darkness. An optimized Shadowcraft Mage would make a decent evil opposite for this build. :smalltongue:
Dump prismatic theme: In spite of the "Prismatic Priest" title, Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil isn't needed for infinite persistent buffs. Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil provides ultra defense, but its levels could be replaced with other options.
Equipment: Even though Priya technically doesn't need any equipment (and is almost as effective completely naked (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45529) since no parts of the build depend on equipment) she can still take good advantage of 760K gold WBL of a level 20 character:
For the prismatic theme, we'll start with the thematic Seven Veils magic item set (which is also useful if the build ever fights a copy of itself). We'll then add a set of useful consumable items, such as inherent stat bonuses, contingent spells, and demiplane creation. Finally we'll pick up generally useful equipment to wear:
{TABLE]Price|Item|Comments
22000|Turquoise Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (blue)
16000|Serpent Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (green)
11000|Veil of Doors|Piece of Seven Veils (violet)
7000|Veil of Whispers|Piece of Seven Veils (indigo)
4000|Veil of Storms|Piece of Seven Veils (yellow)
2000|Caustic Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (orange)
1000|Burning Veil|Piece of Seven Veils (red)
||
261475|Staff of Wish (17 charges)|Use to get +4 inherent bonus to CON, WIS, and INT, and +5 to CHA (slightly cheaper and much faster to apply than Tomes)
58800|Craft Contingent Celerity (x21)|20 on me, and 1 on familiar, to win the Celerity war against other optimized builds
8825|Power Stone (Genesis) |Because every high level caster needs their own private demiplane (cheaper than a scroll)
8825|Power Stone (Genesis)|If one demiplane is good, two are better :smallwink:
3000|Otyugh Hole visit|Iron Will feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
2000|Frog God's Fane visit|Skill Focus (Religion) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
5000|Heward's Hall visit|Skill Focus (Dance) feat. Recorded as part of WBL.
150|Feat Retraining|Retrain Dodge, Mobility, Endurance
100|Summon Familiar|Familiar gives action economy. All Priya's buffs are shared with her familiar, so it's almost as tough as she is. Her familiar is a colorful parrot (Storm page 52) which is identical to a Raven (speaks one language) but fits the prismatic theme.
||
37100|Runestaff of 1/day Prismatic Sphere / Wall / Deluge / Bow|Thematic item to cast the only prismatic spells Priya can't duplicate with Miracle.
32340|Anklet of Translocation + Horseshoes of Flame|The horseshoes ability (UMD it) are crafted on to the anklet foot slot item, so the result is a pretty anklet instead of bulky horseshoes.
30000|Ioun Stone (Orange)|+1 caster level
20000|Ring of Arcane Might|+1 caster level
20000|Prayer Bead of Karma|+4 caster level
16000|Ring of Spell-Battle|Free action counterspell
10000|Robe of Mysterious Conjuration|Allows casting Summon Monster IX
1500|Ivory crown|Focus item for Shapechange.
2853|Gold|Leftover from WBL
[/TABLE]
If you want to be really optimized, replace the Staff of Wish with a Scroll of Wish containing 40033 extra XP beyond the standard 5000 (costs 228990 gp), and use it for infinite wishes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268501) that don't depend on any other creature, and so can be spammed even inside Time Stop.
Spells known: With infinite Miracles, 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. Absorption, Shapechange, Time Stop, Superior Invisibility, Greater Arcane Fusion, Polymorph Any Object).
Combat spells: Swift or immediate action spells, that you actually want to cast in combat or transfer to your familiar (i.e. Celerity, Assay Spell Resistance, Dimension Door).
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).
Cantrips: 0th level spells you might want to spam, since they can be cast at will forever with Absorption up.
Some important buffs are 8th or 9th level or have expensive components, and therefore can't be simulated with Miracle. They are:
Absoption, Shapechange, Time Stop: Cast it normally, since it's one of Priya's 9th level spells known.
Greater Arcane Fusion, Polymorph Any Object, Superior Invisibility: Cast it normally, since it's one of Priya's 8th level spells known.
Foresight: Shapechange into Elemental Weird, give yourself free Foresight, then persist it with Incantatrix.
True Seeing: Shapechange into Elemental Weird, give yourself free True Seeing, then persist it with Incantatrix.
Mage's Disjunction: Shapechange into a Spellgaunt (MM2) and bite whatever you want to disjoin.
Summon Monster IX: Cast it using Robe of Mysterious Conjuration.
Astral Projection: Shapechange into a Nightmare or Shedu (FF) to cast it.
Mind Blank: Normally not needed since use Empryeal Ecstasy instead. If need full immunity to divination (and you don't want to have a Green or Violet Veil up) use Miracle to simulate Psionic Mind Blank (7th level).
Priya doesn't have all possible 7th level buffs. Types of buffs left out of her standard list include:
Non-persistable spells: Fortunate Fate is a nice spell, but is dischargable, so can't be persisted even with Ocular spell. Although not part of her once a day routine, spells like this may be cast as needed, such as before a known battle, but it's not an all day buff.
Expensive spells: Suffer the Flesh gives a nice bonus to caster level, but has a 250 gold component not freely coverable by Miracle. Priya may pay to cast this before an important battle, but to avoid drain on WBL it's not part of her daily buff routine.
Redundant spells: Mage armor isn't included, because Greater Luminous Armor covers everything it does and then some.
Spells with downsides: Forceward is nice because it makes you immune to force spells and effects. However that also disables her own casting of Wings of Flurry. This buff would certainly be included if she knows she'll be fighting an epic Force Dragon, but not normally.
Minor spells: Healing Rest gives a bonus to natural healing, but that's such a minor effect when you already have fast healing it's not worth including.
Physical side effects: Evard's Menacing Tentacles gives you a bonus to climb checks, but it gives you a bunch of tentacles sticking out of your body. That's a bit too eerie for Priya, who wants to be able to not stand out in public.
Unwanted side effects: Babau Slime does damage to those that hit you, however that's bad outside combat. Priya don't want to dissolve a beggar if she gets hugged in the marketplace.
Short term buffs: There's a lot of cheese that can be done by mimicking Artificer Infusions with Miracle, e.g. use Item Alteration (ECS) to change the bonus type of an array of magic items to be different stacking bonuses, to raise stats even further. However they only last for 10 min / level at most, so would need to be continually refreshed. Priya normally only chooses buffs that can be persisted for 48 hours.
Immunity list: Priya is invulnerable to just about everything, especially with a violet veil up. Here's the main immunities and their sources:
Damage: Delay Death (don't die at -10 hp) + Beastland Ferocity (stay conscious below 0), Shapechange (form with regeneration) + Favor of the Martyr (immune to non-lethal damage)
Fatigue, exhaustion, ability damage, ability drain: Sheltered Vitality (SC)
Energy drain, negative levels, magical death effects: Death Ward
Charm, compulsion, pain, daze, nausea, stun, non-lethal damage: Favor of the Martyr (SC)
Touch attacks, rays: Ray Deflection (SC)
Projectile ranged attacks: Stormrage (SC)
Non-magic weapons and missiles: Starmantle (BoED)
Poison: Ruin Delver's Fortune (SC)
Disease: Nezram's Amethyst Aura (LEoF)
Drugs: Drug Resistance (BoVD)
Blindness, dazzle: Vision of the Omniscient Eye (DM)
Deafness: Nezram's Emerald Energy Shield (LEoF)
Silence: Joyful Noise (SC)
Grapple: Freedom of Movement
Possession: Protection From Evil
Sleep, critical hits, flanking: Elemental Body (Air)
Sneak attacks: Heart of Water (CM)
AOO from moving: Lightfoot (SC)
Hunger, thirst: Sustain (BoED)
Breathing: Adapt Body, Deep Breath (SC) + Air Breathing (SC)
Water pressure: Transformation of the Deeps (Storm)
Planar effects: Planar Bubble (SC)
Surprise: Foresight
Mind-Affecting spells: Empyreal Ecstasy (BoED)
Divination spells: Mind Blank*, Green Veil, Violet Veil
Annoying spells (e.g. Blasphemy, Word of Chaos, Word of Balance, Dimensional Lock, Limited Wish, Maze): Spell Immunity
*Mind Blank usually isn't up, since it suppresses positive Enchantment buffs, but it is an option for divination immunity without using veils.
Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil wardings normally last 1 min / level (10 min / level for wall form). However as spell effects they can be persisted with Incantatrix. Normally you can only create wardings 4/day. Shapechange into a Gibbering Orb (HD cap raised to 28 via Reserves of Strength) allows swallowing creatures to steal their (Sp) abilities. Swallow your Body Outside Body clones to get free warding usages. That allows you to have all 7 veil colors up at once around you. :smallbiggrin:
Miracle: One spell can make you almost as strong as Pun-Pun:
Miracle is the single most versatile spell ever printed, which arguably makes it the most powerful spell (after all, Tier 1 is Tier 2 power plus versatility). Miracle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/miracle.htm) lets you do the following without XP cost:
Duplicate any 7th level spell. That includes 7th level spells from obscure classes like Wu Jen and from domains.
Duplicate any 8th level Cleric spell, including Cleric spells you have from your domains. With a domain from Divine Oracle, Priya can swap it out for other domains from her deity, and use Miracle to duplicate 8th level spells from those domains.
Anything else equivalent in power to the above. An obvious way to take advantage of this is to apply metamagic feats you don't have. Miracle can apply metamagic feats if the total slot is still 7th level. For example, instead of casting Miracle to duplicate Fireball (3rd level spell slot), cast it to duplicate an Empowered (+2) Widened (+2) Energy Substitution (Acid) Fireball (+0) = 7th level spell slot. Also, many spell-like abilities are equivalent to a spell of a particular level. For example, concerning indigo veil from Iot7FV, "a warding with this veil is equivalent to a 7th level spell", which means you should be able to give yourself red through indigo veils even if you have no levels in the Iot7FV PrC! (Although to avoid cheese and since we want the violet veil Priya has taken all seven Iot7FV levels.)
There are other forms of casting that aren't standard spells, but are still available in 9 levels, or are equivalent to spells of certain levels. Miracle should be able to duplicate those forms of magic up to 7th level, such as:
Psionic Powers up to 7th level.
Warlock Invocations up to 7th level (all least, lesser, greater, and some dark).
Shadowcaster Mysteries up to 7th level.
Truenamer Utterances up to 6th level (as high as they go).
Artificer Infusions up to 6th level (as high as they go).
Going through those lists gives additional buffs that make an already powerful character even stronger. Even more extreme than stacking buffs from all these spellcasting and other magic using classes is "anything equivalent in power to the above" can be interpreted as making up whatever ability you want. For example, even if there's no spell that does X in your campaign world, you can do it with an XP free Miracle as long as your DM agrees that if it were a spell it would be 7th level or lower. That effectively makes casting Miracle like a minor version of Pun-Pun, since you're only limited by your imagination. However like Pun-Pun, we'll restrict our buffing to duplicating spells from published WotC sources.
Infinite buffing: This is key to the build, so need to be done properly:
Priya casts Repeat Maximized Absorption (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212739). She, her familiar, and/or other allies target Priya with nukes or other spells to absorb 9 or 10 spell levels. Use those 9 spell levels to cast Miracle to duplicate a buff. Now repeat the nuking to do the same with the other casting of Absorption. Use those 9 spell levels to cast Repeat Maximized Absorption again to repeat the process. Note this works even if one tries to rule that multiple castings of Absorption replace each other, because Repeat Spell casts the spell separately again at the beginning of the next round, and one can cast a free spell using the first Absorption instance before the second instance gets cast.
To get free metamagic to apply Repeat Spell to Absorption (or to apply Persist Spell to whatever buff) Spelldance before casting it, or use Incantatrix. Make one of your early free Miracle buffs be Body Outside Body, and tell your clones to use Metamagic Effect (which as a Su ability isn't considered spellcasting) so you don't have to use your own limited per day abilities. Once your clones have exhausted their uses of Metamagic Effect, cast Body Outside Body again.
Where do the targeted spells to power up Absorption come from? Certain spells can allow you to select different creatures to target over multiple rounds, like Glorious Master of the Elements, Stormrage, and Celestial Aspect. With these up (i.e. Persisted) you and your familiar can target yourself continually. You can also cast Call Faithful Servants (BoED) several times to bring in a "cutie brigade", i.e. 10 Musteval Guardinals that serve you for a year, and have them all ready actions to target you with their at-will Magic Missile.
From a fully unbuffed state, it takes a few spells to get the loop started. Before you can Spelldance free metamagic, you need to cast Owl's Wisdom to buff your Wisdom past 19, Heroics to give yourself Dodge and Mobility, and Unfailing Endurance (duplicated with Miracle) to give yourself Endurance. One 9th level slot is needed for Absorption to cast that Miracle. Once Spelldancing is online, you need to cast one more Repeat Absorption to start infinite spells. In summary the total initial cost is three 2nd level slots + two 9th level slots.
Buffs: Some powerful buffs and spell combinations:
Domains: Cast Substitute Domain to convert Oracle domain into some other domain of your deity. That allows Miracle to simulate the 8th level spell from that domain, which ordinarily isn't allowable from Miracle. For example, assuming Boccob, convert to Force domain, then use Miracle to cast Telekinetic Sphere. Good deity choices with lots of domains are Taiia (creator aspect) with 12, and especially the Sovereign Host with 40. If your deity is good alignment (e.g. Mystra, meaning they have the Good domain) switch to it for +1 CL to all spells due to Mark of the Enlightened Soul.
Reserves of Strength: This feat not only gives +3 caster level, it increases caster level caps by 3 for cast spells as well. For example, Shapechange can give you a form with up to 28HD instead of just 25HD, Orb spells do 18d6 damage instead of just 15d6, and so on. Numerous buffs and nukes become better. For stats listed later, additional bonuses from RoS will be inside {}'s.
Immune to damage: Delay Death makes it so you don't die at -10 hp. Beastland Ferocity makes it so you don't fall unconscious below 0 hp. Together you can take infinite damage, and with infinite spells you can heal yourself from any deficit. Also cast Pact of Return (HoH) to give yourself free True Resurrection for as many specific causes of death you can think of.
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. That means Priya is guaranteed to never fail a saving throw DC 56 or below, unless forced to make the same saving throw multiple times in an encounter.
Immortality: Stay in an Astral Projection which keeps your real body in stasis. Once you're astral projected, presumably both your real self and your projection can be buffed separately. Priya's real self in stasis on her private demiplane has a Contingent Revivify and Pact of Return instances, so if her projected cord gets cut somehow her real self gets revived.
Agelessness: 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).
Shapechange: Change into a Chronotyryn (FF), for 2 actions a round. That makes Time Stop (and hence pulling off infinite Time Stops) twice as efficient. Not necessary for infinite buffing and infinite actions, but very nice. This is Priya's default Shapechange form when buffing. Other excellent Shapechange forms are Dire Tortoise to guarantee going first in any combat (Priya's default Shapechange form before combat or when not doing anything else), and Gibbering Orb {since HD cap raised to 28} for 24 eye rays and 2 spell-like abilities per round (Priya's default Shapechange form during combat). As a Gibbering Orb, consume your Body Outside Body clones so you get extra Iot7FV warding usages. Have all 7 veil colors up at once instead of just 2. :smallbiggrin:
Shapechange #2: Another nice Shapechange form is 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!
Polymorph Any Object: Polymorph into a form with high INT, i.e. Sarrukh (SK) at 30 INT is the highest form with <= 15 HD {18 HD with RoS}. 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.
Draconic Polymorph: It's better than normal Polymorph since it supports creatures up to 20 HD {23 HD with RoS} and gives untyped stat bonuses on top of it. Polymorph into a Ha-Naga (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/haNaga.htm) after the above two spells (the later spell will replace or render irrelevant the physical stat changing parts of the earlier spells) to get the best base physical stats.
Alter Self: You're allowed to change into yourself, so cast it after all the above to replace your current form with your original human form, while still having the good stats of a Ha-Naga, the INT the Sauukh, and the (Su) of the Chronotyryn, Dire Tortoise, or Gibbering Orb. Be aware that selecting any new form via Shapechange will also overwrite your appearance and physical stats with whatever creature, requiring casting Draconic Polymorph and Alter Self again.
Nuking: Priya makes a decent mailman. For high damage, cast a Metamagic Effect Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized + Reserves of Strength + Empowered Hammer of Righteousness (from Miracle). Releasing from both eyes in the next eight hours then does 39x(8+1d8)x2x2x1.5 = 2106 to 3744 force damage to an evil creature. Another excellent nuke is Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Empowered Moonbow, which does 3x(10{+1})x(6+1d6)x2x2x1.5 = 1386 to 2376 electricity damage to an evil creature. If you need to hit something with high SR or in an antimagic field, add Acid Sheath (SC) to your buffs then cast a Repeat Twin Ocular Maximized Empowered Orb of Acid, which does (15{+3})x(6+1d6+2)x2x2x1.5 = 972 to 1512 acid damage to an evil creature.
Rerolls: The Luck Domain granted power gives one reroll per day, which helps avoid natural 1 autofails. Battle Hymn (SC) allows one will save reroll a round. Some non-Persistable spells allow rerolls that can be cast before a known battle: Insight of Good Fortune (PHB2), even though it only lasts 1 round / level, allows at one point rolling twice and taking the best result. Lucky Cape (MoE), even though it only lasts 10 min / level, allows rerolling a saving throw. Forced Dream (MoE), even though it only lasts 1 round / level, gives the ability to back up time to the beginning of turn, which is useful to do things over.
Infinite Time Stop: Time Stop can't be Persisted, however we can still do what amounts to an infinite Time Stop:
Priya can cast Time Stop repeatedly (casting it again before the first instance ends) for what amounts to an infinite Time Stop. That allows her to apply her buffs inside a Time Stop, in effectively zero time. Body Outside Body clones are presumably frozen and not inside the Time Stop with you, however your familiar (who you Share Spells with) is, and you can still apply metamagic with Spelldancer inside Time Stop. Hence you can't do ALL buffs inside Time Stop, but you can do over 90% of them.
Casting a Maximized Twin Repeat Time Stop gives 20 free rounds of actions, and uses 10 rounds of Spelldancing, for 10 rounds of actions profit. Do it twice so you have 20 free rounds. Use 14 of those rounds to Spelldance cast a Maximized Twin Repeat Absorption, giving you 4 free spells. 3 of those free spells are used to cast Absorption and the two Time Stops. Use the last free spell to cast Miracle to apply a buff or do whatever else you want. This allows 1 free buff to be applied every 40 rounds on average, while keeping the infinite Time Stop going. That's an awful lot of dancing, but with Endurance, immunity to fatigue, and no need to sleep or eat Priya won't get tired.
Infinite actions: You can't damage opponents inside Time Stop. How about infinite standard actions instead? Priya can do that too:
Cast Greater Arcane Fusion. In the 7th level spell granted cast Celerity, and use its standard action to do whatever you want. In the 4th level spell slot also cast Celerity, and use that standard action to cast Greater Arcane Fusion again. That gives you free standard actions until you run out of spell slots. (We're assuming a balanced interpretation here that provides up to a 7th level spell slot for a single spell you know, instead of a 7th level spell after arbitrary metamagic, to avoid cheese of casting Sanctum Greater Arcane Fusion to easily do infinite spells in a row. However we can still get infinite spells even with the more restrictive interpretation.)
Anyway, every other time in the Greater Arcane Fusion loop use your free standard action to cast Time Stop, and inside Time Stop use the techniques from before to give yourself a free Twin Repeat Absorption, so when Time Stop ends you have four free 9th level spells. Of those four spells, use 1 to pay for the next Time Stop, 2 to pay for the two castings of Greater Arcane Fusion, and the final to pay for whatever you want to cast in your free action. This allows you to keep the Greater Arcane Fusion loop going, which means infinite standard actions in a row. (Remember the first standard action used to cast the first Greater Arcane Fusion never actually stops, since you're getting additional nested standard actions within it.)
Infinite standard actions means infinite spells in a row, which means dealing infinite damage. For example, Priya could disintegrate the entire planet as an immediate action, one 10 foot cube at a time, if she dances enough. :smallamused: Abusing time in this manner may get Quarut Inevitables after you, but a measly CR 17 monster is hardly a threat at this point. She can even take out epic characters stronger than her (since she has infinite actions while the universe is eternally frozen around her) unless she activates their contingent spells, or they have specialized feats like Spell Stowaway (Time Stop) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#spellStowaway). Priya may even be able to challenge deities (barring portfolio sense) because it takes a standard action to use a Salient Divine Ability, and she may be able to get her infinite actions started before they have time to do anything. Spam the transport option of Wish to teleport your godly victim outside of their divine realm to you, and then lay the smackdown. :smallbiggrin:
All this gives Priya a unique Mage's Disjunction defense. She giggles, basks in the magic and lets it dispel all her buffs, then as an immediate action casts Celerity + Time Stop and reapplies all her buffs inside nested Time Stops and free standard actions. The enemy caster wonders why after casting Disjunction all her buffs still seem to be in place! :smalltongue:
Stats: All six of Priya's stats are in the 40's and 50's:
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:
{TABLE]Stat|Buy|Base|Comments
STR|8|8|Dump, since you can replace with Draconic Polymorph.
DEX|14|14|Need at least 13 to qualify for Dodge and hence Spelldancer. Can dump if you allow qualifying for feats and PrC with buffs.
CON|8|12|Dump, since you can replace with Draconic Polymorph.
INT|16|20|Should be at least 14, since need lots of skill points, with Perform (Dance), Tumble, Knowledge (Nature), and Knowledge (Dungeoneering) needed cross-class.
WIS|14|18|Needs to be at least 19 with buffs, to be able to cast Miracle.
CHA|18|28|Needs to be high, since Sorcerer uses CHA.
[/TABLE]
Level up points add +5 CHA. Inherent bonuses add +4 CON, +4 INT, +4 WIS, +5 CHA. Priya is young adult, but could gain additional mental stats by being venerable. With buffs up (which they are 24/7) base stats get significantly higher:
{TABLE]Stat|Value|Math
STR|59|35 base (Draconic Polymorph into Ha-Naga) + 16 enhancement (Bite of the Werebear) + 4 sacred (Holy Transformation) + 4 morale (Aura of Vitality).
DEX|58|38 base (Draconic Polymorph into Ha-Naga) + 10 enhancement (Divine Agility) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty) + 4 morale (Aura of Vitality) + 2 untyped (Horseshoes of Flame).
CON|54|34 base (Draconic Polymorph into Ha-Naga) + 4 inherent + 8 enhancement (Bite of the Werebear) + 4 sacred (Holy Transformation) + 4 morale (Aura of Vitality).
INT|48|30 base (Polymorph Any Object into Sarrukh (SK)) + 4 inherent + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection) + 10 untyped (Horseshoes of Flame).
WIS|41|18 base + 4 enhancement (Chasing Perfection) + 19 insight (Owl's Insight).
CHA|50|28 base + 8 enhancement (Nixie's Grace) + 4 sacred (Inner Beauty) + 4 morale (Snowsong) + 6 untyped (Horseshoes of Flame).
[/TABLE]
Note 50 CHA exceeds Aphrodite (DaD, CHA 47), and equals Sune (FaP, CHA 50). Priya is as Charismatic as it's possible to get without exceeding all the deities and getting into trouble from their jealousy. :smallwink:
Caster Level: All these are untyped bonuses except Adept Spirit which is an insight bonus:
{TABLE]Bonus|Source|Comments
20|Base caster level
1|Orange Ioun Stone
1|Ring of Arcane Might
1|Create Magic Tattoo
2|Harmonic Chorus
1|Mark of the Enlightened Soul|Makes all spells [good], combined with Good domain
3|Reserves of Strength
1|Adept Spirit|One spell
2|Spell Enhancer (SC)|One spell
1|Mystic Surge (PHB2)|One spell
2|Caster Lens (ToM)|3 rounds
4|Prayer Bead of Karma|10 minutes
39|Total
[/TABLE]
Priya's caster level for spells is always at least 26. With a few rounds of preparation she can raise that to 35. For the most important buffs during her morning buff routine, she can raise that again to 39.
The DC to dispel is 11+CL. Dispelling Buffer gives +5. Hence even for lesser buffs the DC is 11+5+26 = 46. The highest a non-epic dispel check can ever be is 40 (20 on 1d20 roll + Max CL 20 for a spell like Reaving Dispel). Therefore barring specialized builds it's impossible to remove any of Priya's buffs with any non-epic Dispel Magic spell.
With all her buffs at a high enough CL that they can't be dispelled, the only way to beat Priya is to remove them with Mage's Disjunction. However getting Disjunction to stick isn't trivial. Here's what you need to do:
Cast Disjunction at Priya #1: As immediate action she casts Celerity and moves or Dimension Door's out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #2: Familiar has readied action to cast Dimension Door (given via Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability) to teleport them both out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #3: As free action with Ring of Spell-Battle she counterspells.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #4: As free action with Battlemagic Perception she counterspells.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #5: As free action she says keyword to activate casted Contingent Celerity on herself, and moves or teleports out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #6: As free action she says keyword to activate casted Contingent Celerity on familiar, who teleports them both out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #7-27: As free action she says one of 21 different keywords to activate the 20 crafted Contingent Celerity instances on herself (or the 1 crafted Contingent Celerity instance on her familiar) which can then be used to move or Dimension Door them both out of the way.
Cast Disjunction at Priya #28: No actions or contingencies left, so finally her buffs go down. Now you can take her out, but you better do it in one round before it's her turn again and she can reapply all her buffs and go nova on you.
In summary you need 28 mages that can cast Disjunction in a row (with readied actions to continually interrupt Priya's counters) before you can attack her, or one powerful Mage who also has numerous immediate actions, metamagic reduction, and/or contingent spells that allows him to cast Disjunction 28 times in a row to interrupt all Priya's countermeasures. Such is the nature of high level combat. :smalltongue:
Skills: Skills are the bread and butter of non-combat D&D:
First, all skills get +10: +5 competence (Wieldskill) + 4 morale (Greater Heroism) + 1 luck (Prayer) + 1 circumstance (Focusing Chant) + 2 untyped (Share Talents) + 1 untyped (Interfaith Blessing: Boccob) - 4 untyped (Empyreal Ecstasy). For some specific skills we have:
Concentration +55: 23 ranks + 22 CON bonus + 10 other.
Spellcraft +57: 23 ranks + 2 synergy + 3 feat (Skill Focus: Spellcraft) + 19 INT bonus + 10 other.
Diplomacy +50: 0 ranks + 4 synergy + 20 CHA bonus + 10 enhancement (Voice of the Dragon) + 6 untyped (Beguiling Influence) + 10 other.
Bluff +92: 5 ranks + 20 CHA bonus + 10 enhancement (Voice of the Dragon) + 10 {11} insight (Serene Visage) + 30 untyped (Glibness) + 6 untyped (Beguiling Influence) + 10 other.
Intimidate +58: 0 ranks + 2 synergy + 20 CHA bonus + 10 competence (Towering Oak) + 10 enhancement (Voice of the Dragon) + 5 sacred (Divine Presence) + 6 untyped (Beguiling Influence) + 5 other.
Perform (Dance) +51: 10 ranks + 20 CHA bonus + 3 Skill Focus (Dance) + 8 untyped (Sirine's Grace) + 10 other.
Knowledge (Arcana) +54: 21 ranks + 19 INT bonus + 4 insight (Spiritual Advisor) + 10 other.
Spot +57: 0 ranks + 2 Alertness + 15 WIS bonus + 8 racial (Eyes of the Avoral) + 10 insight (Vision of the Omniscient Eye) + 8 untyped (Essence of the Raptor) + 4 untyped (Tojanida Sight) + 10 other.
With pre-buffing for one-time checks, skills can be significantly increased by up to an additional +56 (depending on stacking): +15 {+18} insight (Divine Insight) + 18 luck (Improvisation) + 20 competence (Guidance of the Avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a)).
More Stats: Hp, AC, DR, initiative, speed, saves:
919 hp: 51 base + 440 CON bonus + 20 (Heroics: Improved Toughness) + many different sources of temporary HP: 156 (Bear's Heart) + 52 (Ruin Delver's Fortune) + 40 {52} (Righteous Fury) + 30 {36} (Heart of Earth) + 23 {26} (Mass Aid) + 39 (Divine Power) + 20 {23} (False Life) + 20 {23} (Greater Heroism) + 1 (Virtue). Priya doesn't really care about HP, since she's immune to damage.
AC 100: 10 base - 1 Flaw (Vulnerable) + 24 DEX bonus + 2 natural (Righteous Fury) + 8 armor (Greater Luminous Armor) + 6 circumstance (Holy Star) + 4 shield (Shield) + 1 dodge (Haste) + 20 deflection (Sirine's Grace) + 4 sacred (Glorious Raiment) + 3 luck (Recitation) + 4 insight (Snowsong) + 5 armor enhancement (Magic Vestment) + 8 natural armor enhancement (Bite of the Wearboar). Priya doesn't care about AC either, since she's immune to damage and grappling.
DR 20/- (Greater Shield of Lathander), DR 10/adamantine (Sudden Aegis), DR 10/evil (Channeled Divine Shield), DR 10/magic (Blessing of Bahamut), DR 5/cold iron (Nixie's Grace). Again, not important since immune to damage.
+45 Initiative: 24 DEX bonus + 5 competence (Primal Instinct) + 6 {7} insight (Combat Readiness) + 4 untyped (Heroics: Improved Initiative) + 5 untyped (Nerveskitter). If you know combat is coming soon, you can also cast non-persistable spells Sign for +4 untyped, and Weapon Augmentation (Eager) on a weapon for +2 untyped, to get an additional +6. Also in Dire Tortoise form Priya always gets a free surprise round at start of combat while opponents are flat-footed (so she only needs to care about initiative when fighting opponents also in Dire Tortoise form).
145 land speed: 60 base (Unicorn Heart) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 50 untyped (Footsteps of the Divine).
230 fly speed (perfect): 100 base (Celestial Aspect) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 30 untyped (Cloud Wings) + 30 untyped (Wings of Swift Flying) + 30 untyped (Aerial Alacrity) + 10 untyped (Lord of the Sky).
120 swim speed: 60 base (Heart of Water) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 30 untyped (Wings of the Sea).
80 burrow speed: 30 base (Burrow) + 30 enhancement (Haste) + 20 untyped (Rapid Burrowing).
90 climb speed: 60 base (Walk the Mountain's Path) + 30 enhancement (Haste).
Saving throws: Priya 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 56 or below, even on a natural 1. For actual saves when they happen, they all gain +20 luck (Ruin Delver's Fortune) + 6 resistance (Superior Resistance) + 5 morale (Conviction) + 4 sacred (Holy Transformation) + 3 insight (True Prayer of the Chosen) = +38.
Fort +64: 4 base + 22 CON bonus + 38 other.
Reflex +71: 8 base + 24 DEX bonus + 1 dodge (Haste) + 38 other.
Will +73: 20 base + 15 WIS bonus + 38 other.
Melee: Let's beat the Hecatonceries (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#hecatoncheires) to death in a single round!
Although focused on spellcasting, Priya is also an effective melee combatant (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WaifFu) and can kill opponents without casting anything at all. She only needs to use a zero gold non-masterwork quarterstaff, however with buffs it will effectively be an epic colossal adamantine +5 keen holy frost shocking flaming burst ghost touch weapon. :smallamused:
Useful melee buffs not directly related to attack and damage rolls are Heroics (for Power Attack), Wraithstrike (to always hit touch AC), Lion's Charge (so can move and full attack each round), Sakkratar's Triple Strike (effectively double haste), Touch of Adamantine (effectively adamantine), Weapon of Impact (keen), Fracturing Weapon (reduces enemy DR), Ghost Touch Weapon (for incorporeal opponents), and Undead Bane Weapon (for undead opponents).
Attack rolls: 20 BAB (Divine Power) -2 (Noncombatant flaw) +1 Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff) +28 STR bonus +5 enhancement (Greater Magic Weapon) +5 {+6} luck (Nature's Favor) +4 morale (Greater Heroism) +2 competence (Create Magic Tattoo) +1 circumstance (Focusing Chant) +1 untyped (Haste) +1 untyped (Burning Rage) +1 untyped (Interfaith Blessing: Boccob) -20 (Power Attack) +2 (roll, ignoring natural 1's) = 50. Priya's attack sequence is at least 50/50/50/45/40/35.
Damage rolls: 4d6 (Greater Mighty Wallop: Quarterstaff) +42 STR bonus (2H) +10 enhancement (Brambles) +5 {+6} luck (Nature's Favor) +3 morale (Righteous Wrath) +19 untyped (Ferocity of Sanguine Rage) +2 untyped (Burning Rage) +40 (Power Attack) +6 holy (Blessing of the Righteous) +6 sacred (Flamebound Weapon) +6 cold (Frost Weapon) +6 cold (Snowsong, stacks with Frost Weapon) +6 electricity (Weapon of Energy) +6 sonic (Sonic Weapon) +8 fire (Blades of Fire) +1d6 fire (Flame of Faith, stacks with Blades of Fire) = 177 to 202.
Each hit does at least 177 damage, and six hits do 1062 to 1212 total. Assume 5% of attacks are misses due to natural 1's (reduce damage by 5%), and 10% of hits are criticals (double damage), and Priya does 1188 average damage to a target a round (barring resistances and unpenetratable DR).
The above is just with Priya's default configuration. If you really want to be good at melee, additional buffs can increase your damage, such as Draconic Polymorph: Firbolg (44 base STR), and Giant Size (+32 size to STR), which increase STR from 67 to 108. Also pick up temporary buffs Weapon Augmentation (Collision) and Weapon Augmentation (Eager) for 5+2 = +7 untyped damage. These give Priya +61 attack and 208 to 233 damage per hit, or 1248 to 1398 total. :smallsmile: