A spellcasters worst nightmare

[Melcar]

Hello...

I’m running a game, where I have a very cocky wizard and I’m hoping you guys will help me come up with a challenge for this dude!

I need to find some anti- Spellcasting monsters. I need them to exist in Faerûn, meaning that it should be part of the FR line of books. I need them to be either 3.0 or 3.5 rules. CR should preferable be non-epic, or as low CR as possible and in no way must it be above CR 27.

I hope you guys will help me. Thanks

[Pilo]

Golems, golems on rampage. (CR min: 7 for standard MM golems)

Lychanthrope too, as they will raise the CR of the spellcaster without giving him/her any spellcasting abilities.

[Hyena]

Easy. Golem - any of them. And anti-magic field, just to be sure.

[marcielle]

The worst thing you can do to a spellcaster is another spellcaster.

[kabreras]

The worst thing you can do to a spellcaster is another spellcaster.

That !
Definitly that !

[TuggyNE]

I came in here with full certainty that this would be a discussion of monks and their overpowered spellcaster-kicking ways. Imagine my relief!

Now, on to the topic. I suggest a counterspelling/dispel-focused caster with one or two archer companions who ready a manyshot action to disrupt casting; the caster ensures that things like wind wall or friendly fire don't block the archers.

However, be careful to avoid going overboard with this; if you're trying to "teach that jerk a lesson" or something, it will probably end badly, but if you're just trying to make things closer to challenging, you should do OK.

[Scorponok]

I find a few low level (like, level 4 and above) fighters optimized for archery can create havoc with spellcasters, if they don't have a Protection From Arrows or Wind Wall prepared. Even with a DEX 16, they could have +8 to attack with feats and rapid shot their arrows for 1d8+1d8 per round. Add in magic arrows, a composite bow for STR damage, and a surprise round, and you have great attack and ok damage at long ranges. Great for low level wizards for sure but if you're talking CR27 as the highest, then as others have said, Golems are creatures spellcasters have very little answers for. Archer Golems? :smallbiggrin:

[Emperor Tippy]

Maximized Awakened Shadesteel Golem given 19 levels of Factotum and 1 of Mindbender (it's CR 20 or 21) along with the feat Persistent Emanation: Selective (feat from Shining South) Antimagic Field. Add on Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Improved Unarmed Strike, Exceptional Deflection, and Infinite Deflection.

Give it the thirty or so Craft Contingent spells that its HD let it have and the items that it gets.

Watch your party weep in horror.

Its worse when you give it Improved Spell Capacity enough times to get it a one per day 10th so that it can cast multiple 9th level spells per day.

Maximized Awakened Shadesteel Golem Psion 20 with a Persistent Emanation: Selective spell AMF is also positively nasty.

Hell, the same base but use Kung Fu Genius Cobra Strike Monk 14/ Factotum 8 with all of its other feats (besides the Permanent Emanation) on Font of Inspiration can be incredibly nasty.

[Emperor Tippy]

I came in here with full certainty that this would be a discussion of monks and their overpowered spellcaster-kicking ways. Imagine my relief!

Maximized Awakened Shadesteel Golem Monk 19/Swordsage 1 with Infinite Deflection, Exceptional Deflection, Permanent Emanation: Selective AMF, and Self Concealment taken 5 times.

Watch it slaughter your party and laugh.

[ikosaeder]

Spellcasters nightmares:
Spell resistance
Saving throws
Grapple
Sneak attacks
Confined spaces

So some suggestions:
Drows (Spell resistance, poisoned equipment vs bad fortitude) add class levels to adjust CR
Ghosts (draining touch ) CR depend on base creature (drow perhaps)
Golems (as suggested)
Glabrezu (Improved Grab, Spell resistance)

If you know the spell list, you can try to use creatures that are protected from his strength's.

[ps377]

However, be careful to avoid going overboard with this; if you're trying to "teach that jerk a lesson" or something, it will probably end badly, but if you're just trying to make things closer to challenging, you should do OK.

That's very very right.. You cant create plot where all the other player can do at least something, but your caster can do nothing. That would be unfair. But you can have him do something, a caster should do, that would rend him unable to do any other cocky actions.

Maybe have a caster as an opponent and your caster should only counter or dispel his spells (that's a scenario you should plot so he wont just go full dmg on his opponent, but forced him to just counter spells (e.g. to save the party from a fireball) and dispel spells (buffs maybe) to make his party able to harm their opponent.

Another way, i think, to make a challenge for him, is to have more encounters per day (a caster have a limited number of spells per day and especially a wiz has too low). The normal encounters per day i think its 3. Maybe increase them a little, or, if you have less than 3 encounters per day, you should try just 3. Even at level 20, a wiz has only 4 spells per day per spell level (+bonus). I don't think he would have all his (let's say) 6 (with bonuses) 3rd level spells to be fireballs.. And the limited number of spells together with the number of encounters per day are balancing the game between casters and non-casters.

That's what i can think now..

[Mr Beer]

Beholders have anti-magic and multiple attacks. Beholders plus golems is unkind but funny.

[GreenSerpent]

A Nishruu could be dangerous to those who weren't expecting it (Lost Empires of Faerun). They feed on magic and can even disable artifacts.

(quoted from their Absorb Magic ability:

"Artifacts do not operate while in contact with a nishruu and for 1 round thereafter")

[Eldariel]

Dragons with access to epic feats (Extraordinary Deflection & al.), spellcasting (including solid anti-magic effects like Greater Dispel Magic, Disjunction, shaped Anti-Magic Field, etc.) and such. They tend to be the best. Magic must defeat magic. Doesn't matter how immune to everything you are, you still lose to Gated monsters and can't catch Teleporting Wizard unless you can Teleport yourself.

[Alleran]

A Nishruu (Monsters of Faerun) or Hakeashar (Lost Empires of Faerun?) might be what you're looking for.

EDIT: Damn ninjas.

[Arcanist]

Maximized Awakened Shadesteel Golem Monk 19/Swordsage 1 with Infinite Deflection, Exceptional Deflection, Permanent Emanation: Selective AMF, and Self Concealment taken 5 times.

Watch it slaughter your party and laugh.

How is it taking Self Concealment 5 times? Better yet, how is it taking those other feats? I thought monsters with over 21HD could only take make their feats after 21st and after HD be epic feats? Is it a Greater Advanced (Huge) Shadesteel Golem?

EDIT: Derp, you're adding class levels.

[Khedrac]

There's the method from the comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0627.html). I managed to do it as a PC - Arcane Heirophant with the feat to share spells a up to 30' "shared" (i.e. on companion only) and Anti Magic Field with my Dire Puma companion familiar who then went and attacked (with Improved Grab when the Bite hit) the 'Big Bad' wizard we were facing. The rogue standing next to him got very happy indeed.

[Emperor Tippy]

How is it taking Self Concealment 5 times? Better yet, how is it taking those other feats? I thought monsters with over 21HD could only take make their feats after 21st and after HD be epic feats? Is it a Greater Advanced (Huge) Shadesteel Golem?

EDIT: Derp, you're adding class levels.

The glory of non associated class levels. In the case of a Shadesteel Golem, 18 to make it CR 20. The one you quoted is CR 21.5 and has 38 HD (and thus 12 feats from HD).

Incidentally it also has a perfect flight speed of 90 ft (120 with Epic speed, 150 with permanent Cloud Wings, doubled with epic Boots of Swiftness). Pick up the Improved Flyby Attack line as well (Adroit Flyby Attack is cheaper feat wise if your perfect fly speed can make up for needing the Hover feat as a prerequisite) and Great Flyby Attack.

Use a Craft Contingent (or scroll, you can easily make the UMD check) Superior Invisibility at the start of combat along with a Craft Contingent Greater Ironguard.

Now laugh super hard at the party. You are immune to all metal weapons, all magic that can't operate inside an AMF, all ranged attacks, and can't be detected in virtually any way.

[Kazyan]

Tippy, how do your players counter things like that, assuming you actually do them to the party?

[Shaynythyryas]

Psionics with the "Psionics are different" setting.

[Emperor Tippy]

Tippy, how do your players counter things like that, assuming you actually do them to the party?

At ECL 20 and before they get epic feats and capabilities of their own?

Foresight to act in the surprise round, celerity if you loose initiative (triggers Craft Contingent Favor of the Marty to negate daze), might be blocked by Permanent Emanation: Temporal Repair if within the range of that (in which case a Craft Contingent Resilient Sphere targeted on the PC is triggered), if able to act cast Time Stop (cheaper to put the Celerity on Craft Contingent than it is Time Stop, by a lot), cast a barred variant Force Cage around the Golem, activate a Weirdstone outside it (barred forcecage not blocking line of effect), cast a Sculped AMF that covers the force cage (no longer an emanation so it stays there), use PAO or similar spells (like wall of stone) to make a depression that the Forcecage+Golem is in, fill the depression with non magical acid. If it's immune to acid then use fire. If immune to that then you start to have problems. Start filling the cage with rubble and stone/iron to force the Golem near the edge and then have your melee type go and start jabbing it through the bars until it dies.

Another possibility if you just want containment is to cover the bottom and sides of the forcecage with walls of stone or the like and then just fill it with Quintessence (instantaneous so AMF does nothing) before completing the box, moving it all into an extradimensional space, and then dumping it in storage somewhere.

There you go.

[ArcaneGlyph]

Rogues with capes of the montebank, anklets of transportation and other dimensional hops that will let them pop in, nail him and pop out.

[Eldariel]

You could also just Gate in something strong enough to deal with it. 19 Contingent Celerities (one Favor of the Martyr) tied to enemy using Celerity pretty much guarantees acting first and since it can't Teleport, sealing it away forever would be fairly trivial. Actually destroying it isn't even necessary; who cares if it exists if it can't do anything. There's also the Brute Force-solution of going through the AMF with Invoke Magic, Initiate of Mystra or powerful enough Disjunctions.

Detection through Mindsight, True Sight (both depend on how they're ruled to work, but one or the other should work), Arcane Sight, epic Spot-checks or such; there are some options that defeat Superior Invisibility.


Now, a bunch of them used in conjunction with a few casters could be quite nasty since the casters can use them to gain their actions.


Rogues with capes of the montebank, anklets of transportation and other dimensional hops that will let them pop in, nail him and pop out.

3rd level spell by the name of Anticipate Teleport from Spell Compendium makes just about any kind of Teleport-bys useless (Wish might work but anything less than that won't).

[Emperor Tippy]

You could also just Gate in something strong enough to deal with it.
Well yes, but that is cheating.


19 Contingent Celerities (one Favor of the Martyr) tied to enemy using Celerity pretty much guarantees acting first
Except Fisty McSmashYourFace has 38 such contingencies.


and since it can't Teleport, sealing it away forever would be fairly trivial.
Who said it can't teleport? The Shadow Jaunt line gives it short range teleportation, Monk gives it Abundant Step, and numerous items allow teleportation (I tend to give mine a Ring of Three Wishes).


Actually destroying it isn't even necessary; who cares if it exists if it can't do anything. There's also the Brute Force-solution of going through the AMF with Invoke Magic, Initiate of Mystra or powerful enough Disjunctions.
Invoke only gets you 4th level spells and it still has immunity to any SR: Yes spell and Infinite+Exceptional Deflection, Disjunction (assuming you get lucky) will only drop the AMF for a round as it can be put back up as a free action by the golem.


Detection through Mindsight,
Works.

True Sight (both depend on how they're ruled to work, but one or the other should work), Arcane Sight,
Doesn't work thanks to a Ring of Sequester (or if the DM wants to be a penny pincher a Third Eye Conceal or just a once per day trip through a Mind Blank trap)

epic Spot-checks or such; there are some options that defeat Superior Invisibility.
Yep, but few of them work particularly great. Mindsight is the one really good one.


Now, a bunch of them used in conjunction with a few casters could be quite nasty since the casters can use them to gain their actions.
That's why they are all Ice Assassins produced by the Roboforge (items as well). 14,400 per day to engage your enemies. Name your target, pay Interplanar Asassins Unlimited a million GP and they will send them one after the other until your enemy is dead or you cancel the contract at a rate of 1 to 10 per day.

What? You think just because the players want to rest that they get to avoid random encounters?

Use Vow of Poverty versions (Chaos Shuffled of course) and no items except the 1 charge Ring of Wish (to get them to the target) and you don't even have to worry about the party getting rich.


3rd level spell by the name of Anticipate Teleport from Spell Compendium makes just about any kind of Teleport-bys useless (Wish might work but anything less than that won't).
Yep.

Granted, my preferred approach is to come in from the ethereal plane under Mindblank and then use a Craft Contingent Greater Blink to engage. Or a Persistent Greater Blink for greater fun. That bypasses Mindsight and every other detection or warning spell/method in the game (Mindblank blocking True Seeing and See Invisible) and it's blocked by Anticipate Teleport.

[BowStreetRunner]

However, be careful to avoid going overboard Tippy with this...

Just in case you are seriously thinking about employing any of Tippy's suggestions in your game, please make sure that either your players are all experienced optimizers, or that all of their medical insurance policies include mental health coverage and that you have a well-trained group of trauma counselors on hand.

[Eldariel]

Except Fisty McSmashYourFace has 38 such contingencies.

Of course, but that wasn't specified yet and contingencies are being spent elsewhere. Still, it's true; usually such application of Craft Contingent Spell leads to the higher HD act first (which makes HD-boosting like Inspire Greatness, Awaken-loops and company all the more enticing). Though some types of anti-magic effects can make it difficult to trigger Crafted Contingencies at all times.


Who said it can't teleport? The Shadow Jaunt line gives it short range teleportation, Monk gives it Abundant Step, and numerous items allow teleportation (I tend to give mine a Ring of Three Wishes).

Well, I was assuming an AMF had been deployed; Shadow Jaunt requires Line of Effect so it's useless without magic vs. a solid Forcecage.


Invoke only gets you 4th level spells and it still has immunity to any SR: Yes spell and Infinite+Exceptional Deflection, Disjunction (assuming you get lucky) will only drop the AMF for a round as it can be put back up as a free action by the golem.

Well, with Sanctum Spell you can get 5ths. I'm sure there are others too. There's also only a limit on the spell level, not any metamagic applied. And one round is all that's needed, certainly; you can just chain enough actions together with any combination of Arcane Fusioned Celerities, Time Stops, Temporal Accelerations, Schisms, Shapechange abilities (Dual Actions probably the most useful here but since you can take as many turns as you feel like I guess you can use any number of forms).

We can easily pump CL to the point where it's at least 50/50 and then use a barrage of Disjunctions, or an Incantatrix can apply Metamagic Effect to reshape the AMF (using Sculpt Spell) to make it non-covering (e.g. 10' cubes).

I'm not saying it's not a solid defense, I'm just saying if a caster party actually gets to act, there certainly an array of offense at their disposal that can be useful, and bringing up a few options.


Granted, my preferred approach is to come in from the ethereal plane under Mindblank and then use a Craft Contingent Greater Blink to engage. Or a Persistent Greater Blink for greater fun. That bypasses Mindsight and every other detection or warning spell/method in the game (Mindblank blocking True Seeing and See Invisible) and it's blocked by Anticipate Teleport.

That's a good one. There are areas on non-material planes where the Ethereal Plane is not coexistent, which would make it inaccessible, and a few blocks that lock away the entire Ethereal Plane. Ghost Trap for instance is a pretty solid persistable buff for making few hundred feet of Ethereal Plane inaccessible around you, but it's of course probably not as commonly deployed as simple damage immunity like Delay Death or Regen/Favor or whatever. Aside from that, yeah, that solves most of your problems.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I designed a SpellFire Golem who instead of being flat out immune to magic would absorb any spell directed at it much like a rod of absorption. It also had high spell resistance for area attacks. To add insult to injury its slams hit with a greater dispelling and any buff dispelled would also be absorbed. It can absorb up to its strength score in spell levels.

What can it do with these absorbed spells, heal it self as a swift action (5hp/ per spell level) Hurl a bolt of spellfire 4d6+1d6 per absorbed spell level(max the golem's hit dice) also a swift action. Oh and I almost forgot they can see magical auras, have minimal intelligence and ranks in spellcraft allowing for a limited ability for strategy. The first time my party fought one it tore them in half largely because they were all heavily buffed so it kept absorbing spell energy to heal it self.

A spell caster lives and dies by his buffs the absolute worst thing you can do to him is a creature that not only dispels his buffs but uses that same energy to empower it self.

Now its a homebrew monster but is inspired by spell fire so it fit into faerun.

[Telonius]

Hello...

I’m running a game, where I have a very cocky wizard and I’m hoping you guys will help me come up with a challenge for this dude!

I need to find some anti- Spellcasting monsters. I need them to exist in Faerûn, meaning that it should be part of the FR line of books. I need them to be either 3.0 or 3.5 rules. CR should preferable be non-epic, or as low CR as possible and in no way must it be above CR 27.

I hope you guys will help me. Thanks

Okay, cocky wizard. Lots of good advice in the thread for doing a total curb-stomp of him. But I'd really caution against that - it might only encourage him to start an arms race. You'll always win, since you're the DM; but it's really not a situation you want to get into. I'd suggest that you throw something at him that really gives him the feeling of being in mortal peril, but he's still able to get away by the skin of his teeth (preferably, only because his team-mates were helping him out).

In order to do that, you'll really need to tailor the encounter to his style. What sorts of tactics is he routinely employing? What buffs does he always have up? And (very importantly) what level is he?

[Keld Denar]

On thing I've realized from playing in a high-ish level game as a controller wizard is that multiple foes with some sort of 1/day evasion ability who like to spread out are very difficult. Sure, a single ogre can be Glitterdusted and hacked apart. Half a dozen flying angels that can turn ethereal 1/day for a round with wounding bows makes for a MUCH harder encounter. You can't just Solid Fog them all and deal with them 1-2 at a time. If you blast one of them with a MM'd Orb of Fire, you still have more to deal with. They are too high up to Evard's, plus the etherealness. Too spread out to easily Glitterdust more than 1 per spell. It was a HARD encounter as a decently optimized God style Conjourer, and I've been in a lot that were similarly difficult.

Spread the foes out. Keep them off the ground. Give them some sort of minor evasion ability a limited number of times per day just to soak up resources. Do 2/3 of these things and you'll find your spellcaster is expending a large amount of resources just to do his "job". I've fought foes with 1/day Wings of Cover which is very annoying, and others with 1/day Dim Door. Outsiders with Greater Teleport at will are great for this.

Then just introduce an Armageddon Clock. Make him deal with encounters with a half-empty spell list because if he stops to rest and reset his spells, a Doomy Doom of Doomalicious DoomTM will occur. Occasionally punish the caster for trying to compete on a 5 min work day. Build into the adventure the need to Teleport frequently so a portion of high level slots are expended just on running errands.

[intothenight]

If you want completely ridiculous ideas that most likely aren't going to fit in Faerûn 100%, you could try one of the weirdest joke enemies we ever had to fight. The team of evil fighters who wielded... Vile Staple Guns. On successful pins, they could staple a PC's mouth shut or staple their arms to their sides. Our poor caster was only able to fight with stilled and silenced spells, while the rest of us kicked and headbutted our way to victory. Memorable encounter, but very unbalanced enemies (really high CMB and initiative, but really low HP). I don't think the campaign kept going for much longer.

In case you were wondering, Vile Staples can only be removed by a Vile Staple Remover. Holding it bestows a negative level unless you are evil. And the staples had annoyingly high AC. We all agreed that staples would not be allowed at the table ever again.

I really doubt that helped, but who knows? Maybe there's a good idea in there somewhere if you adapt the living crap out of it. And avoid staples.

[Augmental]

If you want completely ridiculous ideas that most likely aren't going to fit in Faerûn 100%, you could try one of the weirdest joke enemies we ever had to fight. The team of evil fighters who wielded... Vile Staple Guns. On successful pins, they could staple a PC's mouth shut or staple their arms to their sides. Our poor caster was only able to fight with stilled and silenced spells, while the rest of us kicked and headbutted our way to victory. Memorable encounter, but very unbalanced enemies (really high CMB and initiative, but really low HP). I don't think the campaign kept going for much longer.

Can Vile Staple Guns bypass a Wind Wall?

[Mithril Leaf]

Okay, cocky wizard. Lots of good advice in the thread for doing a total curb-stomp of him. But I'd really caution against that - it might only encourage him to start an arms race. You'll always win, since you're the DM; but it's really not a situation you want to get into. I'd suggest that you throw something at him that really gives him the feeling of being in mortal peril, but he's still able to get away by the skin of his teeth (preferably, only because his team-mates were helping him out).

In order to do that, you'll really need to tailor the encounter to his style. What sorts of tactics is he routinely employing? What buffs does he always have up? And (very importantly) what level is he?

This point here is the issue with a Tippy strategy. If you're the DM you've already won. Throw things that the rest of the party can deal with but the wizard can't. Maybe a nice pair of Mithril Golems with their real magic immunity. Toss them some cheap items of flight and they should be able to make the wizard feel a bit less high and mighty.

[russdm]

There is always the DMG flung at the player's head.

Personally, i would go with this: Have Mystra (The FR magic deity/Goddess) curse him with a semi-permanent antimagic aura centered on him that only goes out 5 feet. Then have the aura pop up at random, make it a 50% chance at some rate like once an hour or once every 6 hours. That should knock the cockiness out fast. Then make it a quest for him to fix the problem, like find some artifacts or deal with some liches or such.

Cue the hilarty and enjoyment as a result of this.

[ericgrau]

Thread title made me think of nightmare (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/nightmare.htm). No spells for you today sir.

[BowStreetRunner]

...a semi-permanent antimagic aura centered on him...50% chance at some rate like once an hour or once every 6 hours...Cue the hilarty and enjoyment as a result of this.

This reminds me of one of my old Discworld RPG characters. He was a wizard who was allergic to magic. Every time he used magic or was affected by magic of any sort, he would sneeze and the magic would go awry. The GM would then roll on a sort of Wild Magic table to determine the outcome. Really fit into Discworld well, not sure how this would go over with a lot of D&D gamers though.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Any dragon in the SRD with sufficient age to have Antimagic Aura, Stone Shape, Wish and Time Stop, or access to them via scrolls/items, Power Attack, Eschew Materials and a rod of Great Quicken (or other automatic metamagic)


1) The dragon Time Stops in their own domain, preferably in other planes of existence, as a swift action.
2) The dragon Wishes themselves right next to the Wizard under a Time Stop as a standard action. Wish does so despite any barriers or local conditions. Time Stop prevents contingencies from being activated.
3) The dragon uses their immense strength to place some large rocks beyond any wizard's max load around the wizard as a move action.
4) The dragon stone-shapes the large rocks into a one-ton boulder fused around the wizard's hands and arms to immobilize them as a swift action under time stop.
5) The dragon touches the wizard with the tip of his tail as a move action.
6) The dragon casts Antimagic Aura on self, forcing an end to the Time Stop, including the wizard in its area of effect, and without any contingencies activating (they can't - it was cast under Time Stop)
7) The dragon full-attacks with a huge Power Attack penalty, killing the wizard.


This combo is very, very hard to stop;

A) Contingencies can't activate against the beginning of the combo. If the wizard claims their crafted contingencies against Time Stop would work regardless of distance/planes, have them wasted instantly because in the entire Multiverse someone is casting Time Stop somewhere.

B) Crafted contingencies and metamagic rods being magic items, they are useless inside an antimagic field.

C) The wizard is both beyond his maximum load and cannot drop that load courtesy of the stone shape. Teleportation or flight is thus incapable of moving him unless he employs Wish.

D) The wizard is only capable of using still spells without any material components within a dragon's reach while flat-footed courtesy of exceeding max load. Attacks of Opportunity will interrupt his casting, if any.

E) The wizard can take no actions. Celerity is blocked by AMF. Invoke Magic cannot be cast as immediate action or put into a non-item contingency. The contingency spell itself is not within the limits of Invoke Magic.

F) The wizard cannot activate any Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil crap or similar antimagic-ignoring barriers. The dragon is already touching him with his tail as the timestop ends, interfering with the integrity of any barrier that could have been formed between them.

G) The wizard cannot survive a full-power-attack by a greater dragon while unbuffed and effectively itemless.

[Melcar]

Thanks for all the great ideas and points!

:smallbiggrin:

[Dissonance]

personally the most dangerous enem that you could throw at a spellcaster without going overboard is simply a creature trained to fight spellcasters.

Have the enemies disrupt his casting.
have them put the wizard in awkward positions. (fireball becomes MUCH less effective when there are friendlies in the burst)
Have them constantly pressure the wizard every chance they get.

It doesn't need to be a teleporting monster of doom or even another wizard. Maybe just an archer or barbarian that deeply hates casters which then causes it to zero in and focus the wizard.

At the very least playing a creature like this smart will be more satisfying than throwing a creature specifically tailored to be a spellbane at the party.

[Emperor Tippy]

6) The dragon casts Antimagic Aura on self, forcing an end to the Time Stop, including the wizard in its area of effect, and without any contingencies activating (they can't - it was cast under Time Stop)
You can not cast AMF while under the effects of Time Stop if the AMF would cover your square. You have to ready an action to cast it once the TS ends. A creature under the effects of TS can not enter an AMF field; period.


A) Contingencies can't activate against the beginning of the combo. If the wizard claims their crafted contingencies against Time Stop would work regardless of distance/planes, have them wasted instantly because in the entire Multiverse someone is casting Time Stop somewhere.
This is entirely incorrect. Time Stop doesn't stop contingencies from activating. A Contingency triggers immediately upon its condition being met, TS doesn't get around that. And two, Contingencies are not multiversal divination's. They only trigger when they can reasonably be said to know that the triggering condition has occurred.


C) The wizard is both beyond his maximum load and cannot drop that load courtesy of the stone shape. Teleportation or flight is thus incapable of moving him unless he employs Wish.
No but his Shrink Item metal hat triggers and thus cuts off line of effect to the AMF and thus the wizard is fine.

There is also the fact that the wizard can use Celerity before you get to cast AMF (as you can't cast it under AMF).


D) The wizard is only capable of using still spells without any material components within a dragon's reach while flat-footed courtesy of exceeding max load. Attacks of Opportunity will interrupt his casting, if any.
The wizard is never flat-footed thanks to Foresight.


E) The wizard can take no actions. Celerity is blocked by AMF. Invoke Magic cannot be cast as immediate action or put into a non-item contingency. The contingency spell itself is not within the limits of Invoke Magic.
All can be used before you AMF as you can not use it while under the effects of Time Stop.

[Rubik]

Easy. Golem - any of them. And anti-magic field, just to be sure.Easily taken care of with any non-mind affecting illusion or a Grease spell or a cloud spell based on Solid Fog.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

You can not cast AMF while under the effects of Time Stop if the AMF would cover your square. You have to ready an action to cast it once the TS ends. A creature under the effects of TS can not enter an AMF field.
Meh. Simply shape the Antimagic Aura or Field not to affect you with the relevant feat or reshape it into a cone with sculpt spell metamagic and then wait for the Time Stop to end normally.



Contingencies are not multiversal divination's. They only trigger when they can reasonably be said to know that the triggering condition has occurred.
Precisely. A being under Time Stop is undetectable. Either contingencies can't activate if they cannot detect the trigger or they would activate against far-off timestops; in both cases they are useless.



No but his Shrink Item metal hat triggers and thus cuts off line of effect to the AMF and thus the wizard is fine.
The "touch the wizard with tail" thingy also serves to foil this strategy as you get a limb within the wizard's square that will emanate antimagic aura without any barriers being able to cut off line of effect. While you can't harm people under time stop, you can enter their space just fine.


There is also the fact that the wizard can use Celerity before you get to cast AMF.
See above.









Also, a dragon can kill a wizard that hasn't specifically prepared against it with multiple Searing Flame Twinned and/or Quickened walls of fire if you have enough metamagic reduction. No save, no immunity, castable within time stop spells are nice. But that's not an efficient use of the dragon's magic.

[Emperor Tippy]

Meh. Simply shape the Antimagic Aura or Field not to affect you with the relevant feat or reshape it into a cone with sculpt spell metamagic and then wait for the Time Stop to end normally.
That one works.


Precisely. A being under Time Stop is undetectable. Either contingencies can't activate if they cannot detect the trigger or they would activate against far-off timestops; in both cases they are useless.
Debatable, but up to DM adjudication.


The "touch the wizard with tail" thingy also serves to foil this strategy as you get a limb within the wizard's square that will emanate antimagic aura without any barriers being able to cut off line of effect. While you can't harm people under time stop, you can enter their space just fine.
Except that the dragon is too large to fit into the square and D&D is divided up into 5 foot squares. You can not just "touch him with your tail".


Ending Your Movement

You can’t end your movement in the same square as another creature unless it is helpless.

The creature in the square isn't "helpless" per the rules so you can't end movement in said square.


See above.
To be a real stickler for RAW, you can use Celerity to interupt actions taken under the effects of Time Stop. You can use an Immediate Action at any time that you are not flatfooted, which foresight makes impossible. That means you can Celerity to take actions during another creatures Time Stop.


Also, a dragon can kill a wizard that hasn't specifically prepared against it with multiple Searing Flame Twinned and/or Quickened walls of fire if you have enough metamagic reduction. No save, no immunity, castable within time stop spells are nice. But that's not an efficient use of the dragon's magic.
None of those spells take effect until after the TS ends, you can technically cast inside another persons Time Stop with Celerity/Greater Celerity.

And the defense is a persistent selective Temporal Repair. Shuts down TS and Celerity shenanigans within a 50 ft. radius of the individual except by that individual.

Also, permanent immunity to Fire is done with a single casting of Mantle of the Fiery Spirit. Combine it with Energy Immunity: Cold and you eliminate those two major sources of potential damage.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Celerity is a nonissue even if the wizard could theoretically cast it under Time Stop because a celerity against celerity works (whoever uses their immediate action last wins). But more importantly, the dragon is undetectable under a Time Stop - the wizard doesn't know he needs to cast celerity.
(and if you start casting celerities blindly, you run out of slots)

Admittedly, the wizard can try to cast Celerity as the Timestop ends but before the spells take effect. It is a weakness in the tactic - but one easily mended; the Dragon's last action within the Time Stop is to ready a counterspell. Countering a 4th level spell is child's play. Countering an 8th level one still not very hard.

Temporal Repair is even easier to deal with. By RAW only creatures are invulnerable and can't be targeted under a Time Stop and it is an area spell. So if it exists in the campaign setting, the dragon modifies his tactic by moving himself to the edge of its AoE then dropping in a big dispel or a disjunction before going on with the rest of the tactic.
Since the wizard is excluded from his own spell, you don't need to target or affect him to get rid of the spell.




Now, if your wizard is really messing things up instead of merely needing to be pulled down a peg, one could eschew with Temporal Tactics 501 and go for Epic Play 101;
CR 26-27, 41 HD dragon? Awaken Spell Resistance 5x (spell resistance 51 in total, 56 with draazix vest), Silent/Still/Quicken Spell (prerequisites), Improved Spell Capacity 3 (get spell slots 8 levels higher than 4th), Innate Spell: Celerity (unlimited celerities/day), Multispell 2 (3 celerities/round), Epic Spellcasting (shenanigans of various brokenness)



PS:
Doesn't Searing Flame deal 50% damage to even fire-subtype creatures?

[Emperor Tippy]

Celerity is a nonissue even if the wizard could theoretically cast it under Time Stop because a celerity against celerity works (whoever uses their immediate action last wins). But more importantly, the dragon is undetectable under a Time Stop - the wizard doesn't know he needs to cast celerity.
(and if you start casting celerities blindly, you run out of slots)
Doesn't matter. It's an Immediate action and thus can be used whenever you aren't flatfooted, which Foresight means is never. You can Celerity interrupt a Time Stop if you want.


Admittedly, the wizard can try to cast Celerity as the Timestop ends but before the spells take effect. It is a weakness in the tactic - but one easily mended; the Dragon's last action within the Time Stop is to ready a counterspell. Countering a 4th level spell is child's play. Countering an 8th level one still not very hard.
Can't counterspell a Contingency.


Temporal Repair is even easier to deal with. By RAW only creatures are invulnerable and can't be targeted under a Time Stop and it is an area spell. So if it exists in the campaign setting, the dragon modifies his tactic by moving himself to the edge of its AoE then dropping in a big dispel or a disjunction before going on with the rest of the tactic.
Since the wizard is excluded from his own spell, you don't need to target or affect him to get rid of the spell.
Doesn't work. The spell is part of the creature. You can no more do that than you can drop a disjunction on your enemy when you are under TS and strip off all his buffs.


Now, if your wizard is really messing things up instead of merely needing to be pulled down a peg, one could eschew with Temporal Tactics 501 and go for Epic Play 101;
CR 26-27, 41 HD dragon? Awaken Spell Resistance 5x (spell resistance 51 in total, 56 with draazix vest), Silent/Still/Quicken Spell (prerequisites), Improved Spell Capacity 3 (get spell slots 8 levels higher than 4th), Innate Spell: Celerity (unlimited celerities/day), Multispell 2 (3 celerities/round), Epic Spellcasting (shenanigans of various brokenness)
If you are playing with Epic Spellcasting and have half a brain you win. It's pointless to discuss. As for the rest, that is a real bad epic build.

For one, you aren't even including Daze immunity; but ignoring that you blew five feats on Spell Resistance when you could have blown one on a Permanent Emanation: Selective (you) Antimagic field and be totally immune to every spell that allows SR in the entire game. Another for PE: Selective Temporal Repair to shut down TS and Celerity used against you.


PS:
Doesn't Searing Flame deal 50% damage to even fire-subtype creatures?
Yes.

----
Quite frankly, if you wanted to kill a wizard who is pissing you off their are plenty of better ways to do it than your dragon. Hell, the Golem I posted in this thread does it better for the same (or lower) CR.

[DarkEternal]

I remember playing some adventure which had some tentacled abberations that practically have an AMF around them, and they focus on grappling. They have a very high hide skill, too. So if they get to your wizard and get one grapple in, it's good night for him.

[russdm]

The final solution would be just to let the player do his thing, but start making his spells draw hit points from his fellow characters. OR just give him a wall that drops his spells always at his feet. Cue, Fun...

You can also employ "Rocks fall, Everyone but the wizard dies".

Instead of seriously messing with the wizard, just inform the player if he keeps acting like a jerk, you will uber stomp him. Then have the Tarrasque or a Kraken show up and just eat him, then teleport away. Or have Asmodie send him to the elemental plane of fire with no way to get back. Or, my personal favorite idea, A deity takes away his magic and won't give it back unless he straightens up.

Always remember, you are the DM. Smite the wizard freely.

[Roguenewb]

The Ruby Golem. Totally unkillable as far as I know. Immune to all forms of damage through the comical interpretation of Regeneration->Nonlethal damage->Prevented by Construct traits. Immune to SR magic, with no exceptions, which leaves almost no solutions from the world of magic. Have it have a mission to hurt something important to the wizard. The wizard can run away far better than the golem can chase, so there's that. Give it winged so it can fly.

If you wanna be really evil, Wizard levels would probably be considered non-associated, so the damn thing can probably outcast your player. An effective casting, totally unkillable magic immune Golem is gonna stop pretty much any player. Shadesteels are fun, but come on, total immunity is good too.

[JaronK]

Dorama’s Battle Ward (Sor/Wiz 1) is a great spell for shutting down casters. It's from Kalamar, but if it lands they can't use magic. Ouch.

JaronK

[Rubik]

The Ruby Golem. Totally unkillable as far as I know. Immune to all forms of damage through the comical interpretation of Regeneration->Nonlethal damage->Prevented by Construct traits. Immune to SR magic, with no exceptions, which leaves almost no solutions from the world of magic. Have it have a mission to hurt something important to the wizard. The wizard can run away far better than the golem can chase, so there's that. Give it winged so it can fly.

If you wanna be really evil, Wizard levels would probably be considered non-associated, so the damn thing can probably outcast your player. An effective casting, totally unkillable magic immune Golem is gonna stop pretty much any player. Shadesteels are fun, but come on, total immunity is good too.One can take out a ruby golem. Just shove it through a Gate to a demiplane of your choice, or toss a portable hole/bag of holding into a bag of holding/portable hole next to it. It won't necessarily kill it, but you won't have to deal with it again.

Unless it's a high level wizard. Then you'd almost be screwed, except you can turn into a ruby golem yourself via Shapechange. Then you're on par.

[mitchewd]

What level/type caster are we talking about? Alignment? It sounds like he is pretty high-up there. Remember the maxim that there is always someone bigger and badder than you.

I always find that casters can't handle numbers. Sure, a one-off battle with a big-bad-mammajamma can be fun; but hit him with goblins - a whole tribe of them. Take into account that something relatively intelligent and powerful can be leading them, like an illithid sorceror.

Once they get into range, 20+ shots per round with bows followed by 4-6 of the little buggers grappling is always fun. A few hits with touch of idiocy and ray of enfeeblement are pretty good mage-killers (no save) and goblin adepts/sorcerors can have those too... Their clerics can prepare shock troops with silence already cast on them...or invisibility...or both...

Grapple, grapple, grapple....

[mitchewd]

hit him with goblins - a whole tribe of them. Take into account that something relatively intelligent and powerful can be leading them, like an illithid sorceror.

Or a tribe of kobolds led by a young up-and-coming dragon...

Or a temple of Bane led by a Beholder (antimagic eye).

If this guy is as powerful as he seems, it is only a matter of time until a big hitter takes a shot at him...