Diviner Lich, Argosal

[Duboris]

Above the rather large city of Babakas, looming in the distance atop the mountain peaks, lies the Castle of Argentok. Beyond the early winding roads, the countless underground studies into necromancy and knowledge, past the cemeteries, and caves filled with those that worship the brine of winter, is the Lich, Argosal, sitting atop his icy throne.

Argosal is an 18th level wizard, and a patient, experimental one to boot. Every day, new undead shuffle down to the city to wreak havoc. Some do so subtly, others, not so much. With countless Zombie workers, Ghoul researchers, Giant skeletal champions, Argosal is bored.

At first glance, the Lich is a purveyor of all things necromancy, but if you believed that, you've already ignored his most fearsome quality. While an undeniable fan of the cheap, lazy labor that can be attained from the necromancer energies that surge through evil and graves alike, Argosal, is a Diviner.

Indeed, Necromancy is not his specialty school in the slightest, though it is a favorite, without question. Argosal approached his Lichdom with a strange mindset. While he believed Necromancy to be integral, what was to stop him from merely divining his way to Lichdom? Sure countless hours of studying souls and the dead would assist him, but who was there to stop him from simply stealing the answers?

Argosal, since the fog arrived, has been absolutely livid. At the peak of his craft, he thought he'd hit a wall in the study of necromancy, and now, here shows up this wall of fog that tears a person's soul from their bodies as soon as eye contact is broken. Truly, he couldn't have asked for something better to study.

While he enjoys the arcane insights into the fog, that doesn't help the fact that the number of people he can toss into it is slowly dwindling, as the only source of ripe, living bodies is at the base of the pass at the City of Babakas.

For weeks he has sent undead to carry back the living, only to be upset that they'd died before they could reach him, but a few hardier people survive, no less. It is with his divinations, ghoul rogues, treacherous agents of undeath, and the weaker-minded local clergy, that he becomes aware of the PC's sudden arrival, despite the fog's blocking.

Now he sits upon his throne, a bony fist against his jaw, curious, and interested. How did they get here? What do they know of the fog? ... And most importantly, what kind of entertainment will they give him as they dance on their soon to be well-tied puppet strings.

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And now my questions! I have never played a Wizard in my entire career of playing. I've looked very close at how Liches work, what with the phylacteries and whatnot. Speaking of which, Argosal's phylactery is at the bottom of a cave carved out of stone, beneath the horde of a White Ravener in his service.

First and foremost, Argosal has plenty of undead in his service with class levels. Wights, Ghouls, Ghasts, Skeletal champions, Bloodied, Frozen, Dread Knights, Revenants in cages with his name on them, etc, etc. The works. We're looking at a Lich that's been killing for years, slowly building an army, and carving a castle out of ice and stone.

There are so many mirrors in his castle used for scrying, including hallways dedicated to that purpose just incase. The living members of his spies have mirrors in their homes to report from with ease. His whole chamber has mirrors on the walls as well as super-expensive paintings and abjured glasswork, along with, what else, more mirrors. In the center of the room is a massive crystal ball.

At level 18 he has every divination and necromancy spell below level 5, after having killed and stolen plenty of spellbooks. (All of which are in the study beneath the castle which he frequents.) and every divination spell above that. He's got plenty of others, and his opposed schools are Conjuration and Evocation.

So, what would you guys suggest? No fancy prestige classes, just straight wizard with Core rulebook, Ultimate Combat/Magic and Advanced player's guide. Nothing too optimized, save for his divination.

[Blackhawk748]

this is just a technique ive used when i DM BBEG wizards, so its not really build advice. Have them cast spontaneously. Your probably confused, i dont mean change how their magic works, i just mean dont prepare spells. Give him his massive list of spells and just use whatever he needs at the time. I do this alot actually, hell ive told my players i do it. they dont get annoyed. Why? Because the Lich is smarter than me. No seriously. I mean i personally can get some pretty devious schemes goin, but there are times where you need to just have the ability to counter everything because the Lich would have been able to foresee what the party is going to do, especially this guy.

So best of luck running Argosal, he sounds like a lot of fun, and heres hoping he has your players yanking their hair out.

[Runestar]

Well, there's really nothing about the diviner specialisation that makes a wizard a better diviner than a regular wizard, unless you go the master specialist route (complete mage).

Build-wise, I don't see the need for anything fancy. Either wiz18 or wiz13/archmage5 is fine, because the bulk of his arsenal comes from his spells anyways. There is even an alternate class feature that lets you spontaneously cast all divination spells you know, so you don't waste any slots preparing them.

Your first order is to massively beef up his hp and defenses, because wizards don't have a lot of hp (even as undead). You need at least a way of countering disintegrate (displacement / ray deflection / using concentration check as fort save), evading charges, getting loads of temp hp (improved toughness, stacking long-duration buffs) and accessing more actions per round.

Tactics wise, I would play him as quick, efficient and ruthless. He knows that any PCs who have made it so far are not to be trifled with, and so does not hold back or hesitate to unleash his full power. He also seeks to finish them off as soon as possible so he can quickly return to his main tasks at hand.

This is just a sample list; it is by no means the best. It also requires you to unban evocation and conjuration.

Protections always up:
1) Contingency to cast AMF when opponent tries to cast disjunction
2) Instant refuge (formerly know as Elminster's evasion) set to cast greater teleport back to a "safe house" on one of 6 following conditions (you can set a safeword as one of them, effectively turning it into teleport spell castable as a free action).
3) Any other long-duration buffs of your choice (e.g.: superior resistance, moment of prescience)

Round zero - Timestop, followed by effulgent epuration (SPC), forcecage on a fighter.
Round 1 - quickened suspended silence (SPC) on a spellcaster (using arcane reach), maze against the party cleric.
Round 2 - follow up with spells like flesh to stone, imprisonment, temporal stasis (all using arcane reach) to quickly disable the PCs. Basically have a mix of spells that target fort and will, or ignore both. Don't bother with mind-affecting spells because the PCs will likely have mindblank up.
Rounds 3+ - Finish off the PCs one by one with maximised damage spells (basically to cut down on time spent rolling dice), using elements of mastery to bypass elemental resistance (he is supposed to know a lot, so the DM can cheat a little in this regard).

[TuggyNE]

While he believed Necromancy to be integral, what was to stop him from merely divining his way to Lichdom? Sure countless hours of studying souls and the dead would assist him, but who was there to stop him from simply stealing the answers?

So, he's a necromancer necromancer! (</badetymologyjoke>)


Argosal, since the fog arrived, has been absolutely livid.

Fog?

Also, I don't think that word means what you think it means (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Livid).

[supervillan]

small nitpick: a specialist Diviner only has one opposed school.

[Darcand]

this is just a technique ive used when i DM BBEG wizards, so its not really build advice. Have them cast spontaneously. Your probably confused, i dont mean change how their magic works, i just mean dont prepare spells. Give him his massive list of spells and just use whatever he needs at the time. I do this alot actually, hell ive told my players i do it. they dont get annoyed. Why? Because the Lich is smarter than me. No seriously. I mean i personally can get some pretty devious schemes goin, but there are times where you need to just have the ability to counter everything because the Lich would have been able to foresee what the party is going to do, especially this guy.

So best of luck running Argosal, he sounds like a lot of fun, and heres hoping he has your players yanking their hair out.

This is some of the best DM advice I have seen in a long time. Great work!

On to the subject. What makes your Lich tick? And what makes your party? If he has endless resources (and it sounds like he does) then why not simply hire the PCs to investigate The Fog? If they die then he doesn't have to pay them and it didn't cost him minions to drag them there.

If they were hired to stop him dragging off innocents then he still saves time and can hire them for less, possibly for nothing. Just gives them free passage in exchange for his word to stop until they return or one year (not long when you might live forever.)whichever comes first. Include a retainer (money upfront) to hire them for future exploration if they discover anything he wants to know about.

Also, ignore his stats for now unless they are going to fight him this weekend. Too often I see DMs focusing on a BBEG's stats when they should be looking at the story which leads up to him. If you want him to be your final villain, then give him time. Real life months. To torment the PCs. Torment them. Attack them from the side. Show up when they are off on a side quest just to show you can and smack them around. Then, when they come for you, don't be at home. Be burning down theirs.

A huge advantage the Diviner has over other villains is that it is understandable that he knows where you are and what you are doing at all times. This gives you the chance to use DM Fiat and meta game the heck out of them.

[ZamielVanWeber]

I would recommend you give him a little flair with either unique abilities/items. Nothing huge, but perhaps he has an armlet of Unholy Toughness (adding his Cha x hit dice to his HP so he doesn't auto die to some spell/feat combos). Stuff in that vein tends to reward characters with unique items for a hard won fight and provide a touch of additional challenge.

[Blackhawk748]

Fog?

Also, I don't think that word means what you think it means (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Livid).

Actually i think he used it right, the Lich is pissed because he cant learn anything about it, but i guess hes just happy that hes found something to do.

[Duboris]

I love the advice, but the players are a far way off from actually fighting him. They're all level 3, and as far as realizing who he is, only 1 PC has even heard of him.

At the start of the campaign, the backstory of 6 different places was given with long-winded, in-depth explanations of how things work. The populaces, the tradition, the local areas, things that go on behind closed doors, etc, etc.

Why only 6 places? Because the "Fog" which I'll explain in a moment, consumed everything except these 6 places.

The character's backstory required that a player die, and have their soul crushed into pulp to be become an Aetherite in the starting hub, a cylindrical fortress floating around on the threshold between the material and death-related plains, otherwise known as the "Soul Font" or "Nexus".

Their souls would go through the font, be plucked out out of the stream on their way to Pharasma's boneyard, have their souls crushed into Aether, and their bodies would manifest.

---Side note ---
When an Aetherite dies, they suffer a negative level, which removes itself in 1 week after they resurrect the next day in the Nexus. The player also loses half of the exp they've gained related to their current level. A level 2 player on the fast track of experience needs only 2000 experience to reach level 3, but if he dies at 1350/2000, he resurrect with a negative level and 675 experience. If a player has below half of the experience needed to go the next level when they die, they regress to having half of the experience of their previous level. (675/1300 for level 1's)
--- End Note ---

--- Side Note ---
If an person was killed in the woods, and nothing bothered to touch it because it was infested, and he returned as an aetherite to the scene, his body would still be there, albeit a bit more rotted. This clues in on the fact that even if you have a level 20 with True Resurrection, your soul is in such abyssmal shape that it cannot be resurrected. This does not stop eviler people from simply animating your dead body to fight you, however.
--- End Note ---

The Six places were:

The Chilling Pass of Argosal - The area with the lich that's been terrorizing the local community in hopes of getting more bodies to experiment with.

Hazrit, the Principality of Dragons - The are where Dragons and their disciples wage constant fights against the now-cluttered other colors to gain the largest horde, all the while the local dwarven community suffers considerably.

Agristrated, the Forgotten Marsh - A plagued marsh where a cult worships a false prophet that worships the fog as a god, promoting disfigured births and horrific sacrifices at the expense of a city suffering from a cocktail of disease.

The Black Prison of Zeltos - Once a prison for the most foul criminals in the world, the coming of the fog spurred something. Zeltos, his mind now wracked with insanity, took to necromancy and Evocation, pouring elemental energies into his freakish wardens. In the night, he sends his seekers to the local city to steal 1, and only 1 person a night.

The Fallen Fortifications of Nibreltar Not 100 miles away from the sight of the worldwound, Nibreltar was a kingdom that believed in the defense of all things good, but with the fog's arrival, they were cut off from rations and quickly fell to a tidal wave of demons. It is now a place of pure chaos and lechery.

The Dukedom of Gibraltar, the mad. Sharing an interest in the fog alongside of Argosal, Gibraltar suddenly went mad with it's arrival. The guards of the city now wreak with unholy fervor and chemicals, and people are fed to the fog in cages every day to satiate his need for knowledge of it.
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--- Side Note ---
If a person enters the fog, he must roll a will save of 38 to resist a negative level every 30 seconds he is within it. This effect lasts for 2 weeks, or until restored via menial means.

Any person who's negative levels equal their current level immediately burns away in cold, black fire, leaving only 2 black footprints where they were. After a week, the person's soul, lost in the fog, is twisted into a Dread Fog Wraith, which hunts down those that have had their soul eroded. This ceases when the restoration is cured, or 2 weeks have passed.
--- Side Note ---
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Back on Topic
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What I'm primarily concerned with is... what kind of minions can I throw at these guys? Nothing too optimized, really, but this is for the chilling pass in general and not those other places.

Skeletal champions with fighter levels, sorcerer levels, etc, etc.

Anyone have any nifty ideas?

[Blackhawk748]

well zombies and skeletons led by a few ghouls for low levels usually works, and this sounds like Ravenloft in a very good way.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Gravetouched Ghoul is a hot template to make some nasty undead out of. There is also the Emancipated Spawn PrC from Savage Species. Flavorful and crazy.

[Duboris]

I figured the names of the books I did would give it away, but this is pathfinder, by the way.

[ZamielVanWeber]

And with a little love you can port them. But yea, not that familiar with pathfinder book names. Only ever looked at core.

[Duboris]

As soon as the players arrive to Argosal for the first time from the hub, it's going to be in view and obviously under siege, but I kind of want a enemy that's not too presumptuos in the scenario.

I was thinking, as the leader of the siege, a Bloody Skeleton General, the kind that has fast healing and doesn't stay down unless he's sprinkled with holy water.

So here's some ideas.

A Bloodied Skeletal Champion Fighter 3 focused on using a Lance while mounted on an undead horse. The Big bad of the fight, really. He oversees and directs the groups of undead through to the rest of the town.

A Ghoul Rogue 2, that fancies the idea of killing to get his fill, rather than do his job, which happens to be "Go and Assassinate that pesky Mayor"

A Wight Cleric 1 that is found consorting with the local evil-turned cleric Malzahar, who's been burying false dead for weeks and sending ripe, non-decayed bodies to the castle secretly in exchange for his life during raids. He is sent to assist with the removal of the PC's from the equation, and he's eager to please his Lich overseer.

Other than this, I've got nothing. I mean, all of the fights will have the occasional low-tier skeleton with a scimitar thrown in, but I need more Cr 3 fights with bulky numbers of enemies, say, 5 zombies? Perhaps one fight could be a single Giant zombie breaking a wall down and rushing in alongside other, smaller zombies?