Assistance screwing with a fellow player?

[ChaoticDitz]

Long story short, I was motivated to do something by a local serialization (written by a guy in my neighborhood) called Last Sage, a DnD 3.5 half-comedy deal (sort of like OoTS, except less focus on funny and more focus on awesome). In the most recent issue, Sage (not actually a main character, but nonetheless an extremely high-level caster who set the story in motion) used a Metamagic'd up Level Drain with action economy shenanigans to then Dimensional Anchor and Forcecage a high-level caster baddie, basically leaving him to stew for a few hours and become a very low-level caster (and yeah, before you ask, it was well within Sage's power to actually kill the guy).

So, I'm a 19th-level Human generalist Wizard in a party with a Dragonborn (Mind) Gray Elf Focused Specialist (Transmutation) Wizard 19 (with Necromancy, Abjuration, and Enchantment banned) and two other party members who are irrelevant to the question at hand (except maybe the Cleric... more on that later).

This won't be nearly as easy as in the serialization, because I don't have the assortment of Epic and original spells Sage used to pick apart his enemy. Nonetheless, I'd like a way to get through his Contingencies (which I don't know any of, as he speaks privately with the DM about them and doesn't tell the party) and a method to quickly negative level him without going all the way to death, then hold him in place so that he can't get help from the Cleric until after he's already failed his saves against the Negative Levels (which I imagine he will, since, y'know, Wizard, and negative levels reducing saves).

I have advantages in having the resources to buy just about any spell I don't already have (though certain spells, namely the attribute-damage/drain spells, are banned) and that he won't be expecting me... At all. We're actually extremely chummy, so me turning on him would be the last thing he'd expect (especially since he doesn't have a Giantitp account and wouldn't know my username anyway :D).

Of course, we're both suffering from one major optimization failure as far as being a Wizard goes, and that is that we are not Astral Projections... Oh, and that we're Wizard 19, but the DM ruled that casters have to straight-class, so oh well, I'm still better than every mundane ever.

So! Any spells/plans you recommend to get past his general all-day Cleric buffs and the most likely of his Wizard Contingencies, negative-level him, and trap him, all in the smallest number of rounds possible? Time Stop is banned, but any other spells I can get from official non-Dragon Mag sources to screw the action economy are fair game.

And yes, I am specifically trying to make him a low-level wizard, not kill him, not turn him into a frog, not transport him to another plane for an eternity of torment, etc.

Thanks in advance for help with my scheming!

[Lightlawbliss]

disjunction can solve spell relate problems very well. You may need more then one though since protections from disjunction are common in optimization.

might I recommend scouting out some really out of the way islands in bad places.

I definitely recommend knocking him out.

[ChaoticDitz]

I thought about Disjunction, but that is WAY too obvious. I'm sure he has defenses against it and its brothers Dispel and Anti-Magic Field, too. I need to find a way to neutralize him tactically, or I'll be faced with the hard task of out-magicking him, which on top of being a losing battle (Transmutation Focused Specialist I'm up against...) also makes it nearly impossible for me to Negative Level him without the killing part.

Maybe it will just be an attack of opportunity? (No, not the mechanic)

Like, maybe I can get us to go fight a powerful dragon/demon lord/something that my friend will have to use a lot of high-level spells against while I'm supporting with lower-level things, so then I'll have the advantage when my betrayal starts? Only problem with that is it pretty much mandates the rest of the party being around.

[LogosDragon]

If the party's exhausted their options too, that plan isn't actually so bad :p I mean, aside from the fact that his contingencies might still screw you back. Maybe if you summon something in the fight, leave it close to him at the end before he realizes it might not be an ally after all, and use Celerity to Dimensional Anchor him just before your guy grapples him (and, best-case scenario, uses a Sculpted AMF if you have the proper summon spell). Boom, you have an opportunity while almost everyone is too confused to react where your summon can strangle or KO him. And surely you can come up with a nonlethal way to prevent the party from saving him. Then it's the simple matter of whisking him away and using whatever level-draining technique you feel like.

[Gazzien]

For the matter of destroying not-already-running buffs (this will still stop Contingencies, and whatever else he casts), use Energy Transformation Field, from the Spell Compendium.

Cast it inside of a Bag of Holding (or a portable hole, or some other close-able device), open it and throw it near him. Tin Hat (shrink item'd cone as a hat, easiest protection v AMF) doesn't work, because the ETF doesn't stop current spell effects. Contingencies fail, because they're cast when they trigger (though they're still used!)

You can still cast into it, including things like Dimensional Anchor, or just your normal Enervation / level drain of choice, as well. Personally, I'd just have my Familiar hold the bag, run the bag over to him on my turn (free action), Forcecage him (standard action), quickened Dimensional Anchor him (swift action), use your Move Action of Choice.

If you want to be even more thorough, get a high-ish level Cohort/ hireling and Psychic Reformation him (pay a Psion, or use UPD) into having the Mage Slayer (http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-arcane--55/mage-slayer--1818/), Pierce Magical Protection (http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-arcane--55/pierce-magical-protection--2159/), and Pierce Magical Concealment (http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-arcane--55/pierce-magical-concealment--2158/) feats. Run the Hireling in (under some pretense), then do your turn of locking him in place (except skip the Quickened Dimensional Anchor). Have the Hireling smack him one with PMP/PMC to strip his buffs, then Celerity and (normal) Dimensional Anchor him.

Edit: Well. That locks him down. The rest of the problem is up to you. I'm no help on that.

Edit Two: If you can (somehow) pick up a way to quicken an eighth-level spell (or use the MS/PMP/PMC-Celerity instead of Quicken), use a Dimensional Lock instead of a Dimensional Anchor. No to-hit roll, and it lasts a day per level instead of a minute per level.

[ahenobarbi]

Self-reseting traps of Dimensional lock and Force Cage on negative energy plane. Wait for 1000 or so cages to be created.(and locks) Wish him into the cage (repeatedly if needed). Wait till he losses enough levels.

[captain fubar]

have you ever seen the contingency go off more than once a day? if not you may just be dealing with the evocation(/ilusion) spell rather than the more powerfull feat craft contingency that lacks the one at a time limitation.

as for the idea that he has taken countermeasures against dispelling there are many many varients of dispell magic some are even super natural abilitys rather than spells, even if he has spellblade shriukens he couldnt protect against them all. instead if he realy dosn't want to be dispelled his protections are probibly somthing more like (magic psyonic transparency) dispelling buffer, a few caster levels higher than his class level, ring of enduring archania, (i think it was called), maby a contingency that casts dispell magic against any effect that would subject him to a dispell check.

but if your worryed about protections against dispell magic then your probibly not all that focused on abjunction

if you doubt your ability to strip your targets magical protections you could always do the other way and prevent their reaplication the nightmare spell will prevent a goodnights rest just make shure it is used in any manner other then casting it directly or it will rob you of the chance to refresh your alotment of spells to.

when high level casters fight its not about who has the most dibilitating spells its about researching your targets capibilitys, protecting from them striping his own protections off or finding a way around them, all whil fighting off dominated minions/ plainer bound fiends/ undead abominations/golums. the first to do all this wins no mater what spell is used to finish the other guy.

more imnprotently than the how though is the why.
Wouldn't it just get a book thrown at your head when you say "I want that guy to play a level 1 caster in a nearly epic game"?
if all you want is a power trip for that one scene why not use a metamagic enervation or somthing rather than true level drain you can still put him at your mercy and then try to put a geis or somthing on him with out making him usless once your power play is over.

[LogosDragon]

Above poster has a point. Why exactly would you do this...? I mean, unless the game is only going to 20th level, but even then, you guys should be so engrained in the last part of your campaign that diminishing the other wizard is entirely infeasible strategy-wise, regardless of IC reasoning (and even then, really; wizards are no dummies when it comes to maintaining powerful allies). Hoping a Tome of Battle strikes your self-centering caster head :D hooray for mundanes... *cricket*

[ahenobarbi]

if all you want is a power trip for that one scene why not use a metamagic enervation or somthing rather than true level drain you can still put him at your mercy and then try to put a geis or somthing on him with out making him usless once your power play is over.

Oh c'mon. "Permanent" level loss is hardly permanent.

[LogosDragon]

Oh c'mon. "Permanent" level loss is hardly permanent.

What does that even mean?

[Lightlawbliss]

What does that even mean?

I think he forgot to change the color of the text.

[ahenobarbi]

I think he forgot to change the color of the text.

No, I ment it (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/restoration.htm)

[LogosDragon]

I believe he mentioned not letting the guy get to a Cleric? Restoration only fixes negative levels, not permanently lost levels.

[TuggyNE]

Restoration only fixes negative levels, not permanently lost levels.

This is incorrect.
This spell functions like lesser restoration, except that it also dispels negative levels and restores one experience level to a creature who has had a level drained. The drained level is restored only if the time since the creature lost the level is equal to or less than one day per caster level. A character who has a level restored by restoration has exactly the minimum number of experience points necessary to restore him or her to his or her previous level.

Negative levels only cause XP loss when the save is failed against permanent level loss.

[ChaoticDitz]

Looks like I'll need to hide him a bit better to avoid the Cleric finding him...

I mean, uh, yeah, maybe if there's a stronger thing like Enervation. I can't totally cripple his ability to screw attack me back even with a guaranteed 6 negative levels. I suppose I could also Quicken one, but I'll probably be spending my Quickened spells just keeping him from running away unless I successfully knock him out (the chances are rather low even with all suggested methods).

Oh, oh, here's a thought! I know he has a one-time Disjunction item on him, so I could get a Major Artifact (I imply this will be easy... >_>) and tell him that it's a self-crafted item, which I've locked on to him already and when I fire it, will fire and follow him anywhere in the multiverse and give him every imaginable STD (including the ones with negative stat effects, most importantly, because what Wizard actually cares about ickiness or never getting laid?). He'll use Disjunction to try to save himself from the item ever being used, end up destroying a Major Artifact, and lose all his pawahrz.

Ignoring the entire joke that was the previous paragraph, I think I have the tools I need to screw him over now. Thanks guys! Now I just need to keep the Cleric from finding him for 19 days as well... Whoops, did I say something?