ChaoticDitz
2013-09-29, 02:07 PM
Hey guys! Here today with a predicament from one of my two IRL gaming groups, both of which I am a player of.
Last time, I came to you guys with how to screw over another player (and become an eternal jerkwad in the process). Because that character is very much the kind of person to do that, and I had motivation. But now I'm in an opposite predicament.
No, I'm not about to say that another player is trying to screw me over. I got advice here about doing bad things to other characters, so I'm man enough to accept karmic retribution. Actually, what I need help with is protecting my party.
Allow me to explain. This group is Level 18 right now, and we've been playing all the way from level 2. It's been an eventful and fun campaign, and both I and my character have grown very attached to the rest of the party. The party makeup is as follows: Me, a Dragonborn Gray Elf Transmutation Wizard/Master Specialist/IoSV with Enchantment and Necromancy banned; a Human Psion/Meditant/Crystal Master; a Dragonborn Half-Ogre Warblade (planning to go straight 20 for capstone); a Gold Dwarf Spontaneous-Domain Cleric/Malconvoker/Contemplative/Thaumaturgist; and a Strongheart Halfling Ardent/Good-version Psychic Assassin/Slayer.
Back two levels ago, we encountered the BBEGs of the campaign as we were attempting to save an alternate universe's Material Plane from being sacrificed to revive Krastis, some sort of Fiend with the power to destroy the essence of magic itself. So yeah, being a party made of casters and manifesters, alignment wouldn't even matter, we don't want that thing revived.
The BBEGs were, surprisingly, not some terrifying embodiment of everything vile and wicked, but actually three Human Wizards (likely with PrCs, but I'm unsure). Although I don't have access to actual stats, we found out during our following fight against them that one of them generally focuses on using transmutation and conjuration (both effects and summons) for battlefield control and then spams save-or-Xs, one of them uses complex illusion tactics and chains of Contingencies to trip up the opponent (read: us) while also spamming Save-or-X, and the third wizard uses several tricks to break the action economy and uses a mixture of defensive spells, to protect himself and his allies from things we try to do to them in between dealing with the summons and illusions and crap, and area-effect spells for whenever some of us end up clustering to cover each other during the fight (only really a problem for the Slayer and the Warblade, since they're the melee'rs).
Most of the campaign up to this point had been much less optimized than this on the DM's side, so we weren't expecting nearly such a powerful onslaught of magical lockdown (most of our high-end opponents up to that point were Sorcerers with decently strong minions and stuff). Despite the fact that both sides started the battle totally fresh, we ended up way on the losing end, and I had to magically cover for the entire team except the Cleric just to keep our entire party from getting slaughtered, preventing us from taking the offense against them in any meaningful way. Thankfully for us, the Psion managed to persuade the group not to freak out and fight blindly, so we were able to survive by the skin of our teeth in the protracted battle by conserving our spell slots/power points, maxing out at about the same time our opponents ran out of juice. (Yeah, the fight lasted for over 40 in-game minutes; Too many hours IRL for me to remember them exactly).
Needless to say, I could've been of more use in that fight if the weaker members of the party weren't a concern, and... To be frank, I don't want them to die. Both in-character and out, I just really want to keep the party safe from these guys.
At the moment, we're back on the regular Material Plane, protected completely from their attempts to use Divinations on us, but they also have some strong Divination blockers; only thing I've been able to discern is the building they're generally in (not even sure if they're usually there, what with how easy Rope Trick and the like are). Just that that's their home-base. I know that it has Anti-Magic layered and inverted Plane-locked walls (basically, things can Plane Shift/Gate/DimensionDoor/etc. in, but not out). That's about all the information I've got.
So, here's what I need help with. Given my spell repertoire (some super-cheesy stuff is banned, but most of it's there, so say anything and I'll see how it works; I have nearly every spell I could access from non-third party and non-Dragon magazine) and basically half of the party's WBL for magic items and the like, how can I break the action economy hard enough to be able to match up against three powerful wizards at once with no party help? I just want to teleport in, have ourselves a crazy fight, and get back out without the party knowing, because them getting involved will likely end with their souls being destroyed or otherwise locked where there's no chance to revive them.
I can also reasonably assume I'll get some buffs before-hand from the party if I simply say I'm going out and want to be safe in case I should "just happen" to get involved with those wizards. Of course, the Cleric is the only one with any real buffs, since the Psion doesn't deal much in that area and the other two have to focus on doing everything in their power simply to stay relevant around three high-level casters.
Thanks in advance for any advice! :)
Last time, I came to you guys with how to screw over another player (and become an eternal jerkwad in the process). Because that character is very much the kind of person to do that, and I had motivation. But now I'm in an opposite predicament.
No, I'm not about to say that another player is trying to screw me over. I got advice here about doing bad things to other characters, so I'm man enough to accept karmic retribution. Actually, what I need help with is protecting my party.
Allow me to explain. This group is Level 18 right now, and we've been playing all the way from level 2. It's been an eventful and fun campaign, and both I and my character have grown very attached to the rest of the party. The party makeup is as follows: Me, a Dragonborn Gray Elf Transmutation Wizard/Master Specialist/IoSV with Enchantment and Necromancy banned; a Human Psion/Meditant/Crystal Master; a Dragonborn Half-Ogre Warblade (planning to go straight 20 for capstone); a Gold Dwarf Spontaneous-Domain Cleric/Malconvoker/Contemplative/Thaumaturgist; and a Strongheart Halfling Ardent/Good-version Psychic Assassin/Slayer.
Back two levels ago, we encountered the BBEGs of the campaign as we were attempting to save an alternate universe's Material Plane from being sacrificed to revive Krastis, some sort of Fiend with the power to destroy the essence of magic itself. So yeah, being a party made of casters and manifesters, alignment wouldn't even matter, we don't want that thing revived.
The BBEGs were, surprisingly, not some terrifying embodiment of everything vile and wicked, but actually three Human Wizards (likely with PrCs, but I'm unsure). Although I don't have access to actual stats, we found out during our following fight against them that one of them generally focuses on using transmutation and conjuration (both effects and summons) for battlefield control and then spams save-or-Xs, one of them uses complex illusion tactics and chains of Contingencies to trip up the opponent (read: us) while also spamming Save-or-X, and the third wizard uses several tricks to break the action economy and uses a mixture of defensive spells, to protect himself and his allies from things we try to do to them in between dealing with the summons and illusions and crap, and area-effect spells for whenever some of us end up clustering to cover each other during the fight (only really a problem for the Slayer and the Warblade, since they're the melee'rs).
Most of the campaign up to this point had been much less optimized than this on the DM's side, so we weren't expecting nearly such a powerful onslaught of magical lockdown (most of our high-end opponents up to that point were Sorcerers with decently strong minions and stuff). Despite the fact that both sides started the battle totally fresh, we ended up way on the losing end, and I had to magically cover for the entire team except the Cleric just to keep our entire party from getting slaughtered, preventing us from taking the offense against them in any meaningful way. Thankfully for us, the Psion managed to persuade the group not to freak out and fight blindly, so we were able to survive by the skin of our teeth in the protracted battle by conserving our spell slots/power points, maxing out at about the same time our opponents ran out of juice. (Yeah, the fight lasted for over 40 in-game minutes; Too many hours IRL for me to remember them exactly).
Needless to say, I could've been of more use in that fight if the weaker members of the party weren't a concern, and... To be frank, I don't want them to die. Both in-character and out, I just really want to keep the party safe from these guys.
At the moment, we're back on the regular Material Plane, protected completely from their attempts to use Divinations on us, but they also have some strong Divination blockers; only thing I've been able to discern is the building they're generally in (not even sure if they're usually there, what with how easy Rope Trick and the like are). Just that that's their home-base. I know that it has Anti-Magic layered and inverted Plane-locked walls (basically, things can Plane Shift/Gate/DimensionDoor/etc. in, but not out). That's about all the information I've got.
So, here's what I need help with. Given my spell repertoire (some super-cheesy stuff is banned, but most of it's there, so say anything and I'll see how it works; I have nearly every spell I could access from non-third party and non-Dragon magazine) and basically half of the party's WBL for magic items and the like, how can I break the action economy hard enough to be able to match up against three powerful wizards at once with no party help? I just want to teleport in, have ourselves a crazy fight, and get back out without the party knowing, because them getting involved will likely end with their souls being destroyed or otherwise locked where there's no chance to revive them.
I can also reasonably assume I'll get some buffs before-hand from the party if I simply say I'm going out and want to be safe in case I should "just happen" to get involved with those wizards. Of course, the Cleric is the only one with any real buffs, since the Psion doesn't deal much in that area and the other two have to focus on doing everything in their power simply to stay relevant around three high-level casters.
Thanks in advance for any advice! :)