Wizard Gish help

[Osiris]

I've never made a Gish before. I was wondering what buffs you would cast and such. One point though- NO persist spell. We're assuming a wizard with any PRC's but casts as a lv 20 wizard. He loses no caster levels, and we'll assume he's pre-buffed. Would he be effective? Would Polymorph cheese be needed? How much average melee damage does he do, with a full attack or otherwise?

[SPoilaaja]

you don't need wizard casting 20. Wizard casting 17 + practiced spell caster gets you level 9 spells and caster level 20

[Squark]

I believe the basic Gish build would be...


Fighter 1/Wizard 5/Spellsword 1/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 8. +16 Base Attack Bonus, 18th level wizard spellcasting. The core version is would be... Fighter 2/wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 10/Wizard 3. You lose 1 level of spellcasting, and the goodies from Abjurant Champion and the spellsword dip, but you've still got 9th level spells and 4 attacks on a full attack.

[gorfnab]

These might provide some insight:
Gish (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=8786) Handbooks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16674510)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Let's say he's a Wizard 6/ Swiftblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327) 9/ Abjurant Champion 5. He has Ability Enhancer, (Metamagic Rods of) Extend Spell, Kung-Fu Genius with a Monk's Belt, etc.

Instantaneous buffs (these never go away and cannot even be dispelled or disjoined):
Wish for +5 Int
Hide Life (Tome and Blood, you cut off a little finger or toe and put it in a safe place, your life force is stored in that and your body is impossible to kill or destroy until that removed part is destroyed)

Hour/level buffs:
Greater Luminous Armor (BoED, +13 armor bonus with abjurant champion, melee attacks from opponents who use vision take a -4 penalty)
Mind Blank (24 hours, cast it every other day extended)
Energy Immunity (24 hours, cast it every other day extended, preferably keep five active, use Pearls of Power)
Greater Magic Weapon on his primary weapon.
Overland Flight, self explanatory.
Heart of Air/Water/Earth/Fire (CM, various benefits)
Primal Hunter/Instinct/Senses/Speed (DM, 24 hours, cast them every other day extended, various benefits)
Superior Resistance (SC, 24 hours, cast it every other day extended, +6 resist to all saves)

Pre-fight buffs (try to get/make enough Pearls of Power to recover all of these after each fight):
(Rod of Maximized) Time Stop. Note the durations of these spells does not count the apparent time of Time Stop.
Round 1:
Haste (Swift due to Swiftblade, gain a standard action per round due to Swiftblade)
(Extended) Draconic Polymorph: War Troll (Draco, Standard action, benefits from Ability Enhancer; Str 41, Dex 18, Con 33, +14 natural armor, Dazing Blow)
(Extended) Bite of the Werebear (SC, Standard action, benefits from Ability Enhancer; Str +18, Dex +4, Con +10, +7 natural armor, Blind-Fight, Power Attack)
Move into position or draw weapon (Move action)
Round 2:
Shield (Swift due to Abjurant Champion, +9 shield bonus)
Selective Spell Antimagic Field (Standard action; you are selectively excluded from being affected by the spell, including your spells and attended items, but you're still in an AMF for purposes of opponents' spells, attacks, and other abilities)
Superior Invisibility (SC, Standard action, you are undetectable by nonmagical means and the AMF will block True Seeing and similar)
Move into position (Move action)
Round 3:
Extended Wraithstrike (SC, Swift action, it lasts for the round you cast the AMF and the round after)
Fell Drain Black Tentacles on multiple opponents (Standard action)
Fell Drain Kelgore's Grave Mist on those same opponents (PH2, Standard action)
Move into position (Move action)
Round 4:
Extended Bladeweave (SC, Swift action)
Fell Drain Cloud of Knives (PH2, Standard action)
Heroics if necessary (SC, Standard action, gets a Fighter bonus feat such as Combat Reflexes or Improved Sunder or Cleave)
Move into position (Move action)
Round 5:
Choose Destiny (RoD, Swift action, make every d20 roll twice and keep the better one, needs Arcane Disciple: Destiny domain)
Pick two: Ray Deflection or Friendly Fire or Web or Fell Drain Freezing Fog or Iceberg, depending (SC or EoE or PHB or SC or FB, respectively; Standard actions)
Move into position (Move action)

Time Stop ends, you're back to your normal first round of combat.
First round, you have an additional standard action due to Haste and Swiftblade, so you have either a standard action and a move action or a full-round action available, despite having cast Time Stop. You should be adjacent to the strongest opponent, and you have all of the above buffs active. This opponent is in your AMF, so they have no magical buffs or bonuses whatsoever. Power Attack for your full BAB and full attack for five swings with Haste, ignoring nearly all of their AC bonuses.

Average damage at +17 BAB: Large Keen Kaorti Resin (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031014a) Falchion: 2d6 base, +5 Enhancement, +36 Str, +34 Power Attack, for 82 damage per hit on average. The weapon has a 15-20 threat range which is 30%, and making every d20 roll twice it should come out to 49%, with a x4 multiplier. Making five attacks, at least two should score a crit per full attack, making those hits count for four each, or effectively eleven hits worth of damage per full attack. That's usually going to be about 902 damage per full attack if the target is subject to critical hits, or 410 damage if they're immune to crits.

[Monarch Dodora]

snip snip snip 902 damage per full attack

...

Good God. I don't think there's anything sub-epic that could survive that. Half the actual epic monsters couldn't survive that.

Now I know what my next character build is going to be.

Though you could make it even more evil with a casting of Ferocity of Sanguine Rage from Dragon Magic. Sor/Wiz 3, 1 round/level, adds a morale bonus to melee damage equal to half your caster level. Cast it instead of Shield or something. I mean, why do you need an armor class when you're shelling out hits like that? :smalltongue:

EDIT: Also consider the Greathorn Minotaur Greathammer (MM4). 1d12 base, 19/20 x4 critical, and as a bludgeoning weapon it qualifies for the Collision quality (MiC, +5 damage per attack), the Impact quality (MiC again, Keen for bludgeoning weapons) and a casting of Greater Mighty Wallop (Sor/Wiz 3, 1 hr/lvl) which at CL20 makes it hit as if it were four size categories larger than it actually is - or 8d6 per swing.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

...

Good God. I don't think there's anything sub-epic that could survive that. Half the actual epic monsters couldn't survive that.

Now I know what my next character build is going to be.

Though you could make it even more evil with a casting of Ferocity of Sanguine Rage from Dragon Magic. Sor/Wiz 3, 1 round/level, adds a morale bonus to melee damage equal to half your caster level. Cast it instead of Shield or something. I mean, why do you need an armor class when you're shelling out hits like that? :smalltongue:

EDIT: Also consider the Greathorn Minotaur Greathammer (MM4). 1d12 base, 19/20 x4 critical, and as a bludgeoning weapon it qualifies for the Collision quality (MiC, +5 damage per attack), the Impact quality (MiC again, Keen for bludgeoning weapons) and a casting of Greater Mighty Wallop (Sor/Wiz 3, 1 hr/lvl) which at CL20 makes it hit as if it were four size categories larger than it actually is - or 8d6 per swing.

19-20/x4 with Improved Crit or similar gets 17-20/x4. A Kaorti Resin Falchion is 18-20/x4, so Keen makes it 15-20/x4. An extra 10% chance of a x4 critical hit, especially with Choose Destiny to have two chances of a threat, is probably better than Greater Mighty Wallop and the cost of more properties.

If you can use Persistent Spell shenanigans, you don't even need to buff up before a fight.