Arceliar
2007-01-29, 12:14 AM
What follows is what I like to call Arceliar's Amazing Balor Bomb. This may not be the most powerful abuse of metamagic in the game, but it's a damn funny one and still quite effective.
I'll use a Human for the race, cause I like extra feats and this build kinda needs them...
Level, Class, and Feats:
1, Wizard, Scribe Scroll (bonus, wizard), Sudden Still, Sudden Maximize (bonus, human)
2, Cleric (with Magic as a domain)
3, Wizard, Sudden Empower
4, Wizard
5, Wizard
6, Dweomerkeeper, Quicken Spell
7, Dweomerkeeper
8, Dweomerkeeper
9, Dweomerkeeper, Sudden Extend
10, Dweomerkeeper
11, Dweomerkeeper
12, Dweomerkeeper, Sudden Silent
13, Dweomerkeeper
14, Dweomerkeeper
15, Dweomerkeeper, Sudden Quicken
16, Wizard, Chain Spell (bonus, wizard)
17, Wizard
18, Wizard, Arcane Thesis (Polymorph Any Object)
Levels 19 and 20 don't much matter, but I'd suggest stick with wizard, or maybe start a new prestige class. Level 18 is where it's all at.
The following scenario is...entertaining to say the least. Although it still works without scrolls, it's most effective if it's decided that you can make scrolls with metamagic feats totaling beyond 9th level if you have abilities which reduce the metamagic total to 9th level or below. In particular, making scrolls of Chained Polymorph Any Object. If the DM won't allow it, you can still pull this trick off, it's just not quite as impressive. I'll assume in the following that it was determined that, as it's only a 9th level spell slot for the caster, Chained Polymorph Any Object is allowed on a scroll. If not, you'll just have a few dozen fewer balors at the end of things.
We'll even assume you roll a 1 on the first Time Stop, just to show how interesting this can still be...
Round, Spells:
1, Time Stop (Scroll, in this we assume a 1 was rolled)
2, Chained Polymorph Any Object (any pebbles nearby the target, into Frost Worms)
3, Chained Polymorph Any Object (pebbles to Balors), Time Stop Ends, Sudden Quickened Sudden Maximized Time Stop (before your turn ends)
4, Chained Polymorph Any Object (pebbles to Balors, again)
5, Chained Polymorph Any Object (more Balors)
6, Chained Polymorph Any Object (gotta love the Balors)
7, Chained Polymorph Any Object (what do you think)
8, Chained Polymorph Any Object (Bring on the Balors), Quickened Dimension Door (the hell out of there), Time Stop ends.
Thanks to squeezing 2 time stops into 1 round via sudden quicken, this is all done in your first round of action. Remember that while time stop is in effect, you can, and I quote, "affect any item that is not in another creature's posession" which is why you can polymorph all the pebbles or rocks or sand or whatever's nearby.
The Frost Worms are the frozen fuse of the Balor Bomb. They have but 147 HP each. When looking through the SRD, you'll notice that Frost Worms explode when they die, dealing 8d6 piercing and 12d6 cold damage to everything in a 100ft radius (Reflex DC 22 for half). The Frost Worms, which are vulnerable to fire, are in a tangled mess with a bunch of Balors, which deal fire damage when touched. But if your DM really doesn't thing that's sufficient to set them off (it is if you do the work for creature spacing in 3d but some DM's are sceptical and too lazy to think about that themselves) then chuck a necklace of fireballs into the fray instead of your last polymorph spell. Or better yet, chuck a bag full of necklaces of fireballs, just to be sure. Either way, once the Frost Worms take enough damage, the real fun begins.
The piercing damage sets off a chain reaction among any surviving Frost Worms, which in turn set off the chain reaction in the Balors. Each Balor, when killed (which happens immediately via the Frost Worms, before their turn comes up and they teleport without error, if you do this right) deals 100 damage of no particular type in a 100ft radius (DC 30 reflex save for half). At level 18, the above can crate 18 Balors each casting of Chained Polymorph Any Object, for a total of 108 Balors in the blast.
If all 108 Balors are within range of the target you're trying to kill (very possible, I took the time to draw an elaborate symmetric diagram a few weeks back) then the target is basically going to die. Evasion is the one thing that can save a target, but when 108 Balors are exploding, the target is bound to roll at least a few 1's. Even so, the target's going to take a lot of damage....
Specifically how much damage, you may wonder? Well, if the target somehow had ignored all piercing damage from the frost worms (ie: ridiculous damage reduction), and all the cold damage (undead, anyone?), there'd still be 10,800 damage from the Balors. If the target made EVERY reflex save (and did not have evasion) that would still be 5,400 damage.
And if 5,400 damage isn't enough.. then you probably shouldn't be fighting Ao.
Regardless, seeing 18 Frost Worms and 108 very confused Balors suddenly appear and explode in little more than an instant would be entertaining to anyone, except the Balors.
Tune in next week as I cast Shatter on a hydrogen atom.
I'll use a Human for the race, cause I like extra feats and this build kinda needs them...
Level, Class, and Feats:
1, Wizard, Scribe Scroll (bonus, wizard), Sudden Still, Sudden Maximize (bonus, human)
2, Cleric (with Magic as a domain)
3, Wizard, Sudden Empower
4, Wizard
5, Wizard
6, Dweomerkeeper, Quicken Spell
7, Dweomerkeeper
8, Dweomerkeeper
9, Dweomerkeeper, Sudden Extend
10, Dweomerkeeper
11, Dweomerkeeper
12, Dweomerkeeper, Sudden Silent
13, Dweomerkeeper
14, Dweomerkeeper
15, Dweomerkeeper, Sudden Quicken
16, Wizard, Chain Spell (bonus, wizard)
17, Wizard
18, Wizard, Arcane Thesis (Polymorph Any Object)
Levels 19 and 20 don't much matter, but I'd suggest stick with wizard, or maybe start a new prestige class. Level 18 is where it's all at.
The following scenario is...entertaining to say the least. Although it still works without scrolls, it's most effective if it's decided that you can make scrolls with metamagic feats totaling beyond 9th level if you have abilities which reduce the metamagic total to 9th level or below. In particular, making scrolls of Chained Polymorph Any Object. If the DM won't allow it, you can still pull this trick off, it's just not quite as impressive. I'll assume in the following that it was determined that, as it's only a 9th level spell slot for the caster, Chained Polymorph Any Object is allowed on a scroll. If not, you'll just have a few dozen fewer balors at the end of things.
We'll even assume you roll a 1 on the first Time Stop, just to show how interesting this can still be...
Round, Spells:
1, Time Stop (Scroll, in this we assume a 1 was rolled)
2, Chained Polymorph Any Object (any pebbles nearby the target, into Frost Worms)
3, Chained Polymorph Any Object (pebbles to Balors), Time Stop Ends, Sudden Quickened Sudden Maximized Time Stop (before your turn ends)
4, Chained Polymorph Any Object (pebbles to Balors, again)
5, Chained Polymorph Any Object (more Balors)
6, Chained Polymorph Any Object (gotta love the Balors)
7, Chained Polymorph Any Object (what do you think)
8, Chained Polymorph Any Object (Bring on the Balors), Quickened Dimension Door (the hell out of there), Time Stop ends.
Thanks to squeezing 2 time stops into 1 round via sudden quicken, this is all done in your first round of action. Remember that while time stop is in effect, you can, and I quote, "affect any item that is not in another creature's posession" which is why you can polymorph all the pebbles or rocks or sand or whatever's nearby.
The Frost Worms are the frozen fuse of the Balor Bomb. They have but 147 HP each. When looking through the SRD, you'll notice that Frost Worms explode when they die, dealing 8d6 piercing and 12d6 cold damage to everything in a 100ft radius (Reflex DC 22 for half). The Frost Worms, which are vulnerable to fire, are in a tangled mess with a bunch of Balors, which deal fire damage when touched. But if your DM really doesn't thing that's sufficient to set them off (it is if you do the work for creature spacing in 3d but some DM's are sceptical and too lazy to think about that themselves) then chuck a necklace of fireballs into the fray instead of your last polymorph spell. Or better yet, chuck a bag full of necklaces of fireballs, just to be sure. Either way, once the Frost Worms take enough damage, the real fun begins.
The piercing damage sets off a chain reaction among any surviving Frost Worms, which in turn set off the chain reaction in the Balors. Each Balor, when killed (which happens immediately via the Frost Worms, before their turn comes up and they teleport without error, if you do this right) deals 100 damage of no particular type in a 100ft radius (DC 30 reflex save for half). At level 18, the above can crate 18 Balors each casting of Chained Polymorph Any Object, for a total of 108 Balors in the blast.
If all 108 Balors are within range of the target you're trying to kill (very possible, I took the time to draw an elaborate symmetric diagram a few weeks back) then the target is basically going to die. Evasion is the one thing that can save a target, but when 108 Balors are exploding, the target is bound to roll at least a few 1's. Even so, the target's going to take a lot of damage....
Specifically how much damage, you may wonder? Well, if the target somehow had ignored all piercing damage from the frost worms (ie: ridiculous damage reduction), and all the cold damage (undead, anyone?), there'd still be 10,800 damage from the Balors. If the target made EVERY reflex save (and did not have evasion) that would still be 5,400 damage.
And if 5,400 damage isn't enough.. then you probably shouldn't be fighting Ao.
Regardless, seeing 18 Frost Worms and 108 very confused Balors suddenly appear and explode in little more than an instant would be entertaining to anyone, except the Balors.
Tune in next week as I cast Shatter on a hydrogen atom.