A MFing Meleers

[AWiz_Abroad]

Hey all,

I'm DMing a campaign, and would like to give a unarmed brute an item of command word Anti-magic field to justify why a social event with some high level mages in attendance (not the party) could get annhilated.

Is there such an item already? If not, what would you stat the item out as/ how much a chunk of the guy's WBL?

[Balor01]

You know AMF has radius of 10 ft? Also it just supresses spells not dispells them.

This sounds like a bad bad plan.

[Feint's End]

Hey all,

I'm DMing a campaign, and would like to give a unarmed brute an item of command word Anti-magic field to justify why a social event with some high level mages in attendance (not the party) could get annhilated.

Is there such an item already? If not, what would you stat the item out as/ how much a chunk of the guy's WBL?

just look at the chart found in the DMG.

However this doesn't justify why a social event with high level mages could get annihilated by an unarmed brute. Someone carrying an item like this wouldn't even come close to the party assuming the mages are worth anything and didn't just get to that level by luck. We are talking about people with 20+ intelligence (which makes them extremely smart and most likely prepared for every instance of attack), who have contingencies and plans for every possible case. At the very least they wouldn't let someone with an item of anti-magic field get into the party.

Oh and even then. The unarmed brute would be screwed because the mages outside the field (if there are a few of them he can't get them all) will just fly up and then bomb him from above or summon or teleport away or, or, or

I see what you are trying to do but if you have a consistent world where wizards use at least some part of their brain this plan won't work.

[Karnith]

Is there such an item already?
Not exactly; there are 1/day AMF items (Antimagic Torc from Underdark and Bulwark of Antimagic from Draconomicon; both about 25,000 gp) and there is at least one continuous AMF item (Antimagic Shackles from BoED, though the AMF from that only has a 5-ft. radius; 132,000 gp), but I don't believe that there is a command word AMF item.

[AWiz_Abroad]

Fair point all,

Perhaps you can assist me with encounter design then.

Party disrupted plans of BBEG, but one got away, so party's capabilities are known.
The Dragonmarked house they helped is throwing a party to thank them.
There will be some social intrigue, veiled threats etc, and a couple of the BBEMM (Big Bad Evil Middle Management) guys will be attempting to figure out whether the party will interfere in the BBEG's plans.
When one of them does figure it out, summon the assassins

NPCs
There are 2-3 NPC mages of 15-20 level, one is the party's ally, one will probably be BBEMM.
A couple of low level (4th and below) NPCs floating around
A ton of mincing aristocrats (NPC class)

The party is a 5 person party ECL 10, and they annhilated a set of 6 ECL 9s, and 1 ECL 14.

I was thinking the AMF brute could cause trouble on the main floor, while sterotypically themed casters (based off the the chromatic dragons) could rain down AOE attacks from the orchestral balconies, after sealing the doors with force walls. The good aligned 15-20 level caster would be shuttling the important people out of the hall, keeping him out of the fight, as the casters could probably at least lock him down somewhat. I thought AMF for the joint purpose of protecting from AOE as well as several of the nasty spells that the parties Beguiler or Dread Necromancer can throw. It doesn't shut them down, so much as make them think. Both of them do have options that will work through AMF.

That being said, I'm willing to modify the encounter, any thoughts?

Big things they should take away from the encounter is that their enemy is ruthless, politically well connected, and rather ticked at the party.

[sideswipe]

i would think some sort of rod of mordekeins disjunction that he can use at caster level as high as the most powerful mage in your setting (hope there is an epic lvl 30 wizard somewhere no one knows about :smallwink:)
on top of that give him some sort of command word celerity, free action move items, and other things to give him extra actions.

a nice thing if a few mages kick off. its the best a mundane can do. have free action movement, an extra use or two if possible of the stupidly good disjunction and a full attack of huge damage. if you are the DM, just go with the pet or bought epic level wizard idea and give him an item also crafted by him to give him extra actions. this is the easiest way to do what you want.

the other possibility is that there is a way to have rings "psudo cursed" im not sure of the actual mechanics. but essentially they cannot be remeved except in an anti magic environment of situation. if you have such a ring that produces an antimagic field around the wearer but does not get effected itself then the mage cannot cast except for a very few and tricky spells that make it obvious. then your uber charger can just rend them for trying and obviously being prepared for the battle.
on the way out they pass through a second AMF that allows the rings to be taken off.

[John Longarrow]

Different tact may be using Devils/Demons rather than Melee guy with AMF.

SR works well to get the same effect. Toss in immunities and a grappler and you've got the same effect.

Demon/Devil (big, Strong, highly resistant) teleports next to wizard and initiates grapple. Wizard probably has a contingency of some sort, so goes **POOF**.

You now have a CR 12ish something running around that is highly resistant to spells while the good caster spends some time getting back to the party (say 10-15 rounds) as he needs to go from his hiding place back to somewhere that he can return to the party from (after grabbing his magical goodies).

Same net effect (gets the caster out of the fight) without as many in-game problems (like tracking what spells are up/down at any given time PLUS running a high level caster).

You can even use CR 8ish brutes for this if you need more than one caster gone at once.

Trick may be having them at the party. There SHOULD be a lot of magic defenses if you have multiple high level casters in attendance. Dimensional Anchor across the room to begin with, so some things can become much more problematic. As DM, you will want to work out what protection is in place prior to the guest arriving.

NOTE: Your nasty grapplers could be under a polymorph spell, so that's something they could time to use at the party on command. R1, Lord so and so makes a scene. Bad Guy supporters cast Polymorph on minions. Minions move and grapple casters.

[Darrin]

Try Dust of Negation (3300 GP, Lords of Madness p. 214). It doesn't list an activation method, just "when cast in the air". So... standard action most likely, possibly an attack action as an improvised thrown weapon. Lasts 2 minutes, or 2 rounds if there's any wind.

You can also use a Chaos Flask (100 GP, Planar Handbook p. 76) to create a small amount of Flux Slime (Epic Level Handbook p. 107) as a free action Wisdom check DC 13. This radiates an AMF 10' radius before it evaporates (lasts a number of rounds equal to the shaper's Wisdom score). Magic items brought into contact with it are permanently disjuncted, and creatures with SLAs or Supernatural abilities that come in contact with it take 2d6 Con damage. If exposed to extreme cold, heat, or sunlight during that time, it explodes, causing all creatures within a 50' radius to develop a random mutation (Fort save DC 29 to avoid).