Building THE Archmage (and his stronghold)

[Bugbeartrap]

Hello Playground!

I'm getting ready to play in a high-level, high-op game inspired by Marvel Comic's Illuminati. We will be starting at least level 12, possibly 15, and I have chosen the role of the Archmage, the most powerful arcane spellcaster in the known world and the figurehead of the majority of arcane casters.

This is where you come in: I need help building him. He is likely the smartest human in this universe and has lived for millennia thanks to his bond with a friendly dragon; therefore, I need help statting the many contingencies such a character would have built. The DM has encouraged us to go nuts, as the game will include a measure of pvp to go along with plane-shaking threats. Seriously. Leadership is a free feat. I need several routes to power, as I expect to take aggro from other players; The barbarian king has already stated I'm his enemy, so I want to be ready. Any suggestions concerning how to build his wizard tower (or floating fortress) would also be appreciated.

All books allowed. Flavor/Deity restrictions are negotiable. Probably will roll stats 4d6 drop low, but I might be able to talk my DM into point buy.

My first stab at a build was:
1 Wizard Diviner banning Evocation (tattoo focus: divination) (H: Node Spellcasting: Shadow Weave)
2 Wiz
3 Wiz (Shadow Weave Magic)
4 Wiz
5 Wiz (B: Spontaneous Divination pre-errata)
6 Mindbender (Extend Spell)
7 Shadow Adept
8 Red Wizard banning Illusion
9 Red Wizard (Mindsight)
10 Red Wizard
11 Red Wizard
12 Red Wizard (B: Spell Mastery)(Uncanny Forethought)

The plan is to finish Red Wizard, then probably end with Archmage. I plan to use Circle Magic to raise my Caster Level to 40, then: place permanent buffs or extend spells to make them semi-permanent and resistant to dispel, command a large army of undead, etc. (I need more ideas!)

Thank you for the help, and please go nuts!

[mostlyharmful]

What books are in? Just how high Op are you wanting (cheese can get so ridiculous it stops all real gameplay) - are we talking Ice-Assassin-Aleax-shenanigans or just unkillable-Batman?

If you want to go crazy, look up some of Tippy's wizard tricks. My personal fav is the smokey confinement coupled with a few dozen bound outsiders (Planetars for preference) in a glove of storing - insta-army of 9th level casters in front of you for a standerd action. If your DM has a problem with them you can get nearly the same bang for a bunch of Simulacrums.

although it's a little out of date, you could do with having a look at Cindy, it used to be a pretty top level caster that's still playable. Should still chew through just about anything anyone else throws at you that isn't a tweaked Tier1. http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=5890

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Never ever ever delay Red Wizard 5 to later than your 10th level, no matter what. Move those Mindbender and Shadow Adept dips to 11th and 12th, and put Red Wizard 5 at your 10th level. There's one very simple reason for this: At level 20, a Simulacrum of yourself will be a Wizard 5/ Red Wizard 5 and be able to lead a circle. Multiple simulacrums of yourself can do circle magic and use their spell levels to heighten one spell to 20th level, then when you lead a circle they contribute nine 20th level spells to you, so you gain 180 spell levels every day from circle magic. If your simulacrums are each a Wizard 5/ Mindbender 1/ Shadow Adept 1/ Red Wizard 3, this isn't possible, and the best you can hope for is nine simulacrums each contributing a 5th level spell so you get 45 spell levels instead of 180.

Don't ban illusion, it's one of the strongest and most versatile schools available. You miss out on Greater/Superior Invisibility, Permanent Image to hide your lair, Project Image to fight without putting yourself at risk, (Greater) Shadow Evocation to get back much of what you lost from banning that school, etc. by banning it. A better choice would be to ban Enchantment at 1st level, and take Arcane Disciple for a domain that grants Charm Person so you can still dip Mindbender, then drop Evocation at Red Wizard 1.

[Bugbeartrap]

Don't ban illusion, it's one of the strongest and most versatile schools available. You miss out on Greater/Superior Invisibility, Permanent Image to hide your lair, Project Image to fight without putting yourself at risk, (Greater) Shadow Evocation to get back much of what you lost from banning that school, etc. by banning it. A better choice would be to ban Enchantment at 1st level, and take Arcane Disciple for a domain that grants Charm Person so you can still dip Mindbender, then drop Evocation at Red Wizard 1.

Wow, I never considered that simulacra could lead circles. That is certainly a goal worth aiming for, so I'll do 5 levels of Red Wizard first. I was only considering the mindbender dip because I had a feat for mindsight. With banning enchantment, I don't think it's worth 2 feats to get; I can probably do more with a feat and a level. Why wait until Red Wizard to drop Evocation? The way RW is worded, it seems I can still cast banned spells, as long as I learned them before RW1.

Edit: In response to Mostlyharmful, I think unkillable batman is more the level I'm aiming for. I will do some research into Tippy's tricks; I am mostly only familiar with his universe.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Wow, I never considered that simulacra could lead circles. That is certainly a goal worth aiming for, so I'll do 5 levels of Red Wizard first. I was only considering the mindbender dip because I had a feat for mindsight. With banning enchantment, I don't think it's worth 2 feats to get; I can probably do more with a feat and a level. Why wait until Red Wizard to drop Evocation? The way RW is worded, it seems I can still cast banned spells, as long as I learned them before RW1.

You're right about still being able to use spells you already knew from the school you ban via Red Wizard, I was thinking it got updated to remove that the same way Incantatrix did. So you could ban Evocation at 1st, learn a bunch of choice Enchantment spells, then ban Enchantment from Red Wizard to still be able to cast those. So you would still be able to dip Mindbender anyway without Arcane Disciple.

You can actually use the domain power ACF in CC at Wizard 5 for the Magic domain's granted power, to still be able to use spell trigger and spell completion items from any of your prohibited schools. Though this is often most useful with something like a focused specialist conjurer who has three prohibited schools at 1st level.

Instead of Archmage, consider picking up Paragnostic Apostle in CC. It doesn't have any feat prerequisites, unlike Archmage, so you should be able to free up quite a few feats that way. Incantatrix is another good choice, despite adding a prohibited school, since you can get its Iron Will prerequisite from the Otyugh Hole in CS without spending a feat on it, and use its metamagic abilities to add Persistent spell to your buffs.