Help me build an interesting Summoner Wizard BBEG? 3.5

[Demons_eye]

Whats some interesting and cool builds for a summoner wizard that's not over the top powerful? I don't want him to just be a summoner I just want his shtick to be summoning things to do his bidding. What interesting feats or classes can I use that will make this BBEG memorable?

[Troacctid]

He specializes in summoning a certain type of creature, such as dinosaurs or elementals.

[Demons_eye]

Because of the group I was planning on using demons mostly. They are starting level 1 so I thought that the BBEG wont even notice them until they can take down one of his mini bosses (Chain Demon).

I do like this idea though.

[GreyBlack]

Make it a race you wouldn't expect. Perhaps a dwarven wizard? Or, better yet, a half-orc?

[Brendanicus]

Crappy idea, but how about the BBEG is an outsider, like a demon or devil with class levels, who summons more of his kin from the Lower Planes. That way it could he could be a one-man invasion force of sorts.

EDIT: Really good idea: For the boss fight, you could have him summon a giant fiend, maybe make it homebrewed or something. In order to summon something that powerful, the BBEG needed to use a summoning circle. The twist is that due to a mishap, the fiend was stuck partway through the circle, possibly with magical ability reduction as a result.

Fighting the upper-torso of a giant, cramped fiend while fighting smaller fiendish guards would make an awesome boss fight, especially since a creature cramped into a small space take a -4 to AC and attack rolls. By combining that with some magical-nerfing homebrew, you could have a lower-level party take on a pit fiend or similarly nasty fiendish creature.

FURTHER EDIT: If you really want to ramp up the drama, have the party be in a race against the clock. If they leave the BBEG/Giant Fiend alone for to long, the Giant Fiend will manage to fully bring itself through the summoning circle.

[ZamielVanWeber]

I had an elemental summoner who took OA shaman and slapped on every single elemental summoning boosting feat he could find, had the Summon Elemental reserve feat, and was using the rules for summoning paraelementals from Dragon #347 (in short, whenever something says "elemental, it can mean paraelemental too"). It was fairly effective, in major part due to Ring of the Beast (I think I got that name wrong) and Ring of Mighty Summons. The build would probably work better as a Spirit Shaman, but it was very fun to play (Summon Elemental was actually dangerous thanks to Rashemi Elemental Summoning)

[Demons_eye]

Make it a race you wouldn't expect. Perhaps a dwarven wizard? Or, better yet, a half-orc?

For the longest time I wanted to run a Dwarf Vampire Businessman, this might be his time to shine....


Crappy idea, but how about the BBEG is an outsider, like a demon or devil with class levels, who summons more of his kin from the Lower Planes. That way it could he could be a one-man invasion force of sorts.

EDIT: Really good idea: For the boss fight, you could have him summon a giant fiend, maybe make it homebrewed or something. In order to summon something that powerful, the BBEG needed to use a summoning circle. The twist is that due to a mishap, the fiend was stuck partway through the circle, possibly with magical ability reduction as a result.

Fighting the upper-torso of a giant, cramped fiend while fighting smaller fiendish guards would make an awesome boss fight, especially since a creature cramped into a small space take a -4 to AC and attack rolls. By combining that with some magical-nerfing homebrew, you could have a lower-level party take on a pit fiend or similarly nasty fiendish creature.

FURTHER EDIT: If you really want to ramp up the drama, have the party be in a race against the clock. If they leave the BBEG/Giant Fiend alone for to long, the Giant Fiend will manage to fully bring itself through the summoning circle.

I like the idea. If I don't use vampire dwarf from 50k years ago angle I will totally use the Devil in Disguise (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DevilInDisguise)


I had an elemental summoner who took OA shaman and slapped on every single elemental summoning boosting feat he could find, had the Summon Elemental reserve feat, and was using the rules for summoning paraelementals from Dragon #347 (in short, whenever something says "elemental, it can mean paraelemental too"). It was fairly effective, in major part due to Ring of the Beast (I think I got that name wrong) and Ring of Mighty Summons. The build would probably work better as a Spirit Shaman, but it was very fun to play (Summon Elemental was actually dangerous thanks to Rashemi Elemental Summoning)

While summoning is something I want him to do, I don't want him to only be a summoner. Sure devoting all of his resources to spirit summoning is cool but then he was just the guy that summoned stuff and not Joe Jagged-Tooth whose all summoned demons came with suits and spoke in rhyme and was part of the wizard college.

[dantiesilva]

I have always had fun with my hellbred malconvoker. I personally focused on devil's for fluff but the effect is the same. I had his spell list all deal with fire, and we'll he was very fun. As even if the players find him he comes up as not evil. He'll I had mine summon one of those glass creatures that can jump threw mirrors and take on the disguise of anything it wanted, then made it attack a paladin temple while disguised as a paladin. My fiendish large spiders had the main guard so busy that with our druid friend we even had time to burrow in. Attacking on three fronts was fun.

Back to topic though, you could use those glass creatures to look like you or however the smart villain wants the good guys to look for an it will keep them busy for awhile as it's a smII and there are a few for higher level. Hope this helps.

I went conjurer 3/master specialist 4/ malconvoker 4 at the time.

[JDL]

Malconvoker is the go-to demon summoning prestige but the fluff is about how the class removes the evilness of summoning demons. If your guy is already evil and looking to cause more evil, perhaps this isn't the best theme thematically.

Now Thaumaturgist is all about calling forth creatures into the world, good or evil. Sadly it requires a Cleric spell for entry though there are ways to get around this.

Remember that aside from the Summon Monster spells Wizards also access the Planar Binding spell line.

[Forrestfire]

My suggestion? Don't build the wizard as a summoner.

It's 100% possible to have a wizard who focuses on summoner but is not a combat summoner. Run it like that; make his combat stats something interesting and threatening, but don't spend the rounds in-combat summoning, because that either floods the field with time-consuming minions or is incredibly dangerous if you optimize it.

Use the fact that he's a summoner to give him varied and diverse minions to send against the party, and then pick some of the more important ones for the encounter itself, possibly refluffing many of them to be summoning related. For the BBEG, I recommend some smattering of abilities that let him:


Get extra actions: Against the party, he's going to need some extra actions to keep up with the action economy, even if he has 2-3 totally-summoned-monsters-we-swear to help him out. It's too easy to nuke the wizard down if he only goes once per turn and isn't TPK-worthy, and since you presumably don't want a TPK, give him an extra round worth of actions on a second initiative count.
Have extra HP and decently high defenses: See above about ease of nuking down. Add Wings of Cover to his spell list and have a bunch prepared, using his extra swift actions to let him use it twice per round. Fluff it as you like (maybe he portals in a wall out of nowhere to block the attack, or the attack enters a short-lived gate to the Astral plane or something), but the important thing is that he's not dying in the first two rounds.
Have spells and abilities that feel threatening without actually killing the party: I like Fireball, personally. Fireball is actually really awesome for caster npcs, because a huge chunk of damage feels dangerous to PCs and affects their perception of the battlefield. Don't focus down one party member (since hitting two people with half their health feels more awesome in a fight than hitting one person for all of it, and taking the player out of the game for an hour), and probably have a mix of some blasting, some buffing and/or healing of his 2-3 minions, and some debuffing of the party and battlefield control (Wall of X spells are good for this).
Don't be afraid to pull from other class' abilities: There are some great things to grab from other classes to make the wizard a memorable and interesting fight. Evasion is good to have for extra defenses, and Eldritch Blast is a nice chunk of damage each round. I'm a fan of Eldritch Glaive, personally, since it's a neat image for the fighter types to reach melee with the wizard, and he suddenly brings out an aura/blast/weapon of crackling energy and fights them evenly.
Play him smart, but not too smart: Self-explanatory. Play him smart enough for it to seem right, but don't pull out serious cunning because that will end in a TPK.


All of these things are doable by the rules of D&D, but generally have some extra baggage attached to make them awkward to get to. But the wizard can be assumed to have some sort of tricks to get access to abilities, so we're good. I'm of the mind that if it's possible to do, then it should be used if it's fun for the encounter, even if you don't want to do the legwork to make it 100% RAW-legal. You could throw stuff like a Reach Spell Heal once in the combat as well, for use on a minion or himself if he gets too low. Maybe make it an action he takes once per combat if he drops below half health. Definitely intimidating from the player side, even if it's not completely busted, since it's out of character for a wizard to channel healing magic, but completely doable through one of several feats or ACFs.

An example BBEG might be:

Level n "wizard", appropriate for the party (some amount of HP that lets him survive for 2-3 rounds if he gets hit by everything. Should last 4-5 rounds with defenses).
Two or three level-appropriate bound minions, each one a different creature. Have them start with one or two buffs each, preferably not amazingly powerful ones.

Wizard's saves: enough to make most save DCs on an 8 or so.
Wizard's AC: enough that the fighter types should roll a 12-13 to hit him on their first attack.
Wizard's defenses: Wings of Cover once per round, when bloodied will use his next available standard action to cast Heal on himself, can only do this once per day. Has access to Iron Heart Surge once per encounter. If he drops below 1/4ths health, uses his next available standard action to Teleport away. Contingent Wings of Cover for if he is hit with a Disjunction. Ability to use Immediate Actions while flat-footed, but still loses his dexterity to AC (which should be about 4-6 of it, to help the rogue hit).
Mobility: Dimension Hop as a swift action once per round, and can spend a standard action to swap places with a summoned minion.
Wizard's offenses: Wall of Ice, Wall of Fire, Eldritch Blast +nd6 as if he was a warlock of even level, Eldritch Glaive, Vitrolic Blast. Several Energy Substituted Fireballs. A few debuff spells that aren't save or lose (I like Reach Spell Bestow Curse, or soft debuffs like sicken, shaken, and fatigued). A few buff spells to throw on his minions.

Unique Abilities: Takes two rounds worth of actions, one at his initiative and one at the end of the round. Has the ability to use his slots indefinitely, because the fight will not last long enough for him to actually run out. Pick a list of appropriate spells and use as needed. Prepared for at least one of each party members' abilities thanks to having Scried them, probably. Can use one of his turns each round to reshape the battlefield, moving platforms, walls, and hazards in his lair around (if defeated, will be revealed that one of his magic items allows that, giving the party an awesome lair).

[Demons_eye]

Malconvoker is the go-to demon summoning prestige but the fluff is about how the class removes the evilness of summoning demons. If your guy is already evil and looking to cause more evil, perhaps this isn't the best theme thematically.

Now Thaumaturgist is all about calling forth creatures into the world, good or evil. Sadly it requires a Cleric spell for entry though there are ways to get around this.

Remember that aside from the Summon Monster spells Wizards also access the Planar Binding spell line.

Thaumaturgist? What book is that in? Also I planned on using Planar Binding almost exclusively. Summon Monster doesn't last long enough for him to send out minions to complete his tasks and he doesn't want to be around long enough to use the summon line.

Edit: In the one spot I don't normally look for PrC.... DMG.


My suggestion? Don't build the wizard as a summoner.

It's 100% possible to have a wizard who focuses on summoner but is not a combat summoner. Run it like that; make his combat stats something interesting and threatening, but don't spend the rounds in-combat summoning, because that either floods the field with time-consuming minions or is incredibly dangerous if you optimize it.


If my intent wasn't clear that was what I was planning from the start. These are three new players to DnD and I don't expect them to take on a fully spec'd summoner. I just want one that's interesting and quirky. As for why I am asking for a raw legal build: I know I can do whatever as a DM but these are new people to DnD and I don't want to taint them with false knowledge. I don't want them thinking that Wizards have wildshape and can turn undead. I want them to learn the game so I can show them what I did and they can go "Oh ok, I get it."

[Deox]

An effective "summoner" could be using numerous skeletons, zombies and other undead. Not a lot of HD individually, just quite a large number of them. Use of spells done with Energy Substitution [Cold] and Lord of the Uttercold. Combine with Corpsecrafter and Destructive Retribution.

Essentially, you'll have a lot of little guys, who don't hit for a lot individually, but will explode upon destruction and heal the surrounding ones and damage the party. Use Energy Sub and Lord of the Uttercold to drop AoE's with impunity, healing your undead friends and harming others.

[Forrestfire]

Thaumaturgist? What book is that in? Also I planned on using Planar Binding almost exclusively. Summon Monster doesn't last long enough for him to send out minions to complete his tasks and he doesn't want to be around long enough to use the summon line.

Edit: In the one spot I don't normally look for PrC.... DMG.



If my intent wasn't clear that was what I was planning from the start. These are three new players to DnD and I don't expect them to take on a fully spec'd summoner. I just want one that's interesting and quirky. As for why I am asking for a raw legal build: I know I can do whatever as a DM but these are new people to DnD and I don't want to taint them with false knowledge. I don't want them thinking that Wizards have wildshape and can turn undead. I want them to learn the game so I can show them what I did and they can go "Oh ok, I get it."

Ah. Hrm. In that case, I'd likely get a Specialist Conjurer with a heavy focus on defensive magic and using his minions for the main attacks until the final showdown. What level is this guy going to be, do you think?

[dantiesilva]

For healing his summons I know devils have bloodbag imps where they literally bite them and heal damage, not sure if their is a demon equivalent, but it could help with the whole healing idea. And lets be honest a bigger demon eating a smaller one to gain a bit more power is not far fetched.

As to my point about the malconvoker the whole not evil thing was the point. He thinks everything he is doing is for the greater good and as such the heroes see him as evil, but it also allows them to connect in a small way to him. Kind of like how when Pain and Naruto battled, at the end Naruto understood why Pain did what he did, even if he was against it.