Turning the Tides of War

[bobthedragon]

So I'm playing a level 20 artificer with an abundance of resources. My allies and I want to try to turn the tides of a large war that is going poorly for our side. I'm evil, but not chaotic stupid. Our enemies are lead by a character that is basically a god, so we are slightly limited, in that if he confronts us directly at this point we are in trouble. We need to turn enemies back effectively enough that we have time to get the "UBER ITEM OF ARBITRARILY HIGH DM FIAT POWER" that lets us make it an even fight before we can kill him.

Have some pretty good ways to screw with enemies, just looking for thoughts and suggestions on how to improve these, or other Ideas I may have missed.

Current possibilities-
Drop/scatter Panphlets/playing cards with explosive ruins
Hurricanes/Tornados Over Naval Forces
Capture and mindrape high ranking enemy officials, make them cause chaos
(Give them a "map" they think they need to show immediately to other
nonmagical but important leaders, actually covered in explosive ruins and ruin of death
maximized twinned Blizzard over city or army to shut everything down

[AvatarVecna]

Beyond obvious answers like "wish loops" and "make a custom item duplicating Teleport Through Time" (where your eventual success is a guarantee), the answer is going to rely more on the specifics. What kind of forces are you working with, and working against? You mention naval forces, but what kind of technology level does that come out to, standard medieval? Also, what are the general levels of allies/enemies you're fighting alongside/against? Until we get some more information, here's a few general ideas:

1. Gather Information: whether you're actually making use of the skill, or using any number of divination abilities, the most important weapon you can have is knowledge (knowing is half the battle, as the saying goes). Furthermore, if you're capable of accessing the information, you might also be capable of altering the information without anyone being the wiser. Even simple things like altering a supplies request to ask for slightly less food could have a fascinating effect on the enemy troops' morale.

2. Buffing your forces: it doesn't matter how you're buffing your forces; all that matters is that the buff lasts a decent amount of time, has a decent effect, and effects enough people to be worthwhile. Consider how effective thirteen Human Fighter 5's did holding a breach against a horde of hobgoblins when under the combined effects of Heroism, Bull's Strength, Bear's Endurance, and Enlarge Person. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0427.html) Wizards and Clerics tend to have lots of good buff spells for this kind of thing; Bards have great buff spells, but can't use as many (although Bardic music generally makes up for it). I also suggest making scrolls for the bigger buff spells if you don't have anybody who can cast them.

2a. While I'm on the subject, that whole siege does very well in showcasing what effect high-level characters (and casters in particular) can have on a standard battlefield. The most direct strategy planning starts here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0413.html) (which could be relevant), and the battle as a whole continues on for quite some time. I highly recommend it.

3a. Hurting your enemies: second verse same as the first. Make use of your casters/casting resources. Magic allows you to do anything from, say, summoning up small armies of magic demon tigers, to opening a hole in reality that leads to hell (conveniently placed behind enemy lines), to straight up magic-nuking the enemy forces with stuff like Fireball, Meteor Swarm, the "Locate City" bomb trick, super-metamagic'd Fimbulwinter, to Apocalypse from the Sky (a level 9 blasting spell that makes Meteor Swarm look like Magic Missile and is so powerful, its material component is an artifact).

[atemu1234]

Beyond obvious answers like "wish loops" and "make a custom item duplicating Teleport Through Time" (where your eventual success is a guarantee), the answer is going to rely more on the specifics. What kind of forces are you working with, and working against? You mention naval forces, but what kind of technology level does that come out to, standard medieval? Also, what are the general levels of allies/enemies you're fighting alongside/against? Until we get some more information, here's a few general ideas:

1. Gather Information: whether you're actually making use of the skill, or using any number of divination abilities, the most important weapon you can have is knowledge (knowing is half the battle, as the saying goes). Furthermore, if you're capable of accessing the information, you might also be capable of altering the information without anyone being the wiser. Even simple things like altering a supplies request to ask for slightly less food could have a fascinating effect on the enemy troops' morale.

2. Buffing your forces: it doesn't matter how you're buffing your forces; all that matters is that the buff lasts a decent amount of time, has a decent effect, and effects enough people to be worthwhile. Consider how effective thirteen Human Fighter 5's did holding a breach against a horde of hobgoblins when under the combined effects of Heroism, Bull's Strength, Bear's Endurance, and Enlarge Person. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0427.html) Wizards and Clerics tend to have lots of good buff spells for this kind of thing; Bards have great buff spells, but can't use as many (although Bardic music generally makes up for it). I also suggest making scrolls for the bigger buff spells if you don't have anybody who can cast them.

2a. While I'm on the subject, that whole siege does very well in showcasing what effect high-level characters (and casters in particular) can have on a standard battlefield. The most direct strategy planning starts here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0413.html) (which could be relevant), and the battle as a whole continues on for quite some time. I highly recommend it.

3a. Hurting your enemies: second verse same as the first. Make use of your casters/casting resources. Magic allows you to do anything from, say, summoning up small armies of magic demon tigers, to opening a hole in reality that leads to hell (conveniently placed behind enemy lines), to straight up magic-nuking the enemy forces with stuff like Fireball, Meteor Swarm, the "Locate City" bomb trick, super-metamagic'd Fimbulwinter, to Apocalypse from the Sky (a level 9 blasting spell that makes Meteor Swarm look like Magic Missile and is so powerful, its material component is an artifact).

Also, apocalypse from the sky is a fun spell to cast on anyone.