overpower my greatsword

[Gambitspades]

so a friend challanged my character to a 1 on 1 and said we can optimize first.
any ideas how to make the strongest weapon (no weapon of legacy)
its a greatsword. and the character is based on leadership and Defence
I also need a full plate.

[A_S]

We need much more information.

What kind of character is yours? Class levels, important feats, etc. When you say your friend "challenged your character," I assume that means it's a pre-existing character, so you're not asking on advice on how to build the character itself. But then what does it mean that you "can optimize first?" Normally, I'd assume that meant character optimization, but not for pre-existing characters that can't be changed. Do you just mean that you get to customize some gear?

What kind of character will you be facing? Do you know anything about your opponent's abilities?

What are the terms of the duel? Closed arena? Set loose in the world and free to do whatever until one of you is dead? Are the prebuff rounds? Any banned materials or sources?

How much can be spent on the gear that you get to customize? Sky's the limit, or character WBL? If the latter, for what level?

The more you can tell us about the duel, the better we can advise you. Your OP provides almost no info at all.

[Gambitspades]

my character is a Marshal 20/Legendary leader 5/Dragon devotee 5 Lawfull good character.

I will be facing a charisma based Caster. probably a shugenja but the challenge was a Charisma based character vs a charisma based character.

he will come and attack me on an open battlefield.no cover, no difficult terrain.

No money restrictions. just best gear you can find.
The duel will be his quality versus my quantity.

[A_S]

You are doomed unless your opponent has no idea what he is doing, or unless your DM is using so many houserules that you're essentially playing a totally different game from D&D-as-written. The properties of your weapon will have no meaningful impact on the outcome of the fight.

What little semblance of balance there is in D&D goes out the window at epic levels (above level 20). Because of the existence of Epic Spellcasting (which gives casters leeway to devise their own spell effects), the only meaningful limits to the power of spellcasters in epic levels are those derived from Rule 0 (i.e., DM fiat). Assuming your DM is running a game according to rules that are roughly similar to the official rules, any epic spellcaster worth his salt will have the means to kill or disable you without ever affording you the opportunity to roll a die or take an action.

You might have a chance if: Your DM is using a ton of houserules that nerf spellcasters. I can't give you any advice if this is the case; we'd have to know more about the houserules.
Your opponent isn't taking advantage of the potential power of spellcasting at epic levels, and is employing an unwise strategy like buffing up and actually engaging you in melee combat over the course of multiple rounds. If this is the case, you should look into getting your hands on some way of emanating an Antimagic Field, which will disable his buffs.
You are allowed to include your Cohorts and Followers in the fight, and one or more of them are also epic level spellcasters. In which case, it will come down to epic magic duels, and your equipment will be of little importance.
If any of those things are true, some more information might be helpful. But, at the end of the day...D&D wasn't designed to be balanced at level 30, it wasn't designed to be balanced for mundanes vs. casters, and it wasn't designed to be balanced for PvP. So, I wouldn't expect a balanced fight.

[ekarney]

No monetary limit you say? Cover the entire battlefield in spheres of annihilation then have a level 20 wizard illusion the hell out of them, you stay on one side sitting down doing nothing, and wait for him to come to you.

[Gambitspades]

Okay, that still doesn't help me with the sword and armor. and yes i can and WILL bring my cohort.

[Swaoeaeieu]

Okay, that still doesn't help me with the sword and armor. and yes i can and WILL bring my cohort.

i think what they are trying to say is that you sword and armor will not matter a single bit against an epic caster that knows what he is doing.
No item, no matter how much money you invest in it will help against a caster of that level.

[rockdeworld]

You are doomed
This.

Now to answer the OP, and ignoring the reason, here are some options:
1. Weapon enhancements. I like: Transmuting, Revealing, Binding, Swarmstrike, Brutal Surge, and Harmonizing. And at least a +6 to overcome epic DR. Getting it aligned will help with DR too.
2. Make it adamantium.
3. If possible, make it a scythe or falchion instead. Crits matter more than base damage, unless the opponent is immune.
4. Use both hands.

Now for armor:
1. I like Armor of the Celestial Battalion with the Soulfire enhancement and a Greater Crystal of Adaptation. Put the effects on a full plate if you like.
2. I also like Tower Shields with the following enhancements: Animated, Great Reflection, Exceptional Arrow Deflection, Infinite Arrow Deflection

The Armor & Weaponry Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=12837.0) will help too, but ignore any ability that allows a saving throw. At epic levels, your opponent will either succeed or be immune.

[ekarney]

i think what they are trying to say is that you sword and armor will not matter a single bit against an epic caster that knows what he is doing.
No item, no matter how much money you invest in it will help against a caster of that level.

To be fair if they have to meet in an open field it removes "sitting in my extra planar fortress throwing astral projections" shenanigans.

Maybe he could convince a nearby hulking hurler to drop a house on top of the caster from 2km in air while riding on a Roc?

[rockdeworld]

To be fair if they have to meet in an open field it removes "sitting in my extra planar fortress throwing astral projections" shenanigans.
That's not fair, because Plane Shift on round 1 accomplishes the same thing.


Maybe he could convince a nearby hulking hurler to drop a house on top of the caster from 2km in air while riding on a Roc?
Maybe the caster could cast Dominate Monster one or both of those creatures while he's doing that and obviate his attempt :smalltongue:

[MyrPsychologist]

I think we're presuming a lot to just say the sorcerer will automatically win. Maybe the caster has no idea what he's doing and is horribly prepared.

Do you have any information on the opponent? Classes and spells known? Also how much prep time does the caster have? Do they also have an extradimensional home to prepare in?

Also. Your cohort. What is it?

[AvatarVecna]

I think we're presuming a lot to just say the sorcerer will automatically win. Maybe the caster has no idea what he's doing and is horribly prepared.

Do you have any information on the opponent? Classes and spells known? Also how much prep time does the caster have? Do they also have an extradimensional home to prepare in?

Also. Your cohort. What is it?

Unless the caster is deliberately choosing only spells that are useless in combat, the caster is going to dominate. If I was building a caster, and I was going up against a melee guy, I wouldn't try to fight him in melee. If he's lucky, I'll just blast him to death with tons and tons of AoE spells and Save-or-Suck/Dies from a few hundred feet up. If he's not, I'll Time Stop, summon a ton of creatures, buff them up to god-mode, then teleport into the stratosphere, set up a scry, and make myself some popcorn while I watch him try to fight half the monster manual.

[J-H]

Well, if you're stuck with a greatsword and full plate... get some form of tactical teleportation that requires only a swift action so that you don't spend 3 rounds trudging over to him at 40'/rd.
Then make your Greatsword a Brilliant Energy something-or-other so that you're making only a touch attack to hit him. That lets you power attack for an extra 20 or 30 damage, and hit more reliably.

Pick up the Soulfire enchantment from BOED for immunity to death effects, and get yourself an animated shield to put it on.

[ekarney]

That's not fair, because Plane Shift on round 1 accomplishes the same thing.


Maybe the caster could cast Dominate Monster one or both of those creatures while he's doing that and obviate his attempt :smalltongue:

Do you think Orcus would consider mercenary work then?

[A_S]

Also. Your cohort. What is it?
This is an important question.

Also, in addition to the stuff rockdeworld mentioned, you might want to look into as many weapons as you can fit on your person (your main sword, armor spikes, spiked gauntlets, shield spikes on animated shields, etc.) with the Spellblade enhancement (from Player's Guide to Faerun) keyed to any targeted spell you expect your opponent to cast on you, which will provide some amount of protection. The Warning enhancement is also very good, and you'll want to add as many wand chambers as possible, to fill with wands with useful spells for you to UMD (I assume you have at least one rank in UMD, and you likely have extremely high Cha as a level 30 Marshal).

[MyrPsychologist]

Unless the caster is deliberately choosing only spells that are useless in combat, the caster is going to dominate. If I was building a caster, and I was going up against a melee guy, I wouldn't try to fight him in melee. If he's lucky, I'll just blast him to death with tons and tons of AoE spells and Save-or-Suck/Dies from a few hundred feet up. If he's not, I'll Time Stop, summon a ton of creatures, buff them up to god-mode, then teleport into the stratosphere, set up a scry, and make myself some popcorn while I watch him try to fight half the monster manual.

Debating what YOU would do isn't exactly helpful though. The opponent isn't you or me or (probably) anyone else in the thread. So we need to understand the specifics about what the OP is fighting. Because without it, then it does seem like a losing battle. But more information could maybe find a specific out.

[Eldaran]

I'm confused, you said there's no limit on money and you're epic level... So just add every property in the game to a weapon, give it an enhancement bonus of +50 billion, and hope you somehow get to swing on your enemy (and don't roll a 1).

[A_S]

I'm confused, you said there's no limit on money and you're epic level... So just add every property in the game to a weapon, give it an enhancement bonus of +50 billion, and hope you somehow get to swing on your enemy (and don't roll a 1).
Yeah come to think of it, this does seem like the obvious way to go.

[rockdeworld]

I'm confused, you said there's no limit on money and you're epic level... So just add every property in the game to a weapon, give it an enhancement bonus of +50 billion, and hope you somehow get to swing on your enemy (and don't roll a 1).

http://www.mememaker.net/static/images/memes/2104121.jpg

If your opponent is ok with that route, consider buying spellcasting services and getting every buff spell in the game cast on you, or permanently enabled via an item. That would even the playing field quite a bit. If you do, your character should end up similar to this (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1062771) (another epic charisma-based martial character), minus the deific bonuses/buffs.

[AvatarVecna]

Yeah come to think of it, this does seem like the obvious way to go.

Hell, if he's got infinite money to work with, he can just buy casting of his own in magic items.

Of course, that still won't help him against a powerful enough caster if he doesn't make sure to prepare his purchased power correctly: if this is a high-op Sorcerer/Incantatrix with metamagic reduction cheese we're talking about, they can have Contingency: Celerity activate to let them cast a spell; they cast Greater Celerity, and now they get a full round before combat starts. That means Twinned Repeated Irresistible Disjunction is cast using a standard action, and then Maximized Empowered Quickened Time Stop shortly follows; that rounds hits the OP's melee guy with 2 Disjunctions and has 2 more on the way (each item has to save each time or be de-magic'd), while also giving the caster 6-7 rounds to cast spells that don't target the OP. I recommend then doing something like this, and then get out of the universe before Time Stop ends (I hear Sigil's nice this time of year...)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/208/1301963533553.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/5s1301963533553j)

[captain fubar]

no wealth restrictions you say... you could very well be bringing more magic to the fight than your t1 foe, that said he could do any of the same WBLmancy you can so your only advantage then is that through leadership you have more actions to use you're massive amount of magic gear. that said there are better uses of your magic items that trying to put the pointy end in the magic man. I would recommend a few scrolls of disjunction at a high caster level, a continuous item of mind blank least your minions become a liability, a method to non lethally but permanently disable your foe (this will help with many but not all methods of coming back from death and bypass some of the more common contingencys) such as imprisonment or transmute flesh to stone to mud followed by purify water, otherwise just outfit your own character with the best versions of the gear you would normally want to get and remember that between motivate charisma and a large number of attempts your followers should be able to UMD just about anything fairly reliably.

[Warrnan]

Yep. All your leadership cohorts, should be tier one casters. Im not super familiar with the leadership feat but just beat the single Charisma caster at his own game. Have a cleric, wizard, and druid. Get them to put stuff like mind blank, death ward, freedom of movement and delay death on you so. Give them items beefing their caster level into the stratosphere so you can't be dispelled.

Beat him by using more of his own tricks against him and abusing the fact that your team has many more actions than him.

Have a cohort take draconic aura (senses) to give all your minions up to +4 initiative. In fact Google initiative optimization, buy all the items and take all the feats. Have your casters use things like sign, nerveskitter, time stop, contingency, and celerity to make your team go first.

Have your casters disable the enemy. Then walk over and coup de grace him with your +51 brilliant energy acid, fire, frost, shocking burst great sword The fort save or die is dc 20+ damage dealt. Coup de grace is a critical so find as many things as possible to make your crit damage big. Take that feat that allows you to coup de grace as a standard action. Grab some flight and teleportation. Have the cleric cast dimension anchor to keep the enemy from teleporting yourself or himself to a different plane.

Then you have killed a caster with a melee charactwr. Haha.

[AvatarVecna]

Yep. All your leadership cohorts, should be tier one casters. Im not super familiar with the leadership feat but just beat the single Charisma caster at his own game. Have a cleric, wizard, and druid. Get them to put stuff like mind blank, death ward, freedom of movement and delay death on you so. Give them items beefing their caster level into the stratosphere so you can't be dispelled.

Beat him by using more of his own tricks against him and abusing the fact that your team has many more actions than him.

If nothing else, he can have Khepri (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19299172&postcount=59) as a cohort, although how he would've convinced her to follow him is a mystery to me...