Singular Annihilation

[Pinkcrusade]

Salutations, Playground.

The character concept (level seven) I have been contemplating is one who is vehement about avoiding combat until a certain stimulus, in which scenario they devote the entirety of their resources to one attack.

A requirement is that the character is a Wizard, and I want to ensure that a transparent distinction is made between this character and a blaster -- he has absolutely no desire to frequently engage in combat, he just has this one attack in the sole scenario that he might perish.

The incorporation of ocular spell also may be interesting. All meta-magic influence is acceptable, and I do not have a preference for direct damage or save-or-die effects, it is simply mandatory that the aggressive creature is vaporized.

Thank you.

[Drynwyn]

Easiest way to do this would be:

Feat 1: Any Metamagic feat. Doesn't hugely matter, but to maximize the effect, let's pretend you take Enervate Spell.

Feat 2: Sudden Empower.

Feat 3: Sudden Maximize.

Spend a 4th-level slot to prepare Enervate Scorching Ray. When you cast that Scorching Ray and apply Sudden Quicken and Sudden Empower, you'll deal 96 points of damage to a single target. If you take Ocular Spell and store another Scorching Ray to use, you can up that to 104 to 144. That's probably not necessary, however, as a raging 7th level barbarian with base con 16 only has 84 hit points.

[Acanous]

The Reserves of Strength feat allows you to basically screw yourself for a few rounds in order to boost a spell. If you are a Human Wizard, you actually have the feats for this (Enervating Spell, Sudden Empower, Sudden Maximize, Reserves of Strength, Arcane Thesis [Scorching Ray])


So, using Arcane Thesis' +2 to CL, and Reserves of Strength for 3 more, you're actually casting this at CL 12. You get 3 rays instead of 2, (Drynwyn, your math's a bit off, he only gets 2 rays. Empower rolls the extra dice, they aren't maximized when both feats are used) meaning 12d6, Maximized to 72 damage, Empowered for another 6d6,(Average 21) then add 50% bonus damage from Enervating (so 142 total, on average)

You can basically count on insta-killing any humanoid you should be fighting at this level. Most monsters die too, though there are some that won't (Dragons, elementals, basically any big boss)

You could also swap from Scorching Ray to Orb of Fire and do the same kind of damage(You take a hit now, but it really is still 'more than enough'), and swapping out Enervating Spell for Searing Spell- They would do the same base damage, and you only need to make one attack instead of 3. Orb also deals more later (capping at 15d6 instead of 12d6. With Reserves on both, it would be 18d6 v 16d6) and is effective even if the target is magic immune, such as a golem or in an antimagic field. (Searing spell ensures you do more consistent damage, where Enervating basically means you only do decent damage to living things and actually deal less to golems/undead)

[Drynwyn]

(Drynwyn, your math's a bit off, he only gets 2 rays. Empower rolls the extra dice, they aren't maximized when both feats are used)

I disagree with your interpretation of the rules. Empower spell simply states that the effects are "increased by 50%". It doesn't say you roll extra dice, and if it did, what would happen when you Empowered a 9d6 fireball? Can't roll half a d6. Furthermore, if Empower DID cause the roll of extra dice, those extra dice would be a variable numeric effect of the spell, so Maximize would, by RAW, cause it to automatically be considered a roll of all sixes.

Maximize and Empower spell, in my experience, are generally read to stack fully.

[BowStreetRunner]

While not a direct response to your request, I do have a suggestion that might work in concert with the concept you have presented. A War Weaver (Heroes of Battle page 112) gains an ability called Quiescent Weaving at 2nd level that allows you to prep buff spells in advance that you can activate as a move action later on. The War Weaver casts these spells through an eldritch tapestry, and the caster is always connected to his own eldritch tapestry (so the War Weaver's abilities can be used just on yourself, or you can include allies). You could therefore set up a scenario where on your turn you activate your buffs as a move action then unleash your offensive spell as a standard action.

[nedz]

I disagree with your interpretation of the rules. Empower spell simply states that the effects are "increased by 50%". It doesn't say you roll extra dice, and if it did, what would happen when you Empowered a 9d6 fireball? Can't roll half a d6. Furthermore, if Empower DID cause the roll of extra dice, those extra dice would be a variable numeric effect of the spell, so Maximize would, by RAW, cause it to automatically be considered a roll of all sixes.

Maximize and Empower spell, in my experience, are generally read to stack fully.

Nope — the rule is even in the PH (and SRD)

]
All variable, numeric effects of a spell modified by this feat are maximized. Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are spells without random variables. A maximized spell uses up a spell slot three levels higher than the spell’s actual level.

An empowered, maximized spell gains the separate benefits of each feat: the maximum result plus one-half the normally rolled result.
An empowered, maximized Fireball at CL9 does
54+(9d6/2) = 69.75 on average.