Caster doomed to lose casting: what to do?

[Inevitability]

You are a 20th-level wizard. Through your many divinations, you learn that in the future you'll lose all your spellcasting abilities. Nothing can be done about this (no Dominating gods, no diplomancy, no infinite body shenanigans). You have one month of subjective time (so time travel/fast time planes won't extend this period) to prepare.

What do you do? How do you prepare for the inevitable and permanent loss of all casting abilities?

[ATHATH]

Permamency. Permamency out of the wazoo.

Get as many scrolls of Magic Jar as possible. Planar Bind an outsider with powerful SLA's (like a Glamer or something) and steal its body.

Dominate some Artificers and have some of them start making scrolls of Dominate Person so that I can keep them around.

Get my casting feats and skills Psi-Reformed into more useful things.

One minute before the big day, put all of my XP into a Thought Bottle. Get all of my casting back after I lose it (or become a StP Erudite or an Initiator if I can't get my casting back).

[Gildedragon]

Get necropolitanized and spell stitch myself, Dark Chaos shuffle my first level feat to "magic in the blood"; then retrain/wish my levels into artificer thus fulfilling the prophecy and gaining more magic item capacity plus a bunch of SLAs

[Troacctid]

The prophecy is self-fulfilling. Upon hearing it, I decide to go on a rebuild quest to change all of my class levels to something else.

[Eloel]

Items. Create tons and tons of items, preferably giving you access to 9th level spells a couple times a day, even if it costs you all your levels in XP.

[Nifft]

Roll up a new character.

[Jormengand]

The prophecy is self-fulfilling. Upon hearing it, I decide to go on a rebuild quest to change all of my class levels to something else.

Specifically psion, because they don't have any spellcasting abilities and don't need them because PSIONICS!

[Inevitability]

Specifically psion, because they don't have any spellcasting abilities and don't need them because PSIONICS!

You spelled 'spell-to-power erudite' wrong. :smalltongue:

[Zaq]

This depends on the world. You're a 20th level Wizard. What do you have left that you need to accomplish?

I mean, if you live in a world full of Epic characters and you still want to do Epic adventuring, then yeah, this is a huge problem. I don't know what to do in that sort of situation. Maybe Troacctid's suggestion of hastily rebuilding into something else, if that's at all possible. If that's not possible, you basically have to build up enough connections and political/economic power to be able to convince other people to keep working on your behalf (even when you can no longer kill them with your brain).

In a world where you're already Top Dog, though? Maybe it's time to retire. Like, it's a horrifying situation that I wouldn't wish on anyone (Flowers for Algernon is one of the most deeply unsettling stories I've ever read, and it's also not super cool to force retirement on someone who doesn't want it), but at the same time, a level 20 Wizard in some worlds doesn't have a whole lot left to actively achieve that they haven't already done. No one would be happy about losing all their magical power, but that doesn't mean they'd lose all their magical knowledge—they could start an academy, they could train a single Chosen One protege, they could start writing out tomes and treatises full of magical theory, or they could otherwise still put their knowledge to use for the betterment of the magical community even if they couldn't actually cast anymore. (Think of a top surgeon who chooses to retire from practice when they start to lose their eyesight or their manual dexterity but who can still teach classes at med school or who can still write about what they've experienced and learned.)

If you have any major enemies, you'd basically need to make them stop being enemies before the countdown finishes, or you need to put yourself in a position where they would be disinclined to attack your nonmagical butt. When I say that you need to make them stop being enemies, one thing that I might mean would be killing them once and for all, but one other possibility might be trying to genuinely bury the hatchet and make them, if not friends, at least nonhostile parties. May or may not be possible depending on exactly who doesn't like you and why they don't like you, but if you've got a blood feud with a Wizard and you find out that that Wizard is no longer a Wizard, then you're probably going to take advantage of the fact that they can no longer really fight back and/or defend themselves. (You might be able to hide it for a while, but you probably couldn't hide it forever, especially without magic.) If you can't kill them and you can't reconcile with them, you need to make yourself someone they no longer want to kill—which basically means building up a network of political power and other power that makes you someone it's a bad idea to straight up murder. Not necessarily easy to do on short notice, but a desperate 20th level Wizard with everything to lose probably can find some creative solutions.

In any case, of course you're going to want to exercise your magic in as many permanent or long-lasting ways as possible before it goes away for good, but you have to be mindful of the fact that you're still playing a losing game. Any permanent spell that gets dispelled or disrupted can't be replaced. Magic items only do so much good if you're fundamentally a 20 HD Commoner (especially if you want to go adventuring and expect to have to fight for your life). No matter how many spells you cast now, you can't cast every spell you'll ever want again. Doesn't mean you should necessarily just give up, of course, but you also don't want to fool yourself into thinking that you can magically fix your lack of magic. (I mean, full disclosure, if I were actually in that situation, I really couldn't guarantee that I'd have the right outlook and presence of mind to really accept and internalize that, but I still feel like it's going to be best in the long run to not go full Ozymandias here.)

Nasty situation however you slice it, of course. I honestly don't know if I'd be comfortable playing in a game where the GM made this sort of thing happen—that's a little bit more emotionally troubling than I like from my heroic fantasy games.

[AnonymousPepper]

Specifically psion, because they don't have any spellcasting abilities and don't need them because PSIONICS!

This is the correct answer. Thread is over, guys.

Although my idea was "retrain into Artificer because Artificers do not at any point actually cast spells, but have access to every spell in the game anyway plus infusions which aren't spells either."

[InvisibleBison]

I think I'd try to find some way to weasel out of the situation. Without knowing more about exactly what's happening, it's hard to come up with specific plans, but just off the top of my head being dead for a bit seems promising. If I was dead when I was supposed to lose my powers, that might cause the whatever-it-is to misfire, and I could subsequently be resurrected. Alternatively, dying after losing my powers might shake off the power-loss. Another thing I might try is screwing with the targeting parameters of the depowering, so it hits my pet rabbit instead of me or something like that.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Find and approach the elan council. If I'm giving it up, I'm giving it up on my terms. I'll start over as an erudite psion and when I get back to twenty, I'm going to make whoever took my casting away -pay- for it with all the mental might I can bring to bear.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

You spelled 'spell-to-power erudite' wrong. :smalltongue:I think Psion was right; he just forgot to mention his StP Erudite buddy with psychic chiurgery and various XP-cost-reducing shenanigans.

[Amphetryon]

Given no further insight from the prophecy, I'd work under the assumption that any plans I made - and any plans I didn't make - to try to minimize the impact of my impending loss of spellcasting were the direct cause of such loss. This would make any choice of action beyond excruciating and probably cause madness (which would likely remove casting).

Nice guy, this prophet.

[The Glyphstone]

I would avoid anything that would seem like a torturous way to get around the prophecy, as a lot of ideas posted are, because I'm genre savvy enough to know that is just painting a giant target on my forehead. The deliberate self-fulfillment of retraining all my class levels is probably the best idea; probably into an otherwise mundane class with UMD as a trained skill.

[Deophaun]

You are a 20th-level wizard. Through your many divinations, you learn that in the future...
I destroy the future. With fire.

[ben-zayb]

Option 1: Ascend. Pun-Pun doesn't need spellcasting.
Option 2: Fuse with a Hagunemnon, because getting access to Ex and Su of almost everyone is the closest thing to accessing a spell list.
Option 3: Supernatural Transformation (Innate Spell (Wish))

[Oroul]

You are a 20th-level wizard.

Would never happen. But that's no fun. Let's presume I did. As the most intelligent character of a group, and also the one with the most agency, losing this power / agency becomes liberating.

First, I create headbands of mental prowess with skills I may require in my new career (e.g.: Handle Animal + Ride + Craft: Armorsmith). Then I make sure I have access to a Hat of Disguise. Since I would probably already have researched the means for me to proceed, I would probably try to achieve some state of immortality that doesn't require me KEEPING my arcane powers and that can commit suicide once it is bored enough. Then I would first retrain then wish away Intelligence-for-w/e is required for my next career. Lich-Paladin or antipaladin of Wee Jas / Gorum sounds awesome.

When I finally lose my powers, I go into hiding and I start crafting sets of armor. They must be similar enough that they seem to come from the same order, yet different enough that people can differentiate them. Even if the God don't bless me and I am left as a charismatic undead cavalier of the Iron Hand / Blue Rose. Either way, my HP is based off my charisma and I got all eternity to make sure I am accepted in the faith. I start my own sub-order, keep my phylactery safe, and whenever I am destroyed, I assume a new identity that claims to uphold the memory of the last identity I had.

Then I make sure my "afterlife" is as entertaining as it can be.

Cavalier of the Iron Hand is basically a Cavalier of the Blue Rose, with an evil twist. While the Cavalier of the Iron Hand must avoid killing whenever it's possible, the goal is to capture slaves.

[Tohsaka Rin]

Find and approach the elan council. If I'm giving it up, I'm giving it up on my terms. I'll start over as an erudite psion and when I get back to twenty, I'm going to make whoever took my casting away -pay- for it with all the mental might I can bring to bear.

Just remember to explain to the guy who popped into your living room from a blast of light that no, really, that campaign was over, and you wanted to roll a new class, but somehow keep your totally boss character from it.

I'm sure he/you/(is there a word for you/not you/still you? I think we need an english major on this one, folks) will understand.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Just remember to explain to the guy who popped into your living room from a blast of light that no, really, that campaign was over, and you wanted to roll a new class, but somehow keep your totally boss character from it.

I'm sure he/you/(is there a word for you/not you/still you? I think we need an english major on this one, folks) will understand.

What?

This doesn't make any sense to me. If my casting is to be lost anyway, I'll just give it up by going back to level one by becoming an elan. Then I start my career as an erudite psion instead of any kind of spellcaster. Then I work my way back to 20, I did it before after all. Then I find whomever is responsible for my casting being taken and I rain psionic hurt on him.

This doesn't even violate the spirit of the OP. I could just as easily do the same but with a prepared thought bottle and skip straight to the "make them pay" step.

[gooddragon1]

You are a 20th-level wizard. Through your many divinations, you learn that in the future you'll lose all your spellcasting abilities. Nothing can be done about this (no Dominating gods, no diplomancy, no infinite body shenanigans). You have one month of subjective time (so time travel/fast time planes won't extend this period) to prepare.

What do you do? How do you prepare for the inevitable and permanent loss of all casting abilities?

Shapechange into the sarrukh, give yourself "Psionics (Sp)" like what the aboleth has of every single spell in existence at "manifester level" equal to your HD and saving throws based on your intelligence.

Alternatively, make a efreeti wish you an artifact ring of unlimited wishes that gives +9001 use magic device as well. Wish for scrolls with your ring and UMD them.

[Tohsaka Rin]

What?

And that's a nat-1 on 'detect joke'.

In this case, the person making your character lose his spellcasting is you, Kelb, the character's player.

[Quertus]

Retrain is the obvious choice.

But say that somehow wasn't an option / wasn't something the character was aware of.

My first thought would be to trade those levels for race. Use savage species rituals to become a paragon half dragon troll dragon marilith beholder mind flayer whatever. Start over at level 1.... at level 20.

Other options include retiring to an anti-aging field (that was supposed to be "anti magic field", but I think atrocity auto correct got it right this time), retire to your favorite plane, or spend that month power leveling to the point where those first 20 levels don't matter any more.

EDIT: and don't go kill your player. It sets up a bad president. But, if I ever get the chance, I plan on having some very strong words with mine.

[Kelb_Panthera]

And that's a nat-1 on 'detect joke'.

In this case, the person making your character lose his spellcasting is you, Kelb, the character's player.

Yeah. Totally flubbed that check. :smallredface:

[Nifft]

I'm sure he/you/(is there a word for you/not you/still you?
"One".

Usage: "I'm sure one would be understanding of the situation."


I think we need an english major on this one, folks) will understand.
Comp Sci with some NLP in the hizzouse, amelioratizzin' your vocabulizz'ry.

[Mystral]

You are a 20th-level wizard. Through your many divinations, you learn that in the future you'll lose all your spellcasting abilities. Nothing can be done about this (no Dominating gods, no diplomancy, no infinite body shenanigans). You have one month of subjective time (so time travel/fast time planes won't extend this period) to prepare.

What do you do? How do you prepare for the inevitable and permanent loss of all casting abilities?

If you still have some important life goal left, like a foe to vanquish, a quest to complete, an artifact to obtain, get to it pronto.

Otherwise, use the month to set up a comfortable place of retirement, safe from any enemies you might have made and with an opportunity to still be of use. For example, you could become loremaster of the most respectable magical academy of the world. Sure, you can't cast a simple cantrip, but you still know more than most wizards of the world can hope to learn in their life time.

Also, learn wish and go crazy. Perhaps get reincarnated, it's not like you'll need most of your levels anymore.

[Tvtyrant]

I would say my caster doesn't lose castingx then stick my fingers in my ears and shout nonononononono-... until my DM changed the plot.

[Mikalo]

I would say my caster doesn't lose castingx then stick my fingers in my ears and shout nonononononono-... until my DM changed the plot.

nononono the DM is the strongest spell a caster may use. It also comes in lalalalala and blablablablaicanthearyouuu

[Kelb_Panthera]

I would say my caster doesn't lose castingx then stick my fingers in my ears and shout nonononononono-... until my DM changed the plot.

Alternately, you can declare to the DM, "I cast 'fist,'" then sock him in the head. Follow up by readying an action to cast fist again until he knocks it off with the -terrible- plot-hook.

[Tohsaka Rin]

I'm partial to 'Bigby's Dope-Slapping Hand' myself.

[Willie the Duck]

Roll up a new character.

Or a new DM.

[magicalmagicman]

1. Use wish spell to make your own source of magic.
If you're in Faerun make your own mini-weave.

2. If that's not allowed use wish spell to turn yourself into something that generates magic forever.

3. If that's not allowed, switch planes.

4. If magic is going to disappear from all planes, ice assassin a god, and he will give you magic.

5. If that's not allowed ice assassin a guy with stats like one of them Demon/Devil Princes. They give divine spellcasting to their cult followers, so why not arcane as well?

6. If that's not allowed go pun-pun. He made your wizard desperate.

7. If you don't want to do that go half-pun-pun. You start out gating in a sarruhk and polymorphing yourself into a lizardman, but the ability he bestows upon you is the ability to generate magic.

8. If that's not allowed then go into hibernation and hire some outsider to wake you when magic comes back. Then just leave the group and find a new DM.

[GrayDeath]

Assuming that as a certified Supergenius I have depleted all Divinations, failing to find any way to AVOID my Fate, I retrain/Racechange.
Starting over as a halfdragon, half Fey, Half Elan Half (enter 4th Race) (and yes the 4 halves are intentional) should make my next life/career interesting. And once I have regained Level 20 ins ay... Faktotum, or somesuch, kick the butt of any puny level 20 Wizards who approach....or not ^^