Need help raising Int for a BBEG elven mage final boss encounter guy

[Max Caysey]

Sup...

I'm in the process of trying to really create some high powered elven mage for an upcoming adventure. Its a level 20 game, so it will be a single quest campaign so every palyer is trying out some power build they want...

I'm going to present them with a final encounter of a single mage. I want to have this Sun Elf Wizard have as much Intelligence as possible.

So far I have Base: 20, +5 tome, +3 age, +5 level, +6 item. For a total of': 39. What else can I do?

Thanks!

[CaPtMalHammer]

Ioun Stone and Wish is always possible to increase some. With a battle like this a single mage although powerful will lose out on action economy in this fight. having some minions or lower level guards to get in the way and slow the party down will have him be far more effective then an increase of INT.

Just a thought:)

[LordOfCain]

Ioun Stone and Wish is always possible to increase some. With a battle like this a single mage although powerful will lose out on action economy in this fight. having some minions or lower level guards to get in the way and slow the party down will have him be far more effective then an increase of INT.

Just a thought:)

Wish doesn't stack with tomes. Both are inherent bonuses.

[Red Fel]

Sup...

I'm in the process of trying to really create some high powered elven mage for an upcoming adventure. Its a level 20 game, so it will be a single quest campaign so every palyer is trying out some power build they want...

I'm going to present them with a final encounter of a single mage. I want to have this Sun Elf Wizard have as much Intelligence as possible.

So far I have Base: 20, +5 tome, +3 age, +5 level, +6 item. For a total of': 39. What else can I do?

Thanks!

Raise his Int. Just straight-up raise it.

He's the BBEG. He probably did something dark and terrible to gain that profane intellect. Nobody cares. Nobody will be looking at his character sheet. Custom monsters are totally a thing. Just give him straight-up high Int. Pick the arbitrary number you're trying to hit and give it to him.

And then stick with it. Give him the stat, but don't thereafter change it. No fudging. He has the numbers, but from then on you play the character completely straight and honest. No special or unique game-breaking abilities, just the very big numbers.

And then watch him get thrashed anyway, because one mage versus a party is the same as one puppy versus a steamroller. A mess on the ground, and also someone is crying.

[Troacctid]

I don't think you really want "As much as possible." If he's throwing around DC 100 save-or-die effects, you're probably not going to have a fun encounter on your hands.

Some easy things you could add would be the Phrenic template and whichever NPC special quality from DMG2 gives you +2 to an ability score of your choice. (Prodigy? I forget. EDIT: Yes, it is Prodigy, and it's +0 CR.) There are other templates as well, like half-fiend, but beware of stacking too many or your villain may feel like a kitchen sink.

[Esprit15]

Pick your favorite high INT undead? Most have a good intelligence score.

A better question though is why do you want a character with such high intelligence? As a wizard he has all the skills he could bother with maximized, his save DCs are already 24+Spell Level+bonuses. What do you want by increasing his intelligence even higher?

[Coidzor]

Invent a Silithar graft for his brain so it's significantly less likely to be noticed and used by the players?

[Echch]

You could have a demonic ally possess him. Gives him +4 profane Int.
Also, the +6 item isn't the best enhancement bonus for such a situation.
Use a casting of Power Leech instead for +20 to Int (can be raised easily to +60 or more if you build for it though...).

[John Longarrow]

High int isn't all that big of a deal. His ice assassin clones will handle a lot of the dirty work for him.... :belkar: