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View Full Version : Best way to Kill an 8th Level Wild magic Wizard?



Roythebattousai
2008-03-23, 06:55 PM
I play D&D occasionally, with loose rules.

But uh... there's a guy in our party, who is very evil. (Chaotic Neutral, technically, but... he's borderline.) He's an Elf Wild Wizard.

So, the rest of our party(in character,not in real life) want to kill him.

As an 8th level Dwarf Cleric, my god, Odin, was drunk, when I contacted him, but he gave me the ability to use ONE spell, any level, ONCE, to kill him, or otherwise. That means I can use ANY spell, like... Creeping Doom, or... I don't even know what.

(I've cleared with the DM that he would actually let me kill the Wizard.)

He has a feat that lets him run crazy fast, faster than me.
He has the Fly spell.(And all other spells available to his level[mana system, not memorization system.])
But he only has 30 Health, easy enough to bring down.

He is quite far away from me, at the moment. We are in a relatively deserted town. I've got an 8th level Elf Pally and an 8th Level Human Ranger who are also around to help me kill him.

I've thought about putting up a Wyvern Watch where I think he might pass, then If he goes through, It will stun him, then I could cast Hold Person, and just go up behind him and slit his throat.

Then I could save my One spell for some other time, when more useful to the main campaign.

Any thoughts on what I should do to kill him?

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask. I'm just bored right now, and this situation popped into my head.

Grommen
2008-03-23, 07:44 PM
Apparently you don't employ the "Flying Elf Rule"

It states that: "Elves often fly even though they should not be capable in any way. Thus they should be treated like any other air born pest and shot on site for reward by the local authority."

What this translates to is the very second that the elf leaves the ground he should be shot by a nearby Archer, Wizard, Marine, AK packen' guerrilla warrior, dude with phaser, jet fighter, etc. You get the picture I hope by now.

This tends to keep those pesky evil elves on the ground where they are far easer to deal with.

As far as your little problem. Next time the wizard is say sixty feet off tera-firma (the ground) drop a greater dispel magic on his sorry butt and watch him plummet sixty feet causing 10d6 damage. You fall sixty feet in one round so he will not have a chance to recast a spell before impact, and further more 10d6 on average should do 30 hit points of damage with no save. If the DM is a bit soft he might allow the wizard the chance to hastily cast feather fall or some type of spell to save his but, however he should have to make a concentration check from hell. It's important that it not be any more than sixty feet cause that would require another round before hitting the ground. We don't want him to, at the last second, get that fly spell off again and come looking for you now do we?

If that will not work try Meteor Swarm. Nothing says "Die elf Die" quite like 20d6 worth of falling planetoid.

Their is always the accidental "Where did that nasty trap come from" trick a good rogue might pull off. Even though they find the trap, they are not obligated to disable it or mention it to any one else remember. :smallbiggrin:

F.L.
2008-03-23, 07:45 PM
If you can pull it off, the following might work.

Inflict serious wounds round 1 for approx 24 damage.
If he runs, searing light, approx 16. MAKE SURE NOBODY ELSE IS WITHIN 20' WHEN YOU USE SEARING LIGHT.

That should be death. Problem is pulling it off. If you're his cleric, you may get a chance to 'top off' the wizard's HP's... Which is when the ISW comes into play. But good luck having a wizard ever get damaged. If you had some arrows fly in the wizard's direction, that + searing light may be enough.

Hold person's unlikely to work, wizards have high will saves. Hmm, since a cleric's saves are high as well, 2 searing lights may do the trick, since you could survive a round... maybe.

If you're forced to use the anyspell against him, wail of the banshee would do the trick, though saving it for a miracle would be far better.

Of course, I'm sure somebody will be by shortly to tell you the perfect spell from some source to get 'em with.

Jack_Simth
2008-03-23, 07:46 PM
Any spell to do it, he's only got 30 hp?

How does Symbol of Death grab you?

nobodylovesyou4
2008-03-23, 07:50 PM
any spell at all? maximized empowered heightened blah blah metamagic blah. dont forget, odin never said that you couldnt adjust the spell.

F.L.
2008-03-23, 07:51 PM
Or power word kill, for that matter.


any spell at all? maximized empowered heightened blah blah metamagic blah. dont forget, odin never said that you couldnt adjust the spell.

Hmm, can you chain a wish?

Irreverent Fool
2008-03-23, 07:58 PM
Next time the wizard is say sixty feet off tera-firma (the ground) drop a greater dispel magic on his sorry butt and watch him plummet sixty feet causing 10d6 damage. You fall sixty feet in one round so he will not have a chance to recast a spell before impact, and further more 10d6 on average should do 30 hit points of damage with no save. If the DM is a bit soft he might allow the wizard the chance to hastily cast feather fall or some type of spell to save his but, however he should have to make a concentration check from hell. It's important that it not be any more than sixty feet cause that would require another round before hitting the ground. We don't want him to, at the last second, get that fly spell off again and come looking for you now do we?

That won't work


Should the spell duration expire while the subject is still aloft, the magic fails slowly. The subject floats downward 60 feet per round for 1d6 rounds. If it reaches the ground in that amount of time, it lands safely. If not, it falls the rest of the distance, taking 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of fall. Since dispelling a spell effectively ends it, the subject also descends in this way if the fly spell is dispelled, but not if it is negated by an antimagic field.

Additonally, featherfall is an immediate action specifically because the spell is designed to save your butt from falling.

I would suggest getting close to him by abusing his trust of fellow party members. Ask him to cast a spell at something... anything to get his attention away from you. Then you calmly walk up to him with an Antimagic Field cast on you and GRAPPLE HIM. Better yet, if you've got a whole team that wants him dead, you walk up next to him with the AMF and have the fighter grapple him. Full BAB +high strength pretty much guarantees victory against a wizard/sorcerer. Use the grapple attempts to hold him in place while the rest of the party melee attacks him against his puny (non-magically enhanced) flat-footed AC.

The reason I suggest AMF is because it allows no save. If you properly hem him in, he'll have no way out of it and his low STR-bonus (assumed) and 1/2 BAB progression ain't gonna save him.

Nohwl
2008-03-23, 08:05 PM
wait for him to go to sleep and coup de grace. if he is evil, then you are correct in killing him because you are removing evil from the world.

Dethcom1
2008-03-23, 08:07 PM
Obviously, you could wish him dead, or cast Destruction, or such like. If you want to save the free spell, though, I suggest waiting until he's sleeping, gathering the other members of the party, and casting poison (or coup de grace-ing). Even if he doesn't die from poison, the attacks of your party members should finish him off, and even if he flies away he'll take another d10 Con damage in a minute. It should be enough to kill him. Remember, taking Con damage reduces your HP (I think)!

As long as you aren't next to a temple, he should die, but prepare a Locate Object for something he's wearing just in case.

Irreverent Fool
2008-03-23, 08:08 PM
wait for him to go to sleep and coup de grace. if he is evil, then you are correct in killing him because you are removing evil from the world.

Elves don't sleep.


Obviously, you could wish him dead, or cast Destruction, or such like. If you want to save the free spell, though, I suggest waiting until he's sleeping, gathering the other members of the party, and casting poison (or coup de grace-ing). Even if he doesn't die from poison, the attacks of your party members should finish him off, and even if he flies away he'll take another d10 Con damage in a minute. It should be enough to kill him. Remember, taking Con damage reduces your HP (I think)!

As long as you aren't next to a temple, he should die, but prepare a Locate Object for something he's wearing just in case.

See above.

Also, no matter how low your Con gets (as long as it's not 0) you can never have less than 1 hp per HD. So if you don't get any damage on him before the poison spell hits him, it can't kill him. Totally lame if you ask me, but that's the rules.

Nohwl
2008-03-23, 08:09 PM
4 hours of trance. he would still be helpless.

Irreverent Fool
2008-03-23, 08:11 PM
4 hours of trance. he would still be helpless.

But you're not helpless in a trance, thus not a subject for a coup de grace

MeklorIlavator
2008-03-23, 08:11 PM
To be extra evil, somehow get a hold of a helm of opposite alignment and put it on him while he trances. Because he's in a trance he is considered automatically willing, and thus he becomes the opposite of his alignment, and believes that this is his true alignment and will fight if an outside force tries to change it. This means that he must play a something Good character or he'll take whatever penalties your DM can come up with. Personally, I suggest Xp penalties. Nothing hurts more that not leveling up/leveling down, especially with a caster. Also, note that if he has to make a new character, he could still make an evil one.

Irreverent Fool
2008-03-23, 08:14 PM
To be extra evil, somehow get a hold of a helm of opposite alignment and put it on him while he trances. Because he's in a trance he is considered automatically willing, and thus he becomes the opposite of his alignment, and believes that this is his true alignment and will fight if an outside force tries to change it. This means that he must play a something Good character or he'll take whatever penalties your DM can come up with. Personally, I suggest Xp penalties. Nothing hurts more that not leveling up/leveling down, especially with a caster. Also, note that if he has to make a new character, he could still make an evil one.

I like this idea and know it'd work on a sleeping character, but I don't think you're considered to be sleeping while in a trance.

MeklorIlavator
2008-03-23, 08:14 PM
But you're not helpless in a trance, thus not a subject for a coup de grace

Where does it say that? I thought the rules concerning trance were pretty much the same? Well, if all fails you could try the dominate trick. Just find a way to lower his will save before hand.

nobodylovesyou4
2008-03-23, 08:17 PM
i still think that no matter what spell you choose to off this guy, you should metamagic it to all hell. it cant hurt, right? after all, odin's the one who has to pay for it.

Nohwl
2008-03-23, 08:17 PM
its a deep state of trance with dreams. that sounds helpless to me. im either missing something or im just not interpreting it correctly.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2008-03-23, 08:20 PM
Trances act as sleeping for all purposes but length needed, and penalties to listen, I believe.

ShneekeyTheLost
2008-03-23, 08:20 PM
Gate in a few Valkeries to deal with him. Their SR is high enough he's never gonna land anything on them, they've got a better fly speed than he does, and have ranged attacks.

nobodylovesyou4
2008-03-23, 08:22 PM
Gate in a few Valkeries to deal with him. Their SR is high enough he's never gonna land anything on them, they've got a better fly speed than he does, and have ranged attacks.

wow, not only is that awesome and a pretty good way to snuff this guy, it works with fluff as well. everybody wins!

Neftren
2008-03-23, 08:29 PM
I see several ways of doing this. Bring in an Epic Creature. Ask for a houseruled Summon Creature X. Cast circle of protection vs. evil and bring in a Balrog. Or just bring in say... an Astral Deva or a Titan and snuff his life.

Or if it's strictly spell only, I still say you should just have Odin provide you the following spell: Power Word: Kill (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/powerWordKill.htm). That has got to be the most efficient method. Only unfortunate part is that you need to be within thirty feet to use it on him, since your effective caster level is only going to be 1, so 25+5 is your maximum range. Shouldn't be too hard if you can get close to him.

Really... No Save, kills anything with less than 100 Hitpoints. Guaranteed Happiness.

FlyMolo
2008-03-23, 08:31 PM
Empowered Maximized Heightened Split Repeat Disintegrate.

Crazy damage, but even if it doesn't kill him outright (low fort save, even if he makes it, half on success. And that's objects only, right?) It'll hit him again next turn.

Irreverent Fool
2008-03-23, 08:37 PM
Gate in a few Valkeries to deal with him. Their SR is high enough he's never gonna land anything on them, they've got a better fly speed than he does, and have ranged attacks.

I have to agree with Nobody there. This is probably the most awesome and appropriate answer. Your spell of choice is Gate. Bear in mind that the spell stipulates that you can only control a creature of HD twice your caster level or less or several creatures as long as their total HD does not exceed your caster level.

Of course, that's if you're casting it. If Odin's CL counts for the purposes of the one spell... well, the wizard's screwed. Even if it doesn't, there are plenty of high-CR creatures that have 16HD or less. Just look for ones that fit the bill.

(Note: Valkyries are from Deities & Demigods, dunno what their HD are.) (Looks like Valkyries have 20HD.)

If you can metamagic, Fly's spell works fine. Of course, if you can metamagic, so do about a million others, such as the Snowcast Flash-Frost Harm which deals 1/2 your caster level in damage on a successful save, but can't reduce his HP below 1 and then deals 2 cold damage, reducing him to -1 hp. And that's on a successful save.

Ganurath
2008-03-23, 08:51 PM
Meteor Swarm with the Monkey in the Middle? I think Thor would appreciate the application of excessive force.

There is no overkill; there is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'

Grommen
2008-03-23, 10:14 PM
Humm. Well apparently my idea of dispel magic is a bit different than yours. And it has been a long time since I read the fly spell. Back in the day when you ran out of fly you just crashed and burnt. Dispelling a spell in my mind cancels it. The spell does not end, it just quits working and is gone as if it never existed in the first place, hence the falling to ones doom. Then again I've gamed for so many years, with so many games I'm probably not %100 accurate on how the spells work.

We also use cartoon physics as our basis for gaming. So if it's funny and colorful it has a good chance of working.

In any case breathing on someone with 30 hit points should have a good chance of killing them. Poor bugger, how the hell did you let him live this long anyway?

I guess I'll just go with Meteor Swarm then. Dropping a big flaming rock on someone has always appealed to me.

Power Word, kill is kinda cute, but the hole x number of hit points or die thing is a bit heavy handed if you ask me. At least with the Swarm you have a snowballs chance in hell of surviving long enough to see your attacker smite the snot out of you with a stick (or what ever he uses for a weapon).

And by smite I don't mean the power. I'm just talking about a good old fashion Detroit beat down here. Going Postal, or medieval on someone, that sort of thing.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-03-23, 10:23 PM
Poison (the spell) delivered through an unarmed strike with poison (black adder venom) applied to your gauntlet and poison (the fighters pet name for his sword) poised to hit the wizard's neck. He only has a +1 con mod with that HP, so he should go down from that combo, especially if you do it when he started injured. Even Elves have to trance.

Flickerdart
2008-03-23, 10:34 PM
Power Word Kill strikes me as a good plan. Since you need that spell later, a Maximised Magic Missile will take him down to 5HP, and that's not even real health.

Roythebattousai
2008-03-23, 11:27 PM
What's a defense against Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter?

I'm afraid I can't save for much against that, as my int is only 10.

Nermy
2008-03-23, 11:34 PM
What's a defense against Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter?

I'm afraid I can't save for much against that, as my int is only 10.

Well as a cleric you have a base save of +6 at level 8, plus whatever your Wis modifier is.

The save DC for Hideous Laughter is 12 + the wizard's int mod.

Assuming you guys have the same primary spellcasting bonus, you'd only need to roll a 6 to prevent it.

Cast Owl's Wisdom on yourself and you only need a 4.

Cast Protection from Chaos on yourself and you only fail the save on a natural 1.

Edit - Actually just casting Protection from Chaos would work, since Hideous Laughter is Enchantment (Compulsion)

Edit 2- maybe not, check with your dm

Telok
2008-03-24, 01:26 AM
Blindness. Medium range, permanent, Fort save. This will drop his AC and cut his movement in half, allowing you and your allies to whomp on him.

Deafness. Same as blindness but a 20% chance to miscast all verbal component spells.

Alternately, if you have the time and money, use multiple castings of Glyph of Warding. Do this one indoors, preferably where the victim will have to pass through multiple doors or areas to get outside. Do not use the straight damage, use the spell duplication version. Contagion (Blinding Sickness or Slimy Doom), Blindness, Deafness, Summon Monster 3 (fiendish huge monstrous centipede or fiendish dire weasel). Wait until the elf is trancing and drop one on a door, then another in the hallway outside it. Using a glyph of Contagion/Blindness followed by a glyph of Summon will mess him up. If you and your allies wait to ambush him when he hits the summoning glyph then he'll go down.

JellyPooga
2008-03-24, 05:49 AM
I don't get it...the guy has 30 HP, he's about 8th level, so he's not pulling any of the uber-cheese of higher level wizards, he has 30 HP, he won't be expecting to be attacked (presumably) by his party members, he has 30 HP, he's a Wild Mage and thus can deflect direct spell attacks using Random Deflector, he has 30 HP...just beat him upside the head with a greatsword and couple of times, or sneak attack him whilst he's not looking...

...if the party is 8th level, even a vaguely combat (let alone a Pally and a Ranger, backed up by a Cleric) oriented character should be able to get 30 HP worth of damage in 1 round against a flat-footed target with few or no buffs activated...

...why waste the free spell of anything-ness?

...
...
...
...just re-read the OP and realised that this Wizard may actually be expecting to be attacked...in which case the flat-footed, no buffs thing isn't true, but between a Cleric, a Ranger and a Paladin, you should easily be able to knock off 30 HP...presumably the Ranger has a bow? 30 HP is only 5 arrows (on average for a composite longbow with a +2 strength rating...non-magical)...that's, like, 2 rounds...tops. Make the bow magical and it just becomes easier. That's just if the Ranger is having a go because the Cleric and Pally don't have anything ranged (besides spells).

In short...30 HP is not a large amount...just play the endurance game...the Pally isn't going to suffer from any save-or-X spells 'cos of his insane save throws (in fact, he can probably just wait until the Wizad has exhausted his spells for the day and cut him down when his flight spell ends). The Ranger can (probably) just spend all day shooting him until 30 HP worth of damage gets through. The Cleric...well, I know little about Clerics, but from what I do know, there's bound to be something you can do (apart from wasting the free spell) to take him down.

(p.s. sorry about the slight ranty-repeatativenss)

toysailor
2008-03-24, 05:57 AM
I agree with JellyPooga. If you can't kill a 30HP 8th lvl Mage with the combined resources of the rest of the party, you simply aren't trying hard enough. With an extra "X spell of doom" thrown into the equation, it should be a cakewalk.

Roythebattousai
2008-03-24, 07:37 AM
And I've been talking to the Pally lately...

He said it'd be in his character to NOT actually kill the Wizard.

Since the Wizard is still technically not evil (Chaotic Neutral)
And the Pally is Lawful Good.

So I'm thinking the Pally might not be too much help.

FinalJustice
2008-03-24, 07:48 AM
Throw random stuff at him until he uses up his Random Deflector, then use the one to Power Word Kill him. He's only got 30 hp, thus you basically say Die and he promptly obeys. Saving the AnyOne for later doesn't seem a good idea, your DM... ops... God can feel screwed (well, Odin gave it to you so you can kill the elf, so just throw it at the damn elf).

You can also Gate a solar and ask him to kill the elf.