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Seatbelt
2008-05-01, 04:37 PM
I have a BBEG Vampire Wizard with 16HD, he's a straight Wizard, necromancy specialist, with banned schools of Abjuration and Illusion.

He's got Fell Drain, Fell Weaken, and Enervate Spell as metamagic (with room for one more feat, currently used for a homebrew "wisdom to fortitude" feat).

The party is all level 11 and 12, a level 11 half-vampire Cleric of Lathander, an Argent Savant generalist wizard (force specialist?) and a Paladin/Fighter/Generic Paladin Prestiege class who specializes in smite damage. Because of some items and spells they have floating around, at any one time at least one of them is immune to energy drain/ability drail/etc. I've got the cleric pretty well spoofed already with something happening in the battle. So he shouldnt be a problem.

The last time this vampire fought the party they were uberbuffed and he got destroyed. So I leveled him up, and applied templates etc. But I'm not that experienced with high level arcane magic. Can anyone give suggestions on spells or combos that would make him extra-specially interesting? Or ways to handle spellcasters? He has no access to dispel magic as far as I know, because abjuration is banned. I dont want a TPK or anything, but ways to just generally infuriate and spoof the party before they kill my BBEG would be awesome. :P


Also, this battle is taking place on the astral plane. So he gets two spells a round.

Shishnarfne
2008-05-01, 06:02 PM
I'd suggest that you take a few buff spells, ones that your villain can cast before the fight begins with a bit of warning... stuff like Overland Flight, Arcane Sight (no need to spend time figuring out who's magically defended against Finger of Death), True Seeing, etc.

Also, a few spells that can reduce the party's mobility... Forcecage to shut the paladin out of the fight, stuff like that... The Astral Plane actually limits the utility of some of these, such as Web... These are designed to keep the party from getting to your BBEG in time.

A few save or lose/die spells: Finger of Death, Feeblemind, Flesh to Stone, Stinking Cloud, etc.
Note that many of these can be used to eliminate a hostile Wizard in a hurry, if they don't have defenses up...

Maybe some damage... Disintegrate... Metamagicked versions of some of the classics (including Fell Drain, Enervated, and Fell Weaken), but not many more than you expect to be able to get off...

Unfortunately, I rather disagree with banning Abjuration for almost any Wizard (and not just for Dispel Magic), and Mirror Image can make a villainous caster last a fair bit longer...

Seatbelt
2008-05-01, 06:41 PM
Yeah, I wouldnt have banned abjuration either, but this is my version of Strahd and the Ravenloft book says he's banned abjuration. So whatever..

arkol
2008-05-01, 06:48 PM
I won't actually help you much Seatbelt so sorry but...

From a purely flavor point of view, I just can't see a vampire banning ilusion (unless he did it before turning into a vampire).

I mean... vampries ARE masters of deception.

mithrandir86
2008-05-04, 03:51 PM
This assumes that he is a level 16 Wizard (which, as a Vampire, he's a CR 18 encounter meeting 3 level 11-12 PCs. On the Astral Plane. This will be hard just to make it so that it's not a TPK - keep that in mind.) I'm just using the Spell Compedium and the SRD.

You are confused as to how the Astral Plane works. Because all spells are quickened, they are now Swift Actions. As you can perform no more than 1 swift action per round (and thus no immediate actions), you CANNOT cast more than 1 spell per round. As you cannot lengthen a Swift Action to a standard action, you can only cast 1 spell per round. Even if you have Quicken Spell Feat. Counter-spelling is impossible on the Astral Plane, as you cannot counter-spell Quickened spells.

Feats: Split Ray, Sudden Maximize, Arcane Mastery (takes 10 on all caster level checks, so Spell Resistance has to be higher than 26 to do anything).

Assuming Intelligence of 19, (Important) Spells prepared: (5/6/6/6/6/5/4/4/3/)

8th: Maze (Conj), Split Ray (Disintegrate), Horrid Wilting (Nec)
7th: Spell Matrix (Trans), Greater Prying Eyes (Div), Finger of Death (Necro), Greater Teleport (Conj)
6th: Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability (Uni), Split Ray (Enervation), Fell Drain (Fireshield), Superior Resistance (Conj)
5th: Split Ray (Ray of Exhaustion) (Necro), Greater Dimension Door (Conj), Feeblemind (Ench), Split Ray (Ray of Dizziness)
4th: Assay Spell Resistance (Div), Fell-Weakened Fireball (Evoc), Spell Enhancer, Enervated Ray of Stupidity (Ench)
3rd: Greater Mage Armor (Conj), Arcane Sight (Div), Split Ray (Ray of Clumsiness), Split Ray (Ray of Enfeeblement) (Necro), Spiderskin (trans)
2nd: Fox's Cunning, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace.

Prior to combat:

He casts Contigency every few days, with the following: if grappled, he activates Greater Dimension Door.

Casts Greater Mage Armor and Greater Resistance in the morning. He casts Greater Prying Eyes, and instructs them to wait, in pairs, about 20ft apart at every entrance to his his sanctum. If they are attacked, see another eye being attacked, or see hostiles, then they immediately make their way back to him. The eyes have true seeing and a require a spot check of 26 to see them from 5 feet away (-1 for every 10 feet of distance).

He uses the spell Imbue Familiar with Spell-Ability to give his Bat Familiar the ability to cast the following spells: Split Ray (Ray of Exhaustion), Split Ray (Ray of Dizziness), Feeblemind, Enervated (Ray of Stupidity).

When he is informed of their coming, he immediately buffs himself with Fox's Cunning, Bull's Strength, and Cat's Grace, Spiderskin and Arcane Sight. He casts Split Ray (Ray of Enfeeblement) and Split Ray (Ray of Clumsiness) into his Spell Matrix.

His AC should now be improved by +13, so a minimum AC of 29 (10 + vampire natural armor (6) + greater Mage armor (6) + spiderskin (5) + 2 (Cat's Grace))

Surprise Round or First Round:

If within close range: The familiar casts Enervated (Ray of Stupidity) [I'm unsure if Enervate spell enhances the spell; if it does not, then use the regular Ray of Stupidity] on the Paladin, and then he casts Maze on the Paladin. There is no save on either spell. If the Paladin is reduced to less than 10 intelligence (a likely possibility), then he will be in the Maze for 10 minutes.

At long range: Greater Dimension Door with his familiar to establish close range, then his familiar casts Split Ray (Ray of Dizziness) on the Cleric and the Paladin, thus reducing them to a move action or standard action every turn. He then uses a standard action to try and Dominate the Paladin with his gaze (it probably won't work).

Next round:

At close range: Given that the Paladin is gone, he activates his Spell Matrix, which casts Ray of Enfeeblement and Ray of Clumsiness on the Wizard and Cleric (due to them both being Split Rays). His familiar casts Split Ray (Ray of Exhaustion) on the Cleric.

Explanation: On their own, Ray of Enfeeblement and Ray of Clumsiness cannot reduce a character's Dexterity or Strength below 1. Ray of Exhaustion, if it hits, will cause fatigue even if the target makes his save. A character who is already fatigued becomes exhausted. Thus, if the vampire hits with his spells, the Cleric will have a penalty to his Dex and Strength scores equal to 11+1d6. This will probably paralyze the Cleric.



If the battle started at long range, hit the Paladin with a Ray of Stupidity and a Maze spell as mentioned above. Attempt to use the Vampire's dominating gaze on either the Cleric or Wizard.

Next round:

If you started at close range, the Mage player is probably feeling pretty alone right now. Allow him the respite to Teleport or Plane Shift out. Or, if you're feeling mean, hit him with a Sudden Maximized Split Ray (Disintegrate).

If the Cleric is still walking around, hit him and the Wizard with a Fell-Weakened, Fell-Draining Fireball. The strength penalty will probably knock out the Wizard.


At this point, I would suggest draining both the Cleric and the Wizard of their blood, then leaving. Now, the Paladin has the pleasure of either facing his friends in Vampire form in a few days, or dismembering the corpses.


Have fun!

Kurald Galain
2008-05-04, 06:52 PM
Aside from the suggestions above, I would advise paging through the PHB2 and taking note of any and all spells that can be cast as a swift or immediate action. Give the vamp a bunch of those as well, it means he can pull multiple surprises during the same round. Or cast things like Halt during the PC's round. Fun!

mithrandir86
2008-05-04, 10:01 PM
Aside from the suggestions above, I would advise paging through the PHB2 and taking note of any and all spells that can be cast as a swift or immediate action. Give the vamp a bunch of those as well, it means he can pull multiple surprises during the same round. Or cast things like Halt during the PC's round. Fun!

I was going to advise that, but since all spells on the Astral Plane are Quickened, and thus Swift Actions, you can't cast more than 1 spell per round (since you can't use more than 1 swift/immediate action per round, and you can't turn a swift action into a standard action). It's too bad too, because there's lots of fun things you could do with standard, swift and immediate actions.

Cuddly
2008-05-04, 11:02 PM
Deathward is a 5th level spell. Just remember that, when making a nec spec caster.

Allis
2008-05-05, 03:47 AM
Where exactly is this battle taking place? I mean, the astral plane is pretty big... Are the players coming to him? will he surprise them? Do they meet accidentily?

I mean, a high level vampire will not be just sitting around unguarded. Will he have defences, minions? It the battle inside, or on a plain?

Kurald Galain
2008-05-05, 06:45 AM
I was going to advise that, but since all spells on the Astral Plane are Quickened, and thus Swift Actions, you can't cast more than 1 spell per round

I believe that spells on the astral plane may be cast as if quickened (which, come to think of it, doesn't do all that much for a sorcerer), so you could still cast them normally.