Wizard weapon 3.5

[Froogleyboy]

Ok, people. As many of you know, I am working on an Epic Wizard (Technicly its a Wizard5/Psion5/Cerbremancer15) and Ihave to thank those who helped with my last dileme (sp?) but now I need a weapon. My Str and Dex are both 10 so no bonuses. Do I really need a weapon? If so, Is there any good weapon for me?

[The Glyphstone]

Scythes are traditional because of their "spooky wizard' vibe and their usefulness for Coup De Grace. you won't be making many of those at epic levels though, so pick whatever looks cool. However, it must be made out of crystal or Deep Crystal.

[Goatman_Ted]

A +1 Defending Warning/+1 Eager Spellstrike Quarterstaff comes to mind

[Sstoopidtallkid]

You want a +1 Eager Warning Defending Parrying Dagger. You should never toss a Coup-De-Gras at high levels, that's what your pet Balor is for.

[mikej]

Weapon?

In my experience with the Wizard, I was at level 8th and still carried around just a normal non-masterwork dagger. Spells are the offensive tools, let the melee char handle the weapons. Although, if I had to choose a better weapon, it would just be a humble enhanced ( Defending & Eager have been already mentioned) quaterstaff.

[Froogleyboy]

Well, one problam with the "Let the melee dude do it" plan, We are not on a team. We each rule a city (that we design) and we are ,at the moment, trying to defend the island we live on from an invading country. After that we will just rule and confront problems for our city (I don't know to much about the story line afterwards)
Cities will make alliances with one another, or even go to war against each other so . . . Yeah

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Wield two wands. It's pimp.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Well, one problam with the "Let the melee dude do it" plan, We are not on a team. We each rule a city (that we design) and we are ,at the moment, trying to defend the island we live on from an invading country. After that we will just rule and confront problems for our city (I don't know to much about the story line afterwards)
Cities will make alliances with one another, or even go to war against each other so . . . Yeah

You should always have a melee dude. Animate Dead, Planar Binding, Mindrape, Gate, Gaterape, the Big Stupid Fighter doesn't need to be sentient, just big and able to hit things REALLY HARD.

[Devils_Advocate]

I'd expect an epic wizard to reach for a magic staff or metamagic rod or something, not a dagger or a crossbow or a scythe.

If you can't manage to hire a big dumb fighter big and dumb enough to face off against epic threats, then just summon/call/gate/whatever something to play meatshield.

Edit: Hell, build a golem. Build several, even.

[Froogleyboy]

You should always have a melee dude. Animate Dead, Planar Binding, Mindrape, Gate, Gaterape, the Big Stupid Fighter doesn't need to be sentient, just big and able to hit things REALLY HARD.

Wha . . .

[RTGoodman]

Wha . . .

Obviously you haven't been around here long enough. Those are a couple of the "hot topics" for a few of folks 'round here...

Mindrape is a spell from... Book of Vile Darkness, I think, that, well, does what you think it does. You basically get to reprogram the subject's brain, including memories and the like.

"Gaterape" is an optimization trick where you gate in a powerful critter (great wyrm prismatic dragon, solar, whatever), mindrape it. After that, you can do what you want with it (including bringing in more minions, if you can call solars and balors and such "minions").

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Wha . . .

Collin shall be along shortly to explain.

[Froogleyboy]

So . . . I could summon a balor , mind rape it, and make it summon more minions?

[RTGoodman]

So . . . I could summon a balor , mind rape it, and make it summon more minions?

Yeah, but, I mean, you've also got a mindraped balor. You can basically do what you want. Minions are just part of it. If you can grab the great wyrm prismatic dragon I mentioned (don't remember the source), it has epic spellcasting built in.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

So . . . I could summon a balor , mind rape it, and make it summon more minions?

Yep. It works best when you pick something with the ability to cast both Gate and Mindrape. Exponential progression of CR20+ minions. You mentioned a war?

[BobVosh]

Also, if for some reason BoVD is disallowed, programmed amnesia is the same exact spell. In the spell compendium.

[Froogleyboy]

Yep. It works best when you pick something with the ability to cast both Gate and Mindrape. Exponential progression of CR20+ minions. You mentioned a war?

What creatures have those abilities?

[Gnorman]

What creatures have those abilities?

OH LOOK WHAT HAVE WE WROUGHT UPON THIS POOR DM.

But seriously. Plenty of creatures have Gate. Solars come to mind. But Mindrape? Well, you'd have to have a creature with 9th level sorc/wizard casting. I don't think anything has it as an SLA.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

What creatures have those abilities?

If Mindrape appears on the Cleric list(it's been a while since I checked), anything that casts as a 17th level Cleric, including Solars.

If not, you have to cast it yourself(how many 9th level slots do you have again), but your options to summon gets larger, since a lot of things get Gate. It's Mindrape that's hard to find as an SLA or spell known, especially since Wish can't emulate it. If you do find something with Mindrape, though, even if it doesn't have Gate, you can pull this off with no investment from you. Just Gaterape a Gater and a Summoner, have them summon a Gater first and Mindrape it, then Gate a Mindraper and Mindrape it, then have your 4 pets repeat. It grows...quickly.

[Malicte]

Wield two wands. It's pimp.

Only if the character refers to them as Hurt and Burn, respectively.

[RTGoodman]

Also, if for some reason BoVD is disallowed, programmed amnesia is the same exact spell. In the spell compendium.

Not quite - I think mindrape is a standard action, while programmed amnesia has a 10-minute casting time. Not a terrible difference, but if you need it fast, the former's the better option.

What creatures have those abilities?

Well, anything that gets full casting abilities. Some great wyrms get 9th-level spells, so they'd work, but you'd have to find a way for them to actually get the spells. If you can't get anything with mindrape, well, you can still gate in things that have gate as a SLA or spell, and then do the mindraping yourself.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Not quite - I think mindrape is a standard action, while programmed amnesia has a 10-minute casting time. Not a terrible difference, but if you need it fast, the former's the better option.

Mindrape is better in every way, though it does have the Evil descriptor which Programmed Amnesia lacks. A point of warning if you go PA is that it is Permanent, which means it can be Dispelled or Disjoined. Mindrape, of course, is instantaneous.

Well, anything that gets full casting abilities. Some great wyrms get 9th-level spells, so they'd work, but you'd have to find a way for them to actually get the spells. If you can't get anything with mindrape, well, you can still gate in things that have gate as a SLA or spell, and then do the mindraping yourself.

Runestaves, from MIC, would work.

It is also worth mentioning that this sits on the border between Practical Optimization and Theoretical Optimization. It is viewed as far too cheesy to do in any game except the absolute highest power games, ones where Divine Metamagic is common and Artificers are viewed as limited.

[Froogleyboy]

Mindrape is better in every way, though it does have the Evil descriptor which Programmed Amnesia lacks. A point of warning if you go PA is that it is Permanent, which means it can be Dispelled or Disjoined. Mindrape, of course, is instantaneous. Runestaves, from MIC, would work.

It is also worth mentioning that this sits on the border between Practical Optimization and Theoretical Optimization. It is viewed as far too cheesy to do in any game except the absolute highest power games, ones where Divine Metamagic is common and Artificers are viewed as limited.

Well our game is pretty powerful. It was 40 point buy and Epic so . . . . .

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Well our game is pretty powerful. It was 40 point buy and Epic so . . . . .

Then snag BoVD and unleash your horde of Solars and Dragons on the world. Your DM deserves it.

[Brock Samson]

As far as your actual weapon though, nothing's like a Quarterstaff
Side A (total of +5)
- +1
- Transmuting [+2 bonus in the MIC p. 45 – after you hit someone, the next round the staff automatically overcomes all damage reduction they may have]
- Sizing (+5000 gp - MIC p. 43 – adjusts to any size)
- Morphing (+1 bonus - MIC p. 39 – can become ANY weapon)
- Defending (+1 bonus - DMG – can apply enhancement bonus to AC)
Side B (total of +4)
- +1
- Warning (+1 bonus - MIC p. 46- gives a +5 insight bonus to initiative rolls when held
- Eager (+1 bonus - MIC p. 44 gives a +2 unnamed bonus to initiative, and +2 damage during the first round of combat)
- Defending (+1 bonus)

Then Greater Magic Weapon each side, cast Greater Mighty Whallup 1/day (hours/level), and polymorph/shapechange yourself into anything large or huge or whatever and deal damage that makes beatsticks cry before they can even reach you. Not to mention how fun it is that you can just change your weapon into any other anytime you want, great role-play flavor.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

As far as your actual weapon though, nothing's like a Quarterstaff
Side A (total of +5)
- +1
- Transmuting [+2 bonus in the MIC p. 45 – after you hit someone, the next round the staff automatically overcomes all damage reduction they may have]
- Sizing (+5000 gp - MIC p. 43 – adjusts to any size)
- Morphing (+1 bonus - MIC p. 39 – can become ANY weapon)
- Defending (+1 bonus - DMG – can apply enhancement bonus to AC)
Side B (total of +4)
- +1
- Warning (+1 bonus - MIC p. 46- gives a +5 insight bonus to initiative rolls when held
- Eager (+1 bonus - MIC p. 44 gives a +2 unnamed bonus to initiative, and +2 damage during the first round of combat)
- Defending (+1 bonus)

Then Greater Magic Weapon each side, cast Greater Mighty Whallup 1/day (hours/level), and polymorph/shapechange yourself into anything large or huge or whatever and deal damage that makes beatsticks cry before they can even reach you. Not to mention how fun it is that you can just change your weapon into any other anytime you want, great role-play flavor.

No. You're an Epic, Dual-progression, SAD caster. If yoou make an attack roll for anything other than a touch spell, you have failed. Pick up Parrying long before any bonus that needs you to swing the weapon.

[Goatman_Ted]

^ What STK said, but spread the bonuses out to stretch the budget.

[Froogleyboy]

Then snag BoVD and unleash your horde of Solars and Dragons on the world. Your DM deserves it.

Well . . . I don't want to tick him off. He's a good dude. He let me slide with a lot of stuff during character creation (such as, he let me pay 1mil and know every wizard spell written in any book ever)

[Brock Samson]

But hitting things is fun, even for a Wizard. Especially when you persist Wraithstrike and have Bite of the Wearbear on you as you're shapechanged into some monstrous monstrosity.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Well . . . I don't want to tick him off. He's a good dude. He let me slide with a lot of stuff during character creation (such as, he let me pay 1mil and know every wizard spell written in any book ever)

Considering the cost of spells(50GP/level) and the number of spells that are grade-AA cow manure, you got rolled on that(9 levels of spells, if there are 200 9th level spells it doesn't cost 100K, and there have to be more spells of the lower levels to get the same effect). It's great for bookkeeping reasons, but really not letting you get away with something.

Also, it's his fault for playing Epic. Look at the thread from a week ago asking if there's any way to kill a 20th level Wizard without another full caster(short answer: No). Epic casters are broken even without the swirling vortex of insanity that is Epic Casting.