9th level arcane/divine help me challenge my players!!

[Sir_Chivalry]

Okay so I have an npc, who uses a dual progression class (fochluchan lyrist) to advance both ur-priest and sublime chord, leaving me with an opponent for my PCs that has 9th level cleric and wizard spells. Fine points of build figured out later, what spells are essential for this adversary to prepare in an urban campaign with a focus on role-playing, mystery and political intrigue in order for him to be a good challenge, not just in combat, but throughout?

Questions welcomed for clarification.

Character Sheet

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Pyrus CR 20
NE male changeling bard 6/mindbender 1/spelldancer 2/ur-priest 1/sublime chord 1/fochlucan lyrist 9
Init +3; Senses Listen +18, Spot +5; low-light vision, blindsight 100ft (thinking creatures only)
Languages Common, Druidic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling; telepathy 100ft

AC 33, touch 14, flat-footed 30
hp 135 (1 d4, 18 d6, 1 d8 HD)
Fort +18*, Ref +24*, Will +31*; evasion
*- superior resistance, +6 resistance bonus to saves
Flaws Non-Combatant, Vulnerable

Speed 30 ft (6 squares)
Melee mwk (+4) longsword +19/+14/+9 (1d8+6/19-20)
Base Atk +15; Grp +17
Special Actions bardic knowledge +21, bardic music 15/day (countersong*, fascinate*, inspire competence, inspire courage +3, inspire greatness, inspire heroics, song of freedom, suggestion*), enthralling dance (Will DC 16), change shape, spelldance
*-+1 competence bonus from fochlucan bandore
Bard Spells Known (CL 9)
3rd(4/day)- charm monster (DC 20), confusion (DC 20), glibness, scrying (DC 20)
2nd(5/day)- glitterdust (DC 19), heroism, invisibility, silence (DC 19)
1st(5/day)- cure light wounds, featherfall, grease (DC 18), nystul’s magic aura
0(3/day)- detect magic, lullaby, mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic, summon instrument
Sublime Chord Spells Known (CL 16)
9th(2/day)- invoke magic, wail of the banshee (DC 26)
8th(3/day)- mind blank, polymorph any object (DC 25), superior invisibility
7th(4/day)- finger of death (DC 24), project image (DC 24), 2
6th(5/day)- contingency, greater dispel magic, mass suggestion (DC 23), 1
5th(5/day)- contact other plane, magic jar (DC 22), teleport, 1
4th(6/day)- anticipate teleportation, detect scrying, dominate person (DC 21), 1
Ur-Priest Spells Prepared (CL 13)
9th(1/day)- miracle
8th(2/day)- greater spell immunity, 1
7th(3/day)- greater consumptive field (DC 22), greater plane shift, holy star
6th(4/day)- energy immunity (2) (both cast), heal, heroes feast
5th(5/day)- commune, greater command (DC 23), plane shift, spell resistance, surge of fortune
4th(5/day)- death ward, greater magic weapon (cast), restoration (3)
3rd(5/day)- delay death, magic circle against good, magic vestment (2) (both cast), wind wall
2nd(6/day)- body wards, darkbolt, divine insight, lesser restoration, living undeath, zone of truth (DC 20)
1st(7/day)- conviction, protection from good, protection from law, sign, 3
0(6/day)- detect poison, guidance, light, mending, purify food and drink, resistance

Abilities Str 15, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 26, Cha 24
Feats Combat Casting, Endurance, Expeditious Dodge, Iron WillB, Mindsight, MobilityB, Practiced Spellcaster (bard), Quicken Spell, Spell Focus (evil), Twin Spell, Versatile Spellcaster
Skills Bluff +24, Concentration +19, Decipher Script +12, Diplomacy +18, Gather Information +14, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (arcana) +27, Knowledge (nature) +21, Knowledge (the planes) +21, Knowledge (religion) +22, Listen +18, Sleight of Hand +19, Perform (dance) +30, Perform (string instruments) +22, Profession (astrologer) +12, Sense Motive +21, Spellcraft +22, Tumble +16
Possessions mwk (+4) longsword, +1 (+4) mobility mithral breastplate, mwk (+4) caster heavy mithral shield, cloak of charisma +6, ring of protection +2, ring of freedom of movement, sandals of the vagabond/teleportation, fochlucan bandore, necklace of adaptation, metamagic rod of extend, pearl of power (6th), otyugh hole, 7,400gp

[Douglas]

If you're going for Ur-Chord for all your spellcasting, why not go all the way for the "Ultimate" theurge class, Fochlucan Lyrist from Complete Adventurer? All the benefits of Mystic Theurge, plus more skill points, better skill list, good BAB, a second good save, a bigger hit die, bardic music, and bardic knowledge. The drawback is a laundry list of prerequisites that require considerably more schizophrenic multiclassing to satisfy, but with Ur-Priest and Sublime Chord forming the basis of your spellcasting and a 20 level build, you have more than enough levels to spare to satisfy them.

[Sir_Chivalry]

If you're going for Ur-Chord for all your spellcasting, why not go all the way for the "Ultimate" theurge class, Fochlucan Lyrist from Complete Adventurer? All the benefits of Mystic Theurge, plus more skill points, better skill list, good BAB, a second good save, a bigger hit die, bardic music, and bardic knowledge. The drawback is a laundry list of prerequisites that require considerably more schizophrenic multiclassing to satisfy, but with Ur-Priest and Sublime Chord forming the basis of your spellcasting and a 20 level build, you have more than enough levels to spare to satisfy them.

Actually, that is the actual class, I was merely citing mystic theurge as the example for simplicity. I'll change it.

[Thrawn183]

I'm thinking...
- Mind Blank
- Nondetection
- Nystul's Magic Aura
- Superior Invisibility
- Silence
- Circle of Truth

Just for starters. I don't even want to get into Mindrape.

[Machiavellian]

Spell wise, focus not on heavy blast damage spells, but instead on duration damage spells. Also, mobility can be a killer, so Entangle, Grease, Viscid Globe, ect. are all excellent spells for killing a Fighter/Rogue/meleer's mobility. As for casters, Silence is a gold spell. Cast silence on a caster who never thought to pick up silent spell, and you effectively shut him down. For ranged fighters, Wall of Air and Wall of Force are classic Anti-missile spells

Edit: And have him have a familiar who can be highly mobile, but not appear to be a threat. A bat is a great choice. Use the familiar to not only deliver Touch Spells, but to also move your "minions" around. Especially fun in a vertical battle, such as the PCs fighting on platforms that were once his staircase. Move the bat to an area it can, where a PC is standing, then cast Benign (?) Transposition and move say the Bugbear Warblade to where the bat was. And presto, a now challenging encounter just became far more difficult.

[Eronai_Jantig]

I whipped up a quick build:
Build: Monk 2/Wizard 3/Ur-Priest 2/Druid 1/Prestige Bard 1/Mystic Theurge 1/Sublime Chord 1/Fochlucan Lyrist 9

The only conflict that I see is maybe sublime chord using Cha as it's casting stat, if you choose you can fiat to allow int to work instead depending on entry, other wise, swap out the wizard levels for sorcerer levels. I eyeballed skills but it might not be perfect, worst case scenario pick up the feat Able Learner so you can buy cross class skills for 1 skill-point each.

And yes, I know, Monk, but in this case I think it's actually better than rogue, yes you loose out on Sneak attack, but you gain better saves rounding out at around base:

Fort: 9
Ref: 12
Will: 23

Superior resistance alone (Meaning no need for the cloak of resistance) puts these to:

Fort: 15
Ref: 18
Will: 29

Add in some good con subpar dex, and great wisdom, and your golden, bonus points for DMMing various buffing spells.

[Sir_Chivalry]

Good suggestions so far.

Anyone else got questions, suggestions, builds?

[Eldariel]

Good suggestions so far.

Anyone else got questions, suggestions, builds?

How strong do you want to make the boss? You could of course make him completely unbeatable but that wouldn't be terribly interesting. Either way, given he has access to Dominates, Controls, Animates, Planar Bindings and such, I'd imagine he'd have lots of minions of different kinds. Outsiders, Undead, Humans, anything that has enough power to change shape and thus participate in the Game without raising too much suspicion from lessers.

You'll obviously want to have him set up Contingency-spell for protection along with the Heart of X-line from Complete Mage; chances are he wants to keep himself warded at all times unless he's arrogant enough to expect to be untouchable.


Polymorph Any Object is a real workhorse of a spell, especially for such a game so I'd imagine he'd be making heavy use of it. Teleportation, Anticipate Teleport [SC], Scrying, Detect Scrying, Mind Blank, Moment of Prescience, etc. seem like they'd be par de course and Contact Other Plane, Commune and other powerful Divinations that can't really be warded against would likely be a very key part of his arsenal.

Who knows, maybe he's used Genesis to create his own demiplane at some point that serves as his true base of operations? Maybe he uses Limited Wish to replicate Psychic Reformation to switch around his arcane spells as necessary? With such power, there's little limitation to what he could accomplish. Mind Rape can create very willing thralls, for one. Magic Jar can allow doing something as someone else should that become necessary. Illusions...have obvious uses.

[Kaww]

Charm, Dominate, Greater Command, Mass Suggestion are priceless in an urban campaign. And should be cast on players from time to time. Then again he must have FoD, WotB, but not many flashy spells, if he emphasizes on stealth.

Get evasion via spelldancer.

He should also have some sort of telepathy. Silent spell + telepathy = fun. If he is stalking them and has sense of humor you should have a good time.

Regards!

[Sir_Chivalry]

Here's the basic sheet, so I still need some more spells to fill it out. Thanks in advance!

Pyrus CR 20
NE male changeling bard 6/mindbender 1/spelldancer 2/ur-priest 1/sublime chord 1/fochlucan lyrist 9
Init +3; Senses Listen +18, Spot +5; low-light vision, blindsight 100ft (thinking creatures only)
Languages Common, Druidic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling; telepathy 100ft

AC 33, touch 14, flat-footed 30
hp 135 (1 d4, 18 d6, 1 d8 HD)
Fort +18*, Ref +24*, Will +31*; evasion
*- superior resistance, +6 resistance bonus to saves
Flaws Non-Combatant, Vulnerable

Speed 30 ft (6 squares)
Melee mwk (+4) longsword +19/+14/+9 (1d8+6/19-20)
Base Atk +15; Grp +17
Special Actions bardic knowledge +21, bardic music 15/day (countersong*, fascinate*, inspire competence, inspire courage +3, inspire greatness, inspire heroics, song of freedom, suggestion*), enthralling dance (Will DC 16), change shape, spelldance
*-+1 competence bonus from fochlucan bandore
Bard Spells Known (CL 9)
3rd(4/day)- charm monster (DC 20), confusion (DC 20), glibness, scrying (DC 20)
2nd(5/day)- glitterdust (DC 19), heroism, invisibility, silence (DC 19)
1st(5/day)- cure light wounds, featherfall, grease (DC 18), nystul’s magic aura
0(3/day)- detect magic, lullaby, mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic, summon instrument
Sublime Chord Spells Known (CL 16)
9th(2/day)- invoke magic, wail of the banshee (DC 26)
8th(3/day)- mind blank, polymorph any object (DC 25), superior invisibility
7th(4/day)- finger of death (DC 24), project image (DC 24), 2
6th(5/day)- contingency, greater dispel magic, mass suggestion (DC 23), 1
5th(5/day)- contact other plane, magic jar (DC 22), teleport, 1
4th(6/day)- anticipate teleportation, detect scrying, dominate person (DC 21), 1
Ur-Priest Spells Prepared (CL 13)
9th(1/day)- miracle
8th(2/day)- greater spell immunity, 1
7th(3/day)- greater consumptive field (DC 22), greater plane shift, holy star
6th(4/day)- energy immunity (2) (both cast), heal, heroes feast
5th(5/day)- commune, greater command (DC 23), plane shift, spell resistance, surge of fortune
4th(5/day)- death ward, greater magic weapon (cast), restoration (3)
3rd(5/day)- delay death, magic circle against good, magic vestment (2) (both cast), wind wall
2nd(6/day)- body wards, darkbolt, divine insight, lesser restoration, living undeath, zone of truth (DC 20)
1st(7/day)- conviction, protection from good, protection from law, sign, 3
0(6/day)- detect poison, guidance, light, mending, purify food and drink, resistance

Abilities Str 15, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 26, Cha 24
Feats Combat Casting, Endurance, Expeditious Dodge, Iron WillB, Mindsight, MobilityB, Practiced Spellcaster (bard), Quicken Spell, Spell Focus (evil), Twin Spell, Versatile Spellcaster
Skills Bluff +24, Concentration +19, Decipher Script +12, Diplomacy +18, Gather Information +14, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (arcana) +27, Knowledge (nature) +21, Knowledge (the planes) +21, Knowledge (religion) +22, Listen +18, Sleight of Hand +19, Perform (dance) +30, Perform (string instruments) +22, Profession (astrologer) +12, Sense Motive +21, Spellcraft +22, Tumble +16
Possessions mwk (+4) longsword, +1 (+4) mobility mithral breastplate, mwk (+4) caster heavy mithral shield, cloak of charisma +6, ring of protection +2, ring of freedom of movement, sandals of the vagabond/teleportation, fochlucan bandore, necklace of adaptation, metamagic rod of extend, pearl of power (6th), otyugh hole, 7,400gp

[Eldariel]

Sublime Chord increases Bard CL alongside its own CL so you should have at least CL 16 Bard-spells too. Also, Iron Will from Otyugh Hole, free up slots for a much-needed Practiced Spellcaster?


For spells:
Bard 3 needs Glibness, and perhaps Confusion, Haste or Slow
Bard 2 Glitterdust, Heroism, maybe Invisbiility. Alter Self is the obvious choice if you aren't adverse to using it.
Bard 1 could have some generics like Silent Image, Unseen Servant or like, Cure Light Wounds. Perhaps Feather Fall...

[Sir_Chivalry]

Sublime Chord increases Bard CL alongside its own CL so you should have at least CL 16 Bard-spells too. Also, Iron Will from Otyugh Hole, free up slots for a much-needed Practiced Spellcaster?


For spells:
Bard 3 needs Glibness, and perhaps Confusion, Haste or Slow
Bard 2 Glitterdust, Heroism, maybe Invisbiility. Alter Self is the obvious choice if you aren't adverse to using it.
Bard 1 could have some generics like Silent Image, Unseen Servant or like, Cure Light Wounds. Perhaps Feather Fall...

By my reading of Sublime Chord, I only add my levels in Sublime Chord, not spellcasting levels advanced by fochlucan lyrist, So with Practiced Spellcaster, my CL in bard is 14.

All other suggestions incorporated.

edit: came across the Mobility armour enhancement, so that's another feat, uped Sublime Chord to CL 20. This guy's shaping up nicely, now I just need ur-priest spells and fine tuning!

[Eronai_Jantig]

No vest of resistance, use Supirior Resistance, +6 to saves and it lasts 24 hours.

[Eldariel]

By my reading of Sublime Chord, I only add my levels in Sublime Chord, not spellcasting levels advanced by fochlucan lyrist, So with Practiced Spellcaster, my CL in bard is 14.

All other suggestions incorporated.

edit: came across the Mobility armour enhancement, so that's another feat, uped Sublime Chord to CL 20. This guy's shaping up nicely, now I just need ur-priest spells and fine tuning!

Bard CL sets base Sublime Chord CL so you shouldn't need separate Practiced Spellcaster for Sublime Chord either way (even with your reading of Fochlucan Lyrist; the Practiced on Bard should work for Sublime Chord-spells too).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Use Superior Invisibility, an 8th level spell, instead of Greater Invisibility.

Grab Versatile Spellcaster from Races of the Dragon. It allows you to spend two spell slots of the same level to spontaneously cast any spell you know of one level higher. This will allow you to use your Bard and Sublime Chord spell slots to spontaneously cast any Cleric spell in the game, due to Ur-Priest granting them as spells known.

Change his Mithral Shirt into Mithral Breastplate, it has slightly better AC and the max dex still won't matter. You don't need to make it +4, just cast Magic Vestment on it every day, and get a Lesser Rod of Extend if it otherwise won't last the entire day. Pick up a Mithral Buckler, it has no armor check penalty and no chance of arcane spell failure so no drawbacks, and cast Magic Vestment on that every day as well. That amulet of proof against detection is pretty worthless, you're better off just casting Nondetection if necessary, and Mind Blank should give you all-day protection anyway. Get a Necklace of Adaptation, and be sure to have a Ring of Freedom of Movement.

Get a Metamagic Rod of Extend and a 6th level Pearl of Power. Every other day prepare Energy Immunity twice, cast it on yourself three times using the pearl to recover one, picking a different energy type for each. Use the Rod of Extend so each will last 48 hours, so you only need to cast them every other day. On the days in between prepare Energy Immunity once and Superior Resistance once, and cast those on yourself using the pearl to cast Energy Immunity a second time. Again the rod will make each last 48 hours. This will give you constant immunity to all five energy types, along with a +6 Resistance bonus to saving throws.

[Sir_Chivalry]

Incorporated the suggestions, took out periapt of wisdom to get pearl of power (6th), since he now has a necklace of adaption. Took out moment of prescience for superiour invisibility, and he is now immune to the energies and has superior resistance included. Made the mithral shield a heavy steel shield due to the caster armour enhancement from Dragon Magazine, which lowers the ASF by 5%, thus leaving no ASF.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You have to make armor and shields at least +1 before you can put a magical property on them such as Mobility. If the Caster enchant is magical, this still applies, though the only thing similar to that I found was the Caster Shield in the DMG. The Twilight armor/shield enchant in BoED and PH2 (sidebar with Duskblade) costs only +1 and lowers ASF by 10%. Regardless, given the character's description and social status he probably won't want to be carrying a bulky shield everywhere, hence the elegance of a buckler. Mithral shields are only 1,000 gp, easily affordable.

[Douglas]

No need to resort to Dragon magazine material for the shield. The Githcraft template from DMG2 will do the trick.

[ex cathedra]

You're using Spelldancer, eh? If you're resorting to a build like this, you may as well grab Persist Spell and go to town. Either become a Necropolitan or grab Sandals of the Vagabond and prepare a lot of Lesser Restorations.

[Stompy]

1. Invoke Magic from Lords of Madness I believe can let your boss cast in an AMF. This might be necessary if you have some crafty PCs.

2. Since you have a buttload (~126 gallons) of spells consider quicken spell if you haven't already.

3. Do you control the place (theater) of combat? If so you can trap it. I recommend turrets from the wall that fire dimensional anchors first. My second recommendation is to have adamantine doors in the place that can be locked from a distance.

4. Also consider playing with illusion spells. This can be helpful in not getting ganked by the PCs. A single mislead, with your misled double on a throne works wonders.

[Douglas]

4. Also consider playing with illusion spells. This can be helpful in not getting ganked by the PCs. A single mislead, with your misled double on a throne works wonders.

Good idea, but use Project Image instead. That way it can act as a much more thorough proxy, complete with giving you vision from its position and letting you cast spells that originate from it. Add Superior Invisibility on your real self, and you can really cause some serious trouble for anyone who doesn't have True Seeing.

[Sir_Chivalry]

Added all the suggestions except Necropolitan. Still need to fill out most of the cleric slots, any suggestions?

[Eldariel]

• Miracle on the highest level, or maybe an Astral Projection, maybe Summon Elemental Monolith [Spell Compendium].
• Plane Shift on 5; great offensive and mobility spell.
• Superior Resistance on 6.
• Some Darkbolt [Lords of Madness] on 2.
• Freedom of Movement seems like a gimme. Death Ward isn't all that bad either.
• Greater Spell Immunity on 8
• Spell Resistance on 5 seem like good ideas too.
• Heal on 6 seems obvious. Sublime Chord-side should have Greater Dispel Magic there, btw (CL 20 and all).
• Heroes' Feast is a good level 6 spell.
• Surge of Fortune [Complete Champion] on level 5.
• Magic Circle Against Good is fine on level 3.
• Divine Insight [Spell Compendium], Body Wards [Complete Champion] & Living Undeath [Complete Champion] seem alright on level 2.
• First level has Conviction [Spell Compendium], Protections from Alignment and such.
• Greater Plane Shift [Spell Compendium] is fine on 7. Holy Star [Spell Compendium] and if desired for insane boosts to Caster Level, Greater Consumptive Field [Spell Compendium].

Just something off the top of my head.

[Sir_Chivalry]

• Miracle on the highest level, or maybe an Astral Projection, maybe Summon Elemental Monolith [Spell Compendium].
• Plane Shift on 5; great offensive and mobility spell.
• Superior Resistance on 6.
• Some Darkbolt [Lords of Madness] on 2.
• Freedom of Movement seems like a gimme. Death Ward isn't all that bad either.
• Greater Spell Immunity on 8
• Spell Resistance on 5 seem like good ideas too.
• Heal on 6 seems obvious. Sublime Chord-side should have Greater Dispel Magic there, btw (CL 20 and all).
• Heroes' Feast is a good level 6 spell.
• Surge of Fortune [Complete Champion] on level 5.
• Magic Circle Against Good is fine on level 3.
• Divine Insight [Spell Compendium], Body Wards [Complete Champion] & Living Undeath [Complete Champion] seem alright on level 2.
• First level has Conviction [Spell Compendium], Protections from Alignment and such.
• Greater Plane Shift [Spell Compendium] is fine on 7. Holy Star [Spell Compendium] and if desired for insane boosts to Caster Level, Greater Consumptive Field [Spell Compendium].

Just something off the top of my head.

I've added all of these except Superior Resistance (he casts an extended version in a rotation schedule with energy immunity, as detailed earlier) and freedom of movement (he has a ring for it).

So I need a few more spells:

• 4 1st level cleric spells
• 1 3rd level cleric spell
• 1 8th level cleric spell
• 1 4th level sorcerer/wizard spell
• 2 5th level sorcerer/wizard spells
• 2 6th level sorcerer/wizard spells
• 2 7th level sorcerer/wizard spells

[Eronai_Jantig]

Delay Death
Continent Spell+Teleport (Contingent being when he casts delay death.)
Sign
Skittish Nerves
Primal Instinct

And grab him a warning dagger.

[Sir_Chivalry]

Delay Death
Continent Spell+Teleport (Contingent being when he casts delay death.)
Sign
Skittish Nerves
Primal Instinct

And grab him a warning dagger.

Can't do Skittish Nerves or Primal Instinct, since they aren't low level bard spells, and sublime chord doesn't get low level wizard spells. What's a warning dagger?

Revised list of needs:

• 3 1st level cleric spells
• 1 8th level cleric spell
• 1 4th level sorcerer/wizard spell
• 1 5th level sorcerer/wizard spells
• 1 6th level sorcerer/wizard spells
• 2 7th level sorcerer/wizard spells

[Eronai_Jantig]

Warning is a +1 weapon property for +5 to initiative.

As far as not being able to learn lower level spells, I've read the text, but I don't know if it's really all that absurd to allow a character to learn it in place of a higher level slot. But hey, it's your call. Besides, you could always grab them in a wand or something.

Some more suggestions:

Black Tentacles classic environmental trap.
Defenestrating Spere isn't bad.
Stun Ray isn't bad if you metamagic it a bit, I know you don't have many of those feats at the moment, but something to think about.

[Roc Ness]

Reverse Gravity? You could combine it with gate or something, I dunno. If your boss is hit by an antimagic field, you could have reverse gravity make them "fall" into the field. Maybe.

[jseah]

Surge of Fortune is very funny if combined with a vorpal weapon. XD

*Not a serious suggestion. Since it pretty much auto-kills if they aren't immune to crits and is a huge money waste otherwise*

[Sir_Chivalry]

Any other suggestions for the slots that need filling?