Death by Life

[Fixer]

I was just reading up on vivacious creatures (Planar Handbook) and realized a really nasty trick you can play on a living BBEG with a lousy Fort save.

BBEG: "You shall never defeat me!"
Wizard: *Casts Summon Monster IV to summon 1d4+1 vivacious small spiders around the BBEG*

At this point the BBEG has to make a Fort DC 20 save if is within 10 feet any one of these incorporeal spiders or explode (provided he is completely unharmed). One for each spider he is around. If any of them hit with their positive energy ray (touch attack) he has to save again.

(Note, you can replace a Celestial or Fiendish creature with a Vivacious one from a summoning list one lower than the one you want. So a Summon Monster I can't summon them but a Summon Monster II can some one normally fiendish or celestial creature from the Summon Monster I list as a vivacious creature instead.)

[Illiterate Scribe]

Yet more evidence that Vivacious is one awesomely nasty template - while those DC20 fort saves are easy to make, sooner or later you're going to get a natural 1.