Found a canon 64th-level wizard

[bundlesandflows]

Behold, from page 90 of the Epic Level Handbook: Canabulum the 64th-level wizard, depicted making the dubious decision to develop the epic spell hellball.

Sure there are higher-CR creatures from the same questionable handbook, but this right here is an honest-to-goodness standard player race character who just went straight wizard for 64 levels, which by Wizards of the Coast standards may as well be optimized, considering most high-level 3rd edition mages like to waste levels by dipping fighter or rogue.

So is this it? The strongest standard player race NPC ever published by Wizards?

Edit. His artwork:

Spoiler

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[FaerieGodfather]

He may not have dipped Fighter, but it looks like he thought three feats for Heavy Armor Proficiency were a good investment.

[Yora]

That image is a Pelor cleric.

[Madara]

I like how he has a symbol of Pelor?

Also, he vaguely looks like Elon Musk.

[Telonius]

So, "Hellball" is being developed by a 64th-level "Wizard" who just happens to be dressed in heavy armor and carrying a Holy Symbol of Pelor.

I'd say that this is newly-uncovered evidence in the "Burning Hate" conspiracy.

[AvatarVecna]

He may not have dipped Fighter, but it looks like he thought three feats for Heavy Armor Proficiency were a good investment.

Or he's the kind of wizard who's got enchanted armor with -0 ACP and 0% ASF, which means nonproficiency effectively doesn't matter.

[lord_khaine]

I also still think a level 64 wizard is 100% is guy who most of all can afford to waste 3 feats on armor proficiency..

[schreier]

Probably has still spell and automatic still spell three times

[the_tick_rules]

I've never heard of any PC race above 64th level but considering he was just used a reference for epic spell making considering him as existing is questionable.

[ghanjrho]

Or he's the kind of wizard who's got enchanted armor with -0 ACP and 0% ASF, which means nonproficiency effectively doesn't matter.

Speaking of, I remember seeing a thread that had the cheapest way to get a given AC for a given DEX, complete with options for Druid-friendly, 0% ASF, -0 ACP, and some others, but can’t find it anymore. Do you have it?

[AvatarVecna]

Speaking of, I remember seeing a thread that had the cheapest way to get a given AC for a given DEX, complete with options for Druid-friendly, 0% ASF, -0 ACP, and some others, but can’t find it anymore. Do you have it?

I vaguely recall such a thread but I don't have a link, no.

[ThanatosZero]

Speaking of, I remember seeing a thread that had the cheapest way to get a given AC for a given DEX, complete with options for Druid-friendly, 0% ASF, -0 ACP, and some others, but can’t find it anymore. Do you have it?

I vaguely recall such a thread but I don't have a link, no.

Here you go.
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...ightless-Armor

Edit: But to be honest.
That epic wizard could as well have crafted himself bracers of epic armor +32 for 10,300,000 gp, which surpass any armor in the game.

[Aotrs Commander]

Maybe he developed Hellball out of boredom to show how utterly poor and generally completely awful the Epic spell system is?



(I will just be using straight 10th+ level spells myself when... ... If, at current rate... I do Epic again.)




Also, I once reached level 64 fighter in Planescape: Torment. Does that count?

[ThanatosZero]

Maybe he developed Hellball out of boredom to show how utterly poor and generally completely awful the Epic spell system is?



(I will just be using straight 10th+ level spells myself when... ... If, at current rate... I do Epic again.)




Also, I once reached level 64 fighter in Planescape: Torment. Does that count?

CRPGs take less time, than RL sessions. But yes, it counts.
Albeit not the correct edition.
If you wish to play epic with 3e with a CRPG, I recommend NWN with Startovarious' Player Resource Consortium.

[Lvl45DM!]

Maybe he developed Hellball out of boredom to show how utterly poor and generally completely awful the Epic spell system is?



(I will just be using straight 10th+ level spells myself when... ... If, at current rate... I do Epic again.)




Also, I once reached level 64 fighter in Planescape: Torment. Does that count?

I dont think your playthroughs count as canon though. Or just from me alone there are like 20 Bhaalspawn who own De'Arsine keep

[AvatarVecna]

Maybe he developed Hellball out of boredom to show how utterly poor and generally completely awful the Epic spell system is?



(I will just be using straight 10th+ level spells myself when... ... If, at current rate... I do Epic again.)




Also, I once reached level 64 fighter in Planescape: Torment. Does that count?

Epic Spellcasting in general has problems, and Hellball is just kinda one of the worst examples of it (since you can make a better version of it with regular spells and enough metamagic).

[the_tick_rules]

I vaguely recall such a thread but I don't have a link, no.

A mithral chain shirt with twilight enchantment from book of exalted deeds has no armor check penalty or arcane failure rate.

[AnimeTheCat]

I dont think your playthroughs count as canon though. Or just from me alone there are like 20 Bhaalspawn who own De'Arsine keep

Multiple World Divergence Phenomena. The point of divergence varies, but who's to say even the "cannon" storyline is truly cannon.

Basically, there are 20 different De'Arsine Keeps in 20 different timelines being ruled by 20 diferent Bhaalspawns.

[FaerieGodfather]

I dont think your playthroughs count as canon though. Or just from me alone there are like 20 Bhaalspawn who own De'Arsine keep

Sounds like the basis of a very dark and surreal sitcom.

[OrbanSirgen]

Multiple World Divergence Phenomena. The point of divergence varies, but who's to say even the "cannon" storyline is truly cannon.

Basically, there are 20 different De'Arsine Keeps in 20 different timelines being ruled by 20 diferent Bhaalspawns.

Technically, every time a particular adventure is run, whether tabletop or video game, it's a separate timeline...

[lord_khaine]

Sounds like the basis of a very dark and surreal sitcom.

I would watch the hell out of that

[vasilidor]

he is not stated out anywhere, he is stated to have a +82 spellcraft and be level 64. he has a 40 intelligence from which we can tell he has 67 ranks in spellcraft. He obviously has the epic spellcasting feat and the requirements thereof, beyond that we can write him up however we want.

[schreier]

Here you go.
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...ightless-Armor

Edit: But to be honest.
That epic wizard could as well have crafted himself bracers of epic armor +32 for 10,300,000 gp, which surpass any armor in the game.

Interesting, I always thought the bonuses were capped, even in epic. Like +15 for bracers of armor ... Maybe that's silly

[icefractal]

Maybe he developed Hellball out of boredom to show how utterly poor and generally completely awful the Epic spell system is?

Or as a trap.
"Over the years, Canabulum had grown more frustrated with the many lesser Wizards who copied his spells and strategies verbatim. While he expected and welcomed others learning from his discoveries, many were just immitating with no effort at understanding.

So one night when he was feeling particularly grumpy, he came up with Hellball - a massively inefficient but powerful dweomer, that would take great study and resources to learn, but in the end was less potent than skilled use of normal magics.

After demonstrating it enough for word to get around, Canabulum never cast it again, focusing his attention on more useful research. But other Wizards have wasted years and mountains of gold trying to make it work.

[MalsvirT]

I'm not sure if he's canon or not, but he looks a lot like Shazam

[Biggus]

Interesting, I always thought the bonuses were capped, even in epic. Like +15 for bracers of armor ... Maybe that's silly

The ELH only lists many items up to a certain value (usually twice the nonepic limit) which has led some people to argue that anything beyond this is not canonical. But as the tables for random epic weapons and armor allow potentially infinite enhancement bonuses if you roll well enough, it seems unlikely that the other items are intended to be capped at any particular value.

[Bakkan]

Speaking of, I remember seeing a thread that had the cheapest way to get a given AC for a given DEX, complete with options for Druid-friendly, 0% ASF, -0 ACP, and some others, but can’t find it anymore. Do you have it?

I made that thing! It's in my sig.

[ThanatosZero]

Interesting, I always thought the bonuses were capped, even in epic. Like +15 for bracers of armor ... Maybe that's silly

There are no limits stated in the ELH. For example the epic level progressions for classes only list tables for references and how it continues endlessly.

[VladtheLad]

Interesting fact: If he has pc wealth he will have 8.5 million gp in magic items.

Also I remember the dude from when I first read the epic level handbook back when it was published. My reaction was "Level 64? Meh this is silly."

[Biggus]

Interesting fact: If he has pc wealth he will have 8.5 million gp in magic items.

I think you've made a mistake somewhere, PC wealth is 13.6 million GP at level 40 (ELH p.23). Increasing it 10% per level thereafter comes out to 134 million at level 64. Even NPCs get 14.6 million GP at level 64 (ELH p.317).