Level 1 character vs level 13 character

[CMagnum]

So I was having an argument with a friend about vow of poverty and how much money impacts the game. We decided to have a battle where I play a level 1 character with 110k gold and he plays a level 13 forsaker (he will take all ten levels of forsaker and I don't know what his other 3 levels will be).
Stats will be 18-18-17-17-15-11. I was thinking bard for umd and skill points, or for hp maybe a warblade?

I know I can just magic missile him and get flight and some miss chances and basically win as long as he doesn't get lucky ranged attacks in.

Just wondering what item combos you guys would take? There are a lot I have looked into, like all of the statues that become animals and a bag of tricks to have a horde of animal friends whale on him.
Miss chances and some wands of hold person etc (though he will have good saves).

Just looking for a few fun tricks to really shut him down.
Thanks playground!

[Doctor Despair]

Without dipping into too much cheese, I suppose taking a level of Marshal, taking a feat to make UMD a class skill (Flexible Mind would work), and taking a Magic-Blooded Unseeley Fey race would be a good start. That's +17 to your UMD check off the bat.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Generally, if you're a low-level character with a ton of wealth, you want to buy something that fights for you, and then something that lets you hide from any fighting that's being done. A spell-only way to do that is with summon monster and telekinetic sphere. A staff of an 8th-level spell costs 45 000 gp and is made at CL 15. There are definitely cheaper ways to win, but hey, why do more than you need to?

[CMagnum]

Yeah, any way I do it, unless we start 30ft apart and he wins initiative and can one shot me assuming I don't have any active magic items or anything he could potentially win. Otherwise it's not even a contest

[Kayblis]

You can't declare an attack against something you can't see. Get a cheap item of Obscuring Mist and a way to see your enemy to shoot it, or a Summon Monster ability. Fly above jumping heights and hide. Having one or two spells on a staff costing 2+ charges each is very cheap, or you can straight up use scrolls if you have a high UMD mod.

[Quertus]

Yeah, any way I do it, unless we start 30ft apart and he wins initiative and can one shot me assuming I don't have any active magic items or anything he could potentially win. Otherwise it's not even a contest

This is, of course, a huge concern. So, let's solve it.

Class: Sorcerer 1.

Kauper's Skittish Nerves the derivitive Nerveskitter spell for +5 Initiative. Improved Initiative for another +4.

Let's steal Flexible Mind for UMD as a class skill, and taking a Magic-Blooded Unseeley Fey race for (apparently) a +17 to your UMD check off the bat. Which means we need a flaw. I'm thinking "+1 damage from metal" is a great flaw (since, if he hits you, you're dead anyway).

We still need offense and defense.

Scroll of Contingency, used before the battle.
Scroll of (Teleport? Dimension Door? Pplane Shift? Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere?), used for Contingency.
repeat costs of these two as needed until you succeed the rolls.

Ring of Invisibility. (nobody said you'd start the battle facing each other, he may not know where you are!)

5k Ring of 9 Lives (1 charge remaining, just in case he gets a lucky shot somehow)

Still need some form of flight.

and, while we're at it, let's steal some offense:
45k Staff of Summon Monster (VIII, I presume)

There's my "back of the napkin" ideas.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Buy yourself a psychoactive skin of proteus. At will metamorphosis at ML 7, for just a bit over 80k. Unlike polymorph, metamorphosis is only bound by the manifester level, not the target's HD, so you'll be able to turn into 7 HD critters and any objects with hardness 15 or below. If it's been sanctified or is otherwise [Good] aligned (like, say, by having the banner of law good effect added for +12,000 gp, from Heroes of Battle, for a constant protection from evil effect [which you'll want anyway, for that tasty pseudo-mind blank]) you can say it was crafted with the Words of Creation feat for a free boost to the skin's manifester level.

[CMagnum]

We are using the item buy rule of maximum one half of your wealth maximum for a single item so with 110k gold I can buy items off 55k gold or less only.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Have your body enhanced directly? For instance, turning your body into a +1 sizing/throwing/distance/metalline/ghost touch unarmed strike could have...interesting game effects. I mean, you'd have the ability to grow or shrink at will, throw yourself bodily up to 20' at will, become living steel or adamantine at will, or go incorporeal at will, while still being able to affect the world normally, whenever you want.

Also, an at will metamorphosis trigger item would be cheaper than the psychoactive skin of proteus. Even moreso if it takes up a body slot. Or maybe some power stones, while having a ML of 1 by being a psion or ardent or something?

[edit] A command-word thought at-will item of ML 7 metamorphosis is under your limit at just over 50k.

[Kaouse]

Generally, if you're a low-level character with a ton of wealth, you want to buy something that fights for you, and then something that lets you hide from any fighting that's being done.

This right here is the proper answer. Nowhere is Pathfinder more unbalanced than when it comes to the simple art of minionmancy, i.e. buying a minion that's vastly stronger than what you should have access to. This can come in the form of large and powerful animals, or even better, constructs (who you can add HD and other modifications to).

110,000 gold is unfortunately more than enough to get a minion with over 40 HD, and the chances of some level 13 character beating that (especially without wealth) are incredibly slim.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Weeeeeell...

A magebred warbeast titanic bat (fruit bat; they're adorable -- and they're largely frugivores) with a shrink collar (out of the A&EG). An adorable, Small-sized flying fox that is still just as strong as the original would make for a great pet-slash-bodyguard, if you were a good enough trainer to convince it to love you (and be quite careful of its surroundings -- especially you). 26 HD and 2,050 gp. [edit] And 10,000 gp for the collar. [/edit] And if needed, you could always remove the shrink collar so it's Gargantuan-sized again. Who needs a jumbo jet when you've got a jumbo bat?

That could be rather helpful, I think, assuming you have a way to get it to do what you want.

Or you could just use a toad instead and drop it from above when you dump out your enveloping pit...

[WhamBamSam]

I wouldn't rely entirely on flight to protect yourself. It's not unreasonable that a Forsaker build would be able to fly from race or feats alone by level 13 (Starspawn, Improved Dragon Wings, Raptoran, Wings Aspect Dragonborn, off the top of my head). I would put more effort into a defensive strategy.

[Doctor Despair]

Let's steal Flexible Mind for UMD as a class skill, and taking a Magic-Blooded Unseeley Fey race for (apparently) a +17 to your UMD check off the bat.

To clarify, the 17 comes from:

Base 18 charisma (+4 UMD)
Magic-Blooded (+2 charisma, +1 UMD)
Unseeley Fey (+2 charisma, +1 UMD)
Flexible Mind (+1 UMD)
Marshal (Motivate Charisma, +6 UMD)
Ranks (+4)

Taking a race with a positive charisma modifier will yield double bonuses due to the Marshal aura, but I'd imagine the Strongheart Halfling bonus feat would be more valuable to the build you're discussing, given you were considering flaws.

[newguydude1]

easy. umding a wand is dc 20 so get something with umd. like a rogue

get a colossal greatsword. costs 800gp.

get a wand of animate weapon. costs 11,250 gp
its from complete mage. you can cast it on any weapon larger than diminuitive and it turns it into an animated object for duration:concentration. something to note:
1. there is no upper size limit. only a lower size limit of bigger than diminuitive. so animate that colossal greatsword. it will hit for 8d6+13 a hit.
2. duration concentration is uncapped. so never stop concentration on it.

but what about sleep? pick a race that doesnt sleep. like warforged.

so for 12,050gp you will kick your friends ass at level 1.

want even more of a sure thing? add 3,000gp for 15,050gp total and make it out of adamantine. your buddy is gonna need to do more than 20 damage a hit to deal even 1 damage to your 256hp monster.

what about initiative? go inside your colossal monster. have the smith install a door into a small room and stay in there before you animate the thing. your friend cant get to you without killing the monster first.

everything here is above board. used as intended. no weird tricks or lawyering or shenanigans. you use a spell from complete mage as is that intentionally left out an upper size limit or an upper duration limit. and thats it. the end.

---

if you want something more iffy, that 3,800gp colossal adamantine greatsword, enchant it with the flying property which costs +1. combined with the mandatory +1 magic weapon enhancement, its gonna cost a grand total of 8000gp to animate it into a colossal flying animated object. no concentration needed. you dont even need umd. get any race or class you want.

its iffy because its a 3.0 forgotten realms magic weapon enhancement, unlike above which is 3.5 setting neutral. 11,800gp for a colossal flying animated object, so with your wealth limit get 9 of them.

---

something iffier. pay 26,530gp to get a spellcaster to cast wish on you and use savage species race change rules to turn into a pit fiend and just murder your friend. you can never level up ever again because your la is - meaning you never receive any exp from killing things. but who cares about that.

---

something less iffy, buy two stone golems. they should beat a vop noob

---

theres also a item called dust of choking and sneezing. costs 2400gp. have your animated objects and stone golems pop that. its a no-save 5d4 stun effect. so just keep popping them to perma stun your friend until he drops dead.

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItem...zingandChoking

This fine dust appears to be dust of appearance. If cast into the air, it causes those within a 20-foot spread to fall into fits of sneezing and coughing. Those failing a DC 15 Fortitude save take 2d6 points of Constitution damage immediately. In addition, those failing a second DC 15 Fortitude save 1 minute later are dealt 1d6 points of Constitution damage. Those who succeed on either saving throw are nonetheless disabled by choking (treat as stunned) for 5d4 rounds.

Faint conjuration; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, poison; Price 2,400 gp.

[Crake]

Just get a single use, use activated item of forcecage, trap him in with bars, since he has no magic items and no spellcasting ability, he is straight up trapped in there. Then just pick your choice of methods to kill him. I would recommend using a decanter of endless water tossed into his cage, followed by a casting of 4 walls of stone to let the water fill up his entire cage.

He then has the option to take the decanter and turn it off, which would strip him of all his forsaker abilities, or drown. Then, if he does indeed lose all his forsaker abilities by using the bottle, you rub salt in the wound by a dropping a second decanter out of reach but still inside the walls of stone and watching him drown anyway.

Total Cost:
Single-Use Use-Activated item of Forcecage: 6050gp
4x Single-Use Use-Activated item of Wall of Stone (CL8 for the extra inch of thickness) 1600gp x4 = 6400gp
2x decanter of endless water: 9000gp x2 = 18000gp
Sum: 30,450gp

That leaves you with 79,550gp to ensure you manage to get the combo off.

A contingent spell of greater celerity set to trigger when someone attempts to attack you will let you get a round of actions off before he gets an attack, then you can use anklets of translocation to blink 10 feet back and put up the caged wall of force. Alternatively, pick your two level 1 feats as Endurance, and Die Hard, and get a contingent delay death, giving you 20 rounds where you can just not die to his attacks while you just set up the combo ontop of him, then heal yourself before you actually die.

Alternatively just see if you can get away with using a wish to guarantee you go first in initiative, precast beforehand. It's not too farfetched considering limited wish has an option to make an attack automatically hit.

If single use use activated items are a problem, then get single charge ring of three wishes to do the force cage, and a 4 charge wand of wall of stone (CL8), along with 4 potions of guidance of the avatar, and a single rank in UMD. Little more expensive, but same result.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Just get a single use, use activated item of forcecage, trap him in with bars, since he has no magic items and no spellcasting ability, he is straight up trapped in there. Then just pick your choice of methods to kill him. I would recommend using a decanter of endless water tossed into his cage, followed by a casting of 4 walls of stone to let the water fill up his entire cage.

He then has the option to take the decanter and turn it off, which would strip him of all his forsaker abilities, or drown. Then, if he does indeed lose all his forsaker abilities by using the bottle, you rub salt in the wound by a dropping a second decanter out of reach but still inside the walls of stone and watching him drown anyway.

Total Cost:
Single-Use Use-Activated item of Forcecage: 6050gp
4x Single-Use Use-Activated item of Wall of Stone (CL8 for the extra inch of thickness) 1600gp x4 = 6400gp
2x decanter of endless water: 9000gp x2 = 18000gp
Sum: 30,450gp

That leaves you with 79,550gp to ensure you manage to get the combo off.

A contingent spell of greater celerity set to trigger when someone attempts to attack you will let you get a round of actions off before he gets an attack, then you can use anklets of translocation to blink 10 feet back and put up the caged wall of force. Alternatively, pick your two level 1 feats as Endurance, and Die Hard, and get a contingent delay death, giving you 20 rounds where you can just not die to his attacks while you just set up the combo ontop of him, then heal yourself before you actually die.

Alternatively just see if you can get away with using a wish to guarantee you go first in initiative, precast beforehand. It's not too farfetched considering limited wish has an option to make an attack automatically hit.

If single use use activated items are a problem, then get single charge ring of three wishes to do the force cage, and a 4 charge wand of wall of stone (CL8), along with 4 potions of guidance of the avatar, and a single rank in UMD. Little more expensive, but same result.

He can break the decanter via sundering it, so I doubt he'd lose his abilities.

However, if you forcecage him, then surround it with three to four walls far enough apart that he can't reach them, forming a triangle or square box, then toss the activated water bottle in the stone cage far enough away that he can't reach it (surrounding it in a second forcecage), then seal over the top so he can't escape even if he somehow manages to neutralize the forcecage via Iron Heart Surge, or something, leaving juuust enough of a crack in the top at one corner such that the air can escape, leaving nothing but a watery grave.

[edit] Do something like this. (Search for It's done. I killed him, and easily.)

[newguydude1]

theres also that thing with starmantle and evasion that makes someone invincible.

[rel]

As others have mentioned, flight isn't a guaranteed defense against muggles at level 10.
Consider burrowing as an alternative. Or surrounding yourself or your enemy in walls of force. If you are relying on flight to stay safe friendly fire is a way to no-sell ranged attacks.
Going first is important so stack initiative and detection abilities.

The most important thing is to not rely on just 1 trick to either stay safe or deal damage. that way if your opponents build counters a trick you still have options.

[sreservoir]

As a quick checklist, take a look at the lists of necessary magic items and bring the things that they're supposed to counter, because he's likely to not have a response to any given one of them.

[mabriss lethe]

If you want to make it "harder" on yourself, pick only items that any character can use. No Spell trigger or spell completion, etc. Just something that any rando can use. For added tomfoolery, you could even go as a commoner. Heck, a commoner with all 10s in ability scores. Literally strip yourself down to nothing but what WBL provides and make sure it's stuff that anyone can use. Don't try to leverage the greatest advantage possible from it. Go for the least advantageous method. You'll still hand him his butt on a platter and that will better prove the importance of magic items than a build designed to eke every last iota of usefulness from them.

Elemental gems. Disposable items to give you elementals as temporary minions. (there's also the shadow elemental version in the Shadowcaster section of ToM) They aren't super powerful, calling a large elemental, but they can really hinder him in a lot of inconvenient ways. For added evil, since he's a forsaker, fake him out, accidentally drop or throw the gem at him without triggering it, It becomes a freebie that he can use to activate his DR or other shenanigans. He has no wbl, so he really shouldn't start the fight with DR without destroying a magic item in the field. (Not that his DR is that impressive, but it's mostly to motivate him to take your bait and destroy the gem.
Destroying the gem does 2 things. it releases the elemental and strips him of his class abilities (since he inadvertently used it by destroying it.) If he's going with VoP, it will short circuit all of those bonuses as well. Sure, he has command over an elemental, but you can make that useless in any number of ways. Flying and giving up an earth elemental gem is the most simplistic I can think of.

Instant Fortress: it's 55k, so right at your price limit, but it creates a fortification that a VoP/Forsaker won't be able to overcome. I mean 100HP at Hardness 20 is going to cramp his style. you can use it in any number of ways. Activate it when he gets close to catch him in the expansion for 10d10 damage (ref 19 save) I mean, unless you strip him of his class abilities, he's probably going to have stellar saves so don't rely on that. But other than that, you then have either an impregnable fortress or an inescapable prison. The door only opens or closes on your command and he really has no way to get through. Trapping him inside while you mosey away, or just turtle up inside it yourself. sadly you can't deactivate the fortress while he's in it, but hey, details.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

If you want to make it "harder" on yourself, pick only items that any character can use. No Spell trigger or spell completion, etc. Just something that any rando can use. For added tomfoolery, you could even go as a commoner. Heck, a commoner with all 10s in ability scores. Literally strip yourself down to nothing but what WBL provides and make sure it's stuff that anyone can use. Don't try to leverage the greatest advantage possible from it. Go for the least advantageous method. You'll still hand him his butt on a platter and that will better prove the importance of magic items than a build designed to eke every last iota of usefulness from them.

Elemental gems. Disposable items to give you elementals as temporary minions. (there's also the shadow elemental version in the Shadowcaster section of ToM) They aren't super powerful, calling a large elemental, but they can really hinder him in a lot of inconvenient ways. For added evil, since he's a forsaker, fake him out, accidentally drop or throw the gem at him without triggering it, It becomes a freebie that he can use to activate his DR or other shenanigans. He has no wbl, so he really shouldn't start the fight with DR without destroying a magic item in the field. (Not that his DR is that impressive, but it's mostly to motivate him to take your bait and destroy the gem.
Destroying the gem does 2 things. it releases the elemental and strips him of his class abilities (since he inadvertently used it by destroying it.) If he's going with VoP, it will short circuit all of those bonuses as well. Sure, he has command over an elemental, but you can make that useless in any number of ways. Flying and giving up an earth elemental gem is the most simplistic I can think of.

Instant Fortress: it's 55k, so right at your price limit, but it creates a fortification that a VoP/Forsaker won't be able to overcome. I mean 100HP at Hardness 20 is going to cramp his style. you can use it in any number of ways. Activate it when he gets close to catch him in the expansion for 10d10 damage (ref 19 save) I mean, unless you strip him of his class abilities, he's probably going to have stellar saves so don't rely on that. But other than that, you then have either an impregnable fortress or an inescapable prison. The door only opens or closes on your command and he really has no way to get through. Trapping him inside while you mosey away, or just turtle up inside it yourself. sadly you can't deactivate the fortress while he's in it, but hey, details.

If you are inside it and leave it unlocked, entering it is using a magic item, so he'll lose all his forsaker abilities if he follows you. Feel free to snipe him from the upper floor windows.

[mabriss lethe]

If you are inside it and leave it unlocked, entering it is using a magic item, so he'll lose all his forsaker abilities if he follows you. Feel free to snipe him from the upper floor windows.

I first thought that trapping him in there with nothing but a sustaining spoon would be a wonderful insult, but I actually reread VoP and realized it was a pointless one if he has the Vow or otherwise doesn't need to eat.

EDIT TO ADD:
A most cunning way to win, with a two item combo. it'll take all the character's WBL, but fits the basic criteria. An instant fortress and a Cloak of etherealness. Deploy the fortress. Run inside. Leave the door open. Let him come to you. When he enters, lock him in, use the cloak, and saunter out right through the walls.

[Crake]

He can break the decanter via sundering it, so I doubt he'd lose his abilities.

However, if you forcecage him, then surround it with three to four walls far enough apart that he can't reach them, forming a triangle or square box, then toss the activated water bottle in the stone cage far enough away that he can't reach it (surrounding it in a second forcecage), then seal over the top so he can't escape even if he somehow manages to neutralize the forcecage via Iron Heart Surge, or something, leaving juuust enough of a crack in the top at one corner such that the air can escape, leaving nothing but a watery grave.

[edit] Do something like this. (Search for It's done. I killed him, and easily.)

The first decanter was mostly just a taunt, i already accounted that by having a second one to fill the area.

Not even gonna touch IHS

[SirNibbles]

Just get a single use, use activated item of forcecage, trap him in with bars, since he has no magic items and no spellcasting ability, he is straight up trapped in there. Then just pick your choice of methods to kill him. I would recommend using a decanter of endless water tossed into his cage, followed by a casting of 4 walls of stone to let the water fill up his entire cage.

He then has the option to take the decanter and turn it off, which would strip him of all his forsaker abilities, or drown. Then, if he does indeed lose all his forsaker abilities by using the bottle, you rub salt in the wound by a dropping a second decanter out of reach but still inside the walls of stone and watching him drown anyway.

Total Cost:
Single-Use Use-Activated item of Forcecage: 6050gp
4x Single-Use Use-Activated item of Wall of Stone (CL8 for the extra inch of thickness) 1600gp x4 = 6400gp
2x decanter of endless water: 9000gp x2 = 18000gp
Sum: 30,450gp

That leaves you with 79,550gp to ensure you manage to get the combo off.

A contingent spell of greater celerity set to trigger when someone attempts to attack you will let you get a round of actions off before he gets an attack, then you can use anklets of translocation to blink 10 feet back and put up the caged wall of force. Alternatively, pick your two level 1 feats as Endurance, and Die Hard, and get a contingent delay death, giving you 20 rounds where you can just not die to his attacks while you just set up the combo ontop of him, then heal yourself before you actually die.

Alternatively just see if you can get away with using a wish to guarantee you go first in initiative, precast beforehand. It's not too farfetched considering limited wish has an option to make an attack automatically hit.

If single use use activated items are a problem, then get single charge ring of three wishes to do the force cage, and a 4 charge wand of wall of stone (CL8), along with 4 potions of guidance of the avatar, and a single rank in UMD. Little more expensive, but same result.

Great idea except he doesn't need to breathe, being a 12th level or higher character with VoP.

[Crake]

Great idea except he doesn't need to breathe, being a 12th level or higher character with VoP.

Ah, I didn't think that was until later.

Guess just replace the water with a bunch of shrunken lava that you toss into the pit. (Shrink item can turn lava into a heatless cloth-like composition: "Optionally, you can also change its now shrunken composition to a clothlike one. ") Pile in enough and he might not drown, but he'll die from lava damage.

[SirNibbles]

Ah, I didn't think that was until later.

Guess just replace the water with a bunch of shrunken lava that you toss into the pit. (Shrink item can turn lava into a heatless cloth-like composition: "Optionally, you can also change its now shrunken composition to a clothlike one. ") Pile in enough and he might not drown, but he'll die from lava damage.

"An immunity or resistance to fire serves as an immunity to lava or magma." - Dungeon Master's Guide, page 304

"Energy Resistance (Ex): At 13th level, an ascetic gains resistance 5 to acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic energy." - Book of Exalted Deeds, page 30

A silly rule, but it exists nonetheless that any amount of fire resistance will make you immune to lava.

[Crake]

"An immunity or resistance to fire serves as an immunity to lava or magma." - Dungeon Master's Guide, page 304

"Energy Resistance (Ex): At 13th level, an ascetic gains resistance 5 to acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic energy." - Book of Exalted Deeds, page 30

A silly rule, but it exists nonetheless that any amount of fire resistance will make you immune to lava.

Also frankly a dumb one that clearly meant to imply that resistance and immunity to fire apply to lava damage.

This is made clear by the fact that the rules compendium simply says

Lava deals 2d6 points of fire damage per round of exposure, except in the case of total immersion, which deals 20d6 points of fire damage per round. Damage from lava continues for 1d3 rounds after exposure ceases, but this additional damage is only half of that dealt during actual contact.
A creature immune to fire might still suffocate (see page 141) if completely immersed in lava.

Specifying that the lava deals fire damage, and thus is affected by resistance/immunity as normal, as opposed to the DMG entry which simply says "Lava deals damage" and then later goes on to talk about resistances and immunity.

If he tries to argue that point, he's just being a cheesy munchkin.

[AvatarVecna]

UMD. Ranks +4, Skill Focus +3, Cha +1. Total +8.

Scroll of Shapechange CL 20: 4500 gp.
Eternal Wand of Guidance Of The Avatar: 4420 gp.

Anything else should be unnecessary, honestly. Clown on him with any number of 20 HD forms. A quick glance around the SRD:

• CR 13: Adult Green Dragon
• CR 14: Adult Copper Dragon
• CR 14: Young Adult Gold Dragon
• CR 20: Balor
• CR 21: Titan
• CR 22: Ha-Naga

I probably missed a few, and certainly there'll be tons outside of core. Heck, you could even take basically anything with fewer than 20 HD and advance them to 20 HD.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

A ring of the darkhidden, when paired with the no light cantrip, makes you invisible to anyone without true seeing or touchsight. You'll need darkvision or some other way to sense the world around you, however.

You may also want to consider invisibility, paired with an Invisible Spell'd fog cloud. Anyone who can see invisible things sees nothing but fog, while those who can't won't be able to see you, either.

[SirNibbles]

A ring of the darkhidden, when paired with the no light cantrip, makes you invisible to anyone without true seeing or touchsight. You'll need darkvision or some other way to sense the world around you, however.

You may also want to consider invisibility, paired with an Invisible Spell'd fog cloud. Anyone who can see invisible things sees nothing but fog, while those who can't won't be able to see you, either.

That's not a trick that's going to show someone the importance of magic gear, that's just a stupid trick because Invisible Spell is stupid. Even with magic gear it's a pain in the ass.

__

Also frankly a dumb one that clearly meant to imply that resistance and immunity to fire apply to lava damage.

This is made clear by the fact that the rules compendium simply says



Specifying that the lava deals fire damage, and thus is affected by resistance/immunity as normal, as opposed to the DMG entry which simply says "Lava deals damage" and then later goes on to talk about resistances and immunity.

If he tries to argue that point, he's just being a cheesy munchkin.

Fair. The Rules Compendium rules don't contradict the RAW from the DMG, but the intent is perfectly clear- it's just poorly written.