fnork de sporg
First Post
This is d&d. Even by the time you're 12th level the only real social effect to unaging is you might have to wait to get in to your bad ass afterlife and start evolving in to a ceslestial or fiend or what have you.
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Immortality by 12th Level?!?!?!
- Thread starter Atavar
- Start date
Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
Sure, your character won't age, but did you notice the rest? You can not heal naturally and magic spells can not heal you either. The character has to rely on their Spell Eating to regain lost hit points. Not worth it in my opinion.
If you immortality w/o that drawback, you can have it by 16th level. Become a cloud anchorite (Frostburn) and proceed to take all 10 levels. There are no strings attached to Immortality of the Mountain.
If you immortality w/o that drawback, you can have it by 16th level. Become a cloud anchorite (Frostburn) and proceed to take all 10 levels. There are no strings attached to Immortality of the Mountain.
Jason Bulmahn
Adventurer
I am not sure what to add that has not already been said, but I will highlight a few points.
-There are other ways to get this or a similar ability. Vampirism is probably the best on a cost to benefit ratio (can anyone say feat bonanza).
-The cost is a bit prohibitive for most. At 120,000gp, this is not a Pclass for the poor or inexperienced.
-Long life has little to do with D&D now that 99% of the aging abilities of monsters and spells is gone.
This is really more of a flavor thing that was required by some of the backstory of the incantifiers. If it does not work out for you.. the DMs rule still applies.
Jason Bulmahn
Managing Editor of Dragon
-There are other ways to get this or a similar ability. Vampirism is probably the best on a cost to benefit ratio (can anyone say feat bonanza).
-The cost is a bit prohibitive for most. At 120,000gp, this is not a Pclass for the poor or inexperienced.
-Long life has little to do with D&D now that 99% of the aging abilities of monsters and spells is gone.
This is really more of a flavor thing that was required by some of the backstory of the incantifiers. If it does not work out for you.. the DMs rule still applies.
Jason Bulmahn
Managing Editor of Dragon
Arkhandus
First Post
The Incantifier in Dragon Magazine is definitely a strong prestige class, but in terms of description it's still incredibly hard to acquire. It does cost a decent chunk of GP and XP to enter, but only initially; 120,000 GP and 4,800 XP to be precise; that's nearly half the XP needed to go from 11th to 12th level (meaning they'd have to gather half a level's worth of additional XP before actually gaining 12th-level), and by the DMG a PC shouldn't even have at least that much total wealth until 14th-level; and NPCs have even lower wealth-by-level guidelines in the DMG. A monk has about the same amount of Spell Resistance as an Incantifier around those levels, but the monk's SR grows to be somewhat superior to that of an Incantifier around 15th-level onward (max SR for monk by 20th is 30, max for Incantifier is 25 by 5th-level in the PrC (minimum character level of 16 at that point, if they somehow have nearly double normal wealth at 12th-level to afford the entry cost), and the Incantifier can NEVER gain more SR than that; the PrC specifies that their SR overrides all other sources of SR and that it is 20 + their Incantifier level; it's a 5-level PrC so maxes out at SR 25).
Incantifiers rarely take on apprentices or allies of any sort, they're paranoid, and they're hundreds of years old with plenty of bitterness and an egocentric focus. Incantifiers must be nongood in alignment, and are often rivals with other Incantifiers. PCs are incredibly unlikely to manage convincing an Incantifier to teach them the ritual and allow them to perform it. The Incantifier is obviously meant to be used primarily as a PrC for villains, just like the Blackguard and stuff. This is not in the least bit unprecedented, the DMG introduction to prestige classes (at least in the 3.0 printing) specifically states that some prestige classes may not be suitable for PCs, and are made primarily for antagonists. Just because some game mechanics are in print, doesn't mean that the reader should completely ignore the rest of the descriptions that accompany those mechanics, and which describe the intended spirit of those rules.
Now, granted, Joonaibug makes a good point regarding one aspect of the Incantifier in Dragon; for some reason they left out any description whatsoever about how Incantifiers need to eat a certain amount of magic to survive. Their general description does mention that they need to absorb magic to survive, but neglects to provide even a vague guideline or rule for that; as-written, the PrC can heal itself through devouring magic, including their own spells, but has no description as to why they need to eat magic to survive, or how much they need. There is no mention of any negative effects on them for failing to eat magic regularly, and no mention of why they would even need to eat the magic of others or of magic items; as written they can heal themselves just fine by absorbing their own spells' energy, and nowhere does it detail how or why they would need to eat the magic of others.
Incantifiers rarely take on apprentices or allies of any sort, they're paranoid, and they're hundreds of years old with plenty of bitterness and an egocentric focus. Incantifiers must be nongood in alignment, and are often rivals with other Incantifiers. PCs are incredibly unlikely to manage convincing an Incantifier to teach them the ritual and allow them to perform it. The Incantifier is obviously meant to be used primarily as a PrC for villains, just like the Blackguard and stuff. This is not in the least bit unprecedented, the DMG introduction to prestige classes (at least in the 3.0 printing) specifically states that some prestige classes may not be suitable for PCs, and are made primarily for antagonists. Just because some game mechanics are in print, doesn't mean that the reader should completely ignore the rest of the descriptions that accompany those mechanics, and which describe the intended spirit of those rules.
Now, granted, Joonaibug makes a good point regarding one aspect of the Incantifier in Dragon; for some reason they left out any description whatsoever about how Incantifiers need to eat a certain amount of magic to survive. Their general description does mention that they need to absorb magic to survive, but neglects to provide even a vague guideline or rule for that; as-written, the PrC can heal itself through devouring magic, including their own spells, but has no description as to why they need to eat magic to survive, or how much they need. There is no mention of any negative effects on them for failing to eat magic regularly, and no mention of why they would even need to eat the magic of others or of magic items; as written they can heal themselves just fine by absorbing their own spells' energy, and nowhere does it detail how or why they would need to eat the magic of others.
BiggusGeekus
That's Latin for "cool"
Stalker0 said:
Just the passage of time.
Which is to say: crafting.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
DonTadow said:
Frankly, there are so many stories of wizards using magic to extend their lives in the fantasy most of us have been exposed to that I'm surprised it took so long. I mean, it's in the FR novels, the Dark Sun novels, the Dragonlance novels (ie. Fistandantilus), and innumerable novels by other authors as well.
Several of the Relics & Rituals books from SSS have included spells to extend lifespans. There are methods (albeit weak, except for epic level casters) in the Black Company Campaign Setting, as well as the Wheel of Time campaign setting (and novels) of achieving either extended lilfespans or immortality.
Yet core D&D? Since the demise of the potion of youth of elixer of longevity in the switch to 3E, it's disappeared, and the majority of spells etc. are focused on how to kill things. I think it's about time that there were a few more ways to duplicate magic that does stuff other than blow things up. Look at our world today....for all the technology we have that is applied in a military way, there are probably 100 non-military applications. I'd think magic would be the same way. Yet the rulebooks still focus on the "killing things" type magic....to the degree that much of it is balanced in ways that don't make sense in non "killing things" ways, just to make sure it's balanced with respect to "killing things".
I haven't purchased the new Dragon mag yet. It hasn't made it to my store. But if the Incantifier in that article is anything like the source material, there should be some hefty drawbacks. In 2nd Ed., the Incantifiers (who were wiped out in Sigil's past) had cool powers...but they had to basically eat magic items regularly to stay alive, IIRC. A fairly hefty penalty....
Banshee
IuztheEvil said:
Some other ways....
The feat "Defy Time" in the BCCS.....though unless you become a fourth rank wizard, it'll never do more than adding like 20-30 years to your lifespan, I think.
There's the Slow Aging spell in Relics & Rituals II, which halves the rate of aging. There's also the immortality rite.
The Wheel of Time campaign setting has the channelers whose aging starts to slow down as they gain levels, so that by the time they hit lvl 20, they're aging at 10% of the normal rate.
The Cloud Anchorite, obviously, but IIRC, it's really a monk class....not so good if you're a wizard or whatever.
Interestingly, one method I don't see people mention is becoming Fey. Both Faeries by Bastion Press and the Complete Guide to Fey by Goodman Games (and many of the online articles on the WotC site) take Fey creatures as being immortal. The fey-shaped template in the CGF allows a PC to become fey....hence gaining immortality of a sort, though gaining the negative aspects of being fey at the same time. I think though, given the choice between becoming a walking corpse such as a lich or a death knight, and the alternative of becoming a fey, I'd bet a number of adventurers would prefer the latter.
Banshee
Lonely Tylenol
First Post
I can see so much potential in this class for heroic adventures.
Paladin: A dragon is on the loose, let's hunt him down and kill him! I will make ready my Holy Avenger!
Rogue: My venomed blade will cut his sinews, hastening his demise.
Wizard: My arcane might will lay waste to his minions, and exploit his weaknesses.
Cleric: The evil creature will feel the full weight of my god's might.
Incantifer: Yeah, you guys go do that. I'm going to lock myself in this stone vault and outlive the bastard in perfect safety. Have fun getting eaten.
Paladin: A dragon is on the loose, let's hunt him down and kill him! I will make ready my Holy Avenger!
Rogue: My venomed blade will cut his sinews, hastening his demise.
Wizard: My arcane might will lay waste to his minions, and exploit his weaknesses.
Cleric: The evil creature will feel the full weight of my god's might.
Incantifer: Yeah, you guys go do that. I'm going to lock myself in this stone vault and outlive the bastard in perfect safety. Have fun getting eaten.
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