Anti-aging spell

[Sledge]

so this is supposed to be like the legends where the person comes back all young looking and suddenly ages 100 years? In those legends it wasn't the time distortion effect it was the ability to stay youthful eternally whilst in Faerie. The time distortion effect is when you go for a day and come back to find all of your friends are old. Not you. You're young.

 

[ARandomGod]

A 3rd-Level spell that is superior to an epic feat? I think not.

It's true. In 3.X they want you to die, old age and related death is nearly unavoidable (you can become a lich...)

However, there is a loophole. Reincarnation. For a scant few (one level) XP you can get an entire new lifespan!

Now, base a spell on that, raise the level, and make it so that you can choose what race you come back as.

Take that spell, and make an arcane equivelant, where you build/construct a new body similiar to the clone spell, and inhabit that new body. You've effectively extended your lifespan a *long* time... AND it explains a bit more why many elves are mages. If you become a good enough mage you're very likely to go into a long lived body for your subsequent lives, to lessen the "memory loss" (level loss in XP) from rejuvination.

 

[genshou]

It's true. In 3.X they want you to die, old age and related death is nearly unavoidable (you can become a lich...)

However, there is a loophole. Reincarnation. For a scant few (one level) XP you can get an entire new lifespan!

Now, base a spell on that, raise the level, and make it so that you can choose what race you come back as.

Take that spell, and make an arcane equivelant, where you build/construct a new body similiar to the clone spell, and inhabit that new body. You've effectively extended your lifespan a *long* time... AND it explains a bit more why many elves are mages. If you become a good enough mage you're very likely to go into a long lived body for your subsequent lives, to lessen the "memory loss" (level loss in XP) from rejuvination.

Know what's even better/worse (depending on opinion)? The true reincarnate spell from Masters of the Wild. It's the true resurrection of reincarnate. Coupled with a wish to restore your original form, it basically lets the two casters spend 1,000 and 5,000 XP, respectively, to bring you back in your original body at earliest young adult age (15 for a human, 110 for an elf, and so on), eradicating physical ability score modifications from age but allowing the mental scores to stay the same. In some games (where age restrictions were a definite goad), I've allowed an arcane ritual which involved a sacrifice of 6,000 XP and had the same benefit for the character. I've even used the 6,000 XP sacrifice for a form of self-resurrection in one of my PCs.

 

[ARandomGod]

... to bring you back in your original body at earliest young adult age (15 for a human, 110 for an elf, and so on), eradicating physical ability score modifications from age but allowing the mental scores to stay the same. ...

If I were born as a human I don't think I'd want to maintain my original body. It ages too fast, making me burn through more XP over the millennia, as opposed to if I'd switched to an elf body. Or if there's something in the campaign that'd be good for a spellcaster and has a longer lifespan ... and is ascthetically pleasing, of course ... I'd pick that.

Now, to use this to horribly twink a character, start the character off having bought a scroll of reincarnation with some starting money (assuming, of course, he's starting at a level high enough to do this), and at venerable age. -6 to all physical stats, +3 to all mental stats! And when/if you die, you'll have the scoll on you, hopefully you've already informed your party of this, and you'll come back young again! +3 to all physical stats for a handful of XP and a little gold. Chances are high you'll come back human (be sure to start out human, to increase your odds of staying in the same body-type).

And if you never die, well, I'd take -6 to all physical stats (assuming a caster class here, of course), in exchange for never dying!

Edit: People attempting to twink things like that was probably a major factor in 3.x going to such lengths to remove anti-aging in the first place.

 

[Anubis]

Which I mentioned, incidentally, in the same post I did the comparison.....

However, they can be broken in the other direction, if you have Leadership, Epic Leadership, or just lots of time.

Consider: a 21st level Sorceror with Epic Spellcasting wants to be a Gold Dragon.
The Transform seed can do it all.
Base DC 21.
A Young Adult Gold Dragon has 20 Hit Dice, is size Huge, has two breath weapons, alternate form, water breathing, iummunity to fire (crafting your own spell, it's potentially possible to skip the Vulnerability to Cold....), DR 5/Magic, seven natural attacks (one of which is Ex), Frightful Presence, Immunity to Sleep, Immunity to Paralysis, Spell Resistence, Blindsense, and Keen Senses. Two size categories up from medium: +6 DC; type change, +5 DC; 5 hit dice above 15: +10 DC; 14 Ex/Su abilities: +140 DC. It's already permanent. So, we have a base Spellcraft DC of 21+6+5+10+140=182, base.
Now we mitigate: Personal: -2; Extra 10 minutes: -20; Now, adding 80 days, 160 first level spell slots in a ritual, 54 2nd level spell slots, 32 3rd level spell slots, or some combination thereof will drop the DC all the way down to 0 (and a Sorceror with Leadership can likely arrange that fairly easily).

And then you have the Permanent ability to ignore a fairly long list of effects, change your form three times per day, use two types of breath weapon, fly, and such. For 0 XP and 0 Gp.

Or just use the 9th-Level spell shapechange, memorize it multiple times, and use as needed. It has a very long duration, you could pick a great wyrm gold dragon, and you could switch forms to anything up to 50 HD every round. That's a 1 standard action spell, too, so no need for cannon fodder mages to help you cast a ritual that takes nearly three months to cast.

I'd take shapechange over that spell you just made any day of the weak. Easier to get, faster to use.

There is no convenient way to break an epic spell in the "too powerful" direction. It's probably the one thing in D&D that can't be broken in that direction, and I can break damn near anything in the game given a little time.

 

[Jack Simth]

Or just use the 9th-Level spell shapechange, memorize it multiple times, and use as needed. It has a very long duration, you could pick a great wyrm gold dragon, and you could switch forms to anything up to 50 HD every round. That's a 1 standard action spell, too, so no need for cannon fodder mages to help you cast a ritual that takes nearly three months to cast.

I'd take shapechange over that spell you just made any day of the weak. Easier to get, faster to use.

There is no convenient way to break an epic spell in the "too powerful" direction. It's probably the one thing in D&D that can't be broken in that direction, and I can break damn near anything in the game given a little time.

Ah, but at 21st level, ShapeChange lasts only 210 minutes - 3 and 1/2 hours. In order to run it continuously (24 hours), you need seven of them (or four 10th level slots for Extended versions.... if you invested in the feats to get those slots) and then have your rest interrupted for preparing spells, and you have access to almost no other 9th/10th level spell slots. The Epic ritual above (and it was either or - no fodder mages makes for a three month ritual; lots of fodder mages makes for a 10 minute ritual) is cast only occasionally (provided you aren't routinely hit by Disjunction or Greater Dispel Magic, of course) and still leaves you with all your 9th and any 10th level slots for the day.... and then lets you change your form (to a limited extent) for free, three times per day, and you can potentially ShapeChange on top of it for when you want the extra boost (depending, of course, on how your DM rules such things).

Also, I'm slightly curious where you are getting the 50 HD figure; the version in the 3.0 Player's Handbook I have on hand lists no HD limit (just size), while the one on the 3.5 SRD limits it to 25 HD or your caster level (whichever is lower, but no size limitations).

 

[Enamel_32]

Interesting tidbit: the elan race from the XPH can live to be over 1000 years old before croaking. Add this to what genshou said about true reincarnation and wish, if you like.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I composed the following feat that might do what you want:

Self-incarnation (General)
Although you may be of a different race, class or gender, a former character lives on in you.
Pre-requisite: ECL 6
Benefit: You have the memories of a character who died at least a day earlier. That character's soul must be free to return; if a raise dead could not return that character to life, this feat may not be taken. Your ECL is the same as that character's would be after being raised. Your new character appears magically nearby, or in a suitable place chosen by the DM. If your ECL is at least 14, replace these references to raise dead with true resurrection. You gain a +2 bonus to saving throws versus death effects.
Special: This feat may only be taken at character creation.

It's based on Fillein in Sepulchrave's Tales of Wyre.

 

[Jack Simth]

Interesting tidbit: the elan race from the XPH can live to be over 1000 years old before croaking. Add this to what genshou said about true reincarnation and wish, if you like.

Actually, the Elans don't die of old age.... 1000 is where they hit Venerable.....

 

[genshou]

If I were born as a human I don't think I'd want to maintain my original body. It ages too fast, making me burn through more XP over the millennia, as opposed to if I'd switched to an elf body. Or if there's something in the campaign that'd be good for a spellcaster and has a longer lifespan ... and is ascthetically pleasing, of course ... I'd pick that.

Now, to use this to horribly twink a character, start the character off having bought a scroll of reincarnation with some starting money (assuming, of course, he's starting at a level high enough to do this), and at venerable age. -6 to all physical stats, +3 to all mental stats! And when/if you die, you'll have the scoll on you, hopefully you've already informed your party of this, and you'll come back young again! +3 to all physical stats for a handful of XP and a little gold. Chances are high you'll come back human (be sure to start out human, to increase your odds of staying in the same body-type).

And if you never die, well, I'd take -6 to all physical stats (assuming a caster class here, of course), in exchange for never dying!

Edit: People attempting to twink things like that was probably a major factor in 3.x going to such lengths to remove anti-aging in the first place.

That probably was a factor, but how often does the chance to overly twink like this come up in 3.x? :\

When human PCs are reincarnated into a different form in my games, they lose their human feat and skill points. If they revert to human form, they get the same feat and the same skills back.