Archmage Questions

[Infiniti2000]

I'm building a NPC bad guy (a human wizard 15, archmage 5 if you must know) and I have two questions.

1. I'm outfitting him with a naga's crown, which doubles the spells per day. Are these doubled before or after the slots for the high arcana are consumed? It'll make the difference of several, important spells.
2. Is arcane fire really fire? In other words, can energy resistance deflect it? If so, that's one really crappy ability, probably the worst of the lot.

PS. Despite the item, this is not an FR campaign.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

1. The slots for High Arcana are permanently sacrificed, so they don't count for anything, and the doubling comes after they are gone.

2. Untyped magical damage. It is a 'bolt of raw magical energy'
2a. it also isn't a very good use of a spell slot. max of 14d6 ranged touch, for effectively 2 9th level slots, if they only get to use it once, slightly better the more times they can use it, but many damage capped spells are higher than that in those normal spell slots, many of which are multi-target/area spells.
2b. if the NPC is riding a dragon out at max range, then this is more useful, and the players are likely to start whining.
2c. if he's up close with no way out, Wraithstrike and full Power Attack while Arcane Striking is a better use of a high level slots, especially if he actually does have a way out, like immediate action teleporting when he's done with his round. fighter says 'woot! pile on with the full attack, he's right here' *swings* '...' 'where'd he go?'

 

[Runestar]

1) Not sure, I can see arguments for both sides.

2) It is untyped, meaning there is currently nothing that resists it. It does have a few advantages. A cantrip nets you 5d6 damage, it has a fairly long range, is hard to miss (being a ranged touch attack), ignores sr/magic immunity and makes your spells modal in nature (they are either the spells you memorized them to be, or in a pinch, a minor damage spell). You decide if this increase in versatility is worth the loss of a 9th lv slot.

 

[Corsair]

You decide if this increase in versatility is worth the loss of a 9th lv slot.

Should be an easy choice.

 

[Rackhir]

I'm building a NPC bad guy (a human wizard 15, archmage 5 if you must know) and I have two questions.

1. I'm outfitting him with a naga's crown, which doubles the spells per day. Are these doubled before or after the slots for the high arcana are consumed? It'll make the difference of several, important spells.
2. Is arcane fire really fire? In other words, can energy resistance deflect it? If so, that's one really crappy ability, probably the worst of the lot.

PS. Despite the item, this is not an FR campaign.

1) Items like the Naga crown also generally don't double spells due to specialization or high int. A "burned" spell slot isn't going to get doubled either.

2) Yeah, it's untyped damage AFAIK.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Yeah, even untyped I can't see it being worth a 9th-level slot. The high arcana that I've chosen are reach, master of shaping, master of elements, spell-like ability (teleport), and of course spell power. SPA (teleport) is exceedingly useful because it cannot be counterspelled and he knows that the enemy PC archmage has mastery of counterspelling. He was not at this level when they last met (and he's the PC's father - cue SW:ANH lines . . .).

I'm sure there are tons of threads about tweaking a wizard, but if y'all have any quick comments, particularly on contingency and the usage of limited wish/wish, I'm all ears. I'm familiar with wraithstrike, but I won't be using it. This archmage will at least try to remain relatively stereotypical (no shapeshift for example). He's focused in evocation (no orb spells).

For those interested in his stat block at 14th level, with minor RttToEE spoilers (if these is a spoiler at this point in the game . . .), check out the attachment. I essentially want to add a wizard level and then 5 more archmage levels. We use the PHBII retraining rules, so modifying existing feats, etc. is not a problem (a little doctoring never hurt anyone if it's good for the game). Note that some of his items came from dead PCs, so they certainly have a grudge against this guy.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

He's focused in evocation (no orb spells).

well there's your problem.

locking down anything they try > doing damage.
doing damage is what the minions are for.
soften them up a little, then go "oh, by the way: eat some arcane fire bwahahaha!"

given that you wanted to stay within stereotype, there should be a combat machine henchman in there too. or 5. or clones of the PCs.

edit: contingent clone of the archmage, set to go off when he dies, so they have to fight him twice. isn't there a greater version of contingency? or maybe a wish or two could do it.

or, some custom spell that splits him up, and there'll be several copies of him running around, causing trouble.

 

[Infiniti2000]

The problem with a (greater) contingent clone is that it wouldn't transfer the items unless, say, it was somehow followed up with a limited wish. "I wish for all the stuff off my body" which I would probably allow if not already in the possession of the PC's. But, I guarantee the PC's will immediately, and I mean immediately, grab the stuff if they kill him.

What I came up with, though, is a contingent teleport to a safe location (teleport-directing circle). This location would have a permanent private sanctum, of course, and hopefully the archmage's mind blank will not have been dispelled. The contingency would be "0 hit points or less". The real key to this plan, however, is the Scarab of Stabilization (DMG II). This guarantees that he won't be killed and that the contingency will take effect (unless he was hit with a teleport-blocking spell). The mind blank will block discern location and the sanctum will block scrying.

A clone, of course, will also be setup in the safe location, but that will be immaterial for this campaign should it come to pass. Once the heroes obtain the naga's crown, their mission will move forward. I will consider using several simulacrums, but as it is I'm not looking forward to statting this guy out (my main pet peeve of 3.X is spending hours or days on NPCs or monster only to have them wiped out in the first round). I'll probably also have to use some muscle, but not sure exactly what yet. Unless I find a reasonable set of stat blocks, I might just grab a suitable monster or three from a book.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

The problem with a (greater) contingent clone is that it wouldn't transfer the items unless, say, it was somehow followed up with a limited wish. "I wish for all the stuff off my body" which I would probably allow if not already in the possession of the PC's. But, I guarantee the PC's will immediately, and I mean immediately, grab the stuff if they kill him.

What I came up with, though, is a contingent teleport to a safe location (teleport-directing circle). This location would have a permanent private sanctum, of course, and hopefully the archmage's mind blank will not have been dispelled. The contingency would be "0 hit points or less". The real key to this plan, however, is the Scarab of Stabilization (DMG II). This guarantees that he won't be killed and that the contingency will take effect (unless he was hit with a teleport-blocking spell). The mind blank will block discern location and the sanctum will block scrying.

A clone, of course, will also be setup in the safe location, but that will be immaterial for this campaign should it come to pass. Once the heroes obtain the naga's crown, their mission will move forward. I will consider using several simulacrums, but as it is I'm not looking forward to statting this guy out (my main pet peeve of 3.X is spending hours or days on NPCs or monster only to have them wiped out in the first round). I'll probably also have to use some muscle, but not sure exactly what yet. Unless I find a reasonable set of stat blocks, I might just grab a suitable monster or three from a book.

in one game, before i started gaming with the group, they had fought a lich several times, but couldn't find his phylactery. The first time I fought him, there were 2 samurai vampire guys, heavily armored and sporting devastating critical (bastard sword), among others. Try some sort of monstrous Hexblade/Kensai, spells probably won't be able to take them down. the Withstand ability and the bonus Str one is killer.
Just pick a monster, add the abilities and don't worry about getting it perfectly statted, they can alway stick around longer or suddenly die as the situation changes.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I came up with half-fiend lizardfolk hexblade 15 (or so, maybe 16). I need to pick spells and items. Anyone want to pick items for me for two of these guys? No MIC, ToB or Bo9S, but FR (non realm-specific) and almost any Complete book (including PHII and DMGII).

Attached is an updated version of the Archmage. I might remove some spells from the spellbook and I need to finalize his spell selection. I also need to stat up a simulacrum or two.