Challenging my high-lvl group (NPCs and monsters; my players shouldn't read this!)

[Spatzimaus]

I can't help but wonder, though, why Annel didn't find herself a 16th-level cleric and have Ioun True Resurrected.

Quote from SRD:
"Even true resurrection can’t restore to life a creature who has died of old age"
The other resurrection spells, and Reincarnate, all have this wording as well. Ioun was using magic to extend his life, so he was way, way past "old age".

The Clone's the only way around this; all it says is that if someone's reached the end of their natural lifespan the cloning itself fails, since you can Clone after the person died. But there's nothing about creating the Clone before old age hits, and storing it indefinitely.

 

[Kaodi]

Hmmm...

I know PC is away for the weekend, but to expand on my previous idea, I was thinking that this villainous person might be an (apparently) extremely distant relative, a psionically talented tiefling who was pressed at into being a wizardling apprentice of Congenio, by his parents, at a young age due to a natural brilliance.

I was thinking that this character would have started as a psion 2, gained 6 levels of wizard, and then continued up to a 15th or higher level psion. A newly created magical item (a minor artifact) that the mighty Ioun had been working on fell into the hands of this character, allowing them to create these powerful Ioun psicrystals, combining the powers of an Ioun stone, a psicrystal and a cognizance crystal and also possesses a single low level power that the each stone can manifest by iteself. After the creation of the first four or five of these items, the artifacts power was drained, and the person in question does not know how to restore it, which is fortunate, because perhaps the most powerful of these stones abilities is to enter into a metaconcert with their creator. Of course, the secrets of this artifact would of been only know to Congenio and this relative, and when the relative found that Congenio no longer knew about it, he grew suspiscious and now plots to direct the turn of events to his own advantages...

 

[Zaruthustran]

He considered. “Both sides will benefit. I’ve negotiated worse, back in the old days.”

“I remember,” said Annel tartly.

So if Ioun died of old age, and Annel remembers "the old days", why didn't Annel die of old age as well?

Is Annel undead? A construct? Or other non-time-limited critter?

-z

 

[Greybar]

Now in all fairness, Ioun is still nothing to sneer at in the general scheme of things. And if Annel is actually more powerful than Ioun, perhaps she is at the low end of the Defender's scale. Not "take on Elder by themselves" but still very powerful. But if they ever are relying on him to pull out a Wish...

 

[Piratecat]

So if Ioun died of old age, and Annel remembers "the old days", why didn't Annel die of old age as well?

Nothing that exotic. Annel is in her late 40's, and has been in Ioun's service since she was a little girl. Her mother had been, too. And her grandmother. And her great-grandmother.

In the quote you mentioned, Ioun is referring to the (rather foolish and incompetent, compared to the other wizard-kings) deals he made long before Annel was alive, and Annel is wryly referring to the much more polished deals that the later Ioun negotiated, and which the "new" Ioun has no memory of. They know each other well enough that this sort of in-joke happens all the time between them. Go figure.

Annel is a 19th or 20th level Marshal, as per the Miniatures Handbook. Neat core class.

Spatz brings up some fascinating political questions. The brief answer is that while Ioun is in no mood to be expansionist, he wants to hedge his bets and arrange for some stability for the empire should anything happen to him that can't be fixed. Combining the might of Corsai alone into his Empire (which I need a good name for - any ideas?) is going to be enough to discourage most outside aggression. It also allows me to let him name a PC as heir, should I ever feel the need to complicate my players' lives even more.

I fully expect things to get interesting if/when the PCs find out the truth. That's part of the fun. Ioun is exceptionally competent, but all the sorcerer kings were ruthless and self-centered SOBs. The old Ioun was pretty good compared to most of them, because at heart he's an intellectual and insular librarian who's not much interested in politics but who really liked feeling secure. The new Ioun is a little more adventurous, and that might play out in game. It provides a subtle hint that the PCs may or may not pick up on.

I'm not planning on screwing over the group, though. If they make a deal with Ioun, I'll make sure that his font of knowledge (limited as it currently is, with +30-something knowledge checks) proves to be essential.

 

[Piratecat]

Kaodi, you're working it too hard. Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age, but if I made such a villain - and it's a really fun image - I'd probably justify it solely by DM fiat.

I can hear all the little crystals arguing simultaneously. . .

 

[Kaodi]

Hehehe...

Sagiro's and the other's banter about the level of Ioun is just too rich, given what we know, hehehe...

Anyway, as for names...

The House Congenio Built
Land of the Spinning Rocks
Where He Took Ellipsoids For 2000, Alex
One Stone, Two Stone, Red Stone, Blue Stone

The Empire of Iounia
The Manifold Empire of the Earthtears
The Kingdom of the Spelltears
The Everlasting Wizard's Kingdom

Far Chysera
Eneloch
Old Yagir
Kaneluthe
Ancient Basuron
Rainbowcrown
.....
....
...
..
.

 

[Lela]

Stone Empire


Sounds very solid while still being a pun.

 

[Steverooo]

The Empire of Iounia

Awww, he beat me to it!

 

[Twiller]

Oh. My. God.

Every time I wonder what fascinatingly brilliant twist PKitty will come up with to RBDM his players...

And every time I am amazed, and NEVER disappointed.