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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 2442433" data-attributes="member: 2020">PIERCE ANY SHIELD (Metamagic, Incantation,  Alteration) 3rd Edition 9TH LEVEL (From the 2E Cult of the Dragon Sourcebook)Range:    Self - Components: V, S, M - Duration: 1 turn (1 minute)Casting Time: 1 standard action - Area of Effect:  See below - Saving Throw: None  In a symbolic gesture, this spell produces a lance of Pure Magic (visible as an actual lance of white brilliance under a Detect Magic spell) which is fired at the target when the archmagistress casts her next spell, the energies of that spell roiling and boiling around the lance.  The material component for Pierce Any Shield is a silver spike or knife, reinforcing this symbolism.  In actuality, this spell rearranges Reality.  It rearranges Reality to render the target creature helpless to the next spell cast by the archmagistress, Reality being neatly and precisely disassembled and reassembled as it pleases her to effect this helplessness.    The Reality in question does not get a Saving Throw, Spell Resistance, Divine Intervention, or any other intervention.  No, the Reality - the hapless, outraged Reality - gets no appeal at all.  Afterwards, it has no recourse to revenge against the archmagistress that rearranged it, there is no D&D-style Paradox effect (ala Mage the Ascension), and to make a long story short the archmagistress can get away with remaking Reality in this way as often as it pleases her with repeated castings of this spell.  Such is the nature of 9th level spells.  They do not merely call on Reality:  they remake Reality to suit the archmagistress.  And if Reality doesn't LIKE being remade, too bad.  After this spell is cast and Reality remade, the archmagistress has one turn (1 minute) to cast the spell to be piggybacked on the Pierce Any Shield.  This must be the first spell she casts after she casts Pierce Any Shield (unless a Wish is used to further change the rules.)  The piggybacked spell can be any spell in the archmagistresses' repetoire, from 1st through 12th level.  If the archmagistress does not cast another spell within 10 rounds of casting this spell, the Pierce Any Shield spell is wasted, and Reality returns itself to normal, the white lance of magic dissipating.  The hapless target is subject to an Autokill effect, from the piggybacked spell.  NO defense of 1st through 9th level will halt the incoming piggybacked spell.  Even spells that specifically state they will stop ANY AND ALL spells, spell-like effect, psionic effects, and anything and everything else (such as Transforming Tune, Prismatic Sphere, and powerful versions of Mantle, among others) will be useless.  Even the Wish spell is useless:  no wording of a Wish spell will stop the piggybacked spell from fully affecting the recipient (although a target could use a Wish to get out of there before the piggybacked spell goes off!)  This applies to all spell-like effects, psionic effects, and other effects of 9th level or less.  They will all be useless against the alteration in Reality effected by the Pierce Any Shield, all crumble at the touch of the white lance of magic.  Spell Resistance shatters as Reality is torn asunder and remade.  Counterspelling works IF it is cast the round the Pierce Any Shield is cast (by halting the Pierce Any Shield spell itself) -  otherwise, Counterspelling is useless against the piggybacked spell.  Damage Resistance fails.  Spell Turning is shredded and dissipates without aiding the target.  Spell Absorption becomes a joke - very humorous for the archmagistress as the hapless target is doomed without hope or appeal.    Even the invincible force known as Spellfire fails - the Spellfire Wielder is affected by the spell, cannot block, redirect, or absorb it, and thus the Mighty are - indeed - Truly Fallen, when a Pierce Any Shield spell is cast.  Trying to use Anti-Magic Shell, or like anti-magic effects, or psionics that duplicate anti-magic effects, of 9th level or less against Pierce Any Shield is foolish.  The white lance blasts right through the Shell and all other such effects (it doesn't even down them!) and proceeds to wipe the smug grin off the target's face, as it wipes the target out of existence on the mortal Plane.  The various 3rd Edition Feats and special abilities of 9th level or less (Feats of less than Epic Level in power) are all useless against Pierce Any Shield, regardless of text stating otherwise.  Epic Feats, Epic Spells, and psionic abilities might - or might not - save the target, as the DM decides.Incorporeality is no defense.  Being Out of Phase is no defense, unless the Phase effect is 10th level or greater.  Being in a Rope Trick or Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion offers no protection, since these spells are under 9th level:  the piggybacked spell nicely and neatly enters the extra-dimensional space and affects the chosen target within anyways.  (Being in a Bag of Holding or Mirror of Life Trapping are equally useless as the piggybacked spell enters the extra-dimension space created by the item and affects the target normally.)  Being FULLY on the Astral or Ethereal Plane just might save the target creature ... but then again, it might not.  The DM decides on a case by case basis, since Pierce Any Shield warps Reality to a very extreme extent.  Rods of Cancellation and Absorption, and the effects of any other magical items short of artifacts and relics, will NOT stop the incoming piggybacked spell, not protect the target in any way, regardless of how the text describes they might normally grant protection.  Beings normally immune to certain types of attacks retain that immunity.  Reality is not so warped they lose innate immunities.  A red dragon is still immune to heat spells.  A white pudding is still immune to cold.  Undead are still immune to sleep magic.  Intellect Devourers retain their immunity to many kinds of spells.  Nilbogs still gain hit points from taking damage, instead of losing hit points.  Characters with particular immunities granted by magic or otherwise, retain those immunities.    So what might save the target?  If the target could warp a Sphere of Annihilation so it completely surrounded him (without touching him, obviously) that would halt the piggybacked spell.  The target could RUN.  Run, real fast and real far.  If the archmagistress is not careful, the target might be out of range of her next spell (the Pierce Any Shield does not augment range or other attributes of the piggybacked spell.)  Teleporting out of there immediately, or Worldwalking away, are good options.  Contingency might work ... or it might work as the target is killed by the piggybacked spell.  Then the target's dead by will be whisked away to the designated Safe Place, but the target will still be dead (in other words, Contingency isn't a good defense.)  Quickly jumping through a Gate, Teleportation Circle or Well of Worlds might save the target.  A hasty Plane Shift might save the target.  A hurried Dimension Door might place the target out of range of the piggybacked spell.  Or, perhaps, the target could try to disrupt the archmagistress's attempt to cast the piggybacked spell, or hope someone else does.  Sort of an All or Nothing Proposition, since failure means certain death.  True 10th level spells (not Epic spells, or True Dweomers, or Athian 10th level Psionic Enchantments, but TRUE 10th level spells ala the Arcana Age) will protect a creature from a Pierce Any Shield, if such protection is a specific part of their domain.    That's a big if.  Pierce Any Shield is not daunted or thwarted by the invincible might of 40th level wizards anymore than it is daunted by the might of 0 level wizards - it tends to kill either wizard with equal ease.  If a powerful spellcasting or psionic target wants to survive this spell, he had better use his brains to protect himself, while he still has brains to use.   Fortunately, the target is allowed a Saving Throw against the piggybacked spell, IF the piggybacked spell normally allows a Saving Throw.  Even then, the target suffers a - 5 to his Saving Throw as the Pierce Any Shield warps Reality to weaken his innate defenses.  And of course, it is ALMOST CERTAIN the archmagistress will follow the Pierce Any Shield with an Autokill Spell that normally allows no Saving Throw, so ... well ... if the target creature has no other recourse, perhaps immediate surrender and prostration, and begging for mercy will help?  If the target was (as is likely) a snooty, arrogant, snide being that previously informed the archmagistress of her certain doom, or enslavement, or imprisonment, at his hands, such mercy might be displayed ... in most interesting and unique ways.  Pierce Any Shield augments a Wish spell DRAMATICALLY if that Wish is the piggybacked spell.  The actual power of the Wish is not increased, but certain limitations on it's use are momentarily cancelled.  These limitations have to do with play balance and fairness:  both are considered thrown out the window, as the Pierce Any Shield warps Reality (and the Wish warps Reality even further.)  For example, the archmagistress could Wish the target to be immediately and permanently incapacitated, and to die slowly and horrible pain.  In THIS case, the Wish would work ABSOLUTELY as the archmagistress desired, in word and in spirit.  In addition, any vague areas - where the archmagistress didn't state exact conditions - are resolved employing the imagination of the archmagistress, or if that isn't sufficient, her subconscious desires (in other words, the player gets to specify, down to the last detail, exactly what happens to the target, how it happens, when it happens, why it happens, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum.)  And finally, NO harmful side effects from the Wish EVER accrue to the archmagistress if she employs the Wish immediately after the casting of a Pierce Any Shield.  Reality is altered, to ensure that the archmagistress is FULLY protected from the baneful side effects of Wishes.  This protection extends indefinitely into the future.  Anyone contemplating fighting the phaerimm should know that they ALL have this spell, they ALL are archmages with multiple 9th level spells memorized, they ALL are supergeniuses who will use this spell in the most devastating way possible, and the phaerimm NEVER have mercy for any target, living, undead, or otherwise.  There are Some Things Better Left Alone in Faerun.  The phaerimm are one such Thing.  Even mighty Edena himself, in his full power as a cleric, left well enough alone and never bothered the phaerimm ... although he spent endless hours attempting to device protections against them for himself and those around him he cared about.</blockquote>

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