Design a usable Epic Spell, please, for actual use in a game

Neijin

First Post
Edit: I posted a spell for comment in the thread Hello to all and thank you for your submissions,

I'm looking for some usable epic spells for my character, King Magnus, using the Epic Level Handbook rules. Specifcally I'm looking for something that my DM would actually allow me to develop, not a theoretical uberspell. I have some setting background at the bottom if you want to read that first.

Here are some design parameters/info:

-My character is a king and for various reasons too long to explain (beyond the fact that he is king :p ) has to protect his city at all costs. The city size is ~15,000 population
-A spell that will protect a city, or aid in its defense through enhancing the heavy hitters. The rulling council is full of high level characters.
-Final DC (after mitigating factors) of close to 20 (A minimum DC set by the DM, plus the fact that 180,000 gp is a lot of money. Magnus might be able to convince the ruling council to contribute money, but this is unlikely.)
-No xp burn mititgating factor
-Casting time of 10 minutes (Anything longer would expose the city to attack)
-Spellcraft modifier of +74 (which could matter for having something useful if ritual spellcasting reduction is unavailable, see below)
-Mitigating factors from ritual spell slot contributions as approximately 200 to 400, preferably closer to 200. Of course, using less than 200 would be fine as that would involve calling in substantialy less favors.
-All seeds are viable due to dual spellcasting of Magnus.
-Mythal ideas are welcome, either for the entire city or strictly a palace ward.

Yes, there are a lot of parameters. View it as a challenge instead of as restrictive. Below is some background for you.

Background

[End result is while publically Magnus is king, behind the scenes the council holds almost all the power. This campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms for those of you who do not recognize some of the place names. The PCs are trying to ascend to godhood.]

Excerpts from A History of Twelve Oaks by Remzik Omizar:

31 years ago King Magnus Thistlebrow formed our great nation by establishing the capitol city of Twelve Oaks. He saw the hardship the local people suffered from constant attack and decided that it was his duty to protect them. Magnus traveled the planes in search of great trees suitable for his creation. He recognized that balance must be maintained in all things, what better way than to form his city from nature itself. Magnus brought seeds back and germinated them with his own sweat and tears. The trees grew at an amazing rate (this historian believes that he imbued them with some of his deific essence, but that’s a story for another time). Once the Oaks were established, wise men came to Magnus’ aid. He led them in a great magical ceremony known as the Covenant of the Oaks assuring that our land would prosper.

The Covenant of the Oaks protected both man and beast from the unnatural balance they were living in previous to his great work. On that day Magnus decreed that both would live together in harmony. The King saw that animals had certain rights as living creatures that should not be encroached upon. He gave some of them intellect and appointed advisors and overseers from their ranks. From that day on, no animal in Twelve Oaks would be used as a beast of burden against its will. Having finished his work with the local animals, Magnus turned his attention towards his fellow man.

At that time, Magnus offered sanctuary to anyone who would swear fealty and agree to follow the laws of Twelve Oaks. Many people eagerly joined after enduring terrible natural disasters, slavery, and countless other evils. His covenant assured that they would never hunger, thirst, or want for shelter. In return, he asked for nothing but their observance of the natural law and offerings to assure his good works could continue to protect new settlers. The King fortified his city against attacks from evil demi-humans and giants.
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Law & Customs:

Veldorn is technically a monarchy, but King Magnus has appointed numerous ministers to handle the important affairs of government. [Edit note: Magnus is an adventurer/PC, so the city is kind of a background setting and not the main focus] These men and women effectively rule with the blessing of the King. This city-state is known for having some strange laws and customs. Here are a few examples:

• Animals have a say in government and policy decisions
• Numerous strange laws concerning animal rights and labor
• Evil creatures are given sanctuary so long as they obey the law
• Limited private land ownership
• The king provides food and shelter for all in need within his borders
• Strict punishment for infractions of the law: death or exile in most cases

Territory:

This kingdom controls land ranging from the edge of the Toadsquat Mountains to the fork in the Liontongue River. Its eastern border ends just short of Aerilpar Forest. Veldorn lays claim to most land within 100 miles west north and east of its capitol Twelve Oaks.

Demographics:

Sages approximate Veldorn’s population at 30,000 with roughly a half of that number living in the capitol, Twelve Oaks. Outside the capitol, there are no other notable towns since veldornians live in constant fear of an uprising from the native tribes. Those living outside the city are mainly farmers and herders working small plots of land gained under the squatters rights law passed 15 years ago. The last census recorded a population break down in these percentages, but sages are quick to note that these numbers do not come close to an accurate picture of Veldorn since many demi-human and monstrous tribes occupy uncivilized areas and are not represented here:

• 56% Human
• 15% Halfling
• 12% Dwarves
• 6% Elven blood, including drow and half elves. Half elf was not an option in the census so those citizens chose the race they identified with the most
• 6% half orc or orc blooded
• 5% other including ogres, giant, beastmen, and other races not represented above
 
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javcs

First Post
Well, in the epic spells of the SRD, of interest are Dragon Knight, Mass Frog, Rain of Fire, and Verdigris.

Seed: Energy (base 19)
Seed: Destroy (+29)
DC 48
Increase Area 100% (+4) (40ft)
Increase Area 100% (+4) (80ft) or (60ft)
Increase Area 100% (+4) (160ft) or (80ft)
Increase Area 100% (+4) (320ft) or (100ft)
Increase Area 100% (+4) (640ft) or (120ft)
Increase Area 100% (+4) (1280ft) or (140ft)
How many times depends on the size of the area you want protected, measurements are the radius, and the way the increasing area multiple times is ruled, the first number is the flat, doubling the radius each time, the second is two doublings is a tripling, etc.

So, for 10 increases (a respectable radius either way it goes), we get a DC of 88

Mitigating factors:
10 minute casting time: -18 or 20 (math says -18, footnote on the table says -20)
3 casters giving 9th level spell each in ritual, -51

End DC: 19 or 17, depending on the casting time increase ruling.

Effect: A spherical/hemispherical wall of energy type (acid, cold, electricty, fire, or sonic) with a radius of (20ft increased 100% ten times) that emanates the energy as per the energy seed on the outer side of the effect, and on passing through the wall first you get hit by the energy seed wall effect, then the destroy seed effect. You could use other versions of the wall effect as well, as you choose

Duration of the wall is 20 hours.

Essentially, you throw this wall up around the area you want protected, the only thing that will go through it is raw magic, which may be destroyed too, depending on the DM ruling of the destroy effect on magical effects, or 'porting / dimension dooring past the wall.

If you need a larger area, increase it as necessary, after a point, you may need to increase the range as well, so as to include the radius.
To keep the DC down, add additional casters and spell levels as necessary.
You may wish to boost the SR penetration, depending.

Hope this helps
 
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Hedgemage

First Post
Too sleepy to do all the math, but It'd be easy to simply make a version of Wall of Fire (or anything other wall spell) and have it big enough to encircle the entire city, or a 'Bless' effect that would cover everyone within the confines of the city walls. Those would be just like the normal spells, just with massive area.
 



Pyrex

First Post
Legions Toughness
[sblock]
Fortify DC 17

+49 Additional Temp HP (+98 DC)

Duration: 20hrs

Casting Time: 1min

Target: Creature Touched

Increase from Target to 20' Radius: +10 DC

Increase Area from 20' radius to 200' Radius: (+4 DC x 9)


Initial DC: 161

Ritual: 10 Casters contributing 7th level spell slots (-130 DC)

Final DC: 31
[/sblock]

This ritual grants all allies within a 200' radius 50 Temp HP for 20hrs.
DC: 33, Casting Time 1min, Requires 10 participants to expend a 7th level spell slot.
 

Neijin

First Post
Is this Epic spell legal?

I wonder if this spell is legal by the rules, excluding the minor ad hoc factor. I will give a full explanation of how I arrived at the particular numbers.

The epic spellcasting rules and seeds can be found at http://www.d20srd.org/

Name: Animal Army (Ritual)
Final Spellcraft DC: 20
Components: V,S, DF
Casting Time: 11 minutes
Range: 80 ft Cone
Duration: Instanantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
Spellcraft DC Calculation: Seeds[Life 27, Fortify 17, Contact 23 The base seed is life], Change from target to 40 ft cone +10 DC, Increase area by 100% to 80 ft cone +4 DC, add ability to ignore messages [ad hoc +2 DC], +8 enhancement to Int +14 DC [Receiving 1 point of enhancement free as part of the DC 17 Fortify seed cost], +12 enhancement to Con +24 DC, +12 enhancement to Str +24 DC, Fire Resistance 1 +2 DC, +4 enhancement to Wisdom +4 DC. Mitigating factors: Increase casting time by 10 minutes -20 DC, Backlash damage 48d6 -48DC, 5 Spellcasters contributing a 6th level spell slot -55 DC.

This spell affects all non-sentient animals within the area, awakening them and imbuing them with powerful enhancements. All the willing animals gain:

A base Int score of 3d6
An enhancement to Int of +8
An enhancement to Con of +12
An enhancement to Wis of +4
2 Hit Dice
+1d3 Cha
Fire Resistance 1
The ability to speak one language of the caster, plus one language per point of Intelligence bonus, if any.
Telepathic communication with every creature affected by the spell at unlimited range. The creatures feel a faint mental signal when being sent a message and are free to ignore it. This safety prevents the multiple minds from infringing too much on one another and bombarding each other with information.

This spell is an instantaneous effect, therefore it cannot be dispelled.


Now for the math.

Duration
The base seed is the life seed. Per the rules on page 89 of the Epic Level Handbook: "Combining Durations: When combining two or more seeds to develop an epic spell, the seed with the shortest duration determines the duration of the finished epic spell." The shortest duration is the base seed of life, which is instantaneous.

Range & Target
Both the fortify and life seeds have an entry of Range of Touch and a Target of a creature touched. I changed the target to area, and selected the 40 ft cone option, increasing the area to 80 ft. I'm assuming that means it would affect all eligible targets within an 80 ft cone, which would be far easier than adding targets at +10 DC per target.

Fortify factors
Here is the most contentious part. First, the fortify seed gives you 1 point to play with per the text, which I allocated to Int enhancement. The other bonuses are straightforward: 1 point of bonus for +2 Spellcraft DC. Note that these bonuses are not being made permanent with the X5 factor. Also note that they since they are enhancement and not inherent bonuses, they won't stack with other enhancement bonuses. I limited the stat adjustment to +12 because that is the highest stat adjustment I saw in the Epic Level Handbook, even though it technically should be able to go higher.

Contact Seed
Since the spell's target has been changed to area, it should affect multiple targets within the area, thus avoiding the additional target DC adjustment listed under the contact seed.

Hopefully I did everything right. Feel free to offer comments in addition to RAW and RAI analyses.
 
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RigaMortus2

First Post
I realize this is the opposite of what you are looking for, but if you ever feel the need to invade another country, you could use this set-up (note that this isn't even Epic).

Human Wizard 9/Cleric 1 (Magic Domain)/Dweomerkeeper 10

Level 1: Explosive Spell, Snowcasting, Scribe Scroll
Level 3: Energy Substitution (electricity)
Level 5: Craft Wondrous Item
Level 6: Empower Spell
Level 9: Born of the Three Thunders
Level 12: Alacritous Cogitation
Level 15: Extraordinary Spell Aim
Level 18: Arcane Thesis (Apocalypse from the Sky)

Obviously, this could be better. Despite lacking all of the nice caster level boosts (for a larger radius) and other CO tricks (Persistent Spell comes to mind), this bare-bones build is still able to put AftS into practical use.

Thanks to Alacritous Cogitation, you can cast Apocalypse from the Sky with a full-round action, instead of the normal 24-hour wait. Thanks to Dweomerkeeper, you can ignore the otherwise hefty artifact requirement and any SR through Supernatural spell. Thanks to Extraordinary Spell Aim, you can exclude yourself from the nasty effects of your Explosive Empowered Energy Substituted Born of the Three Thunders Apocalypse from the Sky.

In the end, you’re doing a total of 150,480d6 (100,320d6 * 1.5) damage before any items are applied and the actual damage of the spell itself is included to anyone adjacent to you during the casting. Creatures father out take less damage depending on distance, and less than that if they hit something.
 

Quartz

Hero
Here's a nice simple one:

Protect the Citizenry
Casting time: 1 minute.
Duration: 1 day.
Seed: Armour DC14 (+4 Natural Armour)
Area +10
Area: Radius +2
Area to 2560' radius: +28
10 casters contributing a 3rd level slot -50
Total DC: 4

Remember that you don't need an uber-powerful effect. The vast majority of an army will be very low level, just like your citizenry. All you need to do is give your side an edge.
 

nameless

First Post
Planar binding spells can call in spellcasting outsiders to contribute spell slots as well. Sylphs are 3HD and contribute 3rd level spells. Ultimately a 5th level binding spell gives 10 points towards the epic spell. Go a little higher and you can get a trumpet archon, a ghaele eladrin, or a planetar. The task of "contribute a spell slot for this 10 minute ritual" is a pretty reasonable request, assuming the spell is morally just. In one day, burning 4 8th, 4 6th, and 4 5th level slots is another 136 points towards your epic spell.

As for what I recommend, creating demiplane, moving the heart of the fortress to it, and creating a portal to the new demiplane. If you are the mad wizard type, then you can make incredibly slow time there, spending days or weeks there developing spells, creating minions, and crafting magic items, and have only a few minutes pass in the outside world.

If your goal is to become gods, epic spells could be your answer. Look at all the abilities a divine rank 1 god with your stats would get. Aside from the salient divine abilities and divine senses, it's all quantifiable with epic seeds. I calculated it out, and I think I made it into a nice round DC 777 to give my 21st level wizard the stat block of a divine rank 1 power (before the x5 DC for permanent or the mitigating factors). My DM thought it was fair that such a powerful spell wouldn't just give you the abilities, but would give the extra kick to push into demigodhood. Then the quest is just gathering enough ritual friends and mitigating factors to actually research and cast the spell.
 

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