Another possibility- Graz'zt could counterspell an attempt to conjure him. He has
foresight, after all, and so has a moment's warning of an impending threat- and
foresight tells him what, if anything, he can do about the threat.
You have to ready an action to counterspell-
foresight might give him enough time to do this. Suppose the
dispel were available as a free action. I don't think you have to ready a free action, but maybe add an ad hoc modifier to it so that (like
feather fall) it can be cast when needed, even if it is not your turn. (+4 DC?) The rules for counterspelling say that the target of the spell being counterspelled must be within range- since that is Graz'zt himself, there is no problem.
Dispel, quickened, with no verbal or somatic components, at +50 on the caster level check, ad hoc +4 modifier, 10d6 backlash, DC 95. XP costs and more backlash can push this higher, but
Call Graz'zt could just be cast again. Graz'zt can only cast an epic
dispel three times per day. And
greater dispelling, which he can cast at will, is a standard action, is probably too slow. Though he could use an epic dispel the first time, and then ready the
greater dispelling. And he could probably step into an
Antimagic Field if one were handy... According to p. 73 of the ELH such a field requires a dispel check to overcome (1d20+20 vs 11 + the epic spell's spellcaster level). Thus a
ward spell against a 6th level spell overcomes an
Antimagic Field only if it succeeds in the dispel check. A tweak to
Call Graz'zt is definitely required to give it a bonus on dispel checks.
Interesting. Page 73 of the ELH also says
Epic spells have no fixed level. However, for purposes of Concentration checks, spell resistance, and other possible situations where spell level is important, epic spells are all treated as if they were 10th level spells.
So a
ward that is set to exclude spells of level 10 or lower should exclude them.
However the general rule seems to be that a caster level check is required when epic spells directly oppose each other. Look at the description of the
conceal seed and how it opposes
reveal, and how a spell with a
ward seed works with regard to spells that have the seeds
dispel or
destroy. If an epic
teleport is resisted by an epic
dimensional anchor, you'd need to have an opposed CL check.
But what if one of the epic spells included a ward against 10th level spells? Maybe when two epic spells oppose each another, you give a substantial bonus (does +20 sound right?) on the opposed CL check to the one that includes the relevant
ward.
Additionally, maybe
Call Graz'zt can include the
dispel seed in order to overcome opposing
wards. Supernatural effects can be dispelled, so maybe that's the trick to getting past Graz'zt's
mind blank. Is suppressing a supernatural ability also in the power of the
dispel seed? Surely the combination of
ward and
dispel could do it. A
dispel seed makes it easier to optimize versus opposing
dispel effects, anyways.
So amend
Call Graz'zt to read as follows (changes in
bold):
To Develop: 90,000 gp; 2 days; 3600 XP. Seeds: Compel (DC 19), Dispel (DC 19); Summon (DC 14); Ward (DC 14). Factors: gain +16 bonus on caster level to defeat SR (+32 DC), ward effective against spells of 10th level or less (+180 DC), +10 on caster level to beat foe’s dispel effect (+10 DC), summon specific individual (+60 DC), full round action to cast (+18). Mitigating factors: primary caster sustains 42d6 backlash (-42 DC), six secondary casters each sustain 21d6 backlash (-126 DC), 6 additional participants contributing 9th level slots (-102 DC), caster burns 1300 xp (-16 DC), six secondary casters burn 1200 XP (-72 DC), 5000 gp cost (ad hoc -1 DC).
Add a line for the bonus to the dispel check if Graz'zt counterspells it, or is inside an
Antimagic Field or the equivalent.
Sound better?
:
