Epic Spells, Dragons and xp [My Players Stay out!]

[Joker[ZW]]

Hi, I'm in the process of updating Klauth using the Draconomicon and the ELH, mainly by swapping out some feats and Spells, and have some questions.

None of the NPCs in the ELH seems to have Epic Spellcasting as a feat, is there a good reason for that?(good enough not to give him the feat though I would really love to have him cast epic Spells).

How much xp can a Dragon spend on Spells per Day/week? Should I use his ECL, HD, CR or Caster Level to determine the exp he is able to spend?

Any ideas for other good spells/feats to give him(yeah, Heal is a no-brainer )? BoEM, BoVD, MoP, Draconomicon, DotF, TaB, FRCS and MoF are all allowed, the only restriction is, that his Spell list should reflect his high scores in his Knowledge Skills (lots of Spells for information gathering).
The PCs are only 12th level, so I want have them fight against him, but thanks to a drunk DM (not me! ) they got themselves into "realy" deep trouble and of all the foes that want to capture the PCs now ( more or less every person in the known Planescape multiverse that would kill for about 25 million pieces of gold) he is the only one has plausible reasons not to kill them. As I really want to have the party survive I want to make sure that it's HIM who catches them and that he is powerfull enough that none of the other organizations/persons would dare to attack him, or even better, would be able to find out that is was Klauth who captured the PCs and stole their gold (Mind Blank, illusion spells, etc.). Any suggestions, Ideas?

Finally, is there a compiled list of all of Spulchraves Epic Spells?


Klauth:http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=fr/fx20030226wn

 

[Shayuri]

None of the NPCs in the ELH seems to have Epic Spellcasting as a feat, is there a good reason for that?(good enough not to give him the feat though I would really love to have him cast epic Spells).

-- Yeah. In Faerun, Epic spells are outlawed by the God of Magic, Mystra. Waaaay back when some doofus used an epic spell to temporarily usurp her position...thus wreaking savage havoc on everything...the replacement God that stepped in to make things right again altered the nature of magic in Toril, so that mortals only get levels 1 through 9.

They can still use the high level metamagic slots through Improved Spellcasting. But no epics. Not even for Elminster.

How much xp can a Dragon spend on Spells per Day/week? Should I use his ECL, HD, CR or Caster Level to determine the exp he is able to spend?

-- Use his ECL to work out what his "minimum" experience is to be at the pinnacle of might that he's at. Then keep track of the exp he earns over and above that. That's how much he has available to him.

If you want a less math-intensive option, work up some kind of reasonable assumption about his weekly activities and the exp they net him. Then he has that much to spend each week. What I do NOT suggest doing is going the Deities and Demigods route and just ad-hocing that he has 30,000exp each week to spend on whatever he wants. He may be a powerful drake, but he's still mortal.

Any ideas for other good spells/feats to give him(yeah, Heal is a no-brainer )? BoEM, BoVD, MoP, Draconomicon, DotF, TaB, FRCS and MoF are all allowed, the only restriction is, that his Spell list should reflect his high scores in his Knowledge Skills (lots of Spells for information gathering).

-- Hide Life, from Tome and Blood makes the caster into something nearly as hard to kill as a liche. Very dragonish, I'd say.

Consider too the possibilities afforded a dragon who uses Genesis (Manual of the Planes, or ELH) to create a pocket plane, and elects not to give it a natural portal. As a dragon of great power, Klauth can assuredly use Gate or Plane Shift to reach the pocket plane at an effectively "at-will" basis. The perfect escape route. Especially if he keeps his hoard in it too.

And don't forget the joys of Spell Trigger, from Magic of Faerun. For a mere 4d6 hit points lost (pittance to a dragon!), he can keep 4 spells individually or in chains that trigger as quickened actions, or on a contingency! A little creativity plus this spell can REALLY put the hurtin' on.

From Master of the Wild, there's the Energy Immunity spell. A keen 7th level doohicky that makes the caster utterly immune to one energy type. For 24 hours. The PC's had better break out the Greater Dispels before opening with Cones of Cold.

As for the rest, 25 million gold would be enough to catch Klauth's attention, yes... The problem is that he'd also know who's hunting it, which sounds like just about everyone. Old Klauth isn't afraid of them, no...but having people continually break into his lair hunting that stuff is so...irritating. So my guess is that he'd take it, then set the PC's up as dupes. Scapegoats.

Ideally, he'd take the gold, but leave some kind of illusion in its place, while the PC's weren't conscious. Even THEY would not know they'd been robbed. By means of Misdirect (possibly with Permanance on it) and the aforementioned false gold, the pursuers would still be hunting them. Meanwhile, Old Klauth would be snug in his lair (warded with the Private Sanctum spell, and possibly a permanant Screen, of course), watching with interest via Greater Scrying.

My guess is that he wouldn't want the PC's to know it was even him that took it. To that end, he might use disguises when attacking, to make himself look like a different dragon. There's no end of powerful drakes in Faerun, after all. Then, when the jig is up, and everyone realizes the PC's don't have the gold, the only lead to who does is "this huge green dragon."

 

[Joker[ZW]]

-- Yeah. In Faerun, Epic spells are outlawed by the God of Magic, Mystra. Waaaay back when some doofus used an epic spell to temporarily usurp her position...thus wreaking savage havoc on everything...the replacement God that stepped in to make things right again altered the nature of magic in Toril, so that mortals only get levels 1 through 9.

They can still use the high level metamagic slots through Improved Spellcasting. But no epics. Not even for Elminster.

Dang! Again the gods are taking all the fun out of shaking the world and scaring the peasents
I'll just rule, that one may still take the feat, but not use it as long as one is in the Forgotten Realm.
Then I'll have Klauth encounter them in Sigil (anyone know who the LoP reacts to epic spells, esp. those that are not directed at destroying great parts of Sigil?)


The private Demiplane is a really good idea, but I want to make sure that everyone knows, that the PC's no longer have the money, though not necessarily that Klauth has it.
I don't want to make them pay for the mistakes of a drunk DM (though they could have decided not to take the money, as my Paladin did, or have stopped the DM from drinking Vodka )

 

[andargor]

I have a personal favorite from BoEM: Zone of Speed. Lock down that tank fighter for 10 rounds, no save, no spell resistance.

Andargor