Help me mess with the party Spellcaster

[BOZ]

You are a very nice DM. He has an illegal character and amistake or done on purpose, you should have him rebuild it to be legal.

if he survives the next couple of sessions (unlikely, the deathtrap designed by the previous DM should be pretty nasty), i'll see what i want to do about him. the previous-and-future DM plans to take the campaign back after a few months; let's just say i'm filling in now. i'll discuss with him (again, if the guy survives). session starts in about 30 minutes, so i need to get going to get there early.

 

[reveal]

Nah - what's more likely is that he saw the PrC requirement of Spellcraft* +12, and said at 5th-level, before taking his 6th: "Hey, I've got 8 ranks in Spellcraft and +4 from Intelligence - that's +12!"

EDIT:

* - I'm assuming that the requirement is 12 ranks of Spellcraft. I don't know for sure.

Prereqs: Knowledge (arcana) 12 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 4 ranks, Spellcraft 12 ranks
Feats: Greater spell focus (abjuration), Spell Focus (abjuration), Skill Focus (spellcraft)
Spells: Able to cast five abjuration spells, including at least two of 4th level or higher.

So not only would the player not have 12 ranks in either Knowledge (arcana) or Spellcraft, there's no way in heck he can cast 4th level spells as a 5th level Wizard.

Make him change it, Boz. He's beyond illegal at this point.

 

[BOZ]

Nah - what's more likely is that he saw the PrC requirement of Spellcraft* +12, and said at 5th-level, before taking his 6th: "Hey, I've got 8 ranks in Spellcraft and +4 from Intelligence - that's +12!"

EDIT:

* - I'm assuming that the requirement is 12 ranks of Spellcraft. I don't know for sure.

i'm going to look at complete arcane first thing when i get in, and bring up the issue immediately. he has listed 14 ranks, which would technically be his max ranks since he is an 11th-level character, despite the fact that he has them illegally since the PrC was applied incorrectly. i have a feeling some players will be mad about this situation, so i need to be careful how i'm handling this one.

 

[BOZ]

Prereqs: Knowledge (arcana) 12 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 4 ranks, Spellcraft 12 ranks
Feats: Greater spell focus (abjuration), Spell Focus (abjuration), Skill Focus (spellcraft)
Spells: Able to cast five abjuration spells, including at least two of 4th level or higher.

So not only would the player not have 12 ranks in either Knowledge (arcana) or Spellcraft, there's no way in heck he can cast 4th level spells as a 5th level Wizard.

Make him change it, Boz. He's beyond illegal at this point.

whoah, ! bad DM, lazy DM... OK thanks fellas.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Issues like this are why I'm such a total draconian freak about non-core materials. It's taken me enough time to get all the possible combinations in the core book down pat.

You might want to have a campaign reboot. Have everybody retool their PCs. Give them a little cookie or something for it, but between 3.0 rules mixed with 3.5 rules and totally illegal character builds, there's some fundamental hookey-hookey going on. EVERYBODY should be on even ground, and that includes you. If you're constantly playing catch-up because the PCs don't conform to the rules of the game, then that adds stress to your job.

--fje

 

[reveal]

Let us know what the guy says, BOZ. I'd love to hear the excuses.

 

[shilsen]

i have a feeling some players will be mad about this situation, so i need to be careful how i'm handling this one.

I can see why. It's funny how someone who's a "rules lawyer", as you put it, misses something as obvious as this. Funny like "ha ha, where's my spiked stick?", I mean

 

[WayneLigon]

Yeah, I'm thinking that his mistake is no mistake as well

As to how I'd handle him, especially since he's a 'mistake' and inherited from another game we ll, I think I'd probably be an ass about it. This character is bound to have ticked off someone in the past, either someone with power or who has access to someone with power. I'd find the nastiest critter in the various books (hey, he uses all these third-party books without, it sounds, explicit permission to do so, so sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander) specifically to take him out. It's been sent by Villian X to deal with him once and for all.

Without looking all over Creation, the first thing that springs to mind is Rakshasas with Monk and Rogue or Assassin abilities. The spell resistance alone should give him pause but you know, If you haven't used them before I'd say to heck with it and use the 3.0 version, where it's invulnerable to any spell under 9th level. His spells and probably most of his fancy weird abilities are then useless; the highest Veil possible for him is a 7th level spell equivilant so none of them will affect the creature. Honestly, I usualy bumped their CR a few levels and made it so they were not affected by magic of less than 9th level. You got bracers of defence? Was that made with a 9th level spell? Why, no? Then they're useless against it. Four or five Monk levels, dex, feats; the first one will win initiative and then Initiate boy can stay Stunned each round with his wonderful primary spellcaster Fortitude saves while the second one uses Sneak Attacks on him. I predict two rounds later, the Initiate thuds to the ground.

 

[fusangite]

Leaving aside the rules this fellow has skirted/violated, might I suggest you have whoever attacks him assisted by a sorceror with Improved Counterspell, Greater + Spell Focus (Abjuration) who has Dispel Magic and Greater Dispel Magic on his spell list. He can just have a readied action to neutralize whatever your guy does every round while his golerm thrashes the guy.

 

[BOZ]

You might want to have a campaign reboot. Have everybody retool their PCs. Give them a little cookie or something for it, but between 3.0 rules mixed with 3.5 rules and totally illegal character builds, there's some fundamental hookey-hookey going on. EVERYBODY should be on even ground, and that includes you. If you're constantly playing catch-up because the PCs don't conform to the rules of the game, then that adds stress to your job.

i'll leave the work like that up to the past-and-future DM. i'm only a fill-in, and don't want the hassle of running a game full time. in fact, he was even asking me how many more sessions the module was going to last; i suspect he's itching to get back in the saddle again.

if i'm wrong, eh, then we'll see what we're going to do.