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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imagicka" data-source="post: 3210124" data-attributes="member: 4621">Greetings...Well, that's the trick eh?  Question is, why is a high level... mentor doing with a bunch of low-level peons?  Why does he want to explore this cave?  Why isn't he exploring it on his own?  Why does he need the party?  Probably the easiest way is to make that person a 'sage'.  Don't give them any spell-casting levels.  Make them an expert.  Or you could make it obvious for the players why he has 'hired' the party.  Here's a couple of ideas... Make your high-level mentor loose all of his magickal abilities in a freak accident.  Or he cast disjunction, and now his powers are gone.  Or that he's sick... been poisoned... with a rare disease, or a magical poison that will cost him dearly if he casts high-level magick spells. Just because it's cliché doesn't mean that it doesn't make for a good story.  -- Imagine if you will inquisitors who can sense and hunt down high-level magick.  That are just waiting for someone to cast a spell over 3rd level, and their hounds will pick up the scent of magick.  -- Perhaps both... he's been poisoned, and now the poisoners are hunting him down with their magick-sniffing hell-hounds. There's an idea... your high-level wizard has been poisoned by a rival.  Perhaps another guild member.  Now, this villain couldn't just outright confront our wizard, either because he'd be breaking the code of the guild, or just outright get his hat handed to him, in a fair fight.  So, he had him poisoned.  Perhaps looking to rob him of his magickal powers, so he could gloat over it while he's sticking the knife in.  Thing is the poison didn't completely do it's job.  Or our wizard was able to do something to keep himself alive, but now his magickal ability is either crippled... or is wild.  Perhaps the symptoms are changing.  He can cast low-level spells, but it usually knocks him unconscious, or causes the spells to be cast as wild-magick.  Any high-level spells he casts speeds up the poison's effects, killing him.  He believes that the solution to his problem lies in this dungeon, yet the only people who he could find to help him are these poor souls. His enemy has learned of his expedition, and has sent out assassins to hunt him down and kill him.  They don't know exactly where he is, but they do have a means to detect mid-level to high-level magick.  One spell that's 4th level or higher, and they will be on him like an illithid on Stephen Hawking.This would nicely explain why a high-level character would be hanging out with the party of peons.  Why there is a sense of urgency, as well as why the wizard can't be flinging fireballs around like it's independance day.</blockquote>

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