Protections for a high level wizard?

[Legend]

So, let's say I have this level 15 NPC wizard. He's not the most savory type, so the PCs aren't the first people he's made enemies of. What I'm wondering is this:

How does he go about protecting himself, both at home and on the road? What spells would he have memorized, and what items would he carry? How does he stay safe when he's forced into combat? Assume that he's had a lot of time to prepare, and he has the resources to make pretty much any items available to him at his class and level.

I'd like to avoid the following:
* Having him die at an inopportune moment because the PCs think of something I didn't, and
* Making on the fly modifications to him to prevent him from dying because the PCs think of something I didn't

 

[Infiniti2000]

He might have mind blank on 24/7 and perhaps always sleep/lair in a private sanctum. He might also have anticipate teleport running and/or if he has a cleric buddy, a forbiddance in his lair. If he has bracers of armor and you allow the variant that let's people add armor/shield enhancements to the bracers, he might have a death ward on the bracers (per the Book of Exalted Deeds I believe). This would make him safe vs. the first such death attack, giving him the chance to flee or fight back. So, if his opponents try a destruction on him first thing, he'll survive guaranteed.

Other than that, he's extremely smart and probably knows quite a bit about his enemies. If you tell us about his enemies in as much detail as he would know, we can devise fairly secure means to compensate for such contingencies.

 

[Thanee]

Some spells that could be running: Contingency (Teleport to a safe location, if hit points fall below half), Energy Immunity (against some common elements), Mind Blank (or at least Detect Scrying).

Bye
Thanee

 

[andargor]

Well, this is what my Wizard/Archmage usually has running continually. Note that now, he's epic, so some stuff might not be available for a while for you:

• Permanent Emanation (repulsion)
• Mind blank
• Contingency: mirror image (seriously, this is far superior than greater invisibility, especially against touch or ray attacks (e.g. beholder))
• Extended energy immunity (Sp) (from Archmage ability, immunity to 4 forms of energy all day, every day, [2/day for 48 hours])
• Moment of prescience, for that critical roll
• Permanency: arcane sight, resistance, tongues
• Extended overland flight

Andargor

 

[Legend]

Other than that, he's extremely smart and probably knows quite a bit about his enemies. If you tell us about his enemies in as much detail as he would know, we can devise fairly secure means to compensate for such contingencies.

You know, that's a really good point. Not only would he know his enemies, he'd probably make some effort to keep tabs on them... At any rate, the PCs are:

* A (non-paladin) church knight who is a bit too lecherous for his own good
* An emotionally volatile sorceress who specializes in weather-related spells, especially lightning bolts
* A paranoid wizard who believes that ninjas will attack him in the middle of the night, and is always on the lookout for scrying and that sort of thing
* A "protector of the wilderness" type fighter/druid prestige class without any major personality faults
* A pregnant swashbuckling elf fighter/thief privateer type who doesn't get along well with the party sorceress

 

[andargor]

* A paranoid wizard who believes that ninjas will attack him in the middle of the night, and is always on the lookout for scrying and that sort of thing

Illusions would be a great way to push this character into insanity.

Andargor

 

[Murrdox]

Most likely he would have at least two or three methods to "escape" from his enemies and return to a safehouse, or his main lair. At 15th level, it is certainly possible that the wizard has an alternate safe-house he can get to if his main headquarters is comprimised.

Also, with access to 8th level spells, this Wizard has a LOT of options left to him. If he is evil, he could have a "Clone" as per the spell - waiting in several safe-houses should he die. If he is a Necromancer, he might even have more than 1 clone available to him. This would be a last-ditch effort, since all his equipment would undoubtably be taken by those who slay him... but an evil wizard can't always count on friends to Ressurect him.

A possibility would be a "Contingency" and "Teleport" on it, programmed to automatically Teleport him to one of his safe houses, if his HP drops to a certain level.

He would most certainly have Death Ward, Protection from Spells, and some magic items that possibly grant him SR.

Having a wand or ring with charges of "Dimension Door" would allow him to escape from combat, and then quickly teleport, fly, or get away by other means.

I've mostly gone into means of escaping here... but this is one very very resourceful wizard you have here. The possibilites for him are nearly endless. I would tailor his methods to his personality.

Does he have access to creatures he can summon to his aid? Does he have Golems?

 

[Thanee]

Ah, yes, Moment of Prescience is good to have active, too.

Deathward is also an armor enchantment (useable 1/day as a reaction to be safe from one attack) in Complete Arcane, I think. IIRC you can enchant your robes with armor enchantments, so +1 (required) death ward, moderate fortification robes could be cool.

Bye
Thanee

 

[andargor]

Or a simple scarab of protection if death ward is not available. Plus gives SR 20.

Limited use, but plenty for an NPC.

Andargor

 

[Shallown]

If you use craft contingency spell (From Complete arcane) then he could have up to 15 different spells crafted to deal with most anything. I usually go with a defense built around stopping one of most everything becuase once say a death type spell fails they probably won't try it again.

later