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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pax" data-source="post: 1198498" data-attributes="member: 6875">15th level in total?  So by himself, he's already a touch more powerful than the usual run-of-the-mill encounter for your party (up by +1 or +2 CRs).  And no, he's NOT effectively a 20th level caster.  He's a 15th levl caster, with +10 caster levels when casting spells.  He doesn't get to prepare any extra spells per day, nor cast spells of a higher level than any other 15th level specialist.  Further, he has four, coun 'em four, opposition schools, none of them being Divination.  And 5 of those bonus caster levels are specific to only one school.  He will NEVER lead a circle of 9 ninth-level wizards.  Period.  Circle LEader lets him lead a Circle, should he happen to have one.  However, it doesn't give him a Circle to lead.  For that, he shodl take the Leadership feat.  15th level character ... we'll assume he (somehow) has enough charisma or whatever to offset the general penalties for being evil, aloof, and cruel to his underlings (as Thayan wizards generally are); thus, we'll assume a leadership score of 15.  He has a single 10th levl Cohort, and 23 followers (1 is third level, 2 are second, the other 20 are 1st) ... all of whom are warriors or commoners.  So.  You tell me where the other Wizards of 9th+ level come from.  Certainly not the Red Wizard PrC description!Um.  Clue-by-four time.Firt off, Finger of Death and "many buffs" aren't going to be in the same school of magic.  Thus, he won't get the full caster level increase for both of them; the Red Wizard gets Specialist Spell Power, which only applies to their specialty school.Second off, you can't heighten a spell to a level higher than you can actually cast.  This, that Finger of Death isn't going ot be higher than an 8th level spell; the Spell Power-like benefits absolutely do not affect your number of spells per day!  Nor what level of spell you can cast.Furthermore, heightening anything to 20th level would take an Epic character, with a slew of feats, most of them epic:Heighten SpellImproved Heighten SpellIncreased Spell Capacity (10th)Increased Spell Capacity (11th)Increased Spell Capacity (12th)Increased Spell Capacity (13th)Increased Spell Capacity (14th)Increased Spell Capacity (15th)Increased Spell Capacity (16th)Increased Spell Capacity (17th)Increased Spell Capacity (18th)Increased Spell Capacity (19th)Increased Spell Capacity (20th)For a straight wizard, those epic feats would take a minimum level of 36 ... with no Red Wizard levels at all!  Add in 10 Red Wizard levels, and that means you have to be some 6-odd levels higher than that ...!I don't care if you're burning the metamagic costs with Circle Magic ... the same limitation put on the Instant Metamagic ability of the Incantatrix: you have to have at least had the option to have prepared it yourself, to be able to cast it that way.  Sure there's somethign they can do ... there's this 6th level spell, you see, called "antimagic field" ... run up with the fighter, and pound the snot out of the then-crippled wizard.  I'm one of the GMs for an Epic arena, and the scenario you describe would never happen there ... even with start-at-25th-level Red Wizards.  Heck, not even with a Wizard(10)/Red Wizard(10)/Archmage(5).  The simple reason being, noone is allowed to simply assume that the ability to lead a Circle of fellow red wizards automatically grants you a Circle to lead.</blockquote>

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