Test my Knowledge (Arcana)

[KarinsDad]

Re: apsuman and KaeYoss -

Spoiler

Color Spray and Sleep were indeed what I had in mind.

Spoiler

Actually, Sleep would only work if your friend was not an elf or half-elf.

Color Spray would only definitively work if you asked your friend to purposely fail the save.

 

[Thanee]

You are a 1st level wizard. One of your 1st level companions has been duplicated by several dopplegangers and now there are five identical people looking like your companion.

Determine which of the identical people is your companion using a single first level spell.

Haha! I've done that in another campaign (but with the 0th level spell Arcane Mark. Since we had a "doppleganger problem", I secretly marked everyone in the group, so I could identify them via Detect Magic).

Ok, but this won't help here, I guess, since it requires preparation...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

I thought it was a joke. Like: hold your breath until you die. Then someone will surely come and get you out from there once the stench becomes unbearable.

Hehe, no it's quite easily possible, altho noone has yet given a correct answer to the 1st level variant, I think.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Hypersmurf]

Hehe, no it's quite easily possible, altho noone has yet given a correct answer to the 1st level variant, I think.

Few ideas - using Spell Mastery, obviously:

A:

Spoiler

Charm Person on one of the guards, ask him really nicely to let you out?

B:

Spoiler

Use Acid Splash over the course of several days on the stone supporting the top and bottom of one of the bars. Acid damage ignores hardness so eventually you'll have the bar loose and can squeeze out of the cell.

C:

Spoiler

If any of the bars are slightly loose, or corroded, or pitted, you may be able to scrape/grind off enough powdered iron to make a "pinch". Cast Reduce Person and squeeze through the bars.

Once you're out of the cell:

Spoiler

Cast Disguise Person to look like a guard, and walk away.

-Hyp.

 

[Li Shenron]

Hehe, no it's quite easily possible, altho noone has yet given a correct answer to the 1st level variant, I think.

Bye
Thanee

I think that you should have specified that it was possible to retro-plan! If the riddle asks how do you get a 1st level Wiz out of a prison if his spellbook is gone, it's not very fair to allow a solution based on Spell Mastery. How did the Wiz know that he would have ended up there? I though the riddle was open to every 1st-lev Wiz... Otherwise why not just saying that the Wiz gets out because he has made friendship with powerful Archmages which he meets every 3 days and will come looking for him if he misses a meeting? Beside the fact that's based on roleplay instead of a feat, you can't deny that both require a very specific Wiz, not any Wiz.

I think you could have made it more clear that you instead wanted to know how do you PLAN a 1st level Wiz so that if he ends up in jail he can escape even without the spellbook, but that's probably me who didn't understand correctly.

Anyway, back to your intended question, there are probably many collections of 0th and 1st level spells to learn with Spell Mastery and cast (let's say not more than 2 1st-level spells and 3 0th-level spells, assuming no school specialization) to try get out of the prison, but none of them guarantees success. You still need your DM to be benevolent.

You could cast Reduce Person and Grease on yourself to pass through the bars. Or try steal the key from a guard with an Unseen Servant or Mage Hand. Or try corrode with Acid Splash the lock of the door. You can't be sure that they work, but even if they do, how do you make it past the guards? You can't assume you have enough spells left to charm or distract them all, and those spells always have saving throws.

 

[Hypersmurf]

You could cast Reduce Person and Grease on yourself to pass through the bars. Or try steal the key from a guard with an Unseen Servant or Mage Hand.

Three with Material Components (which doesn't make them unusable, but you need to explain where you get them), and Mage Hand only works on unattended objects...

-Hyp.

 

[Li Shenron]

Three with Material Components (which doesn't make them unusable, but you need to explain where you get them), and Mage Hand only works on unattended objects...

-Hyp.

If I can assume that I have Spell Mastery, can't I assume I am human and I have Eschew Materials as well?

 

[Hypersmurf]

If I can assume that I have Spell Mastery, can't I assume I am human and I have Eschew Materials as well?

Thanee disallowed Eschew Materials on page 2

"The spell you suggest (pun ) has a material component, which you can't provide (of course you could circumvent this with Eschew Materials, but just assume that I disallowed that feat, it's not needed anyways )."

-Hyp.

 

[Thanee]

I think that you should have specified that it was possible to retro-plan!

Heh! Well, your known spells would be "retro-planned" as well, so I don't really see the difference to feats.

The question basically was, what would you need as a wizard of level 5 (or 1) to get out of this situation...

And the quite simple solution was Spell Mastery and one of a myriad of spells (i.e. Blink for level 5, Charm Person for level 1), that allow you to get free then. Eschew Material works too in addition, but is not required, as I said later.

Hey, I said it's easy!

Bye
Thanee

 

[andargor]

Ok, I'll try my hand at this. I've put in a little "flavor" text to motivate the adventurous.

Heres my test of your Knowledge (Arcana)

I hope I have all the rules right, and I do have a solution for this. I'll post it after a few replies.

The Heart of Shazzra


Azloth's Journal - The Deep - Day 7

Curse this darkness! The uneven ground makes progress very slow, and occasionally painful when I stub my toes on those blasted rocks... I already have more bruises and scratches than I can count. If only Shazzra had chosen another place to hide Her Heart. Of course, it does make perfect sense to hide it here, where extradimensional and extraplanar travel is impossible. But still... damn these rocks!

Azloth's Journal - The Deep - Day 13

Curses and more curses! May Her eyes rot and Her teeth fall out! That last cavern hid one of Shazzra's nasty surprises, some kind of a field that destroyed all my magical items, including my scrolls! And no way to write more... I should have brought paper and my special inks with me. But of course, I had to leave space for my rations and water. What use is it to retrieve the Heart, and die of hunger or thirst on the way back? I should have heeded my Master, and brought a Priest of Neth with me, but time was short... Perhaps there would be some spell that would help me? Too late for that now...

Azloth's Journal - The Deep - Day 21

Finally! I have reached the place my Master described. Although I almost fell into the void of the Scar, the light from the phosphorescent fungi my Master gave me failing to appropriately illuminate the path before me. The fungi, however, did not fail to illuminate the paleness and haggardness of my face in the mirror this morning... Nor my ears fail to discern my own muttering reflected back at me from the baleful rock, a more and more frequent occurrence in the past few days... But I digress... At last, an end to featureless caverns, twisting passages and countless bruises! Looking at my notes from Laeth's research (Neth protect his soul) I memorize the formidable defenses guarding her only weakness. The Scar, of course, this seemingly bottomless and ceiling-less pit of gargantuan proportions, the passageway I have taken (and probably the only way to the Scar) ending on what basically is a cliff face of this huge cavern. Laeth believed it to be roughly 2000 feet in diameter. Let me see... Yes, there is a region around the Heart which suppresses all magic. I know my master had a spell that achieved the same effect, but the area affected was tiny compared to this huge sphere of magical void that extends 500 feet in every direction from the Heart. Whether this is some doing of the Demon-Goddess, or some fluke of the Scar, is unknown. The sphere of magical void is hollow, however, where is suspended the Heart within its cage: 6 hermetically sealed walls of force encasing it like an invisible box. Laeth believes the magical void ends within 10 feet of the walls. Lastly, but definitely not least, 4 Iron Golems stand guard next to the 5-foot chiseled granite block, into which the Heart is embedded, on the "floor" of the box. If my time keeping is correct, I have almost no time to prepare to retrieve the Heart and exit to the surface in time to perform the ritual that will spell Shazzra's doom, and end her reign of terror on our beloved Kingdom. Perhaps I have time to rest and memorize new spells... Time for a plan...


MISSION

Retrieve the Heart and exit to the surface (alive, of course).

RULES

• 3.5 SRD material only.
• There is a 1 hour limit from start to accomplish the mission.
• No magic items.
• 8th Level Wizard or Sorcerer, no multiclassing, with the following stats: Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 18, Average HP (20), AC 10.
• Any 3.5 SRD "base" race is allowed (human, elf, halfling, gnome, dwarf, half-orc, half-elf). Height and weight stats are average for the race.
• Any 3.5 SRD spells allowed, full complement of spells memorized or available.
• Any 3.5 SRD familiars are allowed
• No spells are active at start.
• Any material components or foci are available.
• Any 3.5 SRD Feats and skills allowed.
• Any 3.5 SRD non-magical equipment allowed, with a maximum value of 250 gp (the fungi is free, and illuminates in a 10 ft. radius. Also a robe, soft leather boots, a spellbook (if required), and sufficient rations and water to exit to the surface are free). Lastly, encumbrance must be taken into account.
• Skill checks, to hit rolls, ability checks, caster level checks, saving throws and the like are deemed to succeed automatically if they would require a roll of 10 or less to succeed. They fail otherwise. Take 10 and Take 20 are allowed for skill checks as per 3.5 SRD rules.
• Any initiative rolls are deemed to be 10.
• Any damage dealt or taken is averaged if it would be rolled.
  
• The surrounding rock inhibits, but does not completely block, extradimensional travel. Such travel is limited to 10 feet in any direction, after which distance the extradimensional travel stops and the effect allowing the extradimensional travel ends. In all other respects, the entire area, including the entrance, Scar and tunnels are considered as being Dimensional Locked.
  
• The Heart of Shazzra is a spherical glasslike orb measuring 6 inches in diameter, than weighs 5 pounds. For the purposes of this scenario, it is indestructible.
  
• The Heart is encased in the center of a 5-foot square solid block of chiseled granite. It weighs 500 pounds.
  
• The block rests at the bottom center of a hermetically sealed box made of 6 permanent Wall of Force spells. The box measures 100 feet to a side, and its bottom is suspended in mid-air at the same level as the tunnel entrance.
  
• Standing 20 feet away from the granite block, inside the box, are 4 Iron Golems standing guard. They are evenly distributed around the granite block, and will attack any creature that touch it or the orb (with bare hands or otherwise, or if it is the target or in the area of effect of a spell). Otherwise, they stay immobile. They have default stats, as per the 3.5 SRD.
  
• Surrounding the box is an Antimagic Field extending 500 feet in every direction from the center of the box. The box is suspended in the center of a "hollow" area of the Antimagic Field, where magic functions as normal (except where otherwise noted in this scenario). The hollow area is also box-shaped, and is 20 feet larger in every dimension than the inner box (i.e. it starts 10 feet away on the outside of each Wall of Force).
  
• The Antimagic Field is located in the center of a bottomless and ceiling-less pit of 2000 feet in diameter. The tunnel entrance, where the subject is located at start, is at the same level as the granite block, is circular, and measures 10 ft. in diameter. The subject must return to the tunnel entrance within 1 hour with the orb for the mission to succeed.
  
• Other than the fungi, there is no source of illumination.

Voilà! Enjoy!

Andargor