(title deleted)

[Edena_of_Neith]

Apocalypse from the Sky justifies, fully, the existence of the Chosen of Mystra.

After all, this 9th level spell only destroys areas the size of entire states (like Michigan or Ohio) or entire countries, with each casting.
And there are artifacts aplenty and to spare in the Forgotten Realms to be found, corrupted, and used for this spell.

Nothing like a bunch of insane wizards and clerics running around looking for artifacts and relics so they, too, can create their own personal Anaurochs.

This spell is the reason why people leave Larloch alone. And why those who try to bother him are stopped (or killed if need be) by other good aligned PCs or NPCs.

(To be honest, if I had a nuclear armed nation face a nation armed with this spell, they would not attack. The game designers have finally brought M.A.D. to the D&D campaign setting.)

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

And no, Edena cannot use Apocalypse from the Sky.
Not if he had a corrupted artifact.
Not if he was evil.
Not noway. Not nohow.

The pinnacle of Edena's destructive might was the 7th level spell Destruction, which killed a single foe without a save allowed (they could be brought back with a Wish.)
To destroy an area the size of Michigan with a single spell was beyond Edena's imagination. Or his worst nightmares.

Now think, folks. Think! (I sound like Professor Harold Hill here, but ...)
Mystra is the neutral good diety of magic.
Yet all this evil magic, is an aspect of Mystra (no, it is not an aspect of Shar. That's the Shadow Weave, with it's own Vile spells.)

If Mystra allows wizards and clerics to cast such spells, and indeed if she is magic personified, and such evil magic exists on Faerun and in Realmspace, then how can Mystra be good?
Sounds more like Mystra is neutral or unaligned, to me.

 

[Pax]

....though you -may- want to invest in some elemental damage resistance gear before casting, too..

^_^

Nah.

Just wait for Epic levels, and take enough "Increased Spell Capacity" feats to slap a "Delay Spell" metamagic on the Apocalypse-from-the-sky spell.

Cast it, cast a quickened Magic Mouth that counts down to the zero-hour (a la Aliens, "All personell have X seconds to reach minimum safe distance" ...).

Then cast a Teleport w/o Error, and BAIL.

Make popcorn, sit back, and watch the fireworks from the top of a mountain ... some 350 miles away. Nuke an entire small nation, just for your evening's entertainment. LOL.

 

[Fenes 2]

This thread just reinforced my opinion that nothing official should be accepted without thinking it through - be it spells, races, gods, etc. Nothing beats a homebrew campaign (or a heavily modified published setting).

(Although as far as Mystra is concenred, in the novel "Crucible" she had to learn that she was goddess of magic first and neutral good second, she was not allowed to curb magic in the name of good (battle magic was the example used).)

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Re: Re: Re: The new Game Balance ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"I could never understand that level of committment to a single campaign, so I'll be content to use it to rationalize my mocking of a potentially legitimate observation."

?!

--Impeesa--

121 levels doesn't necessarily have anything to do with commitment to a single campaign. In fact, in my experience campaigns with more than, say, 30 levels, are no longer than others. Advancement is merely accelerated or in some cases skipped entirely.

And really, that's not the point at all. The point is that when you take a game designed to be balanced from 1-20th level, possibly going as high as 40th with a secondary ruleset, and give your PC one-hundred and twenty-one levels, that you've really taken Balance out back and beat on it with a crowbar until it stopped moving.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Re: Re: Re: The new Game Balance ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You know, I was thinking the exact same thing. Everything after that 121 just turned into Charlie-Brown's-Teacher sounds.

I'll be damned... that's the exact mental image I had.

"I could never understand that level of committment to a single campaign, so I'll be content to use it to rationalize my mocking of a potentially legitimate observation."

"By first edition standards", he said.

Where Zeus had no class level higher than 25th.

Where Odin had no class level higher than 30th.

Where 121st level would require of the order of twenty five million experience points.

That goes a sight beyond "munckinized".

-Hyp.

 

[Murrdox]

And no, Edena cannot use Apocalypse from the Sky.
Not if he had a corrupted artifact.
Not if he was evil.
Not noway. Not nohow.

The pinnacle of Edena's destructive might was the 7th level spell Destruction, which killed a single foe without a save allowed (they could be brought back with a Wish.)
To destroy an area the size of Michigan with a single spell was beyond Edena's imagination. Or his worst nightmares.

Now think, folks. Think! (I sound like Professor Harold Hill here, but ...)
Mystra is the neutral good diety of magic.
Yet all this evil magic, is an aspect of Mystra (no, it is not an aspect of Shar. That's the Shadow Weave, with it's own Vile spells.)

If Mystra allows wizards and clerics to cast such spells, and indeed if she is magic personified, and such evil magic exists on Faerun and in Realmspace, then how can Mystra be good?
Sounds more like Mystra is neutral or unaligned, to me.

Why the heck should your 121st level character CARE what Mystra thinks?

At level 121, he could KILL Mystra and most of the other Greater Gods as well. Most of them are what? Between the levels of 30-50?

I mean, why are you even TALKING about the powers of one piddley spell when you're dealing with such a bloated-out-of-proportion character?

Oh, and BTW, if Mystra WANTS to, anyone who is casting spells that are that powerful to destroy cities and unbalance the weave, she can cut the wizard in question off from the weave and stop the casting quite simply. Figure that Mystra approves most 9th level spells and all epic level spells on a case-by-case basis.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Make popcorn, sit back, and watch the fireworks from the top of a mountain ... some 350 miles away. Nuke an entire small nation, just for your evening's entertainment. LOL.

I once got into this sort of discussion with my group. The question was, taking any spell from the PHB or power from the PsiHB (which we consider core), if you could jack up the caster level to 100, what'd be the most deadly spell? What could take out the largest number of Commoners in the largest area, in the most entertaining way?

The most surprising answer? Control Air.
("Okay, the entire city has a 500 mph wind pointing to the left." Everyone outdoors goes SPLAT into the first building they see. Even better if it's a port town.)

As for the original discussion: I once played with a guy who kept bragging about his OTHER group, where they were all 100th-level characters who killed Tiamat for practice every morning. They rolled d30s for every hit die, and every item was a +30 one. He eventually realized that no one cared.
If you earned all 121 of those levels, with a DM who could actually come up with enough foes to provide you XP at levels 100+, then more power to you.

 

[young_dwarf]

Vengeful Gaze of God !!!!!!!!!!

this epic level spell can only target one creature but does 305d6 damage !!!!!

Enough to kill any deity.

 

[Pielorinho]

Frankly, my two bajillionth level character considers this spell to be peanuts. Why, he's learned to cast Annihilate Galaxies as a cantrip, and his third-level spell slots are all filled with Alter the Immutable Laws of Mathematics and Rewrite History to My Own Advantage. His ninth-level spell actually affect the real world. New Coke? That was his doing. So I don't see what the problem with this spell would be.

Daniel