Remember those old movies where a group of stalwart but stupid adventurers come upon an old tomb, and as they explore the dark recesses within, they find themselves greeted by something they'd rather not have awakened?
Ever felt the need to play an evil badass, the kind that destroys planets for fun, and warns young Jedi not to underestimate the power of the dark side?
Ever felt the need to crush your enemies, and drive them before the lamentations of their women?
Enter the Deathless Master, the most notoriously vile creature ever to walk the world of Toril. Not only is he a powerful wizard who has transformed himself into the undead; he is also able to call upon infernal powers to turn himself into an engine of destruction.
Although he is completely immune to critical hits, as well as hold, stun, and paralysis, he is more than capable of inflicting devastating criticals upon his enemies. In addition, he is capable of casting Epic Warding, which gives him an incredible 50/+20 DR for 21 rounds, or over 2 minutes real time.
He also has powerful reciprocal damage spells, which means that any warrior foolish enough to attack him is likely to walk away without a hand, provided he actually manages to do any damage.
As if that weren't enough, even if someone actually manages to hurt the Deathless Master, he is entirely capable of healing himself to full health with a single spell, which can be cast in half a round as long as he has Haste active, which lasts over 4 minutes when extended. In addition to being able to cast Heal twice a day, the Deathless Master also has access to lesser Cure spells, all of which are empowered due to the joys of the Healing Domain.
If necessary, the Deathless Master is capable of boosting his naturally low AB by a whopping 25 points, which should be enough to make him a threat to all but the most defensive of enemies. Even if the Deathless Master has trouble defeating an enemy in melee, he is more than capable of casting multiple Empowered versions of IGMS, as well as the lesser-known ILMS, as well as regular IGMS and ILMS, as well as Fireball, Ice Storm, Chain Lightning, etc. You get the picture.
If the Deathless Master wants to enter melee without all the tedious buffing, he can cast a single Extended Tenser's Transformation and increase his AB by a whopping 11 points with a single spell, as well as significantly increasing his HP. Unfortunately, the transformation strips him of all equipment except for a +3 sword and renders him unable to cast, so make sure you're prepared before shifting. Fortunately, he can use potions while in this form, so he does have a way to heal himself should he run into trouble.
Without further ado, the Deathless Master.
Deathless Master
Wizard 21/Cleric 9/PM 10 (Wizard 9/Cleric 9/PM 2)
Race: Human
Stats
Starting:
Str 16 Dex 8 Con 12 Int 16 Wis 14 Cha 8
+4 Str, +1 Int, +4 Str, +1 Wis
Ending:
Str 25 Dex 8 Con 12 Int 19 Wis 15 Cha 8
Feats
1 Power Attack, Cleave 3 Martial Weapon Prof. 6 Weapon Focus: Longsword 9 Still Spell, Extend Spell * 12 Great Cleave 15 Improved Critical 18 Knockdown 21 Epic Weapon Focus, Great Int I * 24 Great Str I 26 Great Int II * 27 Auto-Still Spell I 30 Auto-Still Spell II 31 Auto-Still Spell III * 33 Epic Warding 36 Overwhelming Crit 39 Dev Crit
School: Illusion
hmmm... sounds cool; but what about cutting the wiz down to 8 levels; increase the pm to 23. You get a couple of epics (if ya want them; warding and epic ma are the best of the lot). Also you get a larger chunk of ac (12 or 14 from pm instead of 6 - so add in +6 to +8 ac to total count) and a much better undead summon too.
Bab won't suffer either that way I think..
Edited By Khandahr on 02/14/05 12:10
All your spells would be counted as if casted by a lvl 8 wizard. Haste for 8 rounds? I'll pass.
All your spells would be counted as if casted by a lvl 8 wizard. Haste for 8 rounds? I'll pass.
Well.. since the int is only 19; without a lot of gear he'd only have 4 spells per level [with a really bad DC too, if he does decide to use more useful spells]. That and the AutoStill points to a non-caster... and if a non-caster is still relying on spells after 8 rounds, he's counting the dust on the floor of his tomb. Well, in my badly-founded opinion anyways
I have to agree with Tengudor on this one. My Cleric buffs are short-lived enough, I'd at least like my Wizard buffs to last a while. Besides which, even though the DCs on my spells are pretty poor, I can still make good use of spells which don't require saves, such as IGMS, ILMS, Magic Missile, some of the Bigby's line, etc.
Even though this character may have some trouble beating SR, with Mord's he can knock an opponents SR down by 10 points, which is quite helpful.
Besides which, even though more PM levels would give me more AC, more AC means my opponents would hit me less often, which means they'd do less damage to themselves on my damage shields, meaning it would probably take me longer to kill them, particularly when I'm Shapeshifted.
Part of the reason I like to use Tenser's with this build is that it drops my AC while it boosts my HP (more than doubles it actually). This allows me to take a few hits before I have to shift back to caster form to heal myself. Most of the damage done in Tenser's in actually done by the reciprocal damage shields rather than by the sword, although the sword can be useful if you are fighting enemies that are not crit immune.
Thus, I would really prefer not to drop my Wizard levels, although if you want to, feel free.
On a mod I played, their tensers didn't use a polymorph and corrected the extra attacks. Had to add in 100% arcane failure. Was definitely a superior tensers.. and more correct to the PnP version.
I am trying to get them to do it on my current mod.. the idea of a mage ripping up in melee sounds great to me. If more mods had the improved tenser I'd post my version of the deathless master.
Another thing the old mod did was increase duration and effectiveness of all spells by 1/2 pm lvls.. that would partially take care of the duration problem.
On a mod I played, their tensers didn't use a polymorph and corrected the extra attacks. Had to add in 100% arcane failure. Was definitely a superior tensers.. and more correct to the PnP version.
I am trying to get them to do it on my current mod.. the idea of a mage ripping up in melee sounds great to me. If more mods had the improved tenser I'd post my version of the deathless master.
Another thing the old mod did was increase duration and effectiveness of all spells by 1/2 pm lvls.. that would partially take care of the duration problem.
Sounds like you were playing with the PrC. I had heard they had fixed Tenser's, although I just tried it in my PrC version of the Novice to Epic Character maker and it still did the weird polymorph thing.
Still, you are correct that the 1/2 caster level thing would be very helpful to the build, since it would allow you to take more levels of Cleric. There are other PrC classes like this that also get Crit Immunity; Bonded Summoner, Elemental Savant (and Divine Elemental Savant), and of course Oozemaster, which gets Crit Immunity at level 6, as opposed to lvl 10 with the rest of the builds.
Personally, I kind of like Elemental Savant as it actually gives you full caster level and not the 1/2 version like everything else, although the Oozemaster gets more HP and a better BAB table.
I'd just like to point out that the Oozemaster is an absolutely brilliant idea for a class.
I have to agree with Tengudor on this one. My Cleric buffs are short-lived enough, I'd at least like my Wizard buffs to last a while. Besides which, even though the DCs on my spells are pretty poor, I can still make good use of spells which don't require saves, such as IGMS, ILMS, Magic Missile, some of the Bigby's line, etc. 