The Silent Mage is a master of the arcane, a lord over, and more importantly of, death and a channeler of magical energies. Having started life as a wizard among the illithid, and unended as a demi-lich, the Silent Mage has the wisdom and intellect of ages behind him. He knows that only a fool baits the forces of good, and it is a greater fool who challenges the chaos of evil. Thus, the Silent Mage remains quiet, ever silent, ever living.

Advantages
The Silent Mage utilises to the full, the innate bonuses of being an Illithid, and those of being a Lich. Almost immune to conventional forms of damage, ie. elemental, with huge resistance to physical harm and fairly high HP for an arcane caster, the Silent Mage is very difficult to harm extensively. He has the added bonuses of evasion and adding his fair wisdom score to AC. With his very high intelligence (50 unbuffed, mod of 20) his spells have an immense DC and he has many skill points to spare. With regard to Epic Spells, the Silent Mage can capably and confidently fling around the nastiest of death spells (Momento Mori and Tolodine's Killing Wind), making him a lethal opponent.

Disadvantages
Has absolutely no hope in a melee situation... Unless you are willing to spend ages just using the Lich Touch as an attack. Has poor saving throws, but there is little need for them as he is immune to dev. crit., spells lvl 9 and below and a +14 save against spells. If the alignment of the character is shifted to evil/, he is going to suffer from paladin/anti-paladin/CoT/blackguard smites, so be careful of generosity to NPCs.

Statistics
Race: Illithid
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Wizard 29/Lich 10/Monk 1
Spell School: Conjuration

Ability Scores
Initial- STR:10, DEX:16, CON:16, INT:26, WIS:16, CHA:16
Final- STR:10, DEX:16, CON:16, INT:50, WIS:26, CHA:26

AB (Unarmed) +18/+15+12
AC 32 (Naked, 37 with Phylactery)
HP 481
Spell Resistance 65!! (Note, this is the base Illithid bonuse for a lvl 40 char, it should apply)
Saves- Fort:24, Refex:18, Will: 28

Silent Mage
1. Wizard
Feat: Spell Penetration
Skills: Lore +4, Heal +4, Concentration +4, Spellcraft +4,
2. Wizard
Skills: Lore +1, Heal +1, Concentration +1, Spellcraft +1
3. Wizard
Feat: Craft Wondrous Item
Skills: As per lvl. 2
4. Wizard
Ability: INT
Skills: As per lvl. 2
5. Wizard
Bonus Feat: Spell Focus Evocation
Skills: As per lvl. 2
6. Wizard
Feat: Greater Spell Penetration
Skills: As per lvl. 2
7. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
8. Wizard
Ability: INT
Skills: As per lvl. 2
9. Wizard
Feat: Greater Spell Focus Evocation
Skills: As per lvl. 2
10. Wizard
Feat: Spell Focus Necromancy
Skills: As per lvl. 2
11. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
12. Lich
Skills: As per lvl. 2
13. Lich
Ability: INT
Feat: Greater Spell Focus Necromancy
Skills: As per lvl. 2
14. Lich
Skills: As per lvl. 2
15. Lich
Feat: Maximise Spell
Skills: As per lvl. 2
16. Wizard
Ability: INT
Skills: As per lvl. 2
17. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
18. Wizard
Feat: Practised Caster Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
19. Wizard
Bonus Feat: Quicken Spell
Skills: As per lvl. 2
20. Wizard
Ability: INT
Skills: As per lvl. 2
21. Lich
Feat: Great Intelligence I
Skills: As per lvl. 2
22. Lich
Skills: As per lvl. 2
23. Lich
Skills: As per lvl. 2
24. Lich
Ability: INT
Feat: Epic Skill Focus Spellcraft
Skills: As per lvl. 2
25. Lich
Skills: As per lvl. 2
26. Lich
Skills: As per lvl. 2
27. Wizard
Feat: Automatic Quicken Spell I
Skills: As per lvl. 2
28. Wizard
Ability: INT
Skills: As per lvl. 2
29. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
30. Wizard
Feat: Automatic Quicken Spell II
Bonus Feat: Automatic Quicken Spell III
Skills: As per lvl. 2
31. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
32. Wizard
Ability: INT
Skills: As per lvl. 2
33. Wizard
Feat: Epic Spell Focus Necromancy
Bonus Feat: Epic Spell Penetration
Skills: As per lvl. 2
34. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
35. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
36. Wizard
Ability: INT
Feat: Great Intelligence II
Bonus Feat: Great Intelligence III
Skills: As per lvl. 2
37. Wizard
Skills: As per lvl. 2
38. Monk
Skills: Concentration +1, Heal +1, Lore +1, Tumble +40, Discipline +41, Jump +41, Persuade +41
39. Wizard
Feat: Epic Skill Focus Lore
Skills: Concentration +1, Heal +1, Lore +1, Spell Craft +2
40. Wizard
Bonus Feat: Great Intelligence IV
Skills: Concentration +1, Heal +1, Lore +1, Spell Craft +1, Note at this point the Silent Mage has around 178 skill points to spare, I don't specify how to place them, its up to you.

Please let me know if there is anything in particular that just screams "weakness!" at you in this design. Another note about this build: I really like the new Lich class, and its versatility. This means that the Silent Mage can be easily and efficiently modified to be powerful with the base class as a Cleric. All that needs to be changed are- first of all, be a Yuan-ti, not an Illithid, since Yuan-ti have better Wisdom bonuses, instead of taking Maximise Spell and Greater Spell Focus Necromancy, switch those for Spell and Greater Spell Focus in Evocation. Although not readily apparent, with a Cleric this is a formidable set of feats. Continuing along, switch Epic Skill Focus: Spellcraft for Epic Spell Focus in Evocation. Be a little more sparing with the skill allocations, set initial stats to STR-10, DEX-10 (8+2), CON-14, WIS-26 (18+8), INT-20 (12+8), CHA 16(10+6). Most important however, is the choice of domains. In this case, taking the Destruction domain is a must, as it grants Implosion at level 8 as well as 9, plus its an evocation. As a second domain, Air is one that suits well the focus on evocation. That should be about all for that one, let me know if there are any faults. Cheers!
Quote: Posted 04/22/05 12:38:45 (GMT) -- Talisman Silverhand

Most important however, is the choice of domains. In this case, taking the Destruction domain is a must, as it grants Implosion at level 8 as well as 9, plus its an evocation.

I don't think Destruction would be that great for an Evocation cleric. For one, you do not get Implosion at level 8 (just tested this, in case it was a benefit that wasn't listed in the manual). You get the ability to damage constructs with turning, and you get Acid Fog at level 3 and Stinking Cloud at level 6, both of which are conjuration. Magic might be more useful. You get stoneskin for your protection plus Ice Storm, a very nice Evocation spell.

Steve

Edited By Stravinsky00 on 04/22/05 18:16

Quote: Posted 04/22/05 18:15:24 (GMT) -- Stravinsky00

Quote: Posted 04/22/05 12:38:45 (GMT) -- Talisman Silverhand

Most important however, is the choice of domains. In this case, taking the Destruction domain is a must, as it grants Implosion at level 8 as well as 9, plus its an evocation.

I don't think Destruction would be that great for an Evocation cleric. For one, you do not get Implosion at level 8 (just tested this, in case it was a benefit that wasn't listed in the manual). You get the ability to damage constructs with turning, and you get Acid Fog at level 3 and Stinking Cloud at level 6, both of which are conjuration. Magic might be more useful. You get stoneskin for your protection plus Ice Storm, a very nice Evocation spell.

Steve

As to the Destruction domain thing, I'm pretty sure that in PRC you get Implosion at lvl 8. It could just be a glitch in the download i got, but instead of getting Acid Fog, you gain Implosion. Also, regarding the Magic domain, Stoneskin is a kind of superfluous spell for a lvl 10 demi-lich. With DR of 30/+20 its almost impossible to get better protection. Water domain gets ice storm too, at level 4 I believe, as well as drown. Death gets wail of the banshee. Fire domain gets some nice spells too, including fire storm at level 7.

Edited By Giantevilhead on 05/15/05 01:27