Author Topic: Core-only Wizard20 vs a Splatbook-Enabled Fighter20 - Lycanthromancer's Duel  (Read 10328 times)

Offline Endarire

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With much thanks to Lycanthromancer for posting this on the WotC boards years ago.  This duel demonstrates the power of Wizards in core.


NOTE
-I changed the formatting to make it easily legible on this board, clarified some things, and added links for easy reference.

-Lycanthromancer's character sheets of his Wizard, familiar, and simulacrum are now dead links.  They may be included later.

Lycanthromancer's Intro & The Rules
I know this isn't the best way to prove a point, but I was having a discussion with someone over whether or not the core classes were 'balanced.' As in, with all things being equal, that a warrior-type is just as powerful as a spellcaster at high levels.

A contest was mentioned wherein we would pit two 20th-level characters head-to-head in a PvP situation, and see who could trash the other the quickest.

Quote from: The Rules
1.) We use 3.5 rules as written (with a small amount of interpretation for leeway concerning confusing issues). No major rewrites or errata.  I am restricted to the core rulebooks- Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual- while he can use splatbooks so long as they're 3.5.  I am a Wizard20 and he's a Fighter20.

2.) Each of us takes a 20th-level base-class all the way to 20 (with 200,000 xp), +0 LA races only - unless the race is obviously underpowered for a +1 LA, such as a Blue (we would have to agree on it, however - and we can use any age category), no PrCs, substitution levels, or alternate base-classes. Outside of the core 3, only feats and items allowed. Full 20th-level starting wealth.

3.) We use the following stats, situated however we see fit: 18 16 14 12 10 8.

4.) We start 100' away from each other, standing on a featureless, infinite plain.  Flat, bare stone.  The atmosphere is breatheable, and all of the rules are as the Material Plane (gravity, time, cosmology, etc).

5.) We have one round to prepare with buffs and such before initiative is rolled.  We are not allowed to perform any action that directly affects the other, though we can do anything else within the rules.  We cannot bring any temporary buffs in with us; the only ones allowed are permanent buffs, instantaneous buffs, and continuous-running buffs from items.

6.) Other than the buffs allowed in #5, the only preparations allowed are general, which means things like resting and memorization of spells.  We will, however, know what day we will have to fight, which means either of us can prepare according to that knowledge.

7.) Each of our characters has known since level 1 that he is going up against another character specifically trained to take him out.  All that each knows beyond this is race and class.  (He's planning on a Raptoran Fighter). We are not allowed reconnaisance beforehand, and we only get warning of the impending fight the day beforehand.

8.) No more than 1/3 of total 20th-level wealth spent on any single item.

9.) Initiative is rolled after the preparation-round.

10.) Each of us describes exactly what the other can descern of our actions, in detail, every round (using skill checks as necessary).

11.) Losing entails one of the following:  Death, permanent disablement, being rendered unable to fight for 1 hour or more, surrender (which includes fleeing), or transportation out of the plane or travelling 1 mile away or more away from the other character.

12.) No custom items/feats/etc.  The only items we're allowed are the ones officially published in the core rules (for me) and the core rules + splatbooks (for him).  Thus, unless he can find some way to get an antimagic field by the rules as written (including through intelligent use of the rules), he can't get it.

The Duel
It's done.  I killed him, and easily.

Perhaps not quite as easily as I thought, since all of his saves were through the roof, and my disjunction missed his Rod of Absorption.  Still, as shown by his tactics, he sorely underestimated the power of a well-built Wizard.

I had an astral projection up.  I also had a clone, and a 10th-level simulacrum, all stored in my Bag of Holding with my original body and a Bottle of Air (just in case).

During the buff-round, I cast time stop with a Greater Metamagic Rod of Extending, and rolled a 4. (1d4+1)x2 for 10 rounds.  I then gated in two Great Wyrm Gold Dragons (with the Half-Celestial template applied to make them Outsiders, so I could gate them in), had my familiar apply Sovereign Glue to two Ring Gates (I had the matching Gates from the two sets) and stick them on the dragons' foreheads, exit-side out.  (Thus, anything I put in the entry holes would come out of the dragon's foreheads.)  I then cast a 10' x 10' wall of iron to push over on the ground, got on top of it, and had my familiar put one Ring of Spell Turning on each of the dragons before joining me. After that, it was prismatic sphere, wall of stone inside the prismatic sphere, then stone shape the stone wall into a dome.

I then used limited wish to nab a contingency effect.  This contingent dimension door was set to go off any time my opponent was about to hit me with something that could actually affect me.  It would teleport me 5' under the ground.  And how would I manage to stay underground?  Keep reading!

I tossed the Ring Gates onto the ground (entrance-side up), and shapechanged into a Greater Shadow - which meant I was incorporeal. I could easily have done all of this in less than 10 rounds with my Greater Metamagic Rod of Quickening, but I had 10 rounds, so I made use of them.  He was a bit perturbed when I came out of time stop and there were two CR 30, colossal-sized Great Wyrm Gold Dragons and a prismatic sphere staring at him from a little under 100' away.

What did he do?  He activated his Boots of Speed, and had a magical-wing enchantment of some sort, so he had a 100' speed.  He was also Large-sized, and had arcane sight, or somesuch on.  Didn't help.

He charged the prismatic sphere and tried to jump right through.  He succeeded on all of his saves... except for the Will save at the end, which sent him to another plane.  Instant lose before the match even got very far.

I took pity on him and allowed him to reroll.  He rolled high, so he passed this time.  He tried to finish his charge.  Guess what?  He bounced off of the wall of stone.  He was flabbergasted; or at least, that's how he acted.  "There's...a wall of stone..." "Yup." "Inside the prismatic sphere..." "Yup." "Where inside?" "Everywhere inside." "What about the top?" "There too. It's a dome." "..." That's not verbatim, but it's basically how it went.

Take 2
Round 1
I'd gotten initiative, so I went first.  My dragons hit him with dual implosions . Due to his Rod of Absorption, they had no effect.  (Should've breathed fire on him instead.)  I cast disjunction, careful not to hit the sphere or my dragons.  I took out several of his enchantments and items, but the Rod remained untouched.  My familiar did nothing, but my simulacrum cast spectral hand, ready to unleash some touches of idiocy once the Rod was toast.  I had some rays of exhaustion handy as well.

His turn.  He attacked the ground with the Rod, apparently wanting to try to dig underground to undermine me from below.  It wouldn't have worked in any case, but he only broke a bit out of the ground with one attack, so he tried to hit the nearest dragon with the rest of his turn instead.  He missed with all of his attacks. (-10 accuracy for Power Attack.)  He moved 5' away from the dragon, and stopped.

Round 2
One of my dragons spent its entire attack routine Power Attacking for -10 accuracy, Improved Sundering that damned Rod.  The dragon destroyed it utterly.  It was the Fighter's only weapon (go figure) so he was fubared.  I then cast maze.  Game over.

I offered to cast another spell instead, but it was pretty clear that he didn't have a chance after that.  And that was how I destroyed him utterly.

He didn't even come close to touching me.  I had all sorts of combos I could've used for beating the <expletive deleted> out of him.  Wall of stone + stoneshape (Dome) + transmute rock to mud + transmute mud to rock. prismatic sphere + reverse gravity.  And so on.  Not to mention that most of my spell-slots were left unused due to having a full Rod of Absorption

Any questions?
« Last Edit: March 28, 2012, 03:46:45 AM by Endarire »