Digital D&D

Utilizing his skills and feats, Marcus made it to the final round of the tournament.  In this final round, there were some magical shenanigans at play because there is a very small statistical probability that Marcus would have lost.  Yet that is what happened.  Actually what happened is that a spell that should have protected him from any ability damage, Sheltered Vitality, was deemed to not have been able to protect him from successive Moon Bolts.  This drove Marcus into a rage and he walked off of the field of battle.

Ok here’s the skinny:

Marcus is a 5th level Sorcerer and a 6th level Studious Sorcerer

He has 4 Anti-Feats: Arcane Performer (he moves like a wizard would when casting spells), Insomnia, Fussy, and Loudmouth

He has the following feats: Improved Familiar (Steam Mephit), Improved Initiative, Master Researcher (Needed for the prestige Class), Practiced Spellcaster (so he doesn’t lose any casting levels), Heighten Spell, Enervate Spell, Maximize Spell, Easy Meta-magic (Taken twice, applied to Enervate and Maximize to lower the spell slot cost of each by 1), Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Wand, Attune Gem.  The last feat he has was to be his ‘ace in the hole’, his ‘deus ex machina’.  This feat is Chronomancy.

You see, on Habololy, in order to use all but a few Time based spells you need to learn the Chronomancy feat. But, once you have that feat, a whole new subset of spells becomes available and they are AWESOME!

There is a spell combination that should have enabled Marcus to win hands down.  I haven’d divulged this to anyone until now.

1. Nerveskitter: Gain +5 to initiative. Only lasts 1 round, but Marcus made an item that make it permanent
2. Efficient Movement: This is one of those Chronomancy Spells.  You gain triple your movement, +4 to AC and Initiative, and +8 to tumble, jump, and climb checks.
3. Magic Manager:  This is the spell that should have won the tournament for him hands down.  With this spell, you get a pool of “Time Points” equal to your maximum modified initiative plus 5.  For those who have been paying attention, Marcus is already at +13 with the two previous spells and the Improved Initiative feat. He does have kind of crappy Dex. (15) so that is another +2 and with the +5 from this spell that makes the total pool of points 20.  Here is where the fun comes in.  Marcus can now cast a number of spells PER ROUND until that pool of points is used up.  those numbers are based on the level of the spell, his innate (non-modified) initiative, how long the spell takes to cast, certain feats, and a d20 roll.  Here is an example of how a typical round would go.  We’re going to start by casting a Maximized Enervated Scorching Ray:
   • 20 points
     • d20 roll: 8 – 6(innate Initiative) + 2 (Spell Level) + 4(because it would normally be a full round action to cast the spell)
     • Total result for this spell: 8
     • Someone just took 108 points of damage
     • One 2nd level spell slot used
     • Time Points remaining: 20-8=12
   • 12 points left
     • That was fun, for kicks, let’s do it again. Another Scorching Ray
     • d20 roll: 5 – 6(innate Initiative) + 2 (Spell Level) + 4(because it would normally be a full round action to cast the spell)
     • Total result for this spell: 5
     • Someone is not feeling good.  They just took another 108 points of damage
     • Did I mention there is no saving throw for Scorching Ray?
     • One 2nd level spell slot used
     • Time Points remaining: 12-5=7
   • 7 points left
     • Let’s mix it up this time. I’ll cast a Maximized Enervated Lesser Orb of Acid
     • d20 roll: 8 – 6(innate Initiative) + 1 (Spell Level) + 4(because it would normally be a full round action to cast the spell)
     • Total result of the spell: 7
     • That would be another 60 points of acid damage
     • One 1st level slot used
     • Time points remaining: 0

At this point Marcus is done his round.  That’s right folks, all 3 spells were cast in just 1 round.  That was 276 points of damage.  Neither of those spells offered a saving throw, so unless my opponent was immune or resistant to fire or acid, they are having a pretty bad day.  Those are not his only offensive spells.  I won’t reveal the rest yet, they will come out in the course of playing over the next few weeks.  Suffice it to say, he is a bad-ass and should have rolled over the competition.  This doesn’t even take into account the magic items he created.

He has a silk ‘netting’ of sorts that covers his entire left arm and part of his torso that can be fitted with his enspelled gems.  this garment is in direct contact with his skin, so he is always touching them and can activate them at will (well…at will on his turn). he has a Bracer of wands on his left arm.  This bracer can hold 3 wands at once and allow the wearer to use them as if he were holding them.  Almost all of the silk items he wears are magical and were made by him.  His familiar, Haze, is dresses in almost identical fashion.  Haze’s clothes are not magical, but he also has a Bracer of wands and the silk ‘netting’ studded with gems.

So you can see how, in my opinion, he would be a tough nut to crack.  He has access to some clerical spells so he can heal himself and has spell resistance.  Now, the Chronomancy spells take a heavy toll on the caster when they are done.  One of the reasons I gave him the Deity bloodline was so that he could have access to the cleric spell list and be able to cast Sheltered Vitality so he wouldn’t take ability damage from the Chronomancy spells.

It is a beautiful, elegant character build and I am glad I get to play him in a campaign.  He will unleash Sorcerous destruction on his unwitting enemies and will become world renown.  Well, at least, he will if he gets a good nights rest….

Until Next time…