Going into a Final Battle

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:41 am

EDIT: We won! Ahahahaha!

Okay so we've been informed that our characters are going into a final, or second to final, battle. The world's going to end in 15 minutes, and we have to prepare. We don't have enough time to upgrade our weapons or armour, but we can buy weapons, armour, potions, rings, scrolls, and wands. The problem is the limit for this city is 60k. We're all ECL 20, and already have decent stuff, but during the last battle we learned early on that we've essentially got crap.

What suggestions does anyone have for buying items up to that amount? What would you put into your arsenal if you were in this position? I've got the Magic Item Compendium, but everything in there seems fairly limited with their "charges per day".

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:42 am

What does your party consist of?

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:55 am

GawainBS wrote:What does your party consist of?

I'm a cleric/fighter half water elemental aquatic elf (trident weapon), we've got a ranger/fighter half earth elemental-half dragon (gauntlets), a celestial fighter(fencer variant)/swashbuckler (rapiers), and a demon bloodline psionic (staff).

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:53 pm

As well, the final battle will be this Friday evening so the sooner, the better.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:29 am

Have you considered the classics? Rings of Deflection +5, Amulets of Natural Armour +5, Rings of Freedom of Movement, Cloaks of Resistance +5, Cloaks of some other kind of Resistance +5 (for example: a sacred bonus to saves instead of a resistance one), items that permanently give you Displacement or Greater Mirror Image?

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:19 am

GawainBS wrote:Have you considered the classics? Rings of Deflection +5, Amulets of Natural Armour +5, Rings of Freedom of Movement, Cloaks of Resistance +5, Cloaks of some other kind of Resistance +5 (for example: a sacred bonus to saves instead of a resistance one), items that permanently give you Displacement or Greater Mirror Image?

Yes to Deflection, Natural Armour, and Cloak of Resistance. As a cleric I'll be casting Visage of a Deity on myself (resistance to all elements +10). Hadn't thought of Displacement or Greater Mirror Image though. That might be a good idea. How does one get a "sacred" bonus to saves? I've got Boots of Speed and a Pearl of the Sirines (but the freedom of movement only works under water). The ranger just bought a ring that gives blinking, and the fencer just got a belt of battle. The blinking ring I find kind of sucks because it can only be used once per day, and only lasts one minute. I did buy a few divine scrolls of healing so that we won't die too quickly.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:05 am

[url="http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/magicItemsCreation.html"]Here's[/url] a table that sums up the costs of custom magic items. I believe a +5 sacred/luck/whatever to saves costs 50 000 gp. I really recommend Rings of Freedom of Movement for everybody, or you casting it prior to engaging. Grappling is the bane of PCs.

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:16 pm

GawainBS wrote:[url="http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/magicItemsCreation.html"]Here's[/url] a table that sums up the costs of custom magic items. I believe a +5 sacred/luck/whatever to saves costs 50 000 gp. I really recommend Rings of Freedom of Movement for everybody, or you casting it prior to engaging. Grappling is the bane of PCs.

I agree that grappling sucks for PCs, unless you've got an Enlarge scroll, or ability. Still, it only helps so much.
In the words of another PC, "the DM's being cheap." A +5 sacred/luck/whatever is a weapon that needs to be made, and is not premade. Essentially if it's not in the DMG, or the Magic Item Compendium, we can't it. Why? The end of the world is happening in 15 minutes, not a week from now.

Guess I'm more limited than I thought I was.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:21 pm

It's not a weapon, it's a cloak/ring/whatever. Your DM knows that "custom" magic items are as likely to come up as those mentioned in DMG or MIC? Your PC wouldn't be the first to think of making such items. Try to convince him.
I agree on grappling being a DM's crutch. Still, if he has some Gargantuan monster (which many high CR's are), you're pretty much screwed if he decides to grapple.
If you feel heroic, you could destroy a bag of holding to take out the final boss.

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:26 pm

GawainBS wrote:It's not a weapon, it's a cloak/ring/whatever. Your DM knows that "custom" magic items are as likely to come up as those mentioned in DMG or MIC? Your PC wouldn't be the first to think of making such items. Try to convince him.
I agree on grappling being a DM's crutch. Still, if he has some Gargantuan monster (which many high CR's are), you're pretty much screwed if he decides to grapple.
If you feel heroic, you could destroy a bag of holding to take out the final boss.

Well if you say that's true, then I'll definitely try to convince him.
I can't think of a time where we haven't had to avoid, or go into a grapple battle. The last encounter we had, had nothing but. We still lost though, and now the world's about to end because of it.
Does destroying a bag of holding take out any final boss? Like say a Greater God (that Tiamat and Nerull both fear) that we failed the group of evil clerics from releasing?

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:29 pm

Well, if you have so many grapples, why not buy those rings? It's a staple of every build.
I don't know it by heart, but bringing a bag of holding in one or the other dimension or destroying it, deals tremendous damage to everything its radius. Search for Bag of Holding + destruction, or something like that.

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:38 pm

Try as I might, I couldn't get the custom luck item. I was, however, allowed to get a luckstone for 20k instead. Not quite the same thing, but take what you can get right?

I'm trying to think what I should go for with regards to head equipment. I've narrowed it down to these:
Helm of glorious recovery and Dragon Visor attached
Circlet of Rapid Casting
Circlet of Blasting (major)

Given that I'm a cleric, I was thinking of taking rapid casting. The dragon visor can only be used if you have a helmet, and it gives you darkvision (which I don't have). If I don't get it though, I'll just get a pair of goggles, or the moonstone stone mask as a replament.

What do you think I should take?

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:49 am

Rapid Casting. You have spells enough that can emulate Darkvision. (Blindsight springs to mind, not sure if you Darkvision as a spell.)

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:19 am

GawainBS wrote:Rapid Casting. You have spells enough that can emulate Darkvision. (Blindsight springs to mind, not sure if you Darkvision as a spell.)

I've got light and daylight as spells. Hopefully I'm ready enough for tonight.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:22 am

Run over the Spell Compendium again before the battle. There might be some hidden gems you missed. Good luck.

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:53 pm

Blast! He won't let me take either the rapid casting circlet or the glorious recovery helm because they're too cheap with regards to power. Meaning that they're overpowered for not enough gold.

In exchange, he's letting me customize gloves with the luckstone.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 2:42 am

Offer more gold for the circlet? This is purely from memory, but I believe there's a Rod of Metamagic-Quicken for 60 000gp. Even if it's only for lvl 1 - 3 spells, it's worth it since they're only a swift action to cast.

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 5:06 am

It was still considered too cheap. I ended up being able to get the helm of glorious recovery, gloves of true striking, the luckstone, and the golden visor.

The final battle is probably going to take us a while, but I'm already down a whole whack of spells, and we're getting whomped by guys that have hook hands and three legs, and now a gargantuan spider that gives you nightmares just from the sight of it is about to attack us. We're SO in trouble.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:13 am

Cast Gate? Miracle?

kevin video · Post by **kevin video** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:14 am

Don't have those spells.