Quote:
Originally Posted by
Zonugal
Besides not showing a tenth level Wizard, to which this discussion was primarily geared towards, you have provided a purely theoretical build which will nearly never see actual play.
You are aware that at about 11th level a Wizard can start casting 9th level spells? (If built properly of course)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Zonugal
This is the fallacy of the uber-mage. The more theoretical a wizard gets the more paranoid they'll become to a point in which they no longer exist in any practical essence. If we were to take every paranoid wizard to its true limit than they would never leave their own demi-plane. They'd never have a reason for it and thus they'd never instigate a reason for a foe to hunt them down. If you wrap a character in enough protection & safety they begin to close themselves off from the world.
Actually if we were to take every paranoid Wizard to its truest limit then we'd end up with Vecna :smalltongue:
To be even more accurate we'd end up putting a lot of the Netherese Arcanist into this category, specifically: Karsus (****ing insane if you actually read his backstory), Ioulaum (Eh... Not to paranoid... a little crazy though...), Larloch (Probably more then all the rest), Aumver (Read his section in
Champions of Ruin), and especially Telamont (His son is a friken Demigod, he has the right to be paranoid)
Hell we can even add some Thayan Red Wizards into the mix (Szass Tam to be specific) but the major point is, is that a LOT of Wizards are crazy as hell and would most likely make an army of Ice Assassin's in a heartbeat (Lets not even discuss what the God's might do with such techniques)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Zonugal
So yes, your hermit of a Wizard is indestructible. But he's also effectively nonexistent in his own world out of his own fear-based isolation.
To true I'm afraid... But honestly? How do you challenge the truly paranoid Wizard? Seriously... With them being able to pull off Contingent spells for
almost every single little situation why would they ever want to fight you or anyone else for that matter. Personally this is why I believe when Archwizards fight they resort to subterfuge rather then a direct confrontation (Since a direct fight between a
Non-Divine Vecna and
Karsus would overall result in the destruction of so many planes that whatever they are fighting over wouldn't even matter at that point...)
So does the Uber-Paranoid Wizard exist in D&D? Yes, to an extent but not to the point of completely cutting themselves off from the entire world (Except for Telamont, who hid away in the (Demi)Plane of Shadow for a good millennium)
Does Tippy go overboard with his world domination schemes? You bet your friken ass he does (Even going to the point of setting the new bar for the Paranoid Wizard) I mean if most Wizards thought of the stuff Tippy did then Toril would be bowing before there new Shade overlords in a matter of weeks and Vecna would be ruling the entire Multiverse in a matter of days instead of a matter of settings. In conclusion: Tippy's schemes most definitely do equal win... However this doesn't mean you should be doing the whole Ice Assassin trick the moment the DM looks away or start gating in a Solar Army just to fuel your Spells... I guess to summarize this: Think before you go off using one of Tippy's tricks, Sure it works by RAW but the point is, is that it was meant to see as much play as Pun Pun or The Wish/The Word.