9th lvl Wizard on Bodyguard Duty

[RolandDeschain]

Title tells most of the story.

My 9th level wizard is acting as a temporary bodyguard for a high level dignitary. I should mention that I'm 3 levels into Incantatrix and I'm trying my best to NOT be obnoxious with my ability to persist spells.

One simple question - what spells should I prep and cast on my ward, assuming she is willing to allow it?

[dextercorvia]

Title tells most of the story.

My 9th level wizard is acting as a temporary bodyguard for a high level dignitary. I should mention that I'm 3 levels into Incantatrix and I'm trying my best to NOT be obnoxious with my ability to persist spells.

One simple question - what spells should I prep and cast on my ward, assuming she is willing to allow it?

Telepathic Bond.

[sideswipe]

is your wizard a specialist? do you know most common spells?

locate creature, so if he gets kidnapped you can follow, or you can follow a would be assailant after a failed attempt
summon Y, could always use backup
dim door, to escape a trap
gentle repose.... just in case he dies, its much cheaper and easier to revive him with revivify.
flight X 2, self explains
grease, because always grease
invisibility sphere, easy to get away. go invisible, step to the side, and then dim door away, then for overkill fly away further.
expeditious retreat.

essentially spells that avoid combat. as most wizards should when in a defensive position. you will be fighting on the assailants terms, their chosen ground. to stand and fight would be a very bad tactical decision. you will probably fail, as any assailant would be prepared to fight you directly and know how to.
so get out of there. he paid you to protect him, not to kill/die for him.

if you want to get revenge on the attackers, you then find out who they were, and then you prepare an assault. on your terms, much more tactically sound.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Prepare Celerity and Teleport. If you get attacked get your dignitary to a previously prepared safehouse, then worry about dealing with the attackers.

[MrBright01]

As many illusions as you can layer, all showing the dignitary within 5ft of another illusion. Hide actual dignitary in your bag of holding with a tube shoved through the opening for air and communication.Loan the bag to your rogue or other stealth specialist and tell them to go hide somewhere, somewhere you don't know about so they can't get the info from you.

or, just persist flying or invisibility for the day and hang out somewhere most foes will not be able to find you (random sewer) or as high as you can in the air (and buy a few tanglefoot bags just in case).

Or, hell, plan around gentle repose that sideswipe. LET THEM kill him, then revive. Or let them think they killed him with a carefully controlled illusion.

[KillianHawkeye]

Well there's a lot of basic, low-profile defensive spells you can use: Mage Armor, Protection from Arrows, Protection from <Expected Alignment> (or Magic Circle), and Bear's Endurance. Maybe Contingency something. You can't manage True Seeing yet, but you can at least get a See Invisibility going on yourself so you can react to magically hidden threats.

Beyond that, you'll want some BFC, stealth, or GTFO prepared as others have recommended. And as always, have a backup plan.

If you can, try to UMD some Shield Other or Death Ward, or possibly Neutralize Poison depending on the nature of the threat.

[RolandDeschain]

Good suggestions so far. I like telepathic bond and celerity especially.

I should have mentioned that everyone in the party(8 of us - I know that's a large party) has been assigned a dignitary, and we are at a conference.

Persisted telepathic bond, celerity, then regroup(CL 9) at the first sign of trouble is a pretty decent plan. Teleport unfortunately doesn't work - the numbers are too great(16 people...yikes!) + the DM has nerfed that particular spell.

[Arc_knight25]

How have they nerfed teleport?

Also depending on how you play your wizard, you have only been charged with the life of 1 dignitary. So Teleport most definitely work to get you and your dignitary out, maybe grab a few other pairings and let the others find their own way out. Of course this option should only be used in dire straits.

[dascarletm]

Make sure to have anti divination spells up as well.

You'll want any would be assailants to be blind to what they are getting into.

False Vision, if you'll be stationary.

Depending on how much say you have over the dignitaries daily schedule (as you are in charge of his/her safety you should have some say) make sure you know what you are getting into beforehand. Spells like passwall and wall of stone can impede would be attackers.

If combat arises I'd have nerveskitter at the ready to go first. On the first round wall yourself off, then get out in following rounds. Spells like dimensional anchor will help slow your assailants as well.

[RolandDeschain]

How have they nerfed teleport?

Also depending on how you play your wizard, you have only been charged with the life of 1 dignitary. So Teleport most definitely work to get you and your dignitary out, maybe grab a few other pairings and let the others find their own way out. Of course this option should only be used in dire straits.

As in no teleport spell...lol...maybe "nerfed" wasn't the right word

[nedz]

Lesser Globe of Invulnerability might be worth while, as would a few Dispel Magics perhaps ?

[Jack_Simth]

As in no teleport spell...lol...maybe "nerfed" wasn't the right word

Is Dimension Door still a thing? Tack on Featherfall and you're good, just always make sure to have a spot picked out to go.

[jiriku]

Battlemagic perception is a good choice. You can automatically sense the use of spells (even stilled and silent spells) and SLAs cast within 100 ft, and you can expend the spell to get an immediate counterspell attempt.

[Kantolin]

Otiluke's resilient sphere and invisibility?

A lot of normal attacks are halted by a resilient sphere, and invisibility already lasts awhile.

[Promises Kept]

It's arguably cheese, but you could plausibly use Lesser Planar Binding to get a Nightmare to Astral Project the dignitary. Then you keep his/her body safe elsewhere while the Projection is in danger. As a one-time thing, your DM might be willing to allow it, but be wary of opening up these sort of tactics in a normal game.

[Know(Nothing)]

Seconding Battlemagic Perception, even though it is an utter nightmare to deal with as a DM.

[RolandDeschain]

Seconding Battlemagic Perception, even though it is an utter nightmare to deal with as a DM.

I like it, and am definitely going to try it.

[Sagitta]

Hide actual dignitary in your bag of holding ... Loan the bag to your rogue ... tell them to go hide somewhere, somewhere you don't know about ...

Nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan.