I just wanted to congratulate the AoW designers on coming up with a superb idea that I never thought of myself and that is all of the
Foreshadowing:
i.e. the sole purpose of Two scenes so far has been to allow the PCs to prepare ahead for what will probably be the two toughest encounters relative to level in the AoW.
1, Seeing the Mind Flayer ahead of time and being prepared for it by casting Spell Immunity or some such ....
and
2, Getting a look at Darl Quenthos with the Hand of Vecna. This should inevitably lead smart players to research the Hand a bit, find out about the Blasphemy ability, think about the Spell a bit, realize that not only is the Hand's use of it deadly but that the spell itself is way too deadly espescially given that any BBEBG who casts it might just be 5 levels higher than the average PC, and that there is not alot one can do with no save, except.......
the redoubtable Silence spell, or counterspelling it with Holy word, which I would probably allow even though I don't know its RAW legality.
This is especially true with the Half-Fiend Template where the caster level of the Spell Like ability is at the HD of the creature. Now think of an unprepared party and a Half-Fiend dragon....When I think of this I imagine players en masse yelling and screaming, this is unfair, no saving throw, there is no way out, i.e. Kobiyashi Maru....shudder....think of the silence spell, and relax....
If your Wizards are going to put all those points into Knowledge(arcana) they might as well use them...