NPC concept: the princess unexpectedly develops sorcerous powers. A decade later, after various political convulsions, she's a queen.
Level would be Ari 2/Sor 11. Alignment is NG or LG. The sorcery is almost secondary -- she's an intelligent woman who's trying to control a restive kingdom. As the sole survivor of a decade of dynastic warfare, her first interest is to hold the throne and maintain the fragile peace. That said, plausible bloodlines would be destined, arcane, or fey.
She's not the most powerful caster in the kingdom, but there are only a few who are more powerful, and none of them work for her. So, she'd want high level spells that could be useful.
So: what would be her feats and spells? Still Spell and Silent Spell, right off, so she can cast without being obvious about it. (As a queen she can afford metamagic rods, but that wasn't always the case.) Skill Focus (sense motive), because that's a survival skill. In her early career, as a key piece in an bloody inter-family struggle, I imagine she would tend towards self-protection and enchantment/compulsion. As a Queen she'd probably shift towards divination. Possible 6th level spells would include Antimagic Field and Contingency (because they're so damn useful), Legend Lore, Geas/Quest, and Mislead. Possible 5th level spells might include Break Enchantment, Mage's Private Sanctum, Secret Chest, Contact Other Plane, Prying Eyes, Telepathic Bond, Dominate Person, Sending, Dream, False Vision (a spell to foil scrying? gotta think so), Seeming, Magic Jar (lots of possible plots there), Telekinesis, and Permanency. (She could have used that last to cast permanent See Invisibility, Arcane Sight and Resistance on herself.)
Magic items... as a queen, she has nearly unlimited wealth. Let's say that she has PC wealth, but also access to 3x that amount of treasure that belongs to the kingdom. Stuff in this category should be "dual-use" and not necessarily optimized for her particularly.
Thoughts?
Doug M.
At 11th level she would be limited to 5th level spells so Antimagic Field is out. Clairvoyance would be invaluable, same with alot of other divination spells as you mentioned. Illusion spells could be quite useful as well. I could also see her using enchantment spells as well.
Charm Person if done subtly on messangers and envoys could prove useful in getting information out of them that they normally wouldn't share. If the spell was dispelled or canceled as they left her presence it could very well be chalked up to her personal charisma as to why they felt so free of tongue.
Dominate Person very useful. Make an enemey a loyal servant. Also dont forget that Dominate person last 1 day/level and during that time the caster can read the thoughts of the subject.
Non-detection or similar abjurations so her enemies can not spy on her.
Detect Thoughts would be amazingly useful. She could even use it as a Loyalty-Detector to make sure there are no spies in her ranks.
Disquise Self and Alter Self would let her move around without being recognized and get the true view of how things are when shes not around.
I like both sets of ideas.
She has "people," they do things for her like mind the budget, and go on adventures.
Divination and Enchantment spells are what I would give her. And spells for personal protection or escape (dimension door, teleport).
Maybe wall of force or resilient sphere.
Ah, I was thinking 13th level and forgot the two levels of Ari. (Though, wow, some of those 6th level spells would be useful.)
Still Silent Charm Person is a classic for a reason; just 3rd level, and as you say, it can easily get chalked up to her personal charisma. Still Silent Detect Thoughts and Still Silent Suggestion are good too. I think we want to run up her Bluff skill... is she just sitting there lost in thought for a few seconds, or is she casting some brain-melting enchantment?
Wall of Force, yep, for emergencies. Dim Door because Dim Door.
Feats? Magic items?
Doug M.
If she's going to be using lots of enchantments, then Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus just make sense. Obviously she will want Still Spell and Silent Spell. At her level, one of the +2/+2 feats might be a better choice than Skill Focus; Alertness never hurt anyone. Let's see: Persistent Spell also comes to mind.
Douglas Muir 406 wrote: Ah, I was thinking 13th level and forgot the two levels of Ari. (Though, wow, some of those 6th level spells would be useful.)
Still Silent Charm Person is a classic for a reason; just 3rd level, and as you say, it can easily get chalked up to her personal charisma. Still Silent Detect Thoughts and Still Silent Suggestion are good too. I think we want to run up her Bluff skill... is she just sitting there lost in thought for a few seconds, or is she casting some brain-melting enchantment?
Wall of Force, yep, for emergencies. Dim Door because Dim Door.
Feats? Magic items?
Doug M.
Amulet of Mindshielding (or ring or whatever it is or similar item that protects from divination/scrying/mind reading/etc...)
Some item that protects against poison.
A Trusted loyal personal guard wearing the Ring of Friend Shielding or whatever that ring is that does the spell "Shield Other".
A gem of True Seeing or perhaps a few well placed Magic Items that radiate Invisibility Purge.
I would definitely give her a magic item that grants her freedom of movement. Entangling/grappling/immobility are great ways to disable casters, let alone queens. She would likely be well aware of this, and while a 40,000 gp item is expensive, it's well within the allotment you're giving her.
This isn't necessary for an NPC, but if you have a feat to spare to throw in Leadership -- this gives you some guidelines to build the level of her "champion" (cohort) and courtiers, guards, and even apprentices. Definitely not necessary, just an idea that crossed my mind.
Also totally just a random thought, take or leave--but given a) that she has aristocrat levels and thus martial weapon and armor proficiency, and b) the nobility in many old cultures are expected to be warriors -- I might give her Arcane Strike and/or Arcane Armor Training as a fallback. In fact, of the two I'd prioritize Arcane Armor Training -- being able to don a magic chain shirt and ignore its spell failure chance could be very helpful. Relatively cheap item boosts AC and won't hinder her spellcasting (heck, a mithral chain shirt only has 5% spell failure chance, IIRC, you could even risk using that without the feat...). Again, I'd only do it if she had room for the feats, but since she has the proficiencies, may as well make use of them--especially since I like the image of a queen bearing a magic sword in one hand and a fireball in the other... (she actually qualifies for Eldritch Knight with Aristocrat levels interestingly enough, but I probably wouldn't go that route).
Hmm. If she's Arcane bloodline and takes a familiar, her familiar grants her Alertness, which nets her +4 bonuses on Perception and Sense Motive (assuming she keeps both skills topped out). That would be very useful in a politically charged court.
Perhaps add Persuasive for corresponding Diplomacy/Intimidate bonuses? Of course with a Sorcerer's charisma, she'll have great scores on those anyway.
Save boosters are always good. Great Fortitude would be helpful against poisoning attempts, and Lightning Reflexes to duck when the visiting "ambassador" turns out to be a fireball-throwing assassin mage.
Tinalles wrote: Hmm. If she's Arcane bloodline and takes a familiar, her familiar grants her Alertness, which nets her +4 bonuses on Perception and Sense Motive. True! OTOH, Destined Bloodline lets her grant herself +5 to her next skill check eight or nine times per day. Mind, it's one round duration, so it's no good for skills that either pop up unexpectedly (Perception) or take longer than one round (Diplomacy). But for Bluff and Sense Motive, it's pretty sweet.
Doug M.
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