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As listed in the title; You have 30 rounds to save the world from complete destruction. The entire nuclear arsenal of the world, fifteen thousand nukes, have been launched, and is directed to burn the world in fire. All your possessions, your demiplane, and everything you possess have been teleported with you.
If you do not save the earth, you cease to exist.
You only have to save 40% of the population.
Rules:
-No Wishes (Edit: Or miracles, or similar abilities).
-You can cast spells on earth; After you finish casting spells, so can anyone else.
-After this, gods, the planes, all of it applies to earth suddenly.
-No custom magic items.
-It actually doesn't have to be wizard, but wizard seems most applicable.
-DSP materials is available. As is Spheres of Power.
-Otherwise, follow RAW. Abuse the rules in any way you can to save the world.
If three minutes is not enough time, is 10? 30? What's the lowest amount of time you'd need.
So no Wishes, and I don't have to be a wizard?
Great time to be a Cleric. A Miracle ought to take care of this. Come on Brigh! Don't let all of Earth's creative minds be consumed by nuclear hellfire!
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As listed in the title; You have 30 rounds to save the world from complete destruction. The entire nuclear arsenal of the world, fifteen thousand nukes, have been launched, and is directed to burn the world in fire. All your possessions, your demiplane, and everything you possess.
If you do not save the earth, you cease to exist.
Rules:
-No Wishes (Edit: Or miracles, or similar abilities).
-You can cast spells on earth; After you finish casting spells, so can anyone else.
-After this, gods, the planes, all of it applies to earth suddenly.
-No custom magic items.
-It actually doesn't have to be wizard, but wizard seems most applicable.
-DSP materials is available. As is Spheres of Power.
This is where you find that Wizards played by rules DO have limits on how much they can alter reality with just a "twist of the finger".
A copious amount of time stop and a copy of How to defuse a bomb for Dummies.
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Do I just have to save the people on earth, or just the floating rock in space?
I see many many "Contingency" spells (When nuke = here then teleport nuke = sun?) cast during Time Stop.
According to most action movies there should be an "Abort" button conveniently placed somewhere.
I teleport to it.
Thank you, thank you. I'll take my fame and glory now. Hold on ladies, there's enough of me to go around.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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There are essentially 2 methods. 1) stopping the nukes, 2) protecting the targets.
1) 15,000 nukes / 30 rounds = 500 nukes per round. Impossible under given parameters. About as close as you could get would be if you had max Leadership, 163 followers +1 cohort, all of a race with flight and rings of telekinesis. You spend all your rounds teleporting them into low orbit to use their rings of telekinesis to kinetic kill the nukes and hope fratricide will destroy more than one nuke per follower per round. Problematic because 3 minutes remaining means that the nukes are way close to detonation, therefore more dispersed geographically, so fratricide is less likely. Also fallout would prob still wipe out all life, it'd just take longer.
2) 15,000 nukes with MIRV warheads = 15k x ?? targets. Also impossible.
But tbh reacting to a worst case scenario is not how wizards operate. Preventing it is. The earlier you can prevent, the easier it is. For instance, the followers-with-rings-of-telekinesis kinetic kill tactic works much better if you can hit them at launch, thus destroying the other nukes that haven't yet been launched from each launch site. Also less problem with fallout in that case because launch sites tend to be fairly remote, afaik. Even easier if you can get them before launch; it doesn't take much imagination to see how something as simple as charm person in the right place could prevent the whole mess.
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1) Okay, I, by which I assume you mean my body, ceases to exist. Then my clone wakes up and I go about my day.
Assuming for some reason that "ceasing to exist" includes every single contingency I ever designed, including contingencies against "ceasing to exist" for this very purpose, I go with (2), below.
2) There'll be an abort button somewhere. I cast Discern Location to find it, Greater Teleport to teleport to it. I push it. I spend the next twenty-eight rounds summoning succubi to grapple in celebration of my victory.
This is what any tier 1 class would do. They should never die if they use their powers.
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I'm really surprised no one has said "chain gate, commence" or something similar, yet.
I mean, if we're presupposing RAW, it's... weird.
Like, if I, as myself, suddenly gained *poof* 20 levels of wizard + "appropriate equipment" (and the baseline necessary stats to do such a thing) what does that mean, exactly?
Have I been presumed to always have been a wizard, just no custom magic items? Do I just spontaneously, lacking any history of wizardry, start as if I gained all the levels at once? Do I spend WBL?
Because that changes everything, and it does so with whatever scenario you place in front of us.
The easiest thing to point at is an infinite (or near enough to not care) army of simulacra that a wizard who's trying to "break the system" already has by this point.
With nothing but simulacrum and WBL, I can get () 1760 HD-worth of creatures.
That's 103 of those previously-linked gate archons (and an extra 9 HD), meaning 103 gate spells at my command, each generating 17-34 (depending on what I called) HD of creatures to help out. Per day.
Heck, even if you presume the CL goes down in an equal manner for some reason (a valid guess from certain GMs' perspectives), that's still 103*8 = 824 HD-worth of creatures (at minimum) that could be called... including more gate archons (an aside: though they'd be uncontrolled, I would tend to think they'd want to stop a nuclear apocalypse).
Given that they can greater teleport and plane shift (and can gate in more gate archons)... each round, you'd double your previous "host" of archons that are added to those summoned (so, going for minimum, here), by round:
- (0) 48 ->
- (1) 48+96=144 ->
- (2) 48+96+192=336 ->
- (3) 48+96+192+384=720 ->
- (4) 48+96+192+384+768=1488 ->
- (5) 48+96+192+384+768+1536=3024 ->
- (6) 48+96+192+384+768+1536+3072=6096 ->
- (7) 48+96+...+3072+6144=12240 ->
- (8) 48+...+6144+12288=24528 ->
- (9) 48+...+12288+24576=49104 ->
- (10) 48+...+24576+49152=98256
By round 10, you've enough archons to cover all the missiles multiples of times with archons (specifically 6.5504 times over, given the 15k number mentioned in the OP).
As for stopping it, you've got a metric ton of archons (specifically 49152) who haven't used their gate abilities for the day, and all the archons with plane shift and teleport - teleport to a missile and plane shift it out somewhere that it doesn't matter, or just open up gates directly in the flight paths thereof to somewhere that can get blown up or have toxic waste dumped everywhere and no one will care.
That is one possibility. Note that this is presuming a wizard who is not really prepared, but has time to instantly recreate his backstory with no custom items or anything.
How about I just move the earth after the missiles are launched? As silly as that sounds with enough strength that can be done.
According to the challenge, you have to show how you can do it within the rules and the conditions provided.
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Hmm.... if leadership is allowed. Then this can be done at level 15, with copious amounts of followers and cohorts. But, we'll go to level 20.
Class X 5 levels/Noble Scion 10 levels/Class Y 5 levels
With its "Greater Leadership" ability, you now have a cohort of equal level.
We now have countless Cohorts, Followers, and Servitors. With those we now have nigh-unlimited funds.
Everyone will have extended Delay Poison or Neutralize Poison cast upon them, since according to the Technology Guide, radiation is a poison effect. Copious amounts of Resist Energy and Protection from Energy as well.
Anyone that dies can be reincarnated or raised.
or
They all just cast Rebuke Technology. The "Legion" would have enough castings of the spell through scrolls or wands or personally casting the spell that the nuke assault will fail.
or
Using antitech field they can put themselves in the path of the nukes. They'll either detonate or fall harmlessly to the ground, either case. That'll be round one, during the nuke launches.
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True Round 1: I cast Planeshift to move myself to my Permanent Greater Demiplane with the "Timeless" quality in relation to Magic.
True Round 2: I cast Time Stop. Due to the "Timeless" quality of my Demi Plane the effect is permanent until I choose to remove it. The entire universe stands still, except for me.
Apparent Round 3-30: I realize I no longer have just 30 rounds in which to deal with this problem, and calm myself down by brewing up a nice hot cup of tea, since anything I carried with me at the casting of Time Stop was also affected and every wizard is prepared to prepare tea.
Apparent Round 31-??: Anything I want. I could choose to research a specific high level spell in order to handle the problem such as "Mass Call Object", in order to bring all of the missiles to my Demiplane where I can deal with them by merely petrifying them or transmuting them into something interesting like flora for my Demiplane.
True Round 3: I dispel my Time Stop effect and wait for the world to realize that it's entire stock of Nuclear weapons has effectively ceased to exist. I probably take steps to protect myself since apparently now everyone on Earth is going to realize that magic is a thing now, and things are going to go to hell in a hand basket no matter what I do anymore.
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Rule 1: Wizards Cheat
The optimized 20th level wizard looks at this situation and laughs. Then they plane shift to one of their private demiplanes, give a command to a simulacrum a great wyrm time dragon, and travel back in time to whenever they please, preventing the nuclear apocalypse before it even begins.
Yup Wizard would know better, no need to panic, there's a great wyrm time dragon in Glorian, ah! 3 minutes? just enough to make myself a cup of tea.
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I am a level 20 wizard, which means i obviously have the immortality discovery,
1st round starndard action, empower maximize summon monster to sommon
9 angels and have them follow me and say to ppl to get in the gate.
2nd round i teleport me and the angels to some major city (using a scroll of it that i obvioulsy have saved from my infinite down time)
3rd round I would gate using my scroll and the angels would say their lines, k, one city saved
4th and 5th round. repeat 2 and 3.
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If the missiles have some sort of abort capability you port in to the Kremlin and the White House, control the leaders and make them use the abort.
Pretty much this: nine greater teleports and nine dominate persons, so 18 rounds (less if you quicken a bunch of them with rods). Start by holding your actions for 12+ rounds to make it more dramatic.
I have enjoyed all the repleis here, all i have to say ... I f****** love Scry and fry.
My classical understanding of "Scry and Fry" - use Scry, buff, then teleport to the target of your Scry - is no longer valid. Rules in Ultimate Intrigue make it clear that it doesn't work.
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I have enjoyed all the repleis here, all i have to say ... I f****** love Scry and fry.My classical understanding of "Scry and Fry" - use Scry, buff, then teleport to the target of your Scry - is no longer valid. Rules in Ultimate Intrigue make it clear that it doesn't work.
oohh :(.
could you attach a link to verify that?.
Still, it is a valid option, perhaps not in this case.
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I spend four minutes talking about how much better I am than any martial characters.
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... okay, I was curious.
... sorry. I'm weak.
Ahem. Right. Numbers.
Last time:
- (10) 48+...+24576+49152=98256
Now:
- (11) +98304
- (12) +196608
- (13) +393216
- (14) +786432
- (15) +1572864
- (16) +3145728
- (17) +6291456
- (18) +12582912
- (19) +25165824
- (20) +50331648
- (21) +100,663,296
- (22) +201,326,592
- (23) +402,653,184
- (24) +805,306,368
- (25) +1,610,612,736
- (26) +3,221,225,472
- (27) +6,442,450,944
- (28) +12,884,901,888
- (29) +25,769,803,776
- round 30; have 25 billion+ magical gates open up, simultaneously. Profit.
(Also, by default, as I've now exceeded the population of earth almost three-and-a-half times, if the archons alone survive, I'll definitely eclipse my 40%-or-higher mark...)
And, just so my four-year-old can type the last "plus double the previous" number...
- (30) +51,539,607,552
Oh, and two clarifications on my previous post.
This does not refer to crafting magical items - just to crafting regular items. This is actually quite valid, because...
This. This isn't a presumption, on my part, beyond just accepting outsider traits as being what they say they are.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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I think there are some faulty assumptions in some of the answers. 1) I seriously doubt there's an in-flight abort button somewhere. 2) Time of flight for most of these weapons will be substantially more than 3 minutes, so a 3 minute timeline means you can't simply destroy them at launch. You will be destroying them as they descend toward their targets, maybe even after MIRV warheads have deployed.
I also understood as part of the constraints that a) you didn't have unlimited time prior to the event to e.g., make simulacra, b) WBL wasn't a constraint, and c) no custom magic items, spells, etc. (which would also preclude time travel).
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*You're
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I also understood as part of the constraints that a) you didn't have unlimited time prior to the event to e.g., make simulacra, b) WBL wasn't a constraint, and c) no custom magic items, spells, etc. (which would also preclude time travel).
Here's the problem, though: you're imposing limits the OP didn't.
For myself, I explicitly noted the problems with the initial set-up.
Here, I'll recount that bit:
I mean, if we're presupposing RAW, it's... weird.
Like, if I, as myself, suddenly gained *poof* 20 levels of wizard + "appropriate equipment" (and the baseline necessary stats to do such a thing) what does that mean, exactly?
Have I been presumed to always have been a wizard, just no custom magic items? Do I just spontaneously, lacking any history of wizardry, start as if I gained all the levels at once? Do I spend WBL?
Because that changes everything, and it does so with whatever scenario you place in front of us.
The easiest thing to point at is an infinite (or near enough to not care) army of simulacra that a wizard who's trying to "break the system" already has by this point.
With nothing but simulacrum and WBL, I can get () 1760 HD-worth of creatures.
Let's look at what the OP said, again.
As listed in the title; You have 30 rounds to save the world from complete destruction. The entire nuclear arsenal of the world, fifteen thousand nukes, have been launched, and is directed to burn the world in fire. All your possessions, your demiplane, and everything you possess have been teleported with you.
If you do not save the earth, you cease to exist.
You only have to save 40% of the population.
Rules:
-No Wishes (Edit: Or miracles, or similar abilities).
-You can cast spells on earth; After you finish casting spells, so can anyone else.
-After this, gods, the planes, all of it applies to earth suddenly.
-No custom magic items.
-It actually doesn't have to be wizard, but wizard seems most applicable.
-DSP materials is available. As is Spheres of Power.
-Otherwise, follow RAW. Abuse the rules in any way you can to save the world.If three minutes is not enough time, is 10? 30? What's the lowest amount of time you'd need.
Note this part:
All your possessions, your demiplane, and everything you possess have been teleported with you.
See that? That means the wizard (probably) "already exists" - s/he's 20th level, s/he has all "your possessions, your demiplane, and everything you possess" - everything that was once hers.
So, for my option, I literally just took my WBL at 20th level (880k), spent it all on simulacrum and waited. My reasoning for why I'd have 880k to spend on simulacrum is explained at the bottom - i.e. why it wasn't "I spent a bajillion years prepping for this exact thing" but rather "I happen to be a wizard with the simulacrum spell" (who used it to rather middling effect).
This isn't a wizard that's "prepared" for this specific eventuality. This is just... a wizard with simulacrum as a spell.
If there is no WBL time-constraint? Crap, dude. Just have moons-worth of coins and open the chain gate, point to it and missiles, yell something vaguely coherent, and let it the rest happen on its own exactly as written. No simulacrum or custom items needed.
The problem is that the scenario we're given so so very, very open-ended that it doesn't really mesh with coherence. Don't get me wrong, it's a great question and scenario, but it doesn't make sense on its own, because we're lacking the context.
What <insert caster class here>? (I used wizard because it's easy and it was the one the OP mentioned in the title.)
Who are they? (This will have a massive impact on how they handle a situation.)
What does "no custom items" mean? (What does "custom" mean in this case - can we make our own items, if they're pre-printed? If not, what are the limits? I chose a reasonable limit - wealth by level - to show that, sans custom items, it can be spent in non-traditional ways.)
I mean, the OP explicitly notes,
-Otherwise, follow RAW. Abuse the rules in any way you can to save the world.
... and if that's what we're doing, I assure you, that said wizards "possessions" would be far, far greater than a mere piddly 103 simulacra of gate archons.
But that's the absurdity - what seems like a reasonable and thought-filled exercise is mostly an exercise in "How absurd (for a non-pejorative absurdity) do you want it to get?"
I mean, you're a 20th level wizard, Harry. You've already "had time" for "stuff" to happen (though with a few weirdly arbitrary constraints).
I mean, heck, define "survive" - a viable "strat" would be letting the holocaust occur, then having a host of (chain-gated) celestials come in and eliminate the radiation (as noted above), fix the environment, and raise everyone from the dead.
It's a very straightforward (and cool) question, but it immediately brings a host of really, really weird issues along side it by the nature of the elements it chooses to interact with. :)
b) WBL wasn't a constraint, and c) no custom magic items, spells, etc.
Okay, here's another chain-gate, if this isn't an issue.
Grab an N/I number of candles of invocation with a lawful good alignment (Core Rulebook, any page). Follow the instructions I wrote in my first chain-gate post in this thread. ENJOY~! :D
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I think there are some faulty assumptions in some of the answers. 1) I seriously doubt there's an in-flight abort button somewhere. 2) Time of flight for most of these weapons will be substantially more than 3 minutes, so a 3 minute timeline means you can't simply destroy them at launch. You will be destroying them as they descend toward their targets, maybe even after MIRV warheads have deployed.
I also understood as part of the constraints that a) you didn't have unlimited time prior to the event to e.g., make simulacra, b) WBL wasn't a constraint, and c) no custom magic items, spells, etc. (which would also preclude time travel).
1) You are correct; No abort button.
2) Indeed; They are in mid-flight, you'll have to stop them somehow. Maybe gate them when they land.a) You indeed, don't have unlimtied time to plan; You only have what a standard wizard has prepared to deal with threats that might assail him durring the day.
b) If you can bend WBL, you can do so.
c) Indeed; No creating magic items that don't already exsist; You can craft them.
As for the questions of who they are, and other such things, just go with the standard wizard, hidden on his demiplane.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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b) WBL wasn't a constraint, and c) no custom magic items, spells, etc.Okay, here's another chain-gate, if this isn't an issue.
Grab an N/I number of candles of invocation with a lawful good alignment (Core Rulebook, any page). Follow the instructions I wrote in my first chain-gate post in this thread. ENJOY~! :D
You couldn't activate all the candles yourself in time, but your 163 followers +cohort could each gate-burn one. That'd give you enough of a head start on the power curve to get it done.
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Can your own private demiplane be timeless? I thought a factor of 2 was the maximum?
Edit: My bad. Timeless quality on greater version.
You couldn't activate all the candles yourself in time, but your 163 followers +cohort could each gate-burn one. That'd give you enough of a head start on the power curve to get it done.b) WBL wasn't a constraint, and c) no custom magic items, spells, etc.Okay, here's another chain-gate, if this isn't an issue.
Grab an N/I number of candles of invocation with a lawful good alignment (Core Rulebook, any page). Follow the instructions I wrote in my first chain-gate post in this thread. ENJOY~! :D
This just kind of proves the point, exactly - there are so many different variants to this idea that it doesn't really matter.
I took it as without anything else: light it up, summon one or two; they gate in two+light a candle... as do you. And so on.
But with this, you don't even need to be a wizard, in this case, just any class with a few tindertwigs.
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I find an alternate version of that reality and promote world peace, enchantment magic optional.
If earth dies you permanently die. It's part of the premise. I believe it was to avoid any variant of "F these people. I'm leaving." On the part of the caster.
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There are essentially 2 methods. 1) stopping the nukes, 2) protecting the targets.
1) 15,000 nukes / 30 rounds = 500 nukes per round. Impossible under given parameters.
There is gate. Enlist the hordes of Heaven or Hell to save the world. Use Simulacrums to put up gates all over to evacuate the populace.
I'm sure there's some way to cheat gravity to move the earth itself out of the nukes' path, or vice versa. I'm not clever enough to find it.
Alternatively, place a web of gates in front of the missiles. That depends on how close together they are, though. If you have to put up one gate per missile, barring solar shenanigans, you aren't going to be able to pull it off in time. But if the missiles are clustered a little bit...
I've enjoyed every single comment here except the ones where the more obstreperous among us feel the need to complain about the scenario itself. Personally, I think Tacticslion has some of the most entertaining solutions, but there's a lot of fun stuff here. It's funny what you come up with when you actually try.