Hi all,
I'm building an NPC evil human wizard who'll be serving as a spy for your typical 'evil cult taking over the kingdom'. His main focus is building a ring of informants to report to him and obtaining new magic (be it spells or items) from his enemies. He's 7th level and doesn't have a familiar.
Any suggestions as to suitable feats or spells - either mechanical or flavourful.
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Well, scrying, detect thoughts and clairvoyance/clairaudience would seem to be absolutely essential for a spy or spymaster. Message is too limited in range.
Telepathic bond is amazingly useful for spymasters as it obviates all that tedious difficulty about passing messages. Tongues would be handy if he doesn't have the right linguistic skills, and certainly comprehend languages. Though he should certainly be maxing out Linguistics as high intelligence will make him good at forging stuff.
Secret page will help in concealing his notes, and his spellbooks.
Charm person and suggestion would both be very helpful in recruiting informants! Knock, disguise self, and (improved) invisibility would all be very handy in sneaking around to gather information. Locate object might be valuable.
Reduce person or dimension door would both be very handy in getting into and out of various places, maybe spider climb to sneak up and listen outside of windows or get to other hard-to-reach places. D-door is also very nice for going to/from secret chambers, including the totally-bricked-up chamber where he keeps all his notes and records. Remember to memorize it twice! Once in, once out.
He's probably either an enchantment or divination specialist. I'm guessing that necromancy is NOT on his banned list, because speak with dead is sometimes handy for interrogations, and disposing of your no-longer-useful agents by making undead out of them is an old tradition among evil cultists. Plus if you can control an incorporeal undead you have an unsurpassed espionage agent/assassin who can walk through walls...
He's not high enough level to cast sending, dominate person or geas/quest yet, but he should be looking toward those sometime in his future. He might have a scroll or two of them around for emergencies or to report back home.
Feats: Brew Potion would let him give useful spells and abilities to his minions regardless of their UMD skill, and give him a reason to constantly be hanging around the court inquiring about magic. "Yes, that's our Potionmaster, Harmless chap, but stop by sometime and buy stuff -- he sells at a discount, and has a great wine cellar." -- which gives him a nice reason to talk to anybody and everybody. No one will be surprised if the Countess' maid stops by for some of the Countess' beauty potions, and if she gossips a bit while she's there, why not? (Being a shopkeeper of some sort is a great way to have easy access to all sorts of people, and it helps hide him from the PCs and/or any police.... Bonus points if he can get the PCs to be (unknowing) informants, or give them fetch quests!)
Spell Mastery, though seldom used, would be great if he has several spells he regularly uses and never wants to be without, especially if he doesn't want anyone knowing he has access to them by looking in his spellbooks. (He may have an extra spellbook or two lying around in concealed cubbyholes, well-disposed.)
Still Spell and (especially) Silent Spell would help him use magic with less chance of detection, but he might have Spell Focus in either enchantment or divination, as well as other feats to help him cast spells unnoticed.
Thanks Tonyz!
You're welcome!
Maybe some memory spells. I'm not sure if wizard can get any, but they're handy for when your stealth fails.
Modify memory would be perfect, but it's a level 4 bard spell. ;(
Memory lapse is 1st level sorc/wizard and only blots out memory back to the beginning of the last round, but that might be enough time to put the king's diary back on the shelf and pretend you were only looking through his collection of wine snobbery manuals. ;)
A high Bluff skill is also pretty much mandatory for this job, which would point, perhaps, toward an enchanter rather than a diviner. (Actually, you're going to need to max out a lot of skills to work this right -- Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive, Diplomacy and/or Intimidate, Linguistics for forgeries if he does those, at least a couple of Knowledge skills (Local and Nobility/Royalty, plus either Planes or Religion because, hey, evil cultist, plus Spellcraft because he IS a wizard ... ) Good thing he's human and his favored class bonus is going to skills not HP or anything else... I'm leaning more towards specializing in enchantment here, I think.
He'll need decent Int, Wis, and Cha. I'd make him middle-aged for the stat bonuses -- just accept that he WON'T be a physical challenge at all if the players ever uncover him. That's what the undead, the hired thug or two, and the charmed Royal Guards are for...
There's the orator feat which lets you use linguistics instead of diplomacy, intimidates, and bluff. Makes him a bit less MAD.
Whispering Wind is the young wizard's Sending. Magic Mouth can also be used for secret message drops.
There's a new spell, Greater Detect Magic, which should be in any inquisitive wizard's spellbook. Discern Next of Kin might be excellent for tracing who's who, and occasionally for gathering blackmail info.
Suggestion isn't just useful for recruiting informants. If the legal penalties are at all harsh blackmail can be used to leverage a misstep. It's a known failure point in some RL organisations.
Thanks for the extra tips!