Hi community,
I'm to introduce an vilain NPC in my campaign as an arcane spellcaster who lost his ability to cast spell (consequence of a missed Will save while destroying an artifact with a Mage's Disjunction spell... but that's not the point :-))
It should be close to level 20, wizard or sorcerer, doesn't really matter.
He will fight PC with his staff probably and may use a few spells with UMD checks to get the impression he is still a capable caster.
Nevertheless, a level 20 arcane caster without any spellcasting ability is no more a CR 20 but not yet a CR 1.
He has a +10 BAB, level 20 saves, HP and some equipment... and skills, specially in UMD.
Which CR he could be ? CR 10 might be too much ?
They're a little better than a level 20 commoner. If you used the game to generate the CR, you'd end up with level-2 for an npc class character. then +1 for high point buy and +1 for PC wealth if we assume that's how they're getting by. CR20 doesn't seem right, but it really depends on what items you give the guy at that level.
Is this NPC still able to use staves and wands and scrolls?
Assuming your party needs a CR 10 opponent, I would simply pick a CR 10 fighter or rogue or warrior out of the NPC list, and write "this guy used to cast spells, honest" in as flavor text. Bam, solved!
Looking at the averages on the Monster Creation chart, a CR 10 foe has, on average, 130 HP, AC 24, a High Attack of +18, attacks that, in a full attack round, are capable of an average of 45 damage at best, and their best save is on average +13.
A Wizard 20 has perhaps 5.5 HP/level, putting them at 110 HP. They can't generally wear armor and have no armor proficiencies, but NPC gear to this point could acct for Bracers of Armor +8, Ring of Protection +5 and an Amulet of Natural Armor +5. If the Wizard also had, perhaps, an 18 Dex, that's a 22 AC.
This wizard has a 10 BAB. Str was probably no prioritized in their original build, and who knows if the wizard KNEW from level 1 that they'd need to take feats and stats to reflect not casting spells, so I'd say at best the NPC has Weapon Focus: Staff, a 14 Str and a +5 weapon. This gives the Wizard a +18 to hit but means that, at best, their average damage in a full attack round without the Haste spell cast on them (or other buff spells for that matter) is around 21 damage, and that's if their primary AND iterative attack hits.
Finally, the wizard's best save is Will at +12. They likely have a stat bonus as well as a Resistance item if not Ioun Stones or stat enhancers. Conservatively, this wizard has a Will save of +18-20, so they are well over the saves needed to qualify for CR 10.
Personally, I think a non-spellcasting NPC wizard, depending on their gear, is somewhere between a CR 9 to a CR 10 foe. However, let's revisit this line from the OP:
zerion69 wrote: He will fight PC with his staff probably and may use a few spells with UMD checks to get the impression he is still a capable caster. What spells? Full Caster Level? If the PCs walk into a fight expecting to deal with a CR 10, physically weak staff fighter and the NPC takes a 5' step and casts Massacre, triggering a DC 30 Fort save between 3 of the 4 PCs and, if they fail, they instantly die while if they MAKE the save, they might be in the 10d6+20 Necrotic damage blast at the end of the line of the spell (no save).
In other words, one single spell from a CR20 wizard could conceivably destroy an entire party of APL 10. This is something to take into account if you're going to have the NPC casting "a few spells" during the fight.
Thank you all for your feedback.
@Mark : True, equipment can be a real issue but I don't intend to give him stuff he should have at level 20.
He would have lost staff during the "incident" and had to craft (with no spellcasting, when possible) a few again and/or loot them elsewhere. He will have average to little above his CR equipment. Maybe using PC chart.
So no "nuke them all" spell.
He should be the "end boss" of a small abandonned dungeon.
CR 9 to 10 should be relevant
I'm curious as to the whats and the whys of this story. What was the artifact and why did the wizard choose to destroy it? Couldn't he have tried some other method to destroy the artifact (most artifacts have 1)? Using mage disjunction on an artifact is risky.
As for character levels, a level 20 character would have more skill ranks and feats than a level 10 character. So be wary of that. Though, the wizard being a wizard, would have likely invested many feats into more spell casting stuff, so that could be rendered useless.
OmniMage wrote: I'm curious as to the whats and the whys of this story. What was the artifact and why did the wizard choose to destroy it? Couldn't he have tried some other method to destroy the artifact (most artifacts have 1)? Using mage disjunction on an artifact is risky.
As for character levels, a level 20 character would have more skill ranks and feats than a level 10 character. So be wary of that. Though, the wizard being a wizard, would have likely invested many feats into more spell casting stuff, so that could be rendered useless.
Good thing with vilain NPC is that they, sometimes, have agenda only they do understand. Plus this campaign is a post-magic-apocalypse when a few mortals defied gods (and partly succeeded). I wasn't DM at that time, I just get your realm back after ... kinda fantasy Mad Max :-)
True, skills being for a level 20, UMD checks for instance will mostly be auto-success and then he should be able to trick PC into still having his powers. That's part of the trick :-)
He won't have a level 20 equipment, my way to nerf him.
OmniMage wrote: I'm curious as to the whats and the whys of this story. What was the artifact and why did the wizard choose to destroy it? Couldn't he have tried some other method to destroy the artifact (most artifacts have 1)? Using mage disjunction on an artifact is risky.
As for character levels, a level 20 character would have more skill ranks and feats than a level 10 character. So be wary of that. Though, the wizard being a wizard, would have likely invested many feats into more spell casting stuff, so that could be rendered useless.
I wondered about the feats too, but the OP has suggested a couple times that the theme here is a 20th level wizard, who built themselves up to wizard 20, and THEN lost their spellcasting. So, presumably, there'd be 15 feats, 10 for levels 1-19, 5 from bonus feats, but the vast majority of these (barring Retraining rules) should be geared toward their spellcasting.
Spell Focus/Greater Spell Focus, Mage's Tattoo, Scribe Scroll, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous Item, Maximize Spell, Quicken Spell, Minor Spell Expertise, Major Spell Expertise; imagine our wizard 20 NPC had all of those, plus Weapon Focus: Staff, Arcane Strike, Toughness, Evolved Familiar and Great Fortitude. Then they woke up one morning and none of their spells worked.
2 weeks later, the PCs run into this NPC in a dungeon. The NPC is there trying to upgrade their staff with a magic one in the dungeon, while also trying to secure a McGuffin that will help restore their own lost magic powers, The enemy wizard hasn't had the time or money to retrain any of their feats, so the only RELEVANT feats are the last five and maybe... MAYBE... the Minor Spell Expertise/Major Spell Expertise, if the villain is lucky.
Yes, this villain has 15 feats; only 5-7 of those are actually helpful. Are they that much more powerful than a wizard 10?
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