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5 months ago ::
Dec 30, 2012 - 8:06PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jan 15, 2008
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Howdy All!
Title says it all. What are some of your favorite tricks for making a wizard just friggin' frustrating to battle? He'll be a level 17-19 wizard, evil, and have the appropriate amount of gold too. And these tricks can include spells, items, and anything else your creativity requires.
Thanks!
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5 months ago ::
Dec 30, 2012 - 9:01PM
#2
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Two words: teleport contingency. Nothing is more frustrating than a villian who just won't die!
Next thing you will tell me Browbeat  is bad.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 30, 2012 - 9:10PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jan 15, 2008
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Two words: teleport contingency. Nothing is more frustrating than a villian who just won't die!
Gotcha covered. Trigger will be his death, teleport location will be magic trap at his home base rigged for some sort of resurrection spell. (Though, to assist the plot, if they kill him, I'll DM-edit the teleportation's effects to leave a clue for locating his lair.)
What about some illusion spells to help muddle the combat?
What are some mean things to cast during a Time Stop?
The spell Blacklight seems nice and frustrating: magic darkness that the caster can see in just fine.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 30, 2012 - 9:22PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Sep 18, 2012
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So you're designing an encounter specifically to be frustrating? Do you expect that to go over well with your players?
I don't mean to derail the thread, but seriously: If your first priority is pissing off your players, you really need to think hard on how to handle the situation and if it's worth it in the long run. After all, there's a distinct difference between making an encounter difficult for your players and making an encounter that is designed with the sole purpose of making them angry.
My suggestion is to run this online, because running this in person is just asking for a player or two to jump over the table and throttle you. If that's what you want, go ahead... But I must ask: WHY do you want to make it frustrating and annoying?
Gunmage, a homebrew arcane striker. (Heroic Tier playtest ready.) GDocs link. (More up to date.)
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5 months ago ::
Dec 30, 2012 - 10:21PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jul 29, 2009
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Switch to 4E. It's much easier and less time consuming to design a frustrating wizard encounter in 4E than it is in 3.5
Things that 5E needs to do:
-Make the use of battlemaps/miniatures the default.
-Make healing fun, magical AND non-magical needs to be an option. Long live the Warlord!
-Make magic items feel magic/mythical. I don't want a dagger +1, I want STING.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 30, 2012 - 11:58PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jan 15, 2008
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So you're designing an encounter specifically to be frustrating? Do you expect that to go over well with your players?
I don't mean to derail the thread, but seriously: If your first priority is pissing off your players, you really need to think hard on how to handle the situation and if it's worth it in the long run. After all, there's a distinct difference between making an encounter difficult for your players and making an encounter that is designed with the sole purpose of making them angry.
My suggestion is to run this online, because running this in person is just asking for a player or two to jump over the table and throttle you. If that's what you want, go ahead... But I must ask: WHY do you want to make it frustrating and annoying?
A wonderful concern, KColette! I foresaw this but forgot to expound when I typed up the original post.
The players are heavily optimizing powergamers who know the rules of character building very well. The campaign is 85% over, and they've blasted their way very convincingly through many interesting and bizarre battles. This wizard they are about to encounter is the "BBEG" and I feel that if I "slip up" and they beat him without much trouble, then sadly they will not feel the satisfaction of figuring out a truly capable and tricky foe.
My background, at the same time, is not that of a power gamer. I don't know spells and combos and PrCs and stats and good armor for your cat. I am in serious need for rules to use against them so they have fun.
Honestly, if I did make it overwhelmingly frustrating for myself as a player to handle, it would still only be a minor inconvenience for this party. 
The other thing is, "annoying and hard-to-pin-down" is partly so combat can be drawn out longer than the standard "one-shot the caster lol" when the DM quickly cooked up a high-level spellcaster. I want to hear from them something like, "woah, that didn't work... what is he using? I know! Step back, I'm going to try this instead!" Again, the satisfaction of overcoming. On top of that, the BBEG has a long history with the party, and will be taunting them constantly throughout. Some of the taunting will be plot-oriented--would be a pity if it wasn't included.
Thanks!
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5 months ago ::
Dec 31, 2012 - 12:23AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Sep 18, 2012
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Aha. Though that still sounds like what you're aiming for is hard, not frustrating.
Unfortunately, I'm not extremely well versed in 3.5 (outside of core, that is), nor am I an optimizer. I just wanted to make sure you had an actual reason for aiming to frustrate your players. I've known a couple DMs who thought any encounter that resulted in the players wanted to knock the DM's teeth out was a good encounter. That said, a frustrating encounter isn't inherently bad, so long as it's done for the right reasons. And "Give the players a long, intense battle against their final foe" is a good reason to aim for that.
Only advice I can give is to have the wizard set up to avoid the usual one-shot methods, including scry-and-fry. And set up circumstances so he has most of his buffs and defenses set up before the party enters the room. Any reasonable time sink is good, such as traps, sentries, etc. Anything that'll buy the BBEG a minute or two.
After all, it'll really drive home the point that the party is powerful. Powerful enough to make the wizard specifically prepare to fight them. On that note: What's the party make up? What sort of spells, feats and features do they use often? You should have an at least one-time counter for each of their common tactics.
Gunmage, a homebrew arcane striker. (Heroic Tier playtest ready.) GDocs link. (More up to date.)
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5 months ago ::
Dec 31, 2012 - 10:12AM
#8
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Lots of teleportation, defense against good, defense against arrows, defense against spells. Teleport around so that the melee man can't reach it, while using spells to destroy equipment and magic items. Teleport back to base. For this to work, the wizard would have to have a good initiative, and a chance to prepare.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 31, 2012 - 1:40PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Aug 11, 2011
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My only question is what books are available to you?
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5 months ago ::
Dec 31, 2012 - 1:42PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2005
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Anything that makes him hard to find. Greater invis and flight is a special combo for anyone without true seeing. Displacement and mirror image can make melee combat pretty hard. Illusions generally only allow a saving throw if you interact with them. Illusionary walls of flame swords can really mess with players. Illusionary pits and enemies can have similar effect.
5e comments and thoughts all in one place. Check it out to provide feedback, mock, or steal ideas.
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/28835423/Krusks_5e_Design_Goals?sdb=1
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