Grey elf diviner 20Ability Scores (32 PB)Str 6
Dex 20 (16+4enh) (6 pts)
Con 16 (12+4enh)(6 pts)
Int 36 (20+5level+5inh+6enh)(16 pts)
Wis 8
Cha 12 (4 pts)
Feat progression1st level : Spell Mastery (retrain this every other level to include better spells)
Wizard 1 : Scribe Scroll
3rd level : Improved Initiative
5th: Spontaneous Divination (if it lets you cast spells from other class lists)
6th level : Insightful Divination
9th level : Uncanny Forethought
12th level: Improved Familiar (Pseudodragon or Imp, or anything else with Telepathy)
15th level: Quicken Spell
18th level: Quick Recovery
The mage maxes out his UMD ranks (cross class), and the pseudodragon wears a Circlet of Persuasion, a MW UMD tool, and a +6 Charisma item, giving it a +19 UMD check (11 ranks +3 cha +3 comp +2 circ).
Alternative build:
[spoiler]
Grey elven diviner 10/Loremaster 101st level : Spell Mastery (retrain this every other level to include better spells)
Wizard 1 : Scribe Scroll
3rd level : Skill Focus: Knowledge (Planes)
5th: Spontaneous Divination
6th level : Insightful Divination
9th level : Uncanny Forethought
10: Quicken Spell
12th level: Improved Familiar (Imp)
15th level: Item Familiar
18th level: Quick Recovery
Loremaster: Applicable Knowledge (Improved Initiative), max UMD ranks, other stuff
[/spoiler]
Items: [spoiler]16000 lb steel cone with shrink item to make it a Hat (weighs 4 lbs shrunk, is 4 inches thick unshrunk, 120 points of damage to break through it, hardness 10)
Greater Metamagic rod of Extend 24500
Rainbow falls magical location (1xday triple duration of Transmutation spell) 2000
Ring of Arcane Might and Ring of Darkhidden 22000
Ring of Spellbattle and Nine Lives 57000
ring of greater counterspells (Mordenkainen's disjunction) 16000
hand of glory 8000
Chronocharm of the Uncaring Archmage (500 gp, 1xday cast full round spell as a std action)
+1 heartening mithril buckler with Soulfire 27000
Greater MM Rod of Maximize 121500
Bag of Holding, Type 2, 5000
Wand of Dimension Door (10 charges, familiar carries this) 900
Circlet of Persuasion (on familiar) 4500
MW UMD tool (on familiar) 50
Cloak of Charisma +6 (on familiar) 36000
bracers of armor +1 with Heavy Fortification and Dexterity +4 52000
mantle of second chances 12000
belt of battle and constitution +4 28000
a +1 eager warning shuriken (320 gp, adds +7 to initiative)
Headband of Conscious Effort and Intellect +6 38000
rod of absorption 50000
Tiny staff containing Discern Location, and Shapechange (10 charges, familiar has this) 31950
Tome of Intellect +5 137500
Scrolls of Revenance and Revivify 2825
Blessed Book 12500
Scroll of Death Knell (uses one per day) 150
Karma Bead 10000
Thought Bottle 20000
756195 total spent, not including weapon, or onyx and other spell components.
[/spoiler]
The standard spells prepared:[spoiler]
(All day CL 22, and 27 for long duration buffs. The version with the demiplane has an all day CL of 32.)
1: Nerveskitter
2: Invisibility, Glitterdust, Craft Magic Tatoo (only needs to recast this occasionally for the +1 CL boost)
3: Wind Wall
4: Celerity x2, Greater Invisibility, Anticipate Teleportation
5: Overland Flight, Greater Blink
6: Energy Immunity x 2, Greater Dispel Magic, Greater Anticipate Teleport, [Alternatives: Assay Resistance]
7: Forcecage, Limited Wish
8: Superior Invisibility, Mindblank
9: Timestop, Gate, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Shapechange
Divinations often prepared in specialist slots (can spontaneously cast any, though):1: True Strike
2: Detect Thoughts
3: Clairvoyance
4: Detect Scrying
5: Prying Eyes
6: True Seeing
7: Greater Scrying
8: Moment of Prescience
9: Foresight
[/spoiler]
Once a week: He casts several
Contact Other Plane spells, which will be used to determine what enemies he will face, and how to customize his prepared spells for the coming week to defeat them. Examples of the questions he asks: [spoiler]1) What is the first name of the enemy that will be the biggest threat to me in the coming week? (Let's say the answer is Bob)
2) What is the last name of the enemy that will be the biggest threat to me in the coming week? (Let's say the answer is Smith)
3) What is Bob Smith's biggest vulnerability?
4) Which of Bob Smith's capabilities poses the biggest threat to me?
5) What is the best way to counter Bob Smith's biggest threat to me?
6) What day will I face Bob Smith on?
7-12) repeat 1-6 for the second biggest threat of the week.
Continue this line of questioning until no further threats are discovered.
Then ask things like "Other than the threats I've uncovered today using Contact Other Plane, are there any other defensive measures that will be critical to my survival this week?"
If answer is "yes", then "What is the most important of these defensive measures?" and "What day should I take this defensive measure on?" "At what time should I take this defensive measure?" (Repeat for 2nd most important defensive measure, and also for offensive measures)
I'm sure there are other equally useful questions that a 20th level mage with near deific intelligence could come up with... [/spoiler]
Buffs: Permanent Arcane Sight and See Invisible. Shapechange (shared with familiar)(with Rainbow Falls and one use of his Metamagic Rod of Extend, this lasts more than 24 hrs), Moment of Prescience (shared with familiar), Contingency on wizard (if ever unable to act for any reason, Plane Shift to the Astral), Foresight (on familiar, as personal spell), Mindblank (on wizard), Contingency on familiar (if master's contingency is activated, Plane Shift to the Astral. Then familiar will find his master using its staff and take him to safety, if necessary.)
Wizard normally is in the form of a minotaur for the Cunning ability (a dire tortoise could work, too). He has a +4 Dex item and Nerveskitter, making his Initiative check +21 (or +46 if you add Foresight to this). He also has Celerity and isn't afraid to use it (thanks to Quick Recovery). The familiar has a wand of Dimension Door and can ready actions to teleport himself and the wizard away from threats, when needed. The pseudodragon has retrained its Altertness feat to Mindsight (or the mage paid for a Psychic Reformation, etc). By Shapechanging the pseudodragon into a Formian Queen, the familiar can have 50 mile "radar".
Against things that aren't really threats, he just lets his familiar
Shapechange into something and take care of them (often a beholder). He also uses shapechange to access Teleport (Archons) and Plane Shift (Beblith), and if he feels like it he can always be traveling around as an Astral Projection (Nightmare). Against things that actually seem threatening, here is one possible strategy:
Wizard casts Forcecage on enemy (and cohort, if any)(std action), then his familiar Shapechanges into a beholder (free action, Shapechange already going), and it aims its AMF eye on the enemy and cohort (free action). Then the wizard opens a Gate to a pool of lava 20+ feet above the Forcecage, pointing down (std action, but there's no rush at this point).
If things are really nasty looking, he can use Celerity to cast a Maximized (Greater Rod) Time Stop.
Another nasty trick is Disjunction (to get rid of any Mind Blank) followed by Limited Wish (Geas). It's basically a save-or-die, without the save.
At a minimum, he has a Clone hidden away.
[spoiler]The hidden lair is below the dirt floor of a small cave in the middle of nowhere, but the chamber itself has no entrances at all to the surface. Inside the sanctum, there is a Permanent Alarm spell on the area around the clone. The entire area also has Forbiddance and a permanent Private Sanctum cast inside it.
There is a small underground cubbyhole (fits 1 tiny creature) that acts as an entry chamber. It has no permanent connections to the surface, but it is possible to stab or dig a hole down to it from the cave floor above the hidden chamber, if you know where it is. A tiny or smaller creature could then enter the main chamber via a tiny lead door. The cubbyhole itself is not included in the Forbiddance or Private Sanctum effects.
There is an awakened red dragon zombie there as a guardian (haven't made stats up. It just stays there to guard the clone). About every month and a half, he returns there to cast an Extended Gentle Repose on the Clone via Limited Wish. [/spoiler]
At worst, he uses Genesis to create his own custom plane of existence as a "lair", and never leaves it. He sends minions to do his dirty work, or his own Astral Projection. (Warning: Extreme brokenation ahead) [spoiler]He hatched his familiar here, so it is a native of this plane. By casting a Planar Bubble on it, he can have all the benefits of home wherever he is. The plane has the Timeless trait, and creatures there do not need to eat, sleep, or breath and do not age. Time spent there does not reduce their lifespan, even if they later leave the demiplane.
The plane to automatically applies any metamagic feats he wants to his spells for free (precedent is the the auto-quicken of the Astral Plane, and the fact that he can set the traits of his demiplane). He could also have the limited magic trait applied to Abjuration, which would mean he never has to worry about being Dispelled or Disjoined again, but that would also prevent him from casting abjurations while inside his familiar's Planar Bubble, and is probably unnecessary. This means that he doesn't need any of the Metamagic Rods listed in the equipment section, saving him a ton of cash for other stuff.
Using a more liberal interpretation of the spell, he could manipulate the Time trait, so that (for example) 10 rounds pass for every 1 round that passes on the Material Plane (or 1 year for every round...).
The entire plane (all 180 feet of it) has the same protections as the lair described above. The Forbiddance was cast by the similacrum described below after the wizard and his familiar used Astral Projection to leave the plane. This is assumed to already have happened long ago by the time the contestant is trying to kill the wizard.
Instead of a zombie dragon, the mage has a similacrum of a 72 HD
Elder Titan. The similacrum has 36 HD and casts as a 29th level cleric with the Magic and Knowledge domains. It knows three epic spells, and has the Epic Spellcasting, Ignore Material Components, and Craft Contingent Spell feats, as well as many extremely useful SLAs (like Astral Projection and Contact Other Plane, both 3xday). This similacrum can be contacted by the mage via Sending. If the mage ever decides to return from his astral travels, he can contact the similacrum and tell it to Dispel the Forbiddance (it cast it). Otherwise no one can ever enter or leave the demiplane, including the mage himself. The similacrum also has been commanded to use Revanance and/or Revivify if the mage or his familiar is ever killed (by having his silver cord severed, etc).
The mage boosted his caster level above 36 to Gate this elder titan by using Death Knell, the Magic Tattoo spell, his ring, the karma bead, and emulating Consumptive Field via Limited Wish (total CL 37). Against very tough targets, he may take an Astral Projection of the similacrum with him as well, leaving a Contingent Revivify on his body.[/spoiler]