Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark Character Builds Epic Character Builds - The Exalted Sorceress

Epic Character Builds - The Exalted Sorceress

Created by: Christopher "cdaulepp" Aulepp
Epic Character Builds Overlord: Torias

"Mistress, they are coming! The Shroud leads his armies to your gate!"

She turned from the pale bones that lay across her cluttered desk, annoyed by the interruption. She was so close! She had been deep in study for the better part of a week and had refused her head-of-staff entry into her sanctum despite his increasingly desperate wailing at the huge, oaken door. He had taken it upon himself to hire three rather large men to bash the door down as a final measure to gain her attention. She noticed he was still talking to her.

"...demands your surrender to his unholy hordes!"

"Really?" Her eyebrows arched to show some mild interest in recent developments. "Well then, I guess we had better speak to this...Shroud...you said? Yes, good idea. Go and bring him would you?"

"He is HERE Mistress!"

"Ah well, very good then, show him in." Just then, a giant of a man clad in smoldering black armor covered in cruel designs, strode into the room. Power glided in a wave before him. "You must be the reason for the delay in my studies."

"I AM SHROUD, DESTROYER..." She waved her hand in his direction. He became a tiny black dog that yapped.

"Ohh...very cute. Now, no more interruptions Cecil, or I will get very cross with you." She turned and resumed her study of the bones. "Find good homes for them would you?" She waved her hand in the direction of the window.

He made to reply but was drowned out by the vast army of howling dogs that inexplicably now lay stretched across the sprawling fields surrounding his lady's keep.

* * *

The Exalted Sorceress is the embodiment of an epic spell caster. Not to be trifled with, she has focused her studies on the art of necromancy and specializes in death-like spells. She dislikes little dogs too.

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Exalted Sorceress Overview Sorcerer: 38 Paladin: 1 Monk: 1 Race: Human Alignment: Lawful Good "Full In-Game Stats" Starting Stats Str: 12 Dex: 12 Con: 14 Int: 14 Wis: 8 Cha: 16 Final Stats Str: 12 Dex: 12 Con: 14 Int: 14 Wis: 8 Cha: 30 Skills Concentration: 43 Discipline: 43 Heal: 3 Lore: 43 Spellcarft: 42 Tumble: 43 Equipment Full Plate Tower shield Staff

Spell casters have always ruled the world and the Exalted Sorceress perhaps rules the spell casters. She is the Queen Bee of the hive. The Exalted Sorceress has a very nice caster level of 38, letting her do full damage on almost all her spells. She can throw around Flame Arrows, Missile Storms, Ice Storms, or even Acid Arrows, doing tons of damage, but she really shines with necromancy spells, such as Wail of the Banshee, Horrid Wilting, and Negative Energy Burst. She also can call upon the Bigby line of spells to help disable her opponents with things like Bigby's Crushing Hand, Bigby's Forceful Hand, or Bigby's Grasping Hand.

The Exalted Sorceress has very nice saving throws thanks to the Divine Grace she receives from being a Paladin. Her base saves are as follows: Fort 30, Ref 27, Will 30. The Exalted Sorceress has the potential to raise these statistics even further with access to magical equipment. She should seek out charisma boosting items because, for every two points boosted in charisma, the Exalted Sorceress' saving throws increase by 1.

If you are looking for a character that is easy to play all the way throughout the build, then this might be your ticket. The Exalted Sorceress has one level of monk to help her maximize such skills as discipline and tumble, but, more importantly, she gains feats like Evasion. Evasion will allow her to take no damage from spells that allow a reflex save if she succeeds at her saving throw. With a base reflex score of 27 (naked) and her spellcraft bonus of +8, the Exalted Sorceress can reliably Evade most reflex saving throw spells. This is a very nice boost to her defense and allows her to not fear many Evocation spells that other wizards or sorcerers use.

The Exalted Sorceress was built for Player vs. Player combat. She focused her training in casting spells while wearing Full Plate Armor. She is able to cast spells in armor without fear of spell failure and she is hard to knock down because she took Epic Skill Focus: Discipline. Only the most determined (and lucky) of opponents should be able to knock her down in battle.

The Exalted Sorceress doesn't fight alone though. She has a level 38 aberration who fights at her side, whose gaze attack has a chance of knocking down the opponent. The Exalted Sorceress also balances hit points with spell casting power. She has a base hit point total of 250, with the potential of reaching over 490 hit points with items. This means that an opponent will have to cast three Isaac's Greater Missile Storms to kill her. The Exalted Sorceress also has the very potent Spell Mantles up. This allows her to absorb the first few incoming spells from an opponent.

In a group, the Exalted Sorceress can stay in the back, raining death and destruction upon the enemy, while the lesser beings hack and slash the monsters up close. She also has the ability to spontaneously cast whatever spell is needed and is not bound by preparing her spells in advance like wizards do. This added bit of flexibility makes the Exalted Sorceress very tough.

Against annoying melee opponents, the Exalted Sorceress has several defenses:

1. Thanks to her Automatic Still Spell feats she can wear Full Plate Armor and use a Tower Shield
2. She can enter Improved Expertise Mode and gain an additional 10 AC
3. The Exalted Sorceress can cast Epic Mage Armor and raise her AC by 20 points
4. She can reduce her opponents' damage by 50/+20 with Epic Warding
5. Her opponents will miss half of the time because of Improved Invisibility
6. The Exalted Sorceress' AC when fully buffed and without magical items, is a whopping 65

Combined, these factors make her very hard to hit!

Any opponent striking the Exalted Sorceress will take reciprocal damage from Mestil's Acid Sheath, Elemental Shield, and Death Armor. Acid Sheath will do 1d6 + 76 damage. Elemental Shield will do 1d6 + 38 fire damage. Finally, Death Armor will do 1d4 + 38 sonic damage. Only ranged combat is truly safe against the Exalted Sorceress.

But who needs defense when perhaps the easiest way to kill those Devastating Critical hitters is to disable them? Her best defense may just be her offense. The Exalted Sorceress can knock her opponents down (Bigby's Forceful Hand), grapple them (Bigby's Grasping Hand), or for those opponents who have immunity to knockdown and have Freedom of Movement, the Exalted Sorceress can stop them dead in their tracks with Bigby's Crushing Hand. The "cut-scene" effect of Crushing Hand will disable just about anybody. A disabled opponent is easy pickings for the Exalted Sorceress who can easily finish them off with her offensive spells.

The Exalted Sorceress should seek out items that boost charisma, but she should also focus on acquiring good, magical armor and shield because these will boost her already high AC to levels that will make her invincible against melee opponents.

Recommended Spells:

Level 0:	All cantrips
Level 1:	Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Protection from Alignment, Shield, Ray of Enfeeblement
Level 2:	Eagle's Splendor, Bull's Strength, Endurance, Death Armor, Melf's Acid Arrow
Level 3:	Haste, Vampiric Touch, Negative Energy Burst, Flame Arrow
Level 4:	Improved Invisibility, Ice Storm, Elemental Shield, Minor Globe of Invulnerability
Level 5:	Mestil's Acid Sheath, Energy Buffer, Firebrand, Lesser Mind Blank
Level 6:	Bigby's Forceful Hand, Isaac's Greater Missile Storm, True Seeing
Level 7:	Shadowshield, Spell Mantle, Bigby's Grasping Hand
Level 8:	Horrid Wilting, Greater Sanctuary, Sunburst
Level 9:	Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Bigby's Crushing Hand, Wail of the Banshee

Character Advancement History

Following is the path of the Exalted Sorceress during the first forty levels of her life.

Character Level	Class	Skill Increases	Feat Selection	Attribute Increase
1	Sorceress	Concentration 4, Lore 4, Spellcraft 4, Save 8	Extend Spell, Expertise
2	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 10
3	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 12	Improved Expertise
4	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 14		Charisma
5	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 16
6	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 18	Empower Spell
7	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 20
8	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 22		Charisma
9	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 24	Spell Focus: Necromancy
10	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 26
11	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 28
12	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 30	Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy	Charisma
13	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 32
14	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 34
15	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 36	Maximize Spell
16	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 38		Charisma
17	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 40
18	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 42	Still Spell
19	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 44
20	Paladin	Concentration 1, Discipline 23, Lore 1, Save 24		Charisma
21	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 2, Save 25	Combat Casting
22	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 27
23	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 29
24	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 31	Epic Skill Focus: Discipline, Automatic Still Spell 1	Charisma
25	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 33
26	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 35
27	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 37	Automatic Still Spell 2, Automatic Still Spell 3
28	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 39		Charisma
29	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 41
30	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 43	Great Charisma 1, Epic Spell Focus: Necromancy
31	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 45
32	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 47		Charisma
33	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 49	Great Charisma 2, Epic Spell: Epic Warding
34	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 51
35	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 53
36	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 55	Great Charisma 3, Epic Spell: Epic Mage Armor	Charisma
37	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 57
38	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 59
39	Sorceress	Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 61	Great Charisma 4, Improved Combat Casting
40	Monk	Concentration 1, Discipline 38, Heal 3, Lore 1, Tumble 43		Charisma

* Indicates Rogue Bonus feats. ** indicates Wizard Bonus feats.

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