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!”
The Exalted Sorceress Unleashing Her MagicShe 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.
Exalted Sorceress
Overview
Sorcerer: 38
Paladin: 1
Monk: 1
Race: Human
Alignment: Lawful Good
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.
The Versatile Kensai In CombatIf 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:
Thanks to her Automatic Still Spell feats she can wear Full Plate Armor and use a Tower Shield
She can enter Improved Expertise Mode and gain an additional 10 AC
The Exalted Sorceress can cast Epic Mage Armor and raise her AC by 20 points
She can reduce her opponents’ damage by 50/+20 with Epic Warding
Her opponents will miss half of the time because of Improved Invisibility
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.