Who, in your opinion, is the most powerful Mage in all of Faerun?

My vote goes to Manshoon of Zhentil Keep. You may kill him, but everytime his soul returns to one of his clones for reactivation. Plus you have to side with someone bad so that others will try and respond with Khelbon or Elminster...

I would have to say Szass Tamthe Zulkir of Necromancy (Red Wizard of Thay). As he is a Level 30 Necomancer were Manshoon is only a Level 18 Mage. Szass Tam is also a Lich.

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Here's a list (excluding Elminster and Khelben Arunsun who everyone knows about)

Larloch the Shadowking. 46th level Netherese lich (evil)
Alassra Shentrantra, Chosen of Mystra and Simbul of Aglarond, 30th level sorceress (chaotic neutral).
Halaster Blackcloak, 30th level human wizard (evil)
Szass Tam, 30th level Zulkir of Necromancy (evil lich)
Laeral Silverhand, Lady Mage of Waterdeep, Chosen of Mystra, 24th level mage (good)
Endue Alustriel, High Lady of Silverymoon, Chosen of Mystra, 25th level mage (good)

FYI Manshoon of Zhentil Keep is a 19th level wizard with a lot of clone spells.

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it must Have been Karsus 41st Level Arcanist, And he was the God of magic For A few minutes.
I thought Szass Tam was level 29?

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"Then Bane, seeing the lifelessness and ruin in the middle of such beauty
smiled,
and spoke with a voice like that of carrion: "Let this place resonate with
new songs;
the cries of the warrior, the melody of clashing swords, the harmony of iron
shod
boots marching in unison over the stones, the crescendo of the death wail,
and the
chorus of the widow's lament. Let this place be a tapestry upon which I shall
paint
new scenes, and blood and ash shall be my pigments. These are the things that
I
cherish, and they shall dominate this place, as they do wherever the hearts of
men
are weak and quick to desire."

[This message has been edited by Dramnek_Ulk (edited 05-13-2001).]

Elminster you'd figure would have to be the most powerful, he's favoured by Mystra. I doubt we've seen the full spectrum of Elminsters abilities. H'd probably have assistance from other gods besides Mystra too. Cadderly also ends up pretty buff by the end of the cleric quintet, though he's more priest than mage. He seems a bit of both and has some unique abilities. Who can beat massive divinely granted powers?

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Just when you thought it was safe to visit this board.

[This message has been edited by Draggor (edited 05-13-2001).]

If you go by ranc I believ the Symbul is two levels higher then her teacher and friend Elminster, but he's a thousand years and more older then her and has experience as both thief, warrior and priest of Mystra. I would say that he is the most powefull of Mystras chosen.

Memnoch is Alassra the most powerful of the seven sisters. i knew she was an extremly powerful mage but is she the most powerful?

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"I was born of darkness. My fathers eyes closed before mine opened. I am not of this world or the other, and I have the right to be what I am..."

There was a whole book about Elminster (Making of a Mage), and it basically puts it that that Greenwood Fantasy Avatar has dualed into and out of every class there is. I HATE Elminster. Anywho, as far as levels go, they always vary from source to source. I don't doubt there are more powerful Mages out there, but last I heard Manshoon was 28th.

Cadderly's another I forgot about. He's got Mage and Priest spells due to his position with the Deneir (sp?) god. Very high profile.

Elminster is friend of my character Angel. And Manshoon sucks if he can let Shandril the only wielder of Spellfire that people know about kick his Black Network ass. Then I say Manshoon sucks.

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I forgot all about Halaster, untill memnoch mentioned him, still I think I'd put my bets on Elminster due to his Godly assistance !

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Time is only relevant if you have none !

Well I guess since the Villains are destined to lose in the end...


But yeah, Halaster! That guy is the Undermountain Man! Speaking of which, isn't Undermountain supposed to be in Throne of Bhaal?

Alassra is by far the most powerful of the Seven Sisters when it comes to spellcraft, but seeing as Elminster is Ed Greenwood’s alter ego, and Ed created the Forgotten Realms, and of course Ed would have to be the most uber-powerful character, I’d put my money on him. http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif



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If I read it correctly, in one of his books (Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy), Elminster was asked on two occasions by Lord Ao to accept God-hood, after the original Mystra dies, and he turned it down.
Also, the first Mystra favored Elminster more than the latter, right? So I am betting that Elmisnter only has his age and experience backing him now, because this latter Mystra (Midnight), did not care too much for him as a teacher when she was still a mortal. I think Elminster does more on his own now, than he used to. And the attention from the Gods are equally shared through-out all the chosen. I just haven't se4n any recent proof that the latter Mystra is paying him more attention than anyone else. But that is just my perception. Feel free to disagree.

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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

You want to know what I REALLY think? I think that Ed was a bit peeved that he had very minimal (if any) literary input into the Avatar Trilogy (thank God) which was basically Jim Lowder's baby and which elevated Midnight to godhood that when he wrote the Shadow of The Avatar trilogy he HAD to save Elminster some face by showing that HE was invited to be a god TOO. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree. http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...les/tongue.gif

Larry, you are right in that he seems to have withdrawn from the world a bit.

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[This message has been edited by Memnoch (edited 05-14-2001).]

Again, I'd have to agree with Memnoch because Elminster is just plain ridiculous. If you ever read any of Greenwood's books (which suck in comparison to any others) the whole book is putting Elminster over as the most powerful character. What gets me is that he has no character flaws, so is pretty 2-Dimensional. Every great hero has his weaknesses, and it is a person's weaknesses that define him as a hero for it is to overcome these weaknesses that makes him a hero. Elminster is just a punk!

He has a weakness for women! (but don't we all...)
Here...I found the back-up for my claim that Elminster and the sisters are going down-hill. Check out what they mention about Khelben...it looks promising for us!Copied and pasted off of : http://www.defragsrealms.com/custom/frl_faqintro.html

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Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

Sp what he's saying is that they can't let Manshoon win because it might inspire others to go out and become Wizard Tyrants of Northern outposts...I hate having stuff ruined because others can use it as a scapegoat to explain their F'ed up behavior.

elminster is just a masturbatory aid for greenwood and because hes such an omnipotent(read overbearing) twit nothing will ever change that in the forgotten realms the most interesting mage of all time was raistlin