Protection from Ability Damage

[Etrivar]

Hullo Playgrounders!

My party and I find ourselves in dire need of every form of protection from ability damage that the playground can bring to bear. Every different style, no matter what it comes from or how the effect is produced, we need it.

Pretty much every book is open to you, so feel free to reference anything you like.

Thank you in advance for saving our party.

[Essence_of_War]

Getting to be undead makes you immune to physical ability score damage.

The obvious ways that come to mind are:


Binder - Bind Naberious, he gives you fast healing for ability damage. All it takes is a one level dip.

Strongheart Vest - You can get this with the shape soulmeld feat, or an Incarnate dip. It works best if you have some essentia. This prevents ability damage rather than healing it.

Body Purification (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/bodyPurification.htm) - Psionic Power, it's 5th level psion/wilder, 3rd level psywar. Kind of hard to get, but it works.

Restoration Line of Spells (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/restorationLesser.htm) - heal ability damage.



The former two are nice because they're pro-active. The latter two are reactive.

[Esgath]

Libris Mortis, page 71: Sheltered Vitality. Cleric 3, Druid 4.

It does a whole lot more than just block ability damage.
Chain it, persist it (you would need reach spell), it's one of the best protections around.

[Emperor Ing]

I'm pretty sure there's a spell in the Spell Compendium that gives you Elemental traits, which, among other goodies, gives you immunity to ability damage and ability drain.

edit: Elemental Body. Page 79. It's a 7th level spell, and its only target is the caster themselves, so unless you're pretty high level, it's not helpful is it? Crap.

[Darrin]

+1 buckler of soulfire (BoED p. 112) costs 25165 GP. Complete continuous immunity to death effects, energy/ability drain, negative energy effects, and most of the school of necromancy.

Bone Ring (20000 GP, MIC p. 75) is a bit cheaper, but only works 3/day (the Magic of Faerun/Ghostwalk version has 50 charges).

Talisman of Undying Fortitude (8000 GP, MIC p. 188) confers immunity to a bunch of things, including ability drain. Swift action to activate, 2/day for 3 rounds.

[mint]

Body Ward and Spirit Ward from Complete Champion.

[AmberVael]

Voidmind template, Monster Manual III, gives you immunity to ability damage and ability drain (the latter is pretty rare, so this is an awesome thing to have).


Orb of Mental Renewal, and its counterpart, Rod of Bodily Restoration, cost 3,100 each, and can each cure quite a bit of ability damage per day for their cost. They're on page 167 and 173, respectively.

The Wraith's Woe magic item set (Magic item compendium, page 216 and 217), when you have all three pieces, can cure all ability damage and drain from one ability score 1/day.

[prufock]

Becoming a construct, undead, or ooze will do it, making Polymorph an option.

EDIT: I don't know why I thought Oozes were immune to this. So Polymorph doesn't work, but PAO or Shapechange should.

Does Talisman of Undying Fortitude work for this (MIC)?

[koscum]

+1 buckler of soulfire (BoED p. 112) costs 25165 GP. Complete continuous immunity to death effects, energy/ability drain, negative energy effects, and most of the school of necromancy.

Soulfire FTW!

[Gavinfoxx]

My favorites are Body Ward and Spirit Ward and Death Ward.

[Optimator]

Sheltered Vitality also appears in the spell compendium. It is probably the cleanest way to gain immunity.

[Gavinfoxx]

Oh yea! I forgot about that one!

[Optimator]

The Soulfire enhancement does nothing for ability damage and drain.

[Alleran]

Voidmind template, Monster Manual III, gives you immunity to ability damage and ability drain (the latter is pretty rare, so this is an awesome thing to have).
There is that slight downside where you don't really have a brain and are the slave of Mind Flayers, though.

[Darrin]

The Soulfire enhancement does nothing for ability damage and drain.

How often is ability drain not a "negative energy effect"?

[BobVosh]

If you can dodge an ability damage, you can dodge a ball.

Er, I mean are PF sources allowed as well?

[Gandariel]

There is that slight downside where you don't really have a brain and are the slave of Mind Flayers, though.

AWW, it would have been great...

[Greenish]

Warforged Juggernaut (ECS) makes you immune to ability damage and drain, in addition to many, many other things.

Bone Knight (5N) gives you immunity to ability damage on physical ability scores.

[Hirax]

AWW, it would have been great...

The goop in there is apparently better than a brain based on the stat adjustments the template gives. Plus if your masters die, you're free, upgraded brain and all!

[Essence_of_War]

There is that slight downside where you don't really have a brain and are the slave of Mind Flayers, though.

Sounds like a feature rather than a bug to me :smallbiggrin:

[silver spectre]

If you've got the levels for it the Pale Master PRC from Libris Mortis grants ability drain immunity and immunity to physical ability score damage.

It doesn't stop the owie factor, but the Ultra Immune System feat from D20 Future turns ability drain into ability damage.

I seem to remember a psionic feat that grants DR-v-ability score damage, but I don't have my books on hand.

[subject42]

Green star adept turns you into a construct eventually, and constructs are immune to ability damage.

Renegade mastermaker may do the same, but I'm not too up on my Eberron stuff.

[Greenish]

Renegade mastermaker may do the same, but I'm not too up on my Eberron stuff.Renegade Mastermaker turns you into living construct, which doesn't offer protection from ability damage, but you could in theory use it to qualify for Warforged Juggernaut.

[koscum]

The Soulfire enhancement does nothing for ability damage and drain.
Darn..... I guess you're right, although most forms of Ability Drain fall under domain of negative energy. Does an armour property that offers protection vs. Ability Damage even exist?

[subject42]

Darn..... I guess you're right, although most forms of Ability Drain fall under domain of negative energy. Does an armour property that offers protection vs. Ability Damage even exist?

There's death ward armor in the MiC, but it's limited in the number of times you can use it per day.