DCs for my level?

[Zelkon]

Well, I'm playing in an epic game which will involve occasionally hitting high level foes. I'm level 24, Sha'ir5/Sorcerer2/Kobold Paragon3/Mystic Thurge 14, and after performing the greater draconic rite of passage, I cast as a sorcerer19 and a sha'ir 19. My Cha is 38, which equals 18 (Starting)+3(venerable)+6 (stat bumps)+2(kobold paragon)+4(phrenic creature, bought off)+5 (inherent). That leaves my DCs at 33 for 9th level spells. Isn't that fairly easy for epic level characters to achieve? Am I missing something?

[Flickerdart]

You're missing a +stat item. An Epic character should be able to afford +8 or so without too much trouble. If that's not high enough, Spell Focus (Chaos Shuffled, of course) is a last resort.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Targeting an opponent's weak saves is more important than making sure your DCs are high. Put at least one rank into each Knowledge skill that identifies creatures of a particular type (Arcana, Dungeoneering, Local, Nature, Religion, the Planes). Make a cheat sheet listing each creature type (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm), which Knowledge skill identifies it, and what its good/poor saves are for racial HD of that type. For Dragons you usually want to attack Reflex then Will, for Outsiders it depends on what they look like, smaller usually have lower Fort or Will, bigger usually have lower Reflex or Will. Any type of troll always has a good Fort save from Con alone, regardless of their base save. Start every encounter by finding out and noting every opponent's creature type, "I'm going to roll Knowledge checks to try to identify everything, what are their creature types?"

Get a feel for what humanoid/leveled opponents' good and poor saves will be based on what they look like:

Any spellcaster tell (spell component pouch, holy symbol/divine focus): Always good Will, good Fort if divine, this overrides anything below. Often poor Reflex.
Any medium/heavy armor and/or two-handed martial weapon: Always good Fort, almost always poor Reflex, usually poor Will. The exception is the Knight, who gets poor Fort/Reflex and good Will, he's easy to spot as he'll be MMO-style Taunting everyone, you can't kill him with HP damage.
Dual-wielding and/or primarily uses a bow: Always good Reflex, almost always poor Will, Fort is poor if they're sneak attacking, good if they're not sneak attacking, there are some exceptions but Will is a safe bet.
Natural attacks and/or unarmed strikes: Either good Fort and poor Will or good Will and poor Fort, Reflex depends on armor (heavy/medium poor, light/none good unless a Psychic Warrior). The exception is a Monk, just don't let him start his turn adjacent to anyone.
For monstrous opponents with class levels, you'll have to estimate what their good saves are based on racial HD type and how many HD they have (find out the HD by asking the Knowledge DCs, racial HD is always DC-10), combined with the class tells above.
Don't forget about racial bonuses, Dwarves get bonuses vs both poison and spells, Elves get a bonus vs enchantment, etc.


There are tons of no-save spells and spells that screw an opponent even if they make the save. Then there's the Irresistible Spell metamagic feat from the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide, which has the official D&D logo on the cover, so it's more legit than a lot of 1st party WotC material that bears only the d20 logo (Dragonlance).

The gold standard Reflex save-or-lose is going to be Blinding Breath (SC), which you can enable via (Persistent) Dragon Breath (SC). I'd use a Line of Electricity for the range, but it's still a bit too close for comfort at that level.