Greater Planar Binding

[Mountain]

My Cleric/Malconvoker, when using planar binding, can always win the opposed CHA check. He has a +7 when unbuffed and can use Surge of Fortune to auto-20 the opposed roll.

The problem is this: GPB is will negates. Pit Fiends have a +21 will save. Since my target is on another plane, I can't debuff its will saves. The only option I see is to raise my spell's DC.

My cleric has a 28 WIS, a CL of 17, Spell Focus (Conjuration), and access to any book.

How can I reliably make such a powerful outsider fail a will save?

(classes, prestige classes, and races aren't feasible at this point in the game.)

[Emperor Tippy]

Well you are at a DC of, what, 28?

1) Heighten the spell to 9th level for an extra +1.
2) Use a scroll of Owl's Insight (Spell Compendium) at CL 20 (or have a Druid cast it on you) for a +10 Insight bonus to Wisdom. That will give you +5 to the save DC.

That takes you to a DC of 34 and thus failure 60% of the time.

Just cast Greater Planar Binding a couple of times.

[tyckspoon]

..keep casting it until it works? When you set out to do some Binding that should basically be all you're doing for that day, so if you intend to be fishing for a difficult target like that prep some extra castings and try again. If you need it to work first time, well.. I'd have to say you just settle for something easier to catch.

I suppose that's not very helpful, but I don't know if there's really anything you can do that doesn't wind up qualifying as taking extraordinary measures. Look for short-term buffs that provide odd bonus types? You know, the kinds of things that usually aren't worth blowing an action on but might be handy in preparing for a single predictable thing. Miracle to imitate Owl's Insight?

[Mountain]

I've actually already considered duplicating Owl's Insight with Miracle. That leaves me without Persistent Bite of the Werebear (what I typically use Miracle for,) but I probably won't need it on GPB-day anyway. Casting it myself would only be a +4 to DC, rather than +5 from a 20th level scroll, but my DM hates giving out treasure (especially magic treasure) so the scroll is actually a pretty huge expense.

As for odd little bonuses, that's what I'm having a hard time finding, and I hope the playground can point something out that my searching missed.

Edit: I found Spell Enhancer in the SpC, but it's sorc/wiz only, and definitely not worth a 9th level slot. Without UMD, I don't think I can use it.

[Emperor Tippy]

Up your CL first as much as possible and then use Greater Consumptive Field and a bag of rats to boost it by another 50% before using Miracle to emulate Owl's Insight.

Even if you can't boost your CL above 17 (Ioun Stone, Strand of Prayer Beads, etc.), that would still push your CL up by 8 (to 25) and thus give you an additional +4 Wisdom from Owl's Insight (and an additional +2 to the save).

[tyckspoon]

The only thing I've been able to find so far is Greater Visage of the Deity (Good version), which gives a general stat-boost that includes +4 Wisdom and appears to be un-typed. It has 2 problems; your DM may balk at you successfully bluffing Evil Outsiders while you appear to be Half-Celestial, and in strict mechanical terms.. it only lasts 1 round/level. It's Personal, so it's Persistable if you have a reliable way to do that, but it's something you'll have to deal with.

Edit: And like Tippy said, buffing up your CL so you get better results out of your Owl's Insight.

[Elric VIII]

The only thing I've been able to find so far is Greater Visage of the Deity (Good version), which gives a general stat-boost that includes +4 Wisdom and appears to be un-typed. It has 2 problems; your DM may balk at you successfully bluffing Evil Outsiders while you appear to be Half-Celestial, and in strict mechanical terms.. it only lasts 1 round/level. It's Personal, so it's Persistable if you have a reliable way to do that, but it's something you'll have to deal with.

Edit: And like Tippy said, buffing up your CL so you get better results out of your Owl's Insight.

Greater Visage references Lesser Visage which applies an enhancement bonus.


You could grab Leadership and Cooperative Metamagic on yourself and your cohort to increase the DC by 2 (plus another 1 for each follower of a high enough level to cast the spell) if you cast the spell together.

A roundabout way would be Chaos Shuffling into Snowcasting/Spell Focus (cold) for the days you intend to use Planar Binding.

[Mountain]

These are great suggestions. Chaos shuffle was how I acquired Persistent Spell and DMM Persistent in the first place. Totally worth the XP cost.

The downside to these is that, for the most part, they're super-cheese. (None of them work if they get the DM hammer. :smallwink:)

I think I might be able to pull off the Greater Consumptive Field, but that just might affect my alignment. As a cleric, that's probably the end of the character.

Maybe a miracle could say "The next creature I attempt to bind takes a -10 to its will save." That doesn't sound like it should cost 5000 xp. Is there any support for something like this in any of the books?