1E Deflection Spell from OA, anything similar in 3.5?

[Elkad]

AD&D (first edition) Oriental Adventures has a first level Shukenja spell, Deflection.

Any attack with a to-hit roll allowed a save vs death.
Ranged attacks did no damage if you succeeded
Melee attacks did half damage
Obviously at high levels, the save became "don't fumble", massively raising survivability.

Any similar way to cut melee damage in 3.5? DR just doesn't get it done vs high damage attacks.

[Snowbluff]

There are a few. Wings of Cover will block an attack.

The Immortal Fortitude stance in ToB gives a save to avoid dying from negative HP.

[Elkad]

Thanks, but neither of those are really close.

I'm looking for a way to reduce damage by a percentage (instead of a set amount like DR)

[Jeff the Green]

I think percent-based damage resistance was all eliminated in the passage from 3.0 to 3.5.

[Karnith]

I think percent-based damage resistance was all eliminated in the passage from 3.0 to 3.5.
Pretty much. Percentage damage resistance pops up in a few places (energy damage to objects, Empyreal Ecstasy, Starmantle, Iron Construct, etc.), particularly in early 3.5 material, but for the most part the designers stopped doing that.

[Eldariel]

The basis of the dreaded Starmantle Cloak, Starmantle, is a Sorc/Wiz 6 spell that gives you Reflex DC 15 for ½ damage on all magic weapons and complete immunity to non-magic weapons. That, I think, is as close as you get in 3e.

[Snowbluff]

Shield Other cast by a Simulacrum Solar. 50% transferred to a dude with heavy regeneration.

[Slipperychicken]

Friendly Fire (EoE, Druid 4, Sorc/Wiz 4) basically lets you laugh at ranged attacks for 1 round/level, and is pretty deflection-y, letting you redirect the attack anywhere within 30ft of you, potentially back toward your attacker if he's within 30ft. No chance involved.

Greater Ironguard (MoF, Sorc/Wiz 7) lets you ignore damage from metal. Which is very nice, since most weapons are metal.

[Elkad]

Thanks guys.

Looks like starmantle is the best of the bunch, but that's a big jump from a 1st level spell in 1e to a 6th in 3e. And it doesn't appear to reduce damage from spells with a to-hit roll, just "weapons".

Hmm. If I wanted to create a spell like the original Deflection (which is overpowered for it's level..), how about.

Any attack involving a to-hit roll.
Fort Save to reduce HP damage inflicted to half. Does not reduce ability damage, level drain, or any other effect, only reduces HP damage.
DC = 10+the attackers BAB? Maybe 10+the total attack bonus for that attack?
At 1/rnd level, touch, standard action, what seems like a good level for the spell?

[BWR]

This is the conversion I made (first draft stage). It's still ridiculously powerful, but I figured the poort shugenja needed a

Deflection
(Abjuration)
Level: shugenja 4
Range: medium
Components: V, S, DF
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: 1 round/level
Target: 1 creature
Saving Throw: special
SR: yes

Once per round when attacked by melee or ranged attacks, the target may make a Reflex saving throw (DC = the attack roll) to avoid the attack completely.

[Flickerdart]

Once per round when attacked by melee or ranged attacks, the target may make a Reflex saving throw (DC = the attack roll) to avoid the attack completely.
At level 7, when this spell becomes available:
Typical attack roll you should care about: 7 BAB + ~6 STR + ~2 magic weapon = +15 or so. For this CR, among creatures that make attack rolls their business, MM lists Ogre Barbarian (+16), Cachalot Whale (+17), Bulette (+16), Dire Bear (+19).
Typical Reflex save: +5 base + ~6 DEX + ~2 cloak (for a rogue type) or +2 base + ~1 DEX + ~2 cloak for anybody else. A modifier of +5 against a modifier of +15 means that you are almost always going to fail the Reflex save unless you're a rogue getting a freebie from one of your allies, or it's a touch attack (which tend to have lower to-hits attached).

Overpowered? Barely.

[bekeleven]

At level 7, when this spell becomes available:
Typical attack roll you should care about: 7 BAB + ~6 STR + ~2 magic weapon = +15 or so. For this CR, among creatures that make attack rolls their business, MM lists Ogre Barbarian (+16), Cachalot Whale (+17), Bulette (+16), Dire Bear (+19).
Typical Reflex save: +5 base + ~6 DEX + ~2 cloak (for a rogue type) or +2 base + ~1 DEX + ~2 cloak for anybody else. A modifier of +5 against a modifier of +15 means that you are almost always going to fail the Reflex save unless you're a rogue getting a freebie from one of your allies, or it's a touch attack (which tend to have lower to-hits attached).

Overpowered? Barely.

You can also cut out the lower part of the attacker's range, since if you're procing the spell, it means they've already beaten your AC. Reflex saves only beat AC at rather low levels (when AC is middling and saves are swingy) and very high levels (when AC slows down and saves keep increasing). At level 7 a shugenja with no armor proficiency is wearing a +1 Mithril chain shirt and has a ring of protection +2, amulet of NA +1, and a couple dex for an AC of around 20. Meanwhile his reflex save is +2 (resistance) +2 (base) + the aforementioned dex, in other words, beat his AC only around 30% of the time. At low levels he'll have crap armor and the reflex save can beat it about half the time. At high levels (say, 20) he'll have 25 AC and a +15 or higher reflex save, so it will beat AC at least half the time.

But level 7? That's around the time when you get your first good magical equipment, then you spend the next 13 levels upgrading. So yeah, worst spot for reflex saves.

If you want to pump up this spell's power you can do two things:

First, make it save against a fresh attack roll (thus, the defender has two chances to flub)

Or, make it save against a lower/more static number, like 10+BAB (as mentioned), which especially penalizes wizards throwing touch attacks.

[Elkad]

This is the conversion I made (first draft stage). It's still ridiculously powerful, but I figured the poort shugenja needed a

Deflection
(Abjuration)
Level: shugenja 4
Range: medium
Components: V, S, DF
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: 1 round/level
Target: 1 creature
Saving Throw: special
SR: yes

Once per round when attacked by melee or ranged attacks, the target may make a Reflex saving throw (DC = the attack roll) to avoid the attack completely.

I like the original half-damage instead of complete avoidance, that way rider effects still hit (poison, can still be grappled, etc). By 3rd level spells there are several ways to generate 50% miss chance, so taking half damage half the time seems not over powered (25% dmg reduction over time). So putting save difficulty at 10+BAB, you'd need a 17 vs the ogre barbarian mentioned above. Which should keep all but the most optimized in the 40% success range, bringing it down to about 20% damage reduction. Starting to feel more like a 2nd level spell, even with it working for every strike.

Note that the half damage is a component of your defenses, not the attack, so evasion would not apply. However, it's resolved before DR, so it would leverage that.