How can they nerf me? Let me count the ways....

[Hiro Quester]

Does anyone know is a list exists somewheree of all the major things a character caster should be protected against?

In my case, I'm playing an 18th level Bard/Sublime Chord/Heartfire Fanner/Abjurant Champion, who is primarily a buffer/debuffer, backup caster, and melee combatant. I have many different scenarios protected against, but I'm worried that I have left a hole in my defenses that I could block.

After casting my morning buffs, extended and persisted spells (some refreshed mid-afternoon), I have some level of protection against:

Melee attacks: AC in the 50s (Bracers of AC +8, Dragonskin, Shield spell, high Dex and Nightscale armor, Siriene's grace spell adds CHA to AC)

Poison and Fear: The whole party eats a Heroes Feat every morning, gives immunity to poison and fear effects

Critical Hits: Armor with Fortification (75% miss chance for critical hits)

Charm: Feat adds Cha bonus (+15) to saving throws vs mind-affecting

Scrying, charm etc: I have Mind Blank up 24/7.

Energy attacks: Fire subtype, so Immune to Fire; Extended Dragonskin with Energy Resistance (Cold); Extended Protection from Energy (Electricity).

Dispel Magic: Ring of counter spells with Greater Dispel Magic in it.

Death effects and level drain: Armor crystal of Greater Lifekeeping (+5 to saves vs. these and change to re-roll if missed).

Direct attacks: I know "stay the Hand" spell: Immediate action; any attacker who targets me directly has to make a will save to avoid choosing not to do that after all.

Spells targeted directly at me (ioun stone that absorbs up to 8th level spells)

Damaging Area of effect spells: Contingency spell set to cast greater blink and blink me away from a damaging area of effect spell if Greater Blink is not already active

Sneak attacks: Contingency also blinks me away from mundane attacks aimed at me when greater blink isn't already active.

Grapples and Dangerous areas/situations (e.g. freezing fog, force cage): I persist Swift Fly, and also have Dislocation on my slippers of battle dancing, to use to dimension jump out of hazardous areas/grapples/cages.

You really need to make this saving throw: Ruin Delver's Fortune spell lets me add my +15 CHA bonus to any save.

Celerity spell to interrupt and immediately get a standard action to deal with other situations out of turn.

Silence spell which nerfs all Bard spells: Scroll of Joyful Noise.

Attempts to disrupt concentration: Feat that lets me use a perform check (perform skill is very high) instead of a concentration check.

The need to run when spells fail: I use a tempo bloosdspike before anticipated encounters, so I can always take an extra move action to get out of there.

Odd unanticipated situations I don't have a spell for: Limited Wish ("yes I do have a spell for that").


What am I missing? What other possible threats am I unprotected against?


Edit: typos. added Mindblank and Sneak attack, Ruin Delver's Fortune.

[DeAnno]

Disjunction, especially when you're flatfooted. Can you learn 3rd level spells as a Sublime Chord? Battlemagic Perception can be helpful there.

I know it's kind of a nuclear option, but well, that's the grim reality of 3.5e.

[Hiro Quester]

Disjunction, especially when you're flatfooted. Can you learn 3rd level spells as a Sublime Chord? Battlemagic Perception can be helpful there.

I know it's kind of a nuclear option, but well, that's the grim reality of 3.5e.

Ooooh, yeah. The GM is throwing BBEGs at us who have 9th level spells. Disjunction is a nasty nasty possibility. Thanks.

I was going to get a rune staff made soon with a few useful lower-level spells (to get Assay Spell Resistance during encounters). BattleMagic Perception sounds like a very useful buff to add to combat preparations. The ability to immediately counter spell (or counter-cast) would be very useful.

[DeAnno]

More conventional badstuff I've thought of already:


Discern Location will find you, and some other Mind Affecting Spells might not care about your Will Save. Mind Blank is required for paranoia mode.
A high quality modern DD build will still kill you using Force Damage to beat your Blink and energy resistance, and an area effect with no save or SR to defeat your other defenses. Force-Charged Energy combined with Acid Rain (HoB) and a lot of metamagic would probably do it.
Mundane Stealth plus HIPS with enough attack mods will probably land surprise attacks through your AC.
Similarly, Superior Invisibility at Range greater than 120 feet to beat True Sight is obnoxious, and can cause a lot of issues by stifling response while under Mind Blank to beat your Divinations. Not a whole lot of ways to deal with this except for not getting caught in the open.
If you are paranoid of getting dropped into AMFs or worse, Dead Magic Planes, you need Invoke Magic (LoM) to chain into at the very least, Teleport and Plane Shift.


Might add more to this if I think of it.

[Immabozo]

Melee attacks: AC in the 50s (Bracers of AC +8, Dragonskin, Shield spell, high Dex and Nightscale armor, Siriene's grace spell adds CHA to AC)

Bracers of AC dont work while armored.


Energy attacks: Fire subtype, so Immune to Fire; Extended Dragonskin with Energy Resistance (Cold)

There is a low level druid spell, icy mantle? that gives immunity to cold.


Silence spell which nerfs all Bard spells: Scroll of Joyful Noise.

I had a cleric with silence on himself and would use Ventriloquism to complete all verbal components of the spell outside the silenced area. Although others have talked about like a 50% failure due to not hearing yourself, or doesn't work at all since Ventriloquism is an illusion spell. But my DM let it work because when I came up with it, I was very new to D&D (first campaign) and I think he was proud of me.


What am I missing? What other possible threats am I unprotected against?

I dont know if it is terrible useful, but Steadfast Determination gives con to will saves instead of wis and you dont fail fort saves on a 1. A method of flight will handle a lot of problems. Preferably a constant one. I personally, cannot think of anything else

[Hiro Quester]

More conventional badstuff I've thought of already:


Discern Location will find you, and some other Mind Affecting Spells might not care about your Will Save. Mind Blank is required for paranoia mode.
A high quality modern DD build will still kill you using Force Damage to beat your Blink and energy resistance, and an area effect with no save or SR to defeat your other defenses. Force-Charged Energy combined with Acid Rain (HoB) and a lot of metamagic would probably do it.
Mundane Stealth plus HIPS with enough attack mods will probably land surprise attacks through your AC.
Similarly, Superior Invisibility at Range greater than 120 feet to beat True Sight is obnoxious, and can cause a lot of issues by stifling response while under Mind Blank to beat your Divinations. Not a whole lot of ways to deal with this except for not getting caught in the open.


Might add more to this if I think of it.

Oh. Mind Blank. I have that up permanently too. I'll add it to the list at the top of the thread.

And I can Cast True Seeing, but don't usually because it's 1 round/level, and there are usually other more useful things to do at the start of an encounter.

The stealth invisible long-distance sneak attack I dont see coming 's also covered under my contingency ("blink away from any damage-causing area attack or physical attack" I should have said.; he GM let me have that as a contingency description). I'll add that too. But thanks.

[Emperor Tippy]

Get a scroll of Hide Life and cast it, that makes you immune to death.

[DeAnno]

The stealth invisible long-distance sneak attack I dont see coming 's also covered under my contingency ("blink away from any damage-causing area attack or physical attack" I should have said.; he GM let me have that as a contingency description). I'll add that too. But thanks.

You shouldn't trust Blink. It doesn't work at all against Force damage and there are a ton of ways to deal that, not to mention more esoteric ways of hitting the Ethereal plane or what you're supposed to do if you're one some plane with no Ethereal coplanar plane to Blink to. Contingency to teleport somewhere far away would work better.

[Hiro Quester]

Bracers of AC dont work while armored.

I think they do. But they don't stack; only the highest Armor bonus applies. The night scale is only +1 armor bonus that doesn't stack. It's there to hold the fortification and crystal of life keeping.



There is a low level druid spell, icy mantle? that gives immunity to cold.


I already have the Fire subtype. Mantle of the Icy Soul would add the Cold subtye. I doubt I could have both.

That's a funny use of ventriloquism. But I don't think the GM should have allowed it, since ventriloquism itself has a verbal component, and so can't be used inside silence. IMHO, funny can beat rules if the GM has an appreciation of "that's just so crazy I don't care that it shouldn't work".

Instead of the Wis to Saves, I also have "ruin Delver's Fortune, that lets me add my +15 CHA to any saving throw. Thanks for reminding me of that one, too.

[kellbyb]

I already have the Fire subtype. Mantle of the Icy Soul would add the Cold subtye. I doubt I could have both.

You can. In fact I'm pretty sure that there are some monsters with both types.

[Hiro Quester]

You shouldn't trust Blink. It doesn't work at all against Force damage and there are a ton of ways to deal that, not to mention more esoteric ways of hitting the Ethereal plane or what you're supposed to do if you're one some plane with no Ethereal coplanar plane to Blink to. Contingency to teleport somewhere far away would work better.

That's a good point. Force damage.... Perhaps I'l change the contingency when I renew it. I'l leave it up for now, though.

I don't have a teleport spell (though I could get a scroll). Three other part members have our teleportation needs covered. I only have dislocation on my slippers (up to 50 feet). But I can immediate cast Celerity to interrupt and dislocate, I guess.

[Hiro Quester]

You can. In fact I'm pretty sure that there are some monsters with both types.

Hmmm... Yes, they have both immunities. But both subtypes? I thought the balance of fire subtype was vulnerability to cold. Both seems too cheesy. Would be funny though. A Singer of Ice and Fire.

[kellbyb]

Hmmm... Yes, they have both immunities. But both subtypes? I thought the balance of fire subtype was vulnerability to cold. Both seems too cheesy. Would be funny though. A Singer of Ice and Fire.

I wasn't able to find something with the fire and ice subtypes both in 5 minutes, but the omnimental from MM3 has both the fire and water subtypes. I can imagine a similar situation pretty easily for fire and ice.

[Hiro Quester]

I wasn't able to find something with the fire and ice subtypes both in 5 minutes, but the omnimental from MM3 has both the fire and water subtypes. I can imagine a similar situation pretty easily for fire and ice.

I'll look into that. The GM is a Game of Thrones fan. So marketing myself as "Singer of Ice and Fire" might be funny enough that he'd allow it. I could even use Limited Wish to cast it myself, since it's a 5th level druid spell. I'll talk to the GM about it. Thanks, Kellbyb!!

Update: I was initially reading the Frostburn version. In SC they updated it: "A fire creature subjected to this spell does not gain the cold subtype, but it loses the fire subtype for the duration."

So it would just negate my fire immunity. So no go. thanks anyway. It was a cool (!) idea for about ten minutes.

[Immabozo]

I think they do. But they don't stack; only the highest Armor bonus applies. The night scale is only +1 armor bonus that doesn't stack. It's there to hold the fortification and crystal of life keeping.

huh, you are right.


That's a funny use of ventriloquism. But I don't think the GM should have allowed it, since ventriloquism itself has a verbal component, and so can't be used inside silence. IMHO, funny can beat rules if the GM has an appreciation of "that's just so crazy I don't care that it shouldn't work".

I cast ventriloquism first, of course. But I agree, it shouldn't have worked. But I was very new and my DM really like my out-of-the-box thinking, especially being so new.


Instead of the Wis to Saves, I also have "ruin Delver's Fortune, that lets me add my +15 CHA to any saving throw. Thanks for reminding me of that one, too.

How do you have a 40 cha? That is a a nice little trick! Where does Ruin Delver's Fortune come from? What book? is it a feat? Class feature?


Update: I was initially reading the Frostburn version. In SC they updated it: "A fire creature subjected to this spell does not gain the cold subtype, but it loses the fire subtype for the duration."

So it would just negate my fire immunity. So no go. thanks anyway. It was a cool (!) idea for about ten minutes.

Damn! Oh well.

[Bakkan]

Ranged Attacks: Friendly Fire (4th-level Wiz/Sor, Exemplars of Evil)

[Hiro Quester]

huh, you are right.

How do you have a 40 cha? That is a a nice little trick! Where does Ruin Delver's Fortune come from? What book? is it a feat? Class feature?


The CHA comes from a variety of sources. High starting value, Cloak of Charisma, Fire Souled Acquired template (Dragon Mag 319), and a few GM-granted boosts. The whole campaign is somewhat super-powered and most of us have a high ability score in one place or another and a few more feats than typical.

But fear not, the Bad guys still challenge us. Our Paladin and Fighter both died in last week's main battle.

Ruin Delver's Fortune is in Spell Compendium, p. 178. 4th level bard wiz sorc. Immediate action casting; add CHA bonus to any save (and get immunity to poison, immunity to fear, or evasion), or get Cha +4d8 temporary Hit Points. Very useful.

[Immabozo]

The CHA comes from a variety of sources. High starting value, Cloak of Charisma, Fire Souled Acquired template (Dragon Mag 319), and a few GM-granted boosts. The whole campaign is somewhat super-powered and most of us have a high ability score in one place or another and a few more feats than typical.

But fear not, the Bad guys still challenge us. Our Paladin and Fighter both died in last week's main battle.

Ruin Delver's Fortune is in Spell Compendium, p. 178. 4th level bard wiz sorc. Immediate action casting; add CHA bonus to any save (and get immunity to poison, immunity to fear, or evasion), or get Cha +4d8 temporary Hit Points. Very useful.

1, nice spell.
2. I would love to play in your campaign!
3. It sounds like you have a good DM.

[Zanos]

Death effects and level drain: Armor crystal of Greater Lifekeeping (+5 to saves vs. these and change to re-roll if missed).
This is the biggest hole I could spot at at quick glance. Negative levels very frequently have no save, are very nasty for spellcasters especially, and stack with themselves. Take a look at the Soulfire(+5) armor enchantment from BoED for total immunity to energy drain and death effects.

It's entirely possible to dump over 20 negative levels on a target in one action with significant optimization, which will automatically kill you. Even if it's not a lethal amount you're going to lose a ton of spell slots and -1 on basically everything for each negative level.

[jiriku]

The biggest trouble I see you having is a persistent foe or a large number of foes who can overwhelm your ablative defenses. Really, you've done a nice job there. I may take some notes on your buff choices, because you've got a lot of bases covered for a very reasonable investment.

[Hiro Quester]

1, nice spell.
2. I would love to play in your campaign!
3. It sounds like you have a good DM.

It s fun, having these awesome abilities and a few more feats than typical. But still challenging because we do have a great DM.

However, it is a bit of a pain in the ass for him to run. He says it was an interesting experiment, but he probably wouldn't do it again.

I'm grateful for the experience; this is the most powerful character I've ever played.

ExampleBrag:
With Arcane Spellsurge(cast as swift action), Harmonize (Bardic music as move action), Heroics x2 to get TWF and ITWF or the whole morning, Inspire Courge at +8, and a tempo bloodspike all active, in one round my bard could:
- cast a 38d6 disintegrate spell at one opponent as a swift action,
- as a free action continue singing Dragonfire Inspiration to add 8d6 (half fire half sonic damage) to every melee damage roll for all allies,
- use the expo bloodspike's extra move to move into action and still have a full round attack (six attacks from haste and TWF, ITWF).

With slippers of battle dancing, gauntlets of heartfelt blows, and snowflake wardance adding the CHA bonus to attacks (x2) and damage (and again as fire damage) I killed a Giant by doing 540 points of melee damage that round! Plus the disintegrate to his friend. That was very fun to roll.

But when many of us have that much power (and so many dice to roll), it does take a while to get through turns for all the players and many bad guys. And it is hard to create encounters that will challenge us yet not TPK us. (Our two tanks --Fighter and Paladin-- died in that same encounter.)

[Hiro Quester]

The biggest trouble I see you having is a persistent foe or a large number of foes who can overwhelm your ablative defenses. Really, you've done a nice job there. I may take some notes on your buff choices, because you've got a lot of bases covered for a very reasonable investment.

Thanks. (Laying it al out like this has been a useful exercise for me too. the list will make it easier not to forget a protection.)

And yes, the problem for us, and the DM's weapon of choice, is to have days in which there are several high-powered encounters, without the opportunity to rest and recover spells. So the large number of foes , and really powerful BBEGs who manage to teleport away when they get near defeat, heal, and then come back a few rounds later, does eventually overwhelm us.

[Hiro Quester]

This is the biggest hole I could spot at at quick glance. Negative levels very frequently have no save, are very nasty for spellcasters especially, and stack with themselves. Take a look at the Soulfire(+5) armor enchantment from BoED for total immunity to energy drain and death effects.

It's entirely possible to dump over 20 negative levels on a target in one action with significant optimization, which will automatically kill you. Even if it's not a lethal amount you're going to lose a ton of spell slots and -1 on basically everything for each negative level.

I did consider that. But the Fortification Armor enhancement is already +3, so I can't fit that in.

So I'm trusting the combination of "stay the hand" spell, greater blink, ioun stone, crystal of life keepings +5 to ST, and Ruin Delver's fortune's +15 to ST will offer some layers of protection there.

I evaded two blasts of a 9th rank energy drain during the last encounter thanks to stay the hand and to 50% miss chance from Blinking. One only just barely, but at least it's something.

I should get a wand with Deathward on it. Thanks for pointing this out, Zanos.

[jiriku]

Thanks. (Laying it al out like this has been a useful exercise for me too. the list will make it easier not to forget a protection.)

And yes, the problem for us, and the DM's weapon of choice, is to have days in which there are several high-powered encounters, without the opportunity to rest and recover spells. So the large number of foes , and really powerful BBEGs who manage to teleport away when they get near defeat, heal, and then come back a few rounds later, does eventually overwhelm us.

Do you have full psionics/magic transparency? If so, then have a teleport-capable character use limited wish to duplicate trace teleport, then 'port after them hot on their heels! Or drop dimensional lock to prevent them from coming back if you want to rest and lick your wounds.

[Hiro Quester]

Do you have full psionics/magic transparency? If so, then have a teleport-capable character use limited wish to duplicate trace teleport, then 'port after them hot on their heels! Or drop dimensional lock to prevent them from coming back if you want to rest and lick your wounds.

We don't use psionics. I did think of Dimension Lock (to prevent them escaping), but only after they had gone.

[Immabozo]

- snip -

Wow, that is a powerful character! I am sure that encounters are tough ones to handle!


We don't use psionics. I did think of Dimension Lock (to prevent them escaping), but only after they had gone.

I bet divert teleport would be a fun on too. Alas, no psionics.

[Umbranar]

Noticed you had an Ion Stone of Absorbtion, the discription says it works like the Rod except you need to ready an action to absorb a spell. Just so you know.

[With a box]

Flat-footed
Foresight
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/foresight.htm

[RegalKain]

I don't know if you're able to or not, but the Saint Template in Book of Exalted Deeds (Pg 184-186) Gives immunity to, Acid, Cold, Electricity and Petrification, I used that with Fire subtybe on a Cleric of mine some time ago to create a pretty durable "tank" for my group. Might be something to look into, sorry I'm not more useful! :) Saint also gives some other things like HD based DR, Fast Healing etc.

[HammeredWharf]

Do you have Anticipate Teleportation? You should.

"Lots of Dispels" is a typical gish weakness and you have it. I remember pitting my players against a DMM cleric miniboss who cast four chained Dispels per round. First, the Dispels chained between players, then the leftover Dispels went through their magic items and disabled them. Then the cleric's buffed minions charged in and did some face-smashing. That was... well, really funny for me, but a bit awkward for their characters. Especially for the DMM: Persist cleric who turned into a little over encumbered guy with a mace.

[Hiro Quester]

I can't be a saint. I'm not good enough (true neutral). It's a good (!) idea, though.

Anticipate Teleportation I very nearly learned last time I learned a spell of that label. Still strongly considering using Limited Wish to cast it, after our last encounter. It's basically a three-round time stop against anyone teleporting in.

The problem is that it also delays teleportation by party members, if they don't take the subject of the spell with them. So dimension door across the battlefield gets you out of action for three rounds. I wonder how it would interact with tactical teleportation (rearrange the party around the battlefield)? If the subject of the spell is also teleported, then they are not there delaying arrival for others.

But if we restrict teleporting for "holy crap I'm about to die" situations, an extra refuge of being gone for here rounds while the rest of the party cleans up could in fact be useful.

And it's a 24 hour duration abjuration. With a level of Abjurant champion, thats 48 hour duration/casting. Tempting to learn and have continuously active. very tempting.

Chain dispel is a serious problem, you're right. (I was considering it for my 8th rank spell, in fact.) Maybe I re-learn that when I get to 20th level and can trade out a spell, so I can have a chance of counterspelling it as well as using it on the BBEG's buffs and items.

But if it works as a targeted dispel (but with higher CL) on each target, my ring of counterspies with greater dispel magic (though CL capped at 15) might have a chance of protecting me, right?

[Hiro Quester]

Noticed you had an Ion Stone of Absorbtion, the discription says it works like the Rod except you need to ready an action to absorb a spell. Just so you know.

Thanks for pointing that out, Umbranar. I hadn't noticed the readied action requirement.

I never really understood what a redid action costs. I just looked it up. It seems that it would require me to give up a standard action anytime I think I'm going to be the target of a spell or ray before my next turn.

That would be very inconvenient. Action economy has been something I've worked hard to maximize. Perhaps that ioun stone isn't the uber-protection I thought it was.

[kellbyb]

How about Energy Immunity (http://dndtools.eu/spells/complete-arcane--55/energy-immunity--439/)? That would give you the immunity without the subtype.

[Hiro Quester]

Flat-footed
Foresight
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/foresight.htm

Foresight would be useful. But I'll only get two 9th level spells. And I have been eyeing up Time Stop, and preparing useful spells to use in that situation, for a while.

But my character is tending towards paranoid self-protection. I'll consider foresight carefully as my other 9th level spell. Hmmm....

[HammeredWharf]

Chain dispel is a serious problem, you're right. (I was considering it for my 8th rank spell, in fact.) Maybe I re-learn that when I get to 20th level and can trade out a spell, so I can have a chance of counterspelling it as well as using it on the BBEG's buffs and items.

But if it works as a targeted dispel (but with higher CL) on each target, my ring of counterspies with greater dispel magic (though CL capped at 15) might have a chance of protecting me, right?

I meant (Swift) Twinned Chained Greater Dispels. A Ring of counterspells says "should that spell ever be cast upon the wearer", so it won't counter spells that mimick Dispel, such as Chain Dispel. It will protect you from the first Chained Greater Dispel, but not the other three. Of course, getting bombarded with Dispels isn't a common occurrence, but it shouldn't be uncommon in a high-level, high-op game.

As a side note, Chain Dispel has the downside of "Target: One or more creatures". It can't target items.

[Hiro Quester]

How about Energy Immunity (http://dndtools.eu/spells/complete-arcane--55/energy-immunity--439/)? That would give you the immunity without the subtype.

And Energy immunity would be nice. But expensive. I'm already casting an Extended Protection from Energy (absorbs 120 points of a particular energy) every morning. (perhaps I should cast another, though?

But I'll only learn one more 7th level spell. So that might have to be enough. Maybe getting a few scrolls of Immunity for encounter-heavy days would be useful, though.

[Hiro Quester]

I meant (Swift) Twinned Chained Greater Dispels. A Ring of counterspells says "should that spell ever be cast upon the wearer", so it won't counter spells that mimick Dispel, such as Chain Dispel. It will protect you from the first Chained Greater Dispel, but not the other three. Of course, getting bombarded with Dispels isn't a common occurrence, but it shouldn't be uncommon in a high-level, high-op game.

As a side note, Chain Dispel has the downside of "Target: One or more creatures". It can't target items.

That last point is a virtue. Nerfs the bad guy, but leaves his loot intact.

And our DM house rules that greater dispel in a ring of counter spells can have a chance of countering any targeted spell. So he might let it have a chance there, too?

[Immabozo]

my ring of counterspies

oooh, what's a ring of counterspies do? :smalltongue:

[Hiro Quester]

oooh, what's a ring of counterspies do? :smalltongue:

:smallbiggrin: Autocorrect fail.

Actually my character, paranoid bastard that he is, would probably love to have one of those.

[Shining Wrath]

Sonic damage. You're a bard; becoming deaf might be a bad thing. Various sorts of "loud noise" spells could cramp your style.

[Hiro Quester]

Sonic damage. You're a bard; becoming deaf might be a bad thing. Various sorts of "loud noise" spells could cramp your style.

Good point. I have a wand of Lesser restoration for removing the fatigue consequence of Snowflake Wardance. it negates magical effects that cause temporary ability damage. Would that also cure deafness?

How can one ward against deafness from sonic damage? I have never thought about how to do that.

[Immabozo]

How can one ward against deafness from sonic damage? I have never thought about how to do that.

Earplugs/muffs?

[Slithery D]

Iron Body makes you immune to deafness/blindess (and a lot else) at the cost of speed, dexterity, rust vulnerability, and no potion consumption. You said you don't use psionics, otherwise you could use a pschoactive skin 3/day for 15 min.

[HammeredWharf]

That last point is a virtue. Nerfs the bad guy, but leaves his loot intact.

Dispelling items disables them for a few rounds, not permanently.


And our DM house rules that greater dispel in a ring of counter spells can have a chance of countering any targeted spell. So he might let it have a chance there, too?

Sounds terribly OP for 4K gold, but ok.

[Esgath]

Put the Spellblade enchantment (PGtF, page 120) on armor spikes/animated darkwood shield with shield spikes and protect yourself from various dispel effects. As an added bonus, you can throw the effect around at the caster himself.

[The Insaniac]

Use the feat: Planar Touchstone (Catalogs of Enlightenment) to gain the domain ability for the pride domain. That lets you reroll any 1s on saving throws.

[Hiro Quester]

Put the Spellblade enchantment (PGtF, page 120) on armor spikes/animated darkwood shield with shield spikes and protect yourself from various dispel effects. As an added bonus, you can throw the effect around at the caster himself.

Spellblade does indeed look like a good option. Esp. For a targeted dispel. But a targeted energy drain on it might save my life. (As I said earlier, I barely dodged two of those last encounter, one from stay the hand, one from greater blink's miss chance.)

The spell turning option could be very useful!

[Hiro Quester]

Iron Body makes you immune to deafness/blindess (and a lot else) at the cost of speed, dexterity, rust vulnerability, and no potion consumption. You said you don't use psionics, otherwise you could use a pschoactive skin 3/day for 15 min.

That's an interesting option. But it comes at too big a price. Speed and dex and casting all seriously hampered.

A scroll of remove deafness/blindness seems prudent though.