Significantly upping Evocation spells DC houserule

[Madeiner]

Hi there.
We are playing Pathfinder, a quite homebrewed version of it.
PCs are currently 14th level and we planning to stay there for the rest of the campaign.
Typical boss monsters currently have +15/+17 to their saves.
PCs have mostly +4 or +5 attributes (low magic game) so DCs are around 16-21.

This means most saves are going to be made. Casters are dealing low damage because of that. We are also at low-medium optimization.
We like spells that deal damage. We dont like spells that are overly complicated, and i try to avoid save or die/suck. One player instead is focusing more on save or dies, and is more optimized.

I was thinking of a simple houserule:

All evocation spells that deal 1d6/level or less damage with no further effects have a DC of +6, only against creatures stronger than you are.

Definition of stronger is generally CR. I need that clause or blasters become exceedingly powerful against large hordes of minions. I instead want blasting to be more viable against boss monsters or encounters where there 1-3 big creatures.

Is this reasonable? I am trying to make blasting a more viable choice without falling to the danger of ending encounters anticlimatically with one save or die/suck.

[redwizard007]

This is totally off the top of my head...

Focused Evocation
Feat (Metamagic)

An effected evocation spell becomes a ray able to affect only a single target, loses all other shapes and requires a ranged touch attack to hit. This spell has no effect on spells not of the evocation school, nor on any spell with effects other than damage from a specific energy source (including fire, cold, acid, electricity, sonic, force, positive and negative.) Any spell to which this feat is applied is subject to SR but does not allow a saving throw even if the spell would normally do so.

Using this feat increases the spell's level by one.

Something like this would give your casters a little more flexibility. I wouldn't suggest it for optimized casters or inventive players but if your gang really just likes blowing stuff up then this should fit nicely.

Since it drops the saving throw and replaces it with a ranged touch attack it will be more likely to hit big but there will be misses sprinkled in too.

Increasing a level 3 spell to level 4 is going to be a mild inconvenience to your players.

You still have spell resistance to fall back on as a DM when you want a truly epic bad ass.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Typical boss monsters currently have +15/+17 to their saves.
PCs have mostly +4 or +5 attributes (low magic game) so DCs are around 16-21.
Well there's your problem. 3.5 and Pathfinder are balanced around the idea that characters are increasing their numbers via magic items as they level up. At level 14, characters are expected to have primary ability modifiers twice as high as what your group has. Given that, why not universally upgrade save DCs? Say, 10+ability modifier+2*spell level, or 10+2*ability modifier+spell level or something.

[Madeiner]

Well there's your problem. 3.5 and Pathfinder are balanced around the idea that characters are increasing their numbers via magic items as they level up. At level 14, characters are expected to have primary ability modifiers twice as high as what your group has. Given that, why not universally upgrade save DCs? Say, 10+ability modifier+2*spell level, or 10+2*ability modifier+spell level or something.

Yeah i know that we are under base DCs because of the world.
If i upgrade all DCs, all we have is more effective save or dies. I dont want that.

Btw, how often are monters supposed to pass/fail their saving throws? I once read a math book about 3,5 expected values, of which i sadly don't remember the name.
I seem to remember monsters are calculated to pass 70% of saving throws they make, while ranged touch attacks are meant to hit 70-80% of the times. Am i wrong with that?

We mostly go for cinematic, videogame-like bosses. I can't end a fight with "flesh to stone". It's too boring for me, and that's why i want those high saves. But i also need the casters to be able to place damage spells withoutin constantly saving.

Thanks for that feat, i will surely think about it. Maybe it's all i need.

[jiriku]

Maybe just steer your players who like to blast towards the spells that don't offer saves for half damage? Really, there are quite a few of them. If players are stuck with their current spells known, perhaps you could introduce them to magic tome or magical location that will allow them a one-time opportunity to swap out their spells known.

[Madeiner]

Maybe just steer your players who like to blast towards the spells that don't offer saves for half damage? Really, there are quite a few of them. If players are stuck with their current spells known, perhaps you could introduce them to magic tome or magical location that will allow them a one-time opportunity to swap out their spells known.

I've offered all of them spontaneous casters the opportunity to change spells while they decide what they like.
What are those blasting spells in pathfinder that offer no saves?

One of my player especially likes simple recognizable spells like fireball.
Is is that bad to provide that +6 DC for those spells?

[Hydrothermal]

What are those blasting spells in pathfinder that offer no saves?

There are a handful of good ones. Scorching Ray, Ice Storm, Corrosive Consumption (UM), Acid Fog, and Contagious Flame (APG) all come to mind.

Alternatives that aren't quite straight-up blasty but still allow decent damage include Twilight Knife (APG), Scorching Ash Form (APG), Wall of Fire, and Mage's Sword.

There's also the classic Black Tentacles, which has reasonable prolonged damage output coupled with the grappling, but it's obviously subject to your target's CMD - not quite the same thing as a save, but likely to present a similar problem. The CMB for the Tentacles isn't affected by your players' low modifiers, so it's a straight 19 based off 4+1+level.

[Dalebert]

You opened up a can of worms by going low magic. Saves aren't the only thing that's affected. Expected magic items according to level has been figured into all sorts of challenges in the game. You could look to Vow of Poverty to get an idea of ways that have been attempted to offset that disadvantage while maintaining CRs and such according to level. Plenty of folks have strong feelings about VoP. It seems many people feel it's very flawed but it's a place to start.

I would also encourage you to adjust your bosses rather than your whole spell system. Maybe even consider giving them certain immunities or bonuses to their saves to discourage boring ends of battles. You're effectively gimping spell choices or even entire builds that involve save of die/suck spells if you permanently account for low magic ONLY for evocation spells. Those spells should still be effective generally or else you can end up with a whole game that's boring evocation and not just end-battles. I'd feel very gimped trying to play a witch in that game.