Need to bolster the rogue's resistances to match the monk's.

[trikkydik]

So i heeded the advice from everyone in the last post and let the telepath/monk use his power.

But to my surprise, he had an upgraded version of energy adaptation, ENERGY CONVERSION. which also lasts 140 minutes.
(Energy conversion lets the user absorb 30 points of ANY energy damage type, Every time he gets hit with energy, and discharge it later at his discretion.)

The dungeon they raided was essentially an emulation of a dungeon from Diablo 2 act 4

So there was a lot of fire and lightning damage going around.

And letting the monk use this power DID make the session way more awesome and fun for my players.

The elemental damage i dealt to the monk was highly inflated (20d6 every shot) because every time the monk got hit with fire/lightning he would absorb 30, meaning he was dealt 65 points on average. (Taking 35 damage and absorbing 30 of it, which he could discharge at a later time.)

But here's where i ran into another problem:
Psionic monk HP - 65
Rogue wizard HP- 70
The enemy boss unleashes his breath weapon. (20D6)
They both rolled natural 1's, so he hits both of them.
Because the rogue doesn't have energy adaptation, he had to take the same amount of damage as the monk. (70) which put the rogue at 0 hp, and the monk at 25.

The monk was able to keep the rogue from dying, and they successfully completed the mission. But i didn't like the idea of the rogue getting hit for 70 points of lightning damage, and feinting as a result.

So moving forward, does anybody have any ideas on how i can bolster the rogue's energy resistances to be on par with the monk's energy absorption?
USE NON-ELEMENTAL DAMAGE IS SOMETHING I AM COMPLETELY AWARE OF.

I appreciate any feedback on this, but please stick to the question asked. i don't need lectures on how bad i am at DMing, or alternate encounter ideas.
i simply would like some helpful ideas on how to bring the rogues resistances up drastically.
-OR-
Some non cheesy ways of getting rid of the psion/monk's energy conversion ability.

[Boci]

Doesn't the rogue ignore the damage from the breath weapon on a successful save? Ditto on the monk, did both fail and take full damage? Those classes are meant to have pretty good dex. Bad luck happens, its not neccissarily a reason to change anything. What's the DC for the boss's breath weapon? Both monks and rogues should have at least decent ref saves.

[Extra Anchovies]

Well, the monk has ready access to energy resistance, so if they find an item that provides it - maybe a ring that provides fire and electric resistance 20 in the treasure hoard at the end of the fire-and-lightning dungeon - it'll make more sense to them both in and out of character to have the rogue use it, especially if it occupies an item slot that the Rogue has free but the Monk does not.

Also, if I recall correctly the rogue is gestalt with wizard; do they not have access to Protection From Energy and/or Resist Energy?

[Malimar]

Doesn't the rogue ignore the damage from the breath weapon on a successful save? Ditto on the monk, did both fail and take full damage? Those classes are meant to have pretty good dex. Bad luck happens, its not neccissarily a reason to change anything. What's the DC for the boss's breath weapon? Both monks and rogues should have at least decent ref saves.

I was going to say "Not only that, doesn't the rogue have Improved Evasion, and thus ignore half damage even on a failed save?" But, as I keep forgetting, Improved Evasion is a Rogue Special Ability, not an automatic class feature. I don't know why anybody would take anything else, but doing so is an option.

[OldTrees1]

Multipart plan:
1) Breath Weapons have saves for partial effects. Compare the save modifiers of the 2 characters.
2) Does the Rogue have their cloak of resistance and gloves of dexterity equipped?
3) Improved Evasion is a Rogue special ability that the Rogue might really want
4) You really like elemental themed encounters. Start having mixed effects. Instead of a White Dragon only dealing Cold Damage, have it deal Cold Damage & a speed penalty. In the cases where the Rogue saves and the Monk fails, they will take similar amounts of damage but the Rogue will ignore the rider effect.

[trikkydik]

Doesn't the rogue ignore the damage from the breath weapon on a successful save? Ditto on the monk, did both fail and take full damage? Those classes are meant to have pretty good dex. Bad luck happens, its not neccissarily a reason to change anything. What's the DC for the boss's breath weapon? Both monks and rogues should have at least decent ref saves.
I forgot to include that they rolled natural 1's, sorry.


I was going to say "Not only that, doesn't the rogue have Improved Evasion, and thus ignore half damage even on a failed save?" But, as I keep forgetting, Improved Evasion is a Rogue Special Ability, not an automatic class feature. I don't know why anybody would take anything else, but doing so is an option.

Again, yeah they both rolled nat 1, and they had both been caught flat footed.


Multipart plan:
1) Breath Weapons have saves for partial effects. Compare the save modifiers of the 2 characters.
2) Does the Rogue have their cloak of resistance and gloves of dexterity equipped?
3) Improved Evasion is a Rogue special ability that the Rogue might really want
4) You really like elemental themed encounters. Start having mixed effects. Instead of a White Dragon only dealing Cold Damage, have it deal Cold Damage & a speed penalty. In the cases where the Rogue saves and the Monk fails, they will take similar amounts of damage but the Rogue will ignore the rider effect.

1.) I thought about that, but I didn't want it to seem to deliberate. But good point, thank you.

2.) lol, also a good point, I'm thinking items might help more here.
3.)He has it, but again, they were both in a worst case scenario of getting hit with a breath weapon.
4.) yeah I guess I do, but most damage I do is regular weapon damage, but elements are fun to play with :-)

[OldTrees1]

1.) I thought about that, but I didn't want it to seem to deliberate. But good point, thank you.

2.) lol, also a good point, I'm thinking items might help more here.
3.)He has it, but again, they were both in a worst case scenario of getting hit with a breath weapon.
4.) yeah I guess I do, but most damage I do is regular weapon damage, but elements are fun to play with :-)
@3 Are you sure you know Improved Evasion?


Improved Evasion (Ex)
This ability works like evasion, except that while the rogue still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

@4)
In that case you really need to start adding additional flavor to each elemental damage. Enrich that flavor by making difference sources of the same elemental damage be qualitatively different from each other.
A Fiery breath weapon would deal fire damage & take your breath away
Stepping stones over lava would deal fire damage & slow your speed
Jets of fire would deal fire damage & upset your balance

[Malimar]

Natural 1s and flat-footed don't override Improved Evasion. The rogue should have taken half damage. The only difference in a save between a natural 1 and a regular failure is that a worn or held item gets targeted (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#itemsSurvivingafteraSavingTh row).