Ways to not BFC your own party.

[SangoProduction]

Obviously, if you don't cover the party in the BFC, then you won't hurt them. But sometimes have no choice, if you're going to use it at all.

So, I wanted to know if there were any good ways to exclude your allies from your effects. The only one I found was from Spheres of Power's Protection sphere. And it might actually be arguable that it doesn't protect from on-going effects.


Friendship (aegis)
You may create an aegis that gives a creature special protection from the sphere and supernatural abilities of his allies. Whenever one of that creature’s allies uses a sphere or supernatural ability that covers an area, they may exclude creatures with this aegis from the area of effect.

[Psyren]

Magic has Selective Spell. (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/metamagic-feats/selective-spell-metamagic/) No idea what the spheres equivalent would be.

If the battlefields aren't tiny you should be able to aim your effects in a useful way.

[Particle_Man]

BFC = ?

Sorry I am not up on the acronyms.

[SangoProduction]

Magic has Selective Spell. (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/metamagic-feats/selective-spell-metamagic/) No idea what the spheres equivalent would be.

If the battlefields aren't tiny you should be able to aim your effects in a useful way.

Yeah. As I said, sometimes it's just not possible because you're in a dungeon or whatever. Also, Spheres uses metamagic perfectly fine (it just costs an extra Spell Point per spell level that is increased by the metamagic).

Although I wouldn't class that one as the best possible option without some way to reduce its cost. Unless there are no other options. Then it wins.


BFC = ?

Sorry I am not up on the acronyms.

Battlefield Control.

[Zaq]

Initiative helps more than it should, just for positioning.

[Psyren]

Again not that familiar with Spheres, but if this is happening with a specific ability, it might be worth applying a metamagic reducer to that ability - say, Magical Lineage, Preferred Spell or Spell Perfection.

If instead this is happening routinely to a number of different spells, a rod or two of SS might be worth investing in.

[SangoProduction]

Again not that familiar with Spheres, but if this is happening with a specific ability, it might be worth applying a metamagic reducer to that ability - say, Magical Lineage, Preferred Spell or Spell Perfection.

If instead this is happening routinely to a number of different spells, a rod or two of SS might be worth investing in.

I always forget that rods are a thing.

But Magical Lineage definitely seems to work....once you're level 10, and the campaign's basically wrapped up to get SS in the first place....OH! This means that a rod of SS can bypass this level restriction, and on the cheap because it's just a +1 metamagic, right?

*Googles it* Yup! 3k gold for the lesser version. Amazing. Suddenly SS is a pretty damned good contender.

[Geddy2112]

Warn them beforehand, and ask they delay till you act in initiative. If they don't listen, do it anyways. Play to the strengths of your party by throwing BFC that your party will pass the save against/be immune to.

[Darrin]

I'm fond of Sculpt Spell (Complete Arcane), particularly if you can get a metamagic reducer on it (I'm partial to Midnight Metamagic from Magic of Incarnum). Also, Lesser Metamagic Rod of Sculpt Spell should only cost 3000 GP.

At higher levels, you can dip into Archmage (DMG) and trade in a 6th-level slot for Mastery of Shaping.

Spellguard Rings (4000 GP, Complete Mage) can make one of your allies immune to a spell up to 3/day as a free action. You can wear up to two of these rings, or pick up a Hand of Glory to add a third ring, maybe even a Ringsword (22315 GP, A&EG) for a fourth ring.

It's also possible to buff your party with spells that specifically negate or counter some of your BFC spells. For example, the Snowglobe of Murder pairs up obscuring snow with casting snowsight on the entire party. Likewise, ice slick or sleet storm with snowshoes or ice skate. If you specialize in one particular [energy] type, you can make sure the rest of the party has enough energy resistance (or outright immunity) to ignore the [energy] damage.

Use Pearls of Power (1000 GP, DMG) to cast these low-level buffs early in the day without cluttering up your spell slots, or for shorter duration buffs use Glyph Seals (1000 GP, MIC) that your allies can activate as a free action when they need them.

[EldritchWeaver]

There are also more sphere specific versions. Destruction has Selective Blast (unfortunately, the SP free scaling is slow), Dark has Clearsight, but that is basically cost-intensive "get out of jail" card (also the Obsidian Key magic item, which turns SP cost into GP cost), Illusion HB will provide Selective Illusions (?), I think, which is unlimited, Weather gives Lord talents which admittedly centers the area of freedom on you. Every other sphere (with a partial exception of Nature) has either a way to distinguish allies from enemies, has no AoE effects or can sculpt the area already.