How to hunt casters?

[Nanoblack]

I know there was recently a thread that discussed how to kill tier one casters without being one, but for a game I shall be playing in pretty soon, I plan to play a caster hunter. What are some ways I can build a character that will allow me to specialize in neutralizing casters? More leaning towards arcane but any advice on killing divine casters is also welcome.

I am familiar with the mage slayer feat tree as well as the mage bane enchantment. Is there any equipment specially suited for the task? PrC's?

[DaragosKitsune]

Hunting casters?
See if you can't gain an immunity to Divination. All your planning is useless if the mage knows you are coming. Also, consider buying an undead beholder. Some Undead will retain the power of the central eye. Remember that poisons, specifically Con and mental damaging poisons or any poison that blinds or silences, are highly effective against a low Fort save arcanist. Use the Ranger ACF that gives favored enemy (arcanists). Get items that are good for disarming, to get rid of those pesky spell foci. Carry blindfolds, gags, and finger wire so that you can cripple a captured arcanist' spell choices. Also consider gaining the loyalty of a ghost, or other incorporeal undead. That's all I can think of for now.

[true_shinken]

Fighting casters is pretty doable if they are not over-optimized, the problem is finding them. Doing that without being a caster yourself is very difficult.

[herrhauptmann]

Are you thinking someone who tracks them down from across the country? You'd need some form of magic or psionics to find them. Using arcane magic to find them would negate the purpose of being a hunter type and non Tier 1. So psionics are your choice (if there's any which do the job)

An item of synthesete is highly useful, bonus to spot/search/listen, or can negate blindness or deafness.
Occult slayer grants a mindblank and I think a nondetection.
Withcslayer grants a momentary disjunction (but the save is a will one, and fairly weak), also Mettle.
Ranger has an option for Favored Enemy:Arcanist. Complete mage or arcane (probably arcane). There's also other options for weapon styles, including grappling.
Magebane weapons
Starmetal weapon if they're a summoner (like adamant, but also +2d6 vs extraplanar)
Mageslayer line of feats. Mageslayer, PMC (need blindfight), and PMP. If you use those, you get a -4 to your CL per feat, which may include manifester level if using transparency. Up to DM.

[Andion Isurand]

The Assassination weapon property is nice for delivering poison, given that you can apply poison without failure and you add the weapon's enhancement bonus to the poison's DC.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070314a

I would also look at using a Gnomish Quickrazor from RoS to increase feint options and open iaijutsu focus opportunities.

Black Mithril weapons from Dragon 278 can also be interesting, given that they retain their enhancement bonus in dead magic zones and anti-magic fields.

[Endarire]

Be a caster. As a caster, you have access to Divinations to find fellow casters. You have summons, buffs, combat, and utility spells to deal with them.

Perhaps be a Cleric/Crusader/Ruby Knight Vinciator or Wizard/Warblade/Jade Phoenix Mage if you want to go gish, but being a full caster is an extreme priority!

[Rokurai]

The Forsaker PrC. It requires you to give up and "hate" all magic, so it could lead to some pretty interesting RP opportunities, but its definitely mage-killer material. I believe it was originally in 3.0 and has been adopted for 3.5e by the player base.

*edit*
There is an artifact called Annulus, It's much like a permanent targeted dispel in a 180ft. radius and would basically incapacitate almost all spell-casters who you fight against. Not sure it it is level appropriate as it would be epic level at least.

[weenie]

Just play a build that has gather information and some sort of protection from magic, and is good at killing. Most high level wizards should be pretty notorious, so you won't need divinations to find them, but defeting their guards, overcoming their traps and figthing them is still a challenge.

However if your DM has all the high level wizards hiding in their own demiplanes and teleporting out just a few minutes per day, in case they really have to, play something else, or with someone else.

Oh, and if you don't mind gishing out a bit, I suggest playing a Swiftblade. They're grrrrreat!

[Gabe the Bard]

Whisper gnomes rogues would be good for the job. They can automatically silence a caster with a sneak attack. They also have great bonuses to sneaky skills so they can get the drop on spellcasters in nonmagical ways.

[dsmiles]

How to hunt casters?

Vewy, vewy qwietwy.
I can't believe I'm the first one to say that.

[Lev]

Wand of antimagic + anything that requires a fort save or does HP damage with AC.

Tanglefoot bag + bardic music is also a pretty nice trick.

To fight a caster with no magic abilities?
Make sneak attack from any range, +20 to next attack roll spell, then shoot a black lotus or drow poison arrow at em with your standard then move into total conceal with your move action, or shot on the run out a window while they aren't looking,

It's good to have a halfclosed wooden blinds panel to watch em like a sniper without chance of the caster noticing you.

Sneaking poison into their food is good if possible, or attacking them with enhanced drow poison with a poisoner build while they are sleeping (60' away or so, don't set off the magical wards) and then coup de grace.

Antimagic wand: Always a good idea.




http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127026

Mage Slayer + lockdown combo

* Pro: Prevents enemies that you threaten from casting defensively. This utterly nerfs anyone who depends on spells or spell-like abilities.
* Con: Mage Slayer reduces your caster level, which means that it's not a viable option for many different builds who would really love to take it, especially mid level Paladins, Rangers, Hexblades, etc. It's also completely worthless against other melee builds, supernatural abilities, and extraordinary abilities.
* Level of Effort: Mage Slayer + 1-2 feats or class abilities. You need Mage Slayer (duh) and some method of preventing your enemy from moving away. Nets, harpoons, Knock-Down, Thicket of Blades (Crusader), Earth Devotion, Knight (Bulwark of Defense), Deepstone Sentinel, or just armor spikes + a reach weapon, Spiked Chain, Spinning Sword, natural reach, etc. Anything that prevents your enemy from just taking a 5 ft step away will work fine.
* Best Used Against: Wizards, Sorcerers, Clerics, Warlocks, monsters with Spell-Like abilities, etc.
* Commentary: Given the prevalence and potency of magic at mid-high levels, I think this is a must have combo for any melee build above ECL 12 that doesn't have caster levels. If at all possible, you should also take Pierce Magical Concealment, as it allows you to ignore any magical miss chance.

[Radar]

Antimagic wand: Always a good idea.

If it was legal. First of, wands are only up to 4th level spells, so it's right out. Second of, Antimagic Field has "range: personal" restriction, so you would have to hug the Wizard (or Cleric, or Druid - good luck on that particular one) first.

I would say, that the best option would be to play a Psion and use action economy advantage to defeat the caster. Psions have also access to a unique and immensly useful power: Divert Teleport. After all, you have to not only overpower the caster, but also prevent him from escaping.

[Amphetryon]

The Forsaker PrC. It requires you to give up and "hate" all magic, so it could lead to some pretty interesting RP opportunities, but its definitely mage-killer material. I believe it was originally in 3.0 and has been adopted for 3.5e by the player base.

Don't do this without discussing it in advance with the other party members and the DM. The requirement of destroying magic treasure to fuel your abilities can seriously annoy everyone else at the table, and often forces one of 3 options: 1) DM drops a steady stream of otherwise unusable magic swag just so your Forsaker can use it as fuel; 2) one of the other players makes some sort of item-crafter whose job is to stay a level or so behind the party so that you can continue to function at your peak; 3) you become Gimpy McGimperson at inconvenient moments throughout the adventure.

[Mushroom Ninja]

I'd suggest getting the slayer PrC. Cerebral Bind and Cerebral immunity can help combat some problems that anyone fighting casters will have to deal with.

[panaikhan]

How to hunt casters?

Vewy, vewy qwietwy.
I can't believe I'm the first one to say that.

Damn. This was the only reason for me coming to the tread too

[WinWin]

Range...

Casters have it. Melee tactics require you to close. Mage slayer lockdowns are great when you have the caster within reach, useless when said mage is Enervating you from 50 squares away.

Stealth can help you close, but unless you can eliminate the mage with a perfect attack every time, you're taking a big risk. Especially once retributive effects and contingency hit the table.

Generic tactics against versatile opponents will always be poor. Know your enemy. A conjurer will have you outnumbered or debilitated quickly if given the chance. They could also have more mobility than you can contain. Same goes for transmuters, only they are just as likely to turn around and smack you back. An Illusionist will have you chasing your own shadow. An Enchanter will turn you into a puppet. A Necromancer wil f***ing kill you and then turn you into a puppet.

The best caster hunter (as has already been mentioned) is another caster. Harvesting spellbooks is a good a motivation as any for a character. Otherwise, be sneaky, don't get too close, fight dirty, do your research and be patient. Intelligence and preparation are the strengths of the classic mage. Same goes for a mage-hunter IMO.

[Lev]

Oh, here's a good one:

D20 Sleight of Hand allows you to steal any unattended item, including a spell component pouch off a caster.

[Worlok]

(3.5, right?) I fear my answers are strictly SRD-material, because I do not currently have access to any of the books, but I'd recommend Blind-Fight, Lightning Reflexes and Iron Will as parts of your feat selection. That can help you counter some of the effects of debilitating magic and is obviously of some use when trying not to get hit in the first place.

For classes, I'd recommend at least two levels in Rogue, for evasion, most obviously, but also to help with whatever traps those guys have set up. Plus: Sneak Attacks and Use Magic Device.
Perhaps one in Ranger or Barbarian (or both), because Tracking can be of use with finding hidden lairs or learning of whatever defenses (most notably, expendable guard muscle) there are. Also, the Favored Enemy can be immensely useful if the setting you'll be playing in is particularly high on staples such as elven wizards, drow clerics, gnome illusionists or what have you. Or against necromancers and liches. Fast Movement is useful for closing in, which denies the caster in question some of the more devastating spells he or she could otherwise put to use in ranged combat and the D12 Hit Dice can really give you an edge.

Speaking of ranged combat: Try to keep that down. The moment you get a surprise round going, you may try some (poisoned?) arrows or alchemist's fire to mess with their concentration and overall effectiveness, but try to get as close as possible, as fast as possible, always. That way, you can hit with whatever heavy weapons you have to tear into the chronically low hp of most caster classes. If you go Ranger, two-weapon fighting may therefore be a good idea. Also, go for Improved Initiative and some of the 'Combat Expertise'- or 'Power Attack'-based feats, as those can help you in thwarting enemy spellcasting and delivering high damage quite rapidly (do not worry too much about penalties to attack rolls, you'll likely still be able to hit your average wizard).

Assassination has been mentioned before. You might actually want to go Assassin. On the crunchy side of things, if you can get your hands on some decent poisons, you may end up pretty much one-shotting most casters of up to your own level pretty fast. On the fluffy side, that's somewhat specific, RP-wise, and adds the conundrum of you being both Evil and a potential caster yourself.
If you want to fight fire with fire, I'd recommend multiclassing after having started out as Sorcerer. Sorcerers have an innate talent for casting, so they do not really choose to be magic users. This may have a certain potential for roleplaying, as well as providing you with a familiar you may tactically apply as a decoy and the ability to counterspell.
If that's the case, also look into wands and wondrous items: Silence, paralysis, summoning expendable decoys (such as via 'pipes of the sewers'), insanity, any mind-affecting enchantments are your friends.

Invest in Hide, Move Silently, Spellcraft (Know your enemy!), Knowledge (arcana) (or Knowledge (religion)), Sleight of Hand (As was said before, unattended component pouches are good targets), Survival, and Listen (and Spot, but perhaps to a lesser intent, as effects messing with your eyes are likely the more obvious choice than those messing with your ears).
Handle Animal is a class skill for Rogues, Rangers and Barbarians, can therefore easily be maxed out and may be useful to harass the enemy with the infamous thrown weasel, a horde of small rodent or bird decoys, or, if sufficiently ranked, a squad of combat-trained magical beasts such as basilisks, shocker lizards or whatever. That is always good fun, but perhaps a little too silly for your taste.
Use Rope can be useful, for only very few casters actually go for Escape Artist and a neatly tied-up cultist or necromancer may just so be able to spill intel on your next potential target. Therefore, keep ropes, manacles or some sort of gag handy or use a sap against none-too dangerous casters in order to knock them out (and perhaps go for the Quick Draw feat in order to get those ready on the charge).

As far as races go, I'd recommend Half-Elves, as those are quite resistant to enchantment effects and get boni on their perceptive skills without swapping around your ability scores as High, Wild, or other Elves are wont to do. Gnomes may work, too, if you reckon you will often be up against gnomes, giants, or generally illusionists, but aren't necessarily a good bet. Half-Orcs and Dwarves make believable caster haters, I think, but those have racial ability modifiers that may hurt your counterspelling abilities and negate any believability for the Sorcerer thing detailed above. Humans, with their bonus feat and the skill points, can get down to business a little faster and more effectively than others.

Concerning Abilities: High Dex, high Wis, high Con will likely be your key traits. The ability to dodge or shrug off magic effects via good saves will come in handy, lots of hit points will often enough be your last resort against some of the more potent spells. Your Int and Str should, but do not have to be at least 12, I think, as those provide the necessary points for the skills detailed above and help you deal with minions, respectively. Charisma for spontaneous arcane casting is a no-brainer, I guess. So you should pretty much pray for excellent rolls, I'm afraid.

So, some sort of Half-Elf, Gnome or Human with a dodge-and-charge-heavy sorc/rog(/rgr/barb) build. Knowing a variety of uncommon feats and being equally far from the trap-springer, the flanker, the skill monkey and the supporting tank. (When did I become such a munchkin?) Sorry if this is useless or downright stupid, but I figured that would be a good shot at a witchhunter.