DMing caster only group

[Tyger]

My newest campaign is shaping up nicely, with the players having finally decided on classes as the world shapes up from my end. The catch is, they have all chosen, independently I might add, to play casters of one variety or another.

Warmage
Beguiler
Druid
Psion

The game plan is for a relatively high powered game (its starting at level 8) and it won't last too long (its a filler campaign while a DM converts another system, maybe 6 months).

But I have never DMed for a pure caster group before. Leaving aside comments on their choices (yeah, the warmage is being played by the powergamer in the group, which leads me to believe he has a horribly screwed trick up his sleeve, or is finally reforming!), what special considerations should I take into account?

Any advice is appreciated.

[tainsouvra]

Honestly, I would be excited about this group. Level 8 doesn't let them be too overpowered, but the amount of magic they can bring to bear justifies throwing pretty much anything even remotely in their level range at them, as well as making many normally-difficult situations (everyone needs to fly, etc) well within their reach. Go nuts!

[Fax Celestis]

Golems and high-SR monsters will be difficult encounters. Those that rely on being smashy will not be. Plan accordingly.

[mostlyharmful]

They will also suck at endurance so no more than four or five challenges a day or PC deaths will result, plus although they are all casters there isn't a good utility caster in there for the arcane spells, the druid can handle some of it but be aware of the lack of divination and conjuration effects that quite a lot of high level problem solving requires.

[Swooper]

That group actually looks like it has some synergy. The druid takes the part of the melee fighter - tank if you will - while shapeshifted, and takes care of after-battle healing as well. The beguiler plays party face and sneaky git, the psion is your troubleshooter (should focus on utility powers) and the warmage will be a main damagedealer. Wonderful mix.

As said above, however, high SR critters will be tough for this group. They might be a bit fragile as a whole too, with no-one having a bigger HD than d8.

[kamikasei]

You'll probably want the Beguiler to max rogue skills. Since there's no real utility caster in the group, he/she could go for UMD too, and keep some less-commonly-used spells around in wand or scroll form.

But yeah, you've got pretty much every party role covered except utility arcane, so it shouldn't be too bad. Just make sure the players don't all pile on to the same niche.

[Tyger]

Yeah, those were some of my thoughts too. And you can bet that there will be a couple of High SR critters, just to force them to think outside the box. I always prefer it when the players find interesting and invetive solutions to their problems, rather than just killing things. And the synergy here could be really good.

Overall, they aren't too big on powergaming, so I may have to send some suggestions to them, especially the Beguiler as he could very well end up filling a lot of roles. That said, I gave them all a free LA+2 to play with, and most grabbed it damned fast! :)

The endurance part is something that I was a tad worried about too, as the players do have a tendancy to go hard on every encounter, so there may be issues with spells getting blown too fast. But that's always something that can be dealt with on the fly... though only after a couple near death experiences to remind them to conserve a bit of strength, just in case. :)

Any suggestions on encounters that would be really chilling to a group of casters? Magical energy stealing type critters?

[SilverClawShift]

You can also take the opportunity to mess with the way magic (or psionics, varying) work. Don't go overboard with it, but them knowing that there is the threat of dead magic zones, or wild magic areas, can keep them on their toes. It's also an opportunity for the psion to shine a little, as you can decide his psionic abilites aren't affected.

Until you come to the tower ringed with frequency jamming psi-crystals which mess with his head instead of the other casters

The endurance part is something that I was a tad worried about too, as the players do have a tendancy to go hard on every encounter, so there may be issues with spells getting blown too fast. But that's always something that can be dealt with on the fly... though only after a couple near death experiences to remind them to conserve a bit of strength, just in case. :)

You can also go the opposite route, and throw them in a single situation where they are hopelessly screwed unless they completely unload on everything in their path. A war-torn area, a barricaded fortress full of allies, and a gosh-darned battlefield in between them and a safe place to rest for the night.

Just a thought anyway. I'm no DM

[Tyger]

You can also take the opportunity to mess with the way magic (or psionics, varying) work. Don't go overboard with it, but them knowing that there is the threat of dead magic zones, or wild magic areas, can keep them on their toes. It's also an opportunity for the psion to shine a little, as you can decide his psionic abilites aren't affected.

Until you come to the tower ringed with frequency jamming psi-crystals which mess with his head instead of the other casters

*grins* Read my mind there. The area they are in (its a seafaring / island hopping campaign) is home to a strange species of algae bloom (called a Blood Bloom for its dark red colour and viscous consistency) which has the odd effect of warping all magic in its vicinity with completely unpredicatble results (read, whatever I want) sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad. Needless to say, most ship captains avoid it like the plague (high magic world, lost of enchantments on the ships themselves) but who can say what crazy adventurers will do?

[Techonce]

Death by Beholder. CR may be an issue...

[PaladinBoy]

One other challenge you can throw in their way is the globe of invulnerability spells. Our caster party faced a fun challenge with this once. We had to run and try again later, because we had literally no spells that would work and certainly weren't going to enter melee combat with the paladin.

Some players might not like that though.

[goat]

Well, if you really just don't want them to go squish, allow leadership, or encourage hirelings.

Your Warmage should be a bit of a Charisma tanker, if he takes leadership a heavily optimised melee-ist should be easily within his grounds, and with four casters at his back, he should be able to survive even while two levels behind.

[Fax Celestis]

This group needs a spellthief. That is all.

[Shas aia Toriia]

Prolong the adventures a little, so they learn not to blow so many spells on one encounter. This will (hopefully) make them a little less overpowered.

[Collin152]

Every group needs a spellthief. That is all.

Fixed it for ya.

[Generic PC]

I would think that the best BBEG for this group is a Spellthief, actually....

[Justicar]

I'm sorry. I just finished watching the incredibly funny "D&D PHB PSAs" and my first thought when I saw this thread was "Nerdmonger!"