how bad is it to not have dimensional anchor?

[newguydude1]

i hate dimensional anchor. i have to make a ranged attack roll which i most definitely suck at since i want to invest in things other than dex. also because i multiclass and dip alot so not getting that bab bonus either. i also have to expose myself to danger in order to cast the ray spell on my target. if im facing multiple fiends i need a dimensional anchor for each and every one of them. and last but not least i need to beat spell resistance to land it. just too hard. just takes too much investment.

then i thought, why not let the bastards run away. the wizards who prepared teleport, every outsider with greater teleport at will. whats the harm in letting them run away? do i have to kill them?

what are your thoughts on the consequences of not having dimensional anchor?

[JNAProductions]

i hate dimensional anchor. i have to make a ranged attack roll which i most definitely suck at since i want to invest in things other than dex. also because i multiclass and dip alot so not getting that bab bonus either. i also have to expose myself to danger in order to cast the ray spell on my target. if im facing multiple fiends i need a dimensional anchor for each and every one of them. and last but not least i need to beat spell resistance to land it. just too hard. just takes too much investment.

then i thought, why not let the bastards run away. the wizards who prepared teleport, every outsider with greater teleport at will. whats the harm in letting them run away? do i have to kill them?

what are your thoughts on the consequences of not having dimensional anchor?

Well, it's a touch attack, so it really shouldn't be THAT hard to hit.

And it depends on what your goals are. Do you need to rescue the victim in distress held by the cult? Then them running away means you'll have to keep guard on them later, since the fiends are still out there, but you saved the victim.
Do you need to take their heads as trophies? Then you can't let them flee.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Bone Devils get CL 12 Dimensional Anchor at will and can be summoned with SM 7. If you want something good-aligned you'll have to wait until SM 9 for the Firre Eladrin (BoED).
You could also cast Zone of Respite (SpC), but you'd need some kind of BFC to get them in there and it's a 20ft emanation centered on you, so it's hardly safer than a ray.

The alternative is letting something else handle it.
Clerics with the Portal domain notably get Dimensional Anchor as a third level spell so it can be cast into a Spell-Storing weapon. A Domain Draught can help them get access.
Even without that there's stuff like the Binding enhancement (MIC).
For evil outsiders specifically you can also just use Banishment/Dismissal, most of the time you just want them out of the material plane anyway.

Going completely without though is a pretty big risk if your DM makes the enemies who got away take advantage of what they learned about your tactics and gear.
Also it's just annoying when the spellcasters get away after a fight, taking your hard-earned loot with them.

[newguydude1]

Then them running away means you'll have to keep guard on them later, since the fiends are still out there, but you saved the victim..

how bad is this?

Going completely without though is a pretty big risk if your DM makes the enemies who got away take advantage of what they learned about your tactics and gear.

how bad is this?

[Crake]

In my campaign setting I have an alchemical item known as "Weirdstone water". If you're familiar with weirdstones from previous editions, they were basically giant magical stones that provided miles wide radius dimensional lock effects, this water contained powdered weirdstones in it, and was used as a splash weapon to lock down teleporters as a mundane (namely for my e6 campaigns where the players didn't have access to dimensional anchor). On a direct hit it completely locked down your target until they washed themselves, on a miss (or being splashed by being adjacent to a target) they instead suffered a mishap chance, I think it was either 20 or 50%, should they try to teleport.

[gijoemike]

how bad is this?

It depends on your gm. If you are hired to take care of a group of bandits lead by a wizard and you beat up a bandit or 2 and the wizard teleports or D. Doors away then you fail gloriously. They come back and kill the townsfolk a few days later.

If you are trying to trap a Devil so it can free a soul it tricked into a contract and it BAFM* then you fail the mission.

The above are simple failure conditions. You don't get their personal loot, their spellbooks, magical macguffins, reward for success, etc.

Now imagine this.

You defeat a cabal of sorcerers but 2 of them got away. 3 levels later, 200 miles away you just landed the killing blow on [Insert boss like encounter]. It was grueling, the fighter is at 1/3 HP, the rogue is down ( maybe dead), you have used 2/3 off all your spells. It was the 2nd encounter of the day. Suddenly, a fireball and lighting bolt get cast. The LB hits 2 members of your party. The rogue is definitely dead now. Fighter is now below 1/4 hp. Those same 2 sorcerers appear from nowhere as their invisibility wears off. "This a bad time" the quip as they smirk. Scry and Die is a saying for a reason.

They spent the 3 rounds your group was fighting to the death spelling up. They are 100% fresh and have the high ground. They steal victory right from your hands. Don't worry its not a TPK. they will only kill 2 of you before they teleport away again. Perhaps they grab some loot before they go.

The bad guys could come back. And when they do it will be the absolute worst time it could be.


Another scenario:

You tried to kill a [outsider with teleport w/o error at will]. You saved the hostage but it got away.

2 days later at camp your campfire suddenly explodes with pyrotechnics. Blind and choking roll for init! Rounds later no badguy has attacked. That's weird, no one is here. You cannot reclaim spells for an extra hour or 2.

3 days after that it happens again.

4 days later when attempting to infiltrate a stronghold the guards inside call our YOUR PC's name and taunt you. Someone has told the castle guards all about your group and whereabouts. This job is now 2 times more difficult. Surprise isn't an option for your group.

2 more days after that while fighting a group of [bad guys] a darkness spell is tossed over the entire battlefield.

Does the outsider eat, sleep, use the bathroom? IT is MAD at your group and now it wants to have some fun. It could take weeks to months to kill it/drive it off. It will pop in for a few rounds every few days. It follows you with track, appears as other people, and tips off the bad guys, and ruins your group's name with lies.

Had a GM do this to my group. The devil would also offer us deals and items. It was always a bad idea. We couldn't kill it in one round and it would TP out before I could lock it down ( I was playing the arcane caster). A recurring devil or demon can be a HUGE pain and be the focal point of multiple sessions. Getting a basic nights sleep suddenly was a difficult task, even in an inn. It becomes a constant thorn in our side.

So, how bad CAN it be?

Extremely. Absurdly. Campaign stalling. Aggravatingly. TERRIBLE.

[the_tick_rules]

don't forget about wizards and such they also like to get on out of there if things aren't working out.

[ayvango]

Imbue Familiar with Spell Abiilty: True Strike x4.

Anyway 1st level spells become irrelevant and you could easily spend them to augment higher level spells that you cast.

[tiercel]

Counterpoint: a standard action in which you are casting dimensional anchor is a standard action in which you are not dazing, stunning, nauseating, putting to sleep, mind-controlling, level draining away high level spells, casting-stat-draining, or killing your enemy.

[noob]

Counterpoint: a standard action in which you are casting dimensional anchor is a standard action in which you are not dazing, stunning, nauseating, putting to sleep, mind-controlling, level draining away high level spells, casting-stat-draining, or killing your enemy.

Which is why people often prefer to use it as a quickened spell to make harder retreat for an opponent that is immune to all the things from that list.

[tiercel]

Which is why people often prefer to use it as a quickened spell to make harder retreat for an opponent that is immune to all the things from that list.

And that’s fair - I don’t want to minimize the potential utility of dimensional anchor per se, but I will point out that

(A) quickening the spell is not generally trivial (takes some resources), and

(B) an opponent paranoid and powerful enough to protect themselves against everything on that list (and any other similarly effective ailments) —including damage— will also likely be canny enough to have defenses against dimensional anchor as well, even if it’s “merely” some combination of touch AC and miss chance (or being untargetable in the first place, which mitigates a lot of the other things on that list), much less a specific counter (e.g., bracers of exit, ring of counterspells)

[Thunder999]

Generally pretty bad.

Any enemy that escapes takes all their gear with them.
This one varies a lot.
On one extreme you have enemies with standard gear and a GM who just adds more treasure to other rewards so you don't lose anything.
Then in the middle there's the case that the GM doesn't give extra loot, putting you below WBL, not too bad if it's rare, but if it happens a lot you'll be in trouble.
Then there's enemies with unique stuff you couldn't buy, but also don't strictly need, sad to see it go, but you'll manage.
And the worst case is that they were carrying something important, a plot related artefact or a missive with vital information and you've really messed up by letting them escape with it.

Then there's the many enemies with at will teleportation effects.
Generally it's going to be pretty bad all around here.
If they also have a means to heal up relatively quickly (commonly an outsider with fast healing or regeneration, but it could just be an allied caster with a wand of CLW) then you're in for an unpleasant time of them escaping, healing, then striking at you later, either alone or while you're in another fight, and after a round or two they'll escape again, this will be very annoying and unless you have an alternative way to keep them there could be a disaster, you certainly won't be able to safely rest anytime soon.
Then there's the ones who can't easily heal, they'll generally make later encounters harder, both by sharing knowledge of your tactics and by being an extra monster in the fight.

For limited use teleports it's largely the same, though you can thankfully wear out the ones with healing and only have them make life harder a few times per day, unfortunately that may well be by ruining your attempts to rest.

So pretty bad all around.

Good news is that dimensional anchor isn't your only option here, anything that will stop them casting will do the trick, ready an action to attack or cast a damaging spell when they use their ability, forcing a difficult concentration check, or just hit them with anything that paralyses, stuns, dazes, nauseates etc. and kill them before it wears off.

The advantage of dimensional anchor is that touch attacks are generally far more reliable than the saving throws attached to most spells that disable enemies and that far fewer things are going to be immune to it, making it much more likely to actually work.