[3.5] Caster sanity/fun-ness disparity

[Vandin]

The group of newbies that I DM for has slowly oozed upwards in levels, recently reaching ECL 13, and I've sort of come to a realization about combat encounters. Namely, casters just aren't fun anymore.

That's kind of wide-reaching, so I'll give some examples of what I see my NPC's options as:
Utility - buffs, teleport, etc. Buffs are, of course, always useful, but at some point they will have to take an active hand in the fight, leading to..
Realistic offense - save or dies/sucks, such as Disintegrate, Feeblemind, Blasphemy, etc.
Realistic defense - a veritable plethora of hugely disabling spells, like Forcecage, Wall of Force/Ice/Stone, Resilient Sphere, Solid Fog, Black Tentacles, Power Word: Stun, etc.
Blasting - Now serving Fireball #312!

In other words, the feeling I get is that my options are either "well, you need to successfully save vs this, or you're out of the fight for 10 rounds/dead" or blasting. The first is obviously not fun, especially when "sitting out a combat" can mean two or so hours of watching, and the second gets tedious eventually.

Realistically, wouldn't a caster spend most of the time using their best spells? Sure, there might be a few scenarios where they wouldn't, perhaps they need to capture the PCs mostly unwounded, or are trying to conserve spells, or just think the PCs too far below them to worry about etc, but that can't happen in every situation.

So..am I missing something? My group really pushed for leveling speedy-like so they could have access to higher level spells and such, but I'm just not seeing how I can keep it fun.

Minor addendum after previewing: One of the things I've considered doing is expanding the fights. So, instead of it being, say, 6 vs 7, it might be 12 vs 7, with lower levels, of course. This will buy me a few levels, but soon the enemy spellcasters will be up in levels again to make it a problem again. Argh!

[Crow]

Who cares? It sounds like this is what your group wanted. If they are having fun, just roll with it. Don't even level down the monsters, just throw more at them.

[Frosty]

At level 13, having a caster oppose you of similar level is scary. It's supposed to be. But by that time, they also have access to things like Ressurection. It's EXCITING to try to prevent or cure the status conditions that the NPCs can throw at you. I regular throw them on my PCs as well as mix in good blasting spells (like Orbs. They do damage AND status).

My plaeyrs are learning to prepare Dispel Magic multiple times per day because of this

[Burley]

Put them up against Psuedo-Castors. Warlocks and Dragonfire Adepts made as PCs a level or higher make pretty good enemies. And, it's really easy to just say your group ticked off the wrong Demon/Dragon worshipping cult. Heck, throw a small band of Warlocks and DfAs in one session and say that Tiamat is angry. Plenty of options for builds and you'll be using a lot of Save-or-Burn and Save-or-Lose Magic Item for Xrounds. (Really fun to do to players weapons and armor.)

[Vandin]

Who cares? It sounds like this is what your group wanted. If they are having fun, just roll with it. Don't even level down the monsters, just throw more at them.

Well, that's the problem, they aren't. The first (and only) time I used a PW: Stun, the targeted player more or less said "Well, I'm going to go watch a movie. Later!" and then went afk.


As for Warlocks, hm. I'm pretty unfamiliar with them, but I think they'd fit in fairly well from a fluff standpoint.

[Flickerdart]

Well, that's the problem, they aren't. The first (and only) time I used a PW: Stun, the targeted player more or less said "Well, I'm going to go watch a movie. Later!" and then went afk.


As for Warlocks, hm. I'm pretty unfamiliar with them, but I think they'd fit in fairly well from a fluff standpoint.

Warlocks get essentially a very small selection of invocations they can use unlimited times a day, and infinite Eldrich Blast, which deals damage. I don't think they have any save-or-dies, but they make good artillery.