How many ways can I make my spells harder to dispel?
- Thread starter Corsair
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yellowparis
First Post
I've been obsessing about this with my buffer bard, too.
For your money, the single best item is probably the ring of enduring arcana (C.Mage). It increases your caster level by +4 for the purposes of resisting dispels. It costs 6000g, which is manageable at fairly low level, and it's a flat, constant bonus ... always with you.
The ring of counterspells is good - it guarantees protection against the first dispel to come your way. Note that if you're in a psionics+magic campaign, it's no good against dispel psionics.
Rings of greater counterspells and spell-battle are also good - they offers ways to counterspell or block a spell as it's being cast, so you could just negate a dispel before it even hits you. The ring of spell-battle is particularly nice ... it lets you redirect a spell, so the dispel pointed at you can be retargeted on an enemy.
Anything that ups your caster level, obviously. An ioun stone or whatever. Clerics have a bunch of good options: prayer beads and the ankh of ascension come to mind. They're limited use, but good for making your critical spells really rock solid (and the prayer bead of karma is great for a morning buffing routine).
In a game with psionics, there's the dispelling buffer power, if you can swing it in an item (or an allied psion). +5 to the DC to dispel you.
There's also a metamagic feat ... Fortify Spell, in Complete Arcane. It works like Heighten Spell, except that every +1 to the spell level translates into a +2 to CL. Might not be worth it, but it's an option.
There's also Earth Spell, from Races of Stone, but it's probably not so good for this purpose.
For your money, the single best item is probably the ring of enduring arcana (C.Mage). It increases your caster level by +4 for the purposes of resisting dispels. It costs 6000g, which is manageable at fairly low level, and it's a flat, constant bonus ... always with you.
The ring of counterspells is good - it guarantees protection against the first dispel to come your way. Note that if you're in a psionics+magic campaign, it's no good against dispel psionics.
Rings of greater counterspells and spell-battle are also good - they offers ways to counterspell or block a spell as it's being cast, so you could just negate a dispel before it even hits you. The ring of spell-battle is particularly nice ... it lets you redirect a spell, so the dispel pointed at you can be retargeted on an enemy.
Anything that ups your caster level, obviously. An ioun stone or whatever. Clerics have a bunch of good options: prayer beads and the ankh of ascension come to mind. They're limited use, but good for making your critical spells really rock solid (and the prayer bead of karma is great for a morning buffing routine).
In a game with psionics, there's the dispelling buffer power, if you can swing it in an item (or an allied psion). +5 to the DC to dispel you.
There's also a metamagic feat ... Fortify Spell, in Complete Arcane. It works like Heighten Spell, except that every +1 to the spell level translates into a +2 to CL. Might not be worth it, but it's an option.
There's also Earth Spell, from Races of Stone, but it's probably not so good for this purpose.
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Ahnehnois
First Post
There are a number of things that increase caster level at a large cost (but this has many benefits, particularly for these types of spells); the orange ioun stone is a ripe 30,000 gp for +1 CL. More economical is the strand of prayer beads, one of which grants +4 to CL for 10 minutes. Some reserve feats might also grant a useful CL bonus, if you can match the school up. Domain Focus (CD) grants +1 to CL of domain spells if that's where your spells are coming from. Metamagic School Focus & Metamagic Vigor (CM) increase CL on metamagic-ed spells, if you're extending or persisting them for instance. Consecrate Spell (CD and others) makes spells good-aligned, if you have the Good domain this grants a CL bonus.
I assuming you're not epic, but there is an epic feat, Tenacious Magic, that prevents dispelling.
Depending on the situation and how many spells you have to burn, you could just cast multiple copies of a spell on yourself. They won't stack, but they're more stuff that the dispeller has to get through.
Neither fortify spell nor heighten spell helps to resist dispelling, but I think there is a similar feat that would work...but I can't find it (and that's saying something; must be an esoteric source).
EDIT: Spell Girding (Magic of Faerun) effectively grants +2 to resist dispelling (no costs). No wonder I had trouble finding it.
I assuming you're not epic, but there is an epic feat, Tenacious Magic, that prevents dispelling.
Depending on the situation and how many spells you have to burn, you could just cast multiple copies of a spell on yourself. They won't stack, but they're more stuff that the dispeller has to get through.
Neither fortify spell nor heighten spell helps to resist dispelling, but I think there is a similar feat that would work...but I can't find it (and that's saying something; must be an esoteric source).
EDIT: Spell Girding (Magic of Faerun) effectively grants +2 to resist dispelling (no costs). No wonder I had trouble finding it.
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yellowparis
First Post
Ah, yeah. Fortify Spell is only good for punching through SR ... kind of a pathetic feat, really.
Thanee
First Post
The ring of enduring arcana (despite the name 
) is definitely a good idea, if you rely heavily on buffing spells.
For a cleric, the bead of karma is awesome for the buffs that run all day long. But it's expensive.
Also, the Spellblade weapon enchantment found in the Player's Guide to Faerûn (esp. good if you choose (targeted) Dispel Magic or Greater Dispel Magic, depending on level; only works against the targeted version, though, area still works normally, but dispels only one spell at most).
Bye
Thanee
) is definitely a good idea, if you rely heavily on buffing spells.For a cleric, the bead of karma is awesome for the buffs that run all day long. But it's expensive.
Also, the Spellblade weapon enchantment found in the Player's Guide to Faerûn (esp. good if you choose (targeted) Dispel Magic or Greater Dispel Magic, depending on level; only works against the targeted version, though, area still works normally, but dispels only one spell at most).
Bye
Thanee
As I recall, several of the Reserve Magic Feats add to the CL of types of spells- just take the Reserve Feats that apply to the kind of magic you intend to cast most often.
