The problem is, one of my players is pretty strong. It's not his fault-- he wasn't deliberately mini-maxing, but his character-- a level 3 Dedicated/2 Fast/2 Shadow Slayer/4 Acolyte has the highest defense in the party (26 with Mage Armor from the mage, or 25 with his Light Armor), the highest BAB (I use the fractional system), the 2nd highest HP and ridiculous saves. Thanks to Great Will and the Shadow Heritage feat, he's got a +12 Fort, +9 Ref and +15 to will.
His main antagonist that's been around since the beginning is a Night Terror/Charismatic/Psion. The problem is, even his most powerful spells (he can use 4th level powers) can't touch him and he went from being a frightening enemy (this is a Shadow Chasers horror game) to a complete joke. The saves against his strongest spells are a DC of 10 + spell level + the modifier, so the highest he can reach is a DC of 18. That means that my friend has to roll a 3 to make his will saves, a 5 for Fort and a 9 for Ref (and with evasion avoids all damage). As the party levels up, it's just going to get worse and I realized that pretty much all the magic in the game is going to be useless unless its some sort of self-buff or direct damage attack (and these will be at 1/2 damage). What's the point in using Telepathic powers such as Charm and Dominate if the guy barely doesn't even have to roll to avoid the effects? Heck, even the guy with the weakest will save in the party only has to roll an 11 or higher, and by the end even he won't have any trouble at all making all his saves.
I know magic is d20 Modern is supposed to be lower-level than D&D, but it just seems useless once you get to higher levels and this is a concern one of the mages in the party has. She doesn't want to be stuck using Magic Missile for the rest of the game just because it's the only thing that can actually hit without a saving throw.
I'm just looking for ideas to make the DCs higher (3.5 seems to have gotten rid of the +DC feats) without completely screwing over people who's saves might be lower. Please note, I use the Vitality/Wound Point system, so Massive Damage doesn't factor in, either.
You need to upgrade the NPC. I've run my campaign with a minor villian who became popular enough to turn into an arch villian, and to keep him going I gave him experience points and levels. I basically treated his encounters with the hero party as opportunities to earn his own experience points. Of course, you may have to make liberal adjustments to keep the character at a challenge rating appropriate for the heroes. For me, it also helped to give my villian access to villianous party members or henchmen to help beef up the fight. Your villians don't have to remain static: if you want to keep them in the spotlight, let them develop and flourish.
That's the scary part. The party is level 11 and the villain in question was a CR 14 creature, but he just couldn't do anything to my one friend because his saves were too high. It's just hard to use magic in a campaign when the magic saves are so easy to make that it becomes mostly useless.
Spells that use attack rolls Scorching Ray, Darkbolt, etc don’t allow saves, for the primary effect at least. Other than that use Incantations-enchanted items for their higher saves…not much else anyone can do for you.
Well… some of different rules may have dug a grave for you, but you seem to neglecting some of the magic you can use.
Spells that use attack rolls Scorching Ray, Darkbolt, etc don’t allow saves, for the primary effect at least. Other than that use Incantations-enchanted items for their higher saves…not much else anyone can do for you.
Good call. And don't be scared to give the villain some henchmen or a fortified lair. At level 14, they should be able to pull some resources together. The heroes never fight alone, why should the villain?
also don't forget things like poison and other ability damage/drain techniques. the villain could take a hostage as well in order to limit the heroes' options, or if all else fails simply bury the heroes in a cascade of low-level henchies (I believe a man once said that quantity has a quality all its own).
Yeah, thankfully, I was able to use another antagonist to fight against him (the PC in question is the best in the party in combat, but the antagonist was better) along with a couple of Shadows which were able to grab him and drain his strength. Plus, I charmed his friend and turned her against him (they were already having issues in the game and the Charm spell just exacerbated them). Still scares me that it took 5 enemies-- another PC, two Shadows, a CR 14 creature and a CR 13 creature to finally just pin him in place (go-go aid another and overbearing).
My players also recognize the problem with the magic saves and we're working on a house rule that should ease the problems (especially considering they all have some casting levels themselves and they don't want them to be worthless either). There's no reason why a level 11 character should be able to waltz up to a level 14 character by himself and completely wipe the floor with him, henchmen or not.
The funny part is that the only rules change I really did was change to the Vitality/Wound Point system which negated massive damage saves. Everything else in the game is based directly on the game system, albeit with 3.5 rules.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestions.
