How to counteract a Disintegrate-happy PC?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Disintegrate destroys the treasure.

I'm surprised the wizard's peers haven't already gotten on his case for using it too much.

No, by the RAW, and as quoted above, it DOES NOT destroy treasure, unless it was specifically targetting it. You could always houserule it if it bothers you so much, but if I were a player in a such a game, and the DM introduced this new houserule mid-campaign that only affected a single, most definitely non-broken spell, I would quit. Even if it was one of the other players that the rule was being used against. If the DM can be so displeased as to change the rules in such a fashion, who's to guarantee my character won't be faced with the same problem later on if the players don't take a stand early and say, "We won't sit back and tolerate this."

As everyone else has said, between the touch AC, fort save (always has been and always will be the most common "good" save), AND SR (my g-d, this spell is starting to seem really crappy) there's many unique and varied ways to make it fail.

 

[Hammerhead]

Spell Turning?

Enforce the rule that if an NPC fails a save, all their items have to save. How long will he keep doing it when he can't strip the bodies afterwards, because that nice magic sword and armour is now a pile of dust?

Banshee

Spell Turning is ineffective; Disintegrate is not a targeted spell like Magic Missile or certain instances of Dispel Magic, but rather a ray.

 

[Plane Sailing]

What's the problem? Disintegrate (since 3.5e) is a pretty sub-optimal 6th level spell to use anyway, isn't it?

 

[shilsen]

What's the problem? Disintegrate (since 3.5e) is a pretty sub-optimal 6th level spell to use anyway, isn't it?

Agreed. The PCs in my campaign (see sig) recently hit 11th lvl and the wizard has used it 4-5 times thus far. I believe he's had only one success. I personally tend to use Disintegrate as a utility spell half the time, for taking down Walls of Force and adamantine doors and the like.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Agreed. The PCs in my campaign (see sig) recently hit 11th lvl and the wizard has used it 4-5 times thus far. I believe he's had only one success. I personally tend to use Disintegrate as a utility spell half the time, for taking down Walls of Force and adamantine doors and the like.

Yep--it's often best used as a utility or an ace up the sleeve of a high-level wizard just in case somebody, anybody is really a lich in disguise (it comes up often enough at those levels with the right GMs). But unless the opponent is undead, the sheer number of rolls that have to succeed on your part and fail on the opponent's in order for Disintegrate to have its full power is enough to make it a poor choice in most situations, particularly against SR.

 

[Magesmiley]

One tactic I don't see mentioned very often is counterspelling. Often one of the most effective things an enemy spellcaster can do is to simply deny the players the ability to get their own spells off. This can have incredible repercussions when the PC's crowd control spells are countered or even, their healing spells.

An enemy caster with a sufficient squad of goons may be the most potent when denying the players in this manner - it allows the goons to get in and tangle with the party. The first time I pulled counterspelling on my players, the wizard was like... "My fireball fizzles? What??"

Another nasty option is to simply steal his spell components (this is cruel and shouldn't be done more than once).

And of course there is the obvious tactic of using multiple less powerful creatures. Disintegrate isn't all that effective when you've got to blow up lots of things.

 

[Gort]

I agree with the majority of posters in this thread. Disintegrate isn't a particularly good spell. If you're having trouble with it, there are far worse spells this mage could be casting over and over. Finger of death for example, is disintegrate that only affects living creatures, but has no touch attack involved, and kills outright regardless of the amount of damage rolled.

Also, keep in mind that many of the enemies the players will face will have access to such spells. Use them against the players, but don't single out the mage in particular. Enemies will use what's at their disposal to thwart the players, but at the end of the day, if this mage is having a blast using disintegrate, why would you want to ruin his fun?

 

[Scharlata]

Assume the NPCs are as intelligent as the PCs when suggesting tactics.

Hi!

Let them all become Occult Slayers with Mind over Matter.

Enjoy!

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Pray he doesn't noticed he could cast empowered orbs spells instead. Those are way meaner. Saves, SR - these things are for weaker, evocation type spells.

I'd agree with other posters. Throw in a few bad guys that have pumped up fort saves.

One problem I had with disintegrate was during an undead heavy campaign. The lack of Con really hurts them there.

 

[nittanytbone]

Whoops! Didn't realize Disintegrate didn't destroy the stuff in 3.5 (I'm more of a 1E player).

In that case, its still not a very useful spell at level 11.

1) You have to hit with a ranged touch attack.
2) The victim has to fail a fort save.
3) The victim has to be killed via HP damage.

It seems that any decent foe should have something that foils one of those three: Either a miss chance, a good touch AC, a decent fort save, or decent HP. If the foe doesn't have any of the above by level 11, then they deserve to die in a darwinian manner.