Maximizing Save DC's

[Apok]

Okay, having taken a hiatus from D&D for a little while, I've come back to the game in the midst of the 3.5 revolution to find that some things are very different than before.

With the nerfing of the Spell Focus feats and the Spellpower PrC ability, how does a spell-hurler go about getting the most bang for the buck DC-wise?

In other words, under the new 3.5 rules, what is the maximum attainable Save DC? Feel free to put your powergaming/tweaking/smackdown building skillz to the test.

 

[Li Shenron]

Within core rules it's probably going to be kind the same. You can still raise your spell DC by +2 with feats, only that it costs 2 feats per school now instead of 1 (GSF wasn't core).

"Mental buff" spells now raise it by a flat +2 instead of random, which rules out the use of Empower Spell (IIRC, you could get as high as +3 with that). But also those spells weren't even core in 3.0.

In the same guise, Archmage & Hierophant were FR-only before 3.5.

I am not sure, but magic items in the DMG are also quite the same as before, so they should be up to +3 but won't stack with the spells.

More or less, that leads to +2 from feats +3 from magic items, for a total of base 24 DC for 9th level spells (or heightened) to which you add the spellcasting ability modifier that you had before the magic item enhancement.

If I haven't miss something, next you can look for non-core material.

 

[Thanee]

With a +2 attribute race (i.e. grey elf wizard) you can start out at 20 +5 (level) +5 (innate) +6 (item) for a 36 in your primary stat, or a +13 to DC, at 20th level.

Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus add +2 on top of that.

Not much else, that I know of. So 34 would be the 9th level spell DC.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Quirhid]

As Thanee already said plus levels in wizard(specialized if possible)/red wizard of thay or shadow adept/archmage. Red wizards and shadow adepts are in FRC-book, naturally. These DC bonuses apply to only a number of school however.

 

[Thanee]

As Thanee already said plus levels in wizard(specialized if possible)/red wizard of thay or shadow adept/archmage. Red wizards and shadow adepts are in FRC-book, naturally. These DC bonuses apply to only a number of school however.

Those do not add to DC anymore. They increase caster level instead (see DMG 3.5 / PGtF).

Bye
Thanee

 

[James McMurray]

Tattoo Focus (DMG, under Red Wizard) also adds +1 to save DCs for your specialized school.

 

[Quirhid]

Those do not add to DC anymore. They increase caster level instead (see DMG 3.5 / PGtF).

Bye
Thanee

Oh, so it seems. :\

What a build it would have been: Necromancer 5, Shadow Adept 10, Archmage 5. With spell focus and greater spell focus... Imagine the DC of the Wail of the Banshee... tasty.

 

[Nail]

The feat Heighten Spell might seem more reasonable now, eh? My cleric's often thought about taking it.

 

[Marshall]

The feat Heighten Spell might seem more reasonable now, eh? My cleric's often thought about taking it.

Not really. You're still better off just using the higher level spell....

 

[James McMurray]

Of course, if you're wanting an effect that doesn't exist in ahigher level spell, heighten is possibly a good choice. But then again, I've never played a character with Heighten, so I wouldn't know for sure.