Protection from Eldritch fire

[Trellian]

OK, so I have a warlock in my group, and he is practically unbeatable. Give a creature a high AC, check, the Warlock attacks the touch AC. Give the foe DR or energy immunities, check, the Warlock doesn't care about that. The only thing that seems to work is Spell Resistance, but with Improved Spell Penetration, he succeeds more often than not.

Is there any way to create some kind of resistance to Eldritch Blast? The characters are going up against an old foe of them, a lich. He has driven them away twice in the past (and they have lost characters in the process), but they have now achived a few more levels and want to give it another try. I was thinking, since this lich knows about the eldritch blast, that maybe he has discovered a way to create some kind of resistance against it.

Is there anything in the rules I can support it on? Is it too far fetched that he could have created a Resist Elements spell or something which protects him from eldritch blasts?

 

[Aidan Milvus]

Well, first off, he must have a golem bodyguard... Other than that, I don't know of any rules for resistance to eldritch blasts. there is a spell to make natural armor bonus into deflection bonus, which would increase the touch ac. ray deflection is invaluable (spell compendium: ranged touch attacks are deflected harmlessly) or simply mirror image, since he still has to hit the right target to do his damage. Possibly a potion of Entropic Shield? 20% miss chance for ranged attacks. Ray of Clumsiness (again SC, ray of enfeeblement only Dex) against him, lower that dex as far as it can go...

 

[Nifft]

Warlocks do very little damage each round. Hit points are the best way to 'resist' their attacks. Warlocks don't need nerfing.

It's trivial to make them miss: mirror image, displacement and mundane concealment work fine. Having a high Touch AC isn't that hard, either: get Dodge, Insight and Deflection bonuses to AC, and have a high Dexterity.

Cheers, -- N

 

[serow]

Warlocks do very little damage each round. Hit points are the best way to 'resist' their attacks. Warlocks don't need nerfing.

It's trivial to make them miss: mirror image, displacement and mundane concealment work fine. Having a high Touch AC isn't that hard, either: get Dodge, Insight and Deflection bonuses to AC, and have a high Dexterity.

Cheers, -- N

+1

 

[frankthedm]

Thanks to the errata that allows eldritch blast feats to work, the blasts are fairly vulnerable to Globes of invulnerability.

Unless the fighter is going sword and board, the warlock's damage should not seem that great.

Is it too far fetched that he could have created a Resist Elements spell or something which protects him from eldritch blasts?

Maybe as a 4th llevel spell. For the ring of eldritch resist, i'd say double the cost of an energy resist ring.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Give the lich more minions. Eldritch Blast isn't particularly high damage, compared to a Barbarian or Fighter or a dedicated archer. So deal with it like with normal ranged attacks that trouble you - spread the damage.

With a bunch of zombies/skeletons (possibly disguised as Lich), the PCs have a harder time to focus all damaging effects on the Lich. And, of course, the spells that Nifft listed: mirror image, displacement, or improved invisibility all make life hard for a ranged combatant.

Cheers, LT.

 

[blargney the second]

What's the warlock's Fort save like? Blindness would put a pretty serious damper on his eldritch blasts.

 

[Zurai]

If it's a plain jane Eldritch Blast (ie, no essences added on), it's vulnerable to Spell Resistance. If it's a Vitriolic Blast (ie, bypasses SR), it's vulnerable to acid immunity/resistance.

 

[moritheil]

The only thing that seems to work is Spell Resistance, but with Improved Spell Penetration, he succeeds more often than not.

That's good enough. The lich doesn't need to be immune and unkillable, he just needs to delay his own death long enough to drive the group off.

Look into Vampiric Touch, False Life, Ennervate, etc.

Also consider allowing the lich's negative energy touch to heal himself.

 

[Corsair]

Greater Mirror Image. PHB2. Like normal mirror image, but it is automatically quickened AND it regenerates its images. Only 4th level.